Patent ID: 8002102

Claim:
A thermoformed article stack guiding apparatus, the thermoformed article stack guiding apparatus provided downstream of a trim press having multiple rows of female dies each at a distinct level, comprising: a frame; a guide ramp carried by the frame and configured to receive and guide individual stacks of inter-nested articles exiting each female die of the upstream thermoforming trim press from multiple rows and multiple levels; and an array of juxtaposed article guide channels provided on the guide ramp, a first set of article guide channels inter-nested with a second set of article guide channels in an alternating array, each of the first set of article guide channels and the second set of article guide channels spread out laterally in a direction from an entrance end of the guide ramp to an exit end of the guide ramp to accept respective stacks of inter-nested articles from an upper row and a lower row of a trim press and transfer the stacks into a common exit row; wherein selected ones of the guide channels have a serpentine shape such that an entrance end of the ramp is narrower than an exit end of the ramp.