Patent ID: 8641358

Claim:
Apparatus for placing battery plates in a line from a stack of plates including: an elevator for receiving a stack of plates and for sequentially elevating the stack to maintain, in use, the uppermost plate in the stack in a datum region lying between two parallel generally horizontal planes; a plurality of vacuum heads arranged in a closed loop for sequentially passing over the elevator with a fixed gap from the upper plane of the datum range for picking up the uppermost plate and for subsequently releasing the plate at a release position; an endless horizontal belt having a plurality of arrays of perforations, wherein each array of perforations is longitudinally spaced from an adjacent array of perforations by an unperforated portion of the belt, and wherein the plurality of arrays of perforations respectively constitutes the vacuum heads; a vacuum chamber located adjacent the datum region for lifting the uppermost plate from the stack, wherein the vacuum chamber has an open or perforate wall over which the plurality of arrays of perforations pass, and wherein the open or perforate wall has a length and width greater than or equal to the respective length and width of each of the plurality of arrays of perforations such that when the open or perforate wall is aligned with one of the plurality of arrays of perforations, suction will pass through the belt; and a motor for rotating the belt whereby the arrays of perforations pass sequentially over the vacuum chamber.