WEB STACKER AND SEPARATOR APPARATUS AND METHOD

摘要

A separator and stacker apparatus and method for separating a completed stack of web product from a stack of product being built thereafter. Preferred embodiments of the present invention utilize a stack building carriage having a forked or slotted floor cooperating with a load finger assembly to discharge the completed product stack from the stack building carriage. The load finger assembly preferably has a set of load fingers which mesh with the carriage floor so that when the load finger assembly is actuated, the load fingers pass substantially unobstructed through the stack building carriage. The load finger assembly and the stack building carriage can therefore pass through their motions independently of one another, permitting the stack building carriage to return to a stack building position without waiting for the load finger assembly to retract. Some preferred embodiments of the present invention include finger assemblies adapted for movement alongside the stack building carriage path so that various fingers mounted thereon can be inserted in a range of stack building carriage positions. In addition to added flexibility in count and separation finger operations, the fold over fingers (or a fold over finger and fluid emitters) can perform final fold operations upon product stacks in a range of positions and times rather than only at a set location. Preferred embodiments also include a reject conveyor which, when the stack building carriage and load finger assembly are moved to cleared positions, permits jammed, misfed, or undesirable product to be automatically discharged from the apparatus.