Patent ID: 6640523
Filing Date: 2003-11-04
Classification: B65B

Abstract:
A system for continuously packaging or sorting fragile articles having varying thicknesses in a stack comprising:a plurality of article infeeds comprising articles of varying thickness; a plurality of stripping devices, each stripping device being coupled to an article infeed for removal of articles from a feed stack in said article infeed, a plurality of proportional shifters, each proportional shifter comprising a rod with two blocks moveable along said rod, each proportional shifter being coupled to a stripping device and being adapted to set a pre-determined number of articles to be removed from said feed stack, and a plurality of article gauges, each article gauge being coupled to a proportional shifter and adapted to measure a stack height of said set pre-determined number of articles, and wherein each article gauge adjusts a proportional shifter for a change in the stack height of said set pre-determined number of articles without interrupting the flow of articles.