Patent ID: 7431556

Claim:
Stacking device for hollow stackable objects, said objects being of a generally tapered form having an axis (R), and stacked so that one object is partially inserted inside the next along said axis (R), said stacking device operating at the exit of a rotating machine ( 20 ) operating at high speed and having a rotating head ( 21 ) having a plurality of chucks ( 23 ) each bearing at least one of the objects, the stacking device comprising extractor apparatus ( 30 ) and an intermediate accumulator ( 40 ), wherein said chucks, the axis (R) on each of the objects on the plurality of chucks or in the intermediate accumulator, and the intermediate accumulator ( 40 ) itself, are all located in a first plane, whereas the extractor apparatus is formed by two opposing and spaced apart first gripping elements located in a second plane intersecting and extending in the longitudinal direction of the intermediate accumulator and perpendicular to the first plane, and operates along said second plane, wherein the first gripping elements are located in an exit station (B) of the rotating machine ( 20 ) and grip and remove the objects between the elements from the rotating chucks ( 23 ) one at a time, and wherein the intermediate accumulator ( 40 ) is fed at an entry thereof with objects introduced by the first gripping elements with a movement in the first plane in the longitudinal direction of the intermediate accumulator, and wherein said intermediate accumulator ( 40 ) has second gripping elements in the first plane which partially extend longitudinally between the first gripping elements to grip the objects between the second gripping elements in the position in which they are received from the extracting apparatus ( 30 ) and move them in the longitudinal direction of the intermediate accumulator and the axis (R) of the objects engaged in the intermediate accumulator and at such a speed that, in relation to a speed at which the objects are fed into the entry by the extractor apparatus so that the objects are accumulated one within the other in a partial manner within said accumulator, maintaining a sufficient distance to prevent substantial contact between the side walls ( 11 ) of the objects when the objects are in a partially inserted configuration in the intermediate accumulator.