초록 ▼

Methods of and apparatus for first establishing an elongate vertical stack of pallets within a surrounding vertical frame on special supporting and dispensing apparatus and thereafter sequentially dispensing individual pallets from the low end of said stack to floor level for pick up by conventional

Methods of and apparatus for first establishing an elongate vertical stack of pallets within a surrounding vertical frame on special supporting and dispensing apparatus and thereafter sequentially dispensing individual pallets from the low end of said stack to floor level for pick up by conventional, pallet handling fork trucks; methods of and apparatus for establishing, first, a plurality of axially aligned elongate vertical stacks of pallets mounted on special supporting and dispensing apparatus within a retaining, surrounding vertical frame and thereafter sequentially or simultaneously dispensing individual pallets from one or more of the axially aligned stacks of pallets for single or multiple pickup by the fork members of conventional pallet handling trucks.

대표청구항 ▼

A process of first establishing a vertical stack of pallets and thereafter subsequently dispensing pallets from the low end of said stack, each of said pallets having normally horizontal top and bottom walls, such walls both vertically spaced apart and connected together by normally vertical side wa

A process of first establishing a vertical stack of pallets and thereafter subsequently dispensing pallets from the low end of said stack, each of said pallets having normally horizontal top and bottom walls, such walls both vertically spaced apart and connected together by normally vertical side walls, comprising the steps of: (1) first supporting said stack of pallets on a plurality of opposed shelf members underlying portions of the side edges of the bottom wall of the bottommost pallet in said stack, said stack normally supported by said shelf members above floor level at a height at least greater than the thickness of the one pallet and at least sufficient to permit at least the bottommost pallet of the stack to be lowered to ground level free and clear of the low end of the remainder of said stack, (2) gripping the opposed, lateral side walls of at least one of the next lowermost pallets in said stack by opposed, horizontal beam members with sufficient inwardly applied, lateral force so as to grab and vertically suspend at least said grabbed pallet with sufficient force to enable the support thereon of the remaining, upwardly extending pallets of the stack thereon, (3) lowering at least the first bottommost pallet on said shelf members moving in as linear path downwardly, clear of the remaining stack and said gripped next lowermost pallet, to closely adjacent floor level and disengaging said opposed shelf members from under said first pallet by coordinated, lateral, outward motion of said members, whereby at least said first pallet is deposited on substantial floor level and thereafter is available for removal from under the remaining suspended stack, thus to be lifted up and carried away from under said suspended stack, (4) returning said shelf members inwardly and upwardly to underlie and engage the lower edge surfaces of the bottom wall of the side suspended, but now bottommost, pallet in the remaining stack, and (5) withdrawing said opposed, horizontal beam members from engagement with the side walls of said now bottommost pallet so that it and the remaining pallet stack piled thereon is once more supported on said underlying shelf members.