Method and apparatus for stacking pasted battery plates.

摘要

Battery plates from the high speed output conveyor (12) of a pasted plate making machine are deposited onto a lower speed first conveyor (10) in an overlapped fashion to create a shingled stream of plates (18). As plates drop off of the discharge end (19) of the first conveyor (10) they are accumulated in vertical stacks (31) on a second conveyor (24) that is located below the first conveyor (10). Whenever a stack (31) is completed the second conveyor (24) is moved approximately one plate width to remove the stack and the process continues. In order to provide time to move the stack, the flow of plates (18) on the first conveyor (10) is disrupted when the stack (31) is being moved. In the preferred embodiment the disruption is caused by squeezing the plates between the jaws (38, 42) of a clamping mechanism (36) that the plates pass through. A counter (20) is used to count the number of plates in a stack and a controller (22) causes the clamping mechanism (36) to be engaged at the proper time, causes the second conveyor (24) to remove the just-formed stack and then causes the second conveyor (24) to stop and the clamping mechanism to be reopened so that a second stack can be formed. A gate (32) extends across the second conveyor (24) when the stack is being formed to ensure that the stack is straight. The gate (32) is raised upon command from the controller (22) when movement of the second conveyor (24) commences and is lowered again when movement of the second conveyor ceases.