Article delivery apparatus
First Claim
1. An article delivery/receiving apparatus for delivering/receiving articles through the use of trays in a factory, comprising:
- a main body adapted to be disposed in the vicinity of a working station, and a carrier containing a stack of trays therein; and
said main body including;
a tray loading/unloading portion having a space for encasing said carrier, and said carrier containing said stack of trays which is adapted to be loaded or unloaded;
a tray engaging neans provided in said tray loading/unloading portion and being sequentially engageable with each lowermost tray and the next lowermost tray of the stack, whereby said lowermost tray is released from said stack of trays;
first and second article delivery/receiving portions formed at an upper portion of said main body to allow for cooperation with a working robot, and each being disposed in juxtaposition to said tray loading/unloading portion;
a lift means, for stepwise vertical movement of said stack of trays to permit unstacking of said stack of trays as well as separate restacking of returned trays on top of said lift means;
first upper lateral feeding means provided in said main body for laterally shifting said lowermost tray to and from said first article delivery/receiving portion; and
a second upper lateral feeding means provided in said main body for laterally shifting the next lowermost tray to and from said second article delivery receiving portion.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An article delivery apparatus carries out article delivery in a factory and so on through trays comprising, a main body having a tray supply portion for loading a tray stack including a plurality of trays stacked one upon another and an article delivery portion for positioning the tray transferred from the tray supply portion so as to allow an article delivery operation, a transfer device provided in association with the tray supply portion and the article delivery portion for feeding the tray from the tray supply portion to the article delivery portion and returning the tray after completion of the article delivery operation to a lower portion of the tray supply portion, and a lift provided in the vicinity of the tray supply portion for feeding the tray of the tray stack to the transfer device and receiving the tray after completion of the article delivery operation returned to the lower portion of the tray supply portion.
-
Citations
7 Claims
-
1. An article delivery/receiving apparatus for delivering/receiving articles through the use of trays in a factory, comprising:
-
a main body adapted to be disposed in the vicinity of a working station, and a carrier containing a stack of trays therein; and
said main body including;a tray loading/unloading portion having a space for encasing said carrier, and said carrier containing said stack of trays which is adapted to be loaded or unloaded; a tray engaging neans provided in said tray loading/unloading portion and being sequentially engageable with each lowermost tray and the next lowermost tray of the stack, whereby said lowermost tray is released from said stack of trays; first and second article delivery/receiving portions formed at an upper portion of said main body to allow for cooperation with a working robot, and each being disposed in juxtaposition to said tray loading/unloading portion; a lift means, for stepwise vertical movement of said stack of trays to permit unstacking of said stack of trays as well as separate restacking of returned trays on top of said lift means; first upper lateral feeding means provided in said main body for laterally shifting said lowermost tray to and from said first article delivery/receiving portion; and a second upper lateral feeding means provided in said main body for laterally shifting the next lowermost tray to and from said second article delivery receiving portion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An article delivery/receiving apparatus for delivering/receiving articles through the use of trays in a factory, comprising:
-
a main body adapted to be disposed in the vicinity of a working station, and a carrier containing a stack of trays therein; and
said main body including;a tray loading/unloading portion having a space for encasing said carrier, and said carrier containing said stack of trays which is adapted to be loaded or unloaded; a tray engaging means provided in said tray loading/unloading portion and being sequentially engageable with each lowermost tray and the next lowermost tray of the stack, whereby said lowermost tray is released from said stack of trays; first and second article delivery/receiving portions formed at an upper portion of said main body to allow for cooperation with a working robot; a lift means, for stepwise vertical movement of said stack of trays, to permit unstacking of said stack of trays as well as separate restacking of returned trays on top of said lift means; a first upper lateral feeding means provided in said main body for laterally shifting said lowermost tray to and from said first article delivery/receiving portion; a second upper lateral feeding means provided in said main body for laterally shifting the next lowermost tray to and from said second article delivery/receiving portion, wherein said first and second upper lateral feeding means are laterally arranged; and a transfer means between said first and second upper lateral feeding means for shifting a tray in a crossing direction disposed orthogonally to the laterally shifting directions of said first and second upper lateral feeding means.
-
Specification