Patent ID: 7028527

Claim:
A workpiece processing system comprising: a first assembly for performing at least a first processing operation on a workpiece at a first processing location, the first assembly comprising a frame; a nesting assembly; a bolster assembly upon which a workpiece can be supported at the first processing location; and a transfer assembly, the bolster assembly repositionable relative to the frame by movement along a first path between first and second positions, the transfer assembly capable of moving a workpiece to/from the first processing location along a second path from/to the nesting assembly; the nesting assembly comprising first and second workpiece support elements each having a length, the first and second workpiece support elements each repositionable relative to the bolster assembly in predetermined paths between (a) an operating orientation wherein the lengths of the first and second workpiece support elements project generally in a direction of the second path and (b) a stored orientation, the first and second workpiece support elements having a lesser projection along the second path with the first and second workpiece support elements in their stored orientation than with the first and second workpiece support elements in their operating orientation, at least one of the first and second workpiece support elements repositionable relative to the bolster assembly to a pre-storage position wherein the first and second workpiece support elements do not interfere with each other as the other of the first and second workpiece support elements is changed from its operating orientation into its stored orientation, wherein the first and second workpiece support elements are relatively repositionable between a pre-storage relationship and an operative relationship, wherein with the first and second workpiece support elements in the pre-storage relationship the first and second predetermined paths do not intersect and with the first and second workpiece support elements in the operative relationship the first and second predetermined paths do intersect.