Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7857574 | Media processor A media stacker is adapted to accommodate plate-shaped media in a stacked manner. A sensor with which the media stacker is provided is operable to detect a height of the stacked media accommodated in the media stacker. ... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7360758 | Accumulator apparatus non-marring pusher system An accumulator apparatus for accumulating one or more sheets or articles is provided and includes a sheet accumulator portion for accumulating one or more sheets or articles, a ramp disposed upstream of the sheet accumulator portion relative to a flow direction of t... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7320413 | Self-closing dispensing container A disposable container for holding and dispensing one oral care, candy and/or medicinal strip at a time, without the need to open the package or to insert one's dirty fingers into the package, thereby eliminating the contamination of the remaining strips, and allowi... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7266422 | Automated palletizing cases having mixed sizes and shapes A method for stacking cases on a pallet includes supplying cases to a buffer, determining physical characteristics of buffer cases including dimensions of a case base and case height, and determining available positions on the pallet where a buffer case can be place... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7210280 | System and method for loading a cargo space with piece goods A machining system and unit, especially a welding cell, is provided for use for the machining of workpieces (2), especially body parts of vehicles. The machining system has one or more machining stations (15, 16) with robots (18, 19, 20) and at ... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7063500 | Method and apparatus of stacking veneer sheets A method of stacking a veneer sheet carried by a conveyer onto a pile of similar veneer sheets is disclosed. Veneer sheet is separated from the conveyer thereby to allow the sheet to drop from the conveyer toward the pile. The veneer sheet being dropped is restraine... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7033130 | Depalletizer for a material handling system A depalletizer includes an input assembly for supporting a loaded pallet loaded with at least one product, a lift assembly, and a product take-away assembly. The input assembly presents the loaded pallet to the lift assembly, which moves the loaded pallet to a produ... | 04/25/2006 |
| 6971839 | Machine and method for grouping products in stacks having a pre-set length A machine and a method for carrying out portioning of products in stacks having a pre-set length. One or more portioning stations are provided, in which there are present at least two elements for supporting the stack, the supporting elements being mobile in transla... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6962037 | Methods for sealing a load placed on a pallet A system for sealing a load with film, where the load is placed on a pallet, includes a frame and a vertically moveable platform on which the pallet is received. A clamp is mounted to the frame and is configured to engage the load independently of the pallet when th... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6951272 | Signature-stacking apparatus In a signature-stacking apparatus, a conveyor chain holding a row of signatures travels along a conveyance path. A first signature release section and a second signature release section are provided in the conveyance path. During travel from the first signature rele... | 10/04/2005 |
| 6938751 | Vertical lift assembly A vertical lift assembly for raising a plurality of diverting belts between rollers of a roller conveyor, to engage and raise an object from the surface of the conveyor, and to divert it to the side of the conveyor. The vertical lift assembly uses a plurality of hin... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6869267 | Robotic Stacker The invention relates to a new device for and a new method of assembling stacking patterns and simultaneously stacking these stacking patterns by means of a robotic manipulator having at least one translational robotic axis. ... | 03/22/2005 |
| 6860708 | Automatic down-stacking technology A stacked articles accumulating apparatus functions by down-stacking. The apparatus includes a surface supported on an air cylinder member with a solenoid valve controlled by a photo eye sensor to release air from the cylinder member to maintain the top article of a... | 03/01/2005 |
