Patent ID: 8006364

Claim:
(A method of removing at least one workpiece from a vertical stack of at least two workpieces, the method comprising: (a) disposing the stack of workpieces between a first and a second buffer column mounted to a plate; (b) driving a shuttle in a first direction to remove a lip of the shuttle from a first slot formed beneath a lower end of at least one of the buffer columns and a top surface of the plate, thereby permitting said at least one workpiece to fall downwardly toward the plate with at least a portion of said at least one workpiece in the first slot; (c) driving the shuttle in a second, opposite direction to drive said at least a portion of said at least one workpiece out of the first slot and into a second slot within a clamp body, wherein the second slot is adjacent to and aligned with the first slot; and (d) driving the clamp body and said at least one workpiece downwardly.