TRAY DESTACKER

摘要

A tray destacker (10) is operable to separate individual trays (14) from a stack of trays (12) and to discharge the individual trays (14). The tray destacker (10) includes a tray separating device (24) which engages an edge or handle (14a) of the individual tray (14) and moves the tray (14) away from the stack of trays (12), while a tray retaining device (44) engages a next tray adjacent to the individual tray (14) and retains the remaining trays (12) of the stack. The tray separating device (24) may be biased toward an engaging position so as to engage the individual tray (14) when the trays and the tray separating device (24) are in an appropriate position relative to one another. The tray retaining device (44) may also be biased to engage the next tray (14) and may release the next tray in response to the tray separating device returning to the stack of trays (12) to remove the next tray (14) from the stack.