Patent ID: 7344134

Claim:
A stacking apparatus for stacking a plurality of flat articles on edge, each article having a front perimeter edge, a bottom edge and two faces, said stacking apparatus adapted to receive each of said plurality of flat articles as each article enters said stacking apparatus, moving in a direction generally parallel to said faces of each article, said stacking apparatus comprising: (a) an article receiver, the article receiver adapted to receive articles wherein the faces of the article are in a vertical position, comprising (i) a stop wall to receive the front perimeter edge of each article and stop horizontal motion of the article and to align the front perimeter edge of each article; (ii) a rotatable segmented roller for receiving the bottom edge of each article; and (iii) a front guide and a back wall; (b) the segmented roller comprising: (i) an elongated cylinder rotatable about a horizontal central axis of the cylinder, said central axis of said cylinder being parallel to said faces of the article in said article receiver; (ii) at least one planar surface that is substantially parallel to the horizontal central axis of the cylinder, the planar surface forming a shelf to receive the bottom edge of each flat article when each article enters the article receiver when the planar surface is rotated to a horizontal position; and (iii) a generally cylindrical outer surface; (c) a stacking conveyor bed; and (d) the segmented roller rotatable from a stopped position wherein the planar surface is in the horizontal position wherein the planar surface forms a gap to receive the bottom edge of one article at a time to a rotating configuration wherein the cylindrical outer surface of the segmented roller drives the one article against the stacking conveyor bed, and rotatable back to the stopped position wherein the planar surface is in a horizontal position to receive the bottom edge of another article.