Patent ID: 7690884

Claim:
A device for separating plate-shaped articles arranged in an essentially vertically aligned stack ( 14 ), said plate-shaped articles aligned and lying essentially horizontally and the stack ( 14 ) extending from a lower end to an upper end, the device comprising: a removing means ( 50 ) for removing an individual plate-shaped article from one end of the stack ( 14 ), the removing means ( 50 ) configured to remove an uppermost first plate-shaped article from a top of the stack ( 14 ); and a separating device ( 58 ) provided with the removing means ( 50 ) including a conveyor device ( 60 ) for transporting separated plate-shaped articles removed from the stack ( 14 ) by the removing means ( 50 ), wherein the separating device ( 58 ) also includes a separating finger ( 65 ) and a disk ( 66 ), the separating finger ( 65 ) being spaced at a distance over the disk ( 66 ), and the disk ( 66 ) configured to be operatively inserted into a space between the uppermost first plate-shaped article and a second plate-shaped article immediately underneath the first plate-shaped article.