Patent ID: 7089712

Claim:
Apparatus for assembling a plurality of storage media carriers into a single assembly, the apparatus including: a first magazine adapted to retain a plurality of carriers in a stack; a carrier depositor associated with the magazine for individually releasing a lower-most positioned carrier from said magazine; a conveyor system having at least a first conveyor adapted to receive carriers from the magazine as released by said depositor and to convey a plurality of carriers therealong in a row having a longitudinal axis; a glue depositor operable to deposit glue on said carriers as they are conveyed along the conveyor; a source adapted to contain a plurality of cover strips; an applicator adapted to position and support a cover strip from the source in overlying and spaced relation to an upwardly facing surface portion of each of a plurality of said carriers on the outside surface of each carrier prior to contact with the glue thereon, the cover strip to be applied has a longitudinal axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the row of carriers and generally parallel to the direction of movement of the first conveyor; a drive member movable generally in the direction of the longitudinal axis and in an indexed manner with the first conveyor and at least one carrier thereon and operable to selectively move a respective cover strip to a position for engagement with at least one underlying carrier downstream of said glue depositor; and a spacer mechanism adapted to space the carriers in a sequence at predetermined locations from one another along a first conveyor portion prior to application of a respective cover strip to said at least one carrier at the applicator.