| 6655902 | Apparatus for stacking elongated members An apparatus for transferring rows of side-by-side elongated members from a conveyor to a stacking platform to form bundles. A plurality of parallel stacker arms are displaceable in a direction parallel to the conveying of the elongated members, between a... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6648586 | Sample chip collating apparatus A collating for collecting sample chips includes a framework supporting a plurality of supply bins housing sample chips and a track running adjacent the plurality of supply bins. The apparatus further includes at least one collection bin shaped and dimens... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6572325 | Freight container and lift casting therefore and method for lifting and transporting same A freight container for use in intermodal freight transportation systems that includes lift castings having a top lift aperture located on the lift casting at an outboard position, such that when other containers are stacked on top of the container, loads... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6439829 | Apparatus for placing spacers in stacked lumber An apparatus for placing spacer sticks between layers of lumber is disclosed. The present invention includes an overheads feed system for distributing spacer sticks to a plurality of stick placement modules. Each stick placement module has a plurality of ... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6386534 | Apparatus for and method of stacking articles An apparatus for and method of stacking flexible articles of a non-uniform thickness involves the use of a stacking table including separately movable first and second support surfaces. An actuator moves the stacking table through a range of motion relati... | 05/14/2002 |
| 6371720 | Palletizer with operation time reducing modifications An apparatus that is one part of a conveying system for transferring objects, such as bottles, where the apparatus arranges the objects in layers on a pallet is improved by the addition of sensors that provide early indications of movements of component p... | 04/16/2002 |
| 6264422 | Apparatus and method for assembling items onto a pallet An item layer assembly apparatus for continuously receiving items from an infeed conveyor, forming an item layer from a plurality of items, and loading the item layer onto a pallet is provided. The item a layer assembly apparatus comprises an item receivi... | 07/24/2001 |
| 6244583 | Stack transport for a sorter with pressing device A sheet handling apparatus which stores sheets ejected from an image forming apparatus in a bin, staples the sheets if necessary, takes the stapled or unstapled set of sheets out of the bin and transports the set of sheets up to a large-capacity tray nipp... | 06/12/2001 |
| 5964571 | Stacking system and method of stacking a plurality of articles A stacking system for vertically stacking a plurality of articles comprising: a transport table, a stacking area, an arm member, a vertical moving member, and a coordinating device. The transport table includes a first end and a second end, and a member f... | 10/12/1999 |
| 5895200 | Devices and methods for loading and unloading lumber for drying An apparatus for loading lumber onto pallets so as to provide a stack of lumber layers separated by pallets for drying in a kiln, and for dismantle after drying includes a first elongated lumber-carrying conveyor, an elongated pallet-loading structure pos... | 04/20/1999 |
| 5876033 | Device to stack and collect banknotes with the possibility of returning them A device to stack and collect banknotes with the possibility of returning them. It comprises conveyors (18) to take every banknote at the level of the inlet (12) and to drag the buntnote and spread it on a support surface (14) over a central opening (14')... | 03/02/1999 |
| 5738484 | Palletiser A palletizing system for placing articles from a conveyor onto two pallets. The palletizing system includes first and second substantially horizontally extending tracks each having a longitudinal axis. The first track adapted to move along the second trac... | 04/14/1998 |
| 5613826 | System to optimize the stacking efficiency of objects A method of stacking objects such that various factors are considered. These factors include: 1) what objects are to be removed from the stack; 2) the number of stacks that have no objects stacked; 3) the number of objects to be removed from a stack; 4) t... | 03/25/1997 |
| 5544999 | Method and apparatus for stacking modular housing units A method for stacking trailers is described. Firstly, position a first trailer on a skid assembly having an upper support frame that overlies a top of the first trailer. The upper support frame has a first end and a second end. Secondly, secure a first en... | 08/13/1996 |
| 5525029 | Palletizer having vertically movable pallet supports and at least one gripper only in a horizontal plane A palletizing system for placing articles from a conveyor onto two pallets. The palletizing system includes first and second substantially horizontally extending tracks each having a longitudinal axis. The first track adapted to move along the second trac... | 06/11/1996 |
| 5503387 | Device for conveying individual printed products of a scale-shaped flow A device for conveying individual printed products to a second conveying track from a staggered flow of printed products on a first conveying track. A step is formed between the first conveying track and the second conveying track. The second conveying tr... | 04/02/1996 |
| 5464317 | Registration power stacker A power stacker provides for receiving lengthwise orientated envelopes projected longitudinally onto the power stacker at a receiving end of the power stacker from an envelope feed device. The power stacker has a base supporting both an elongated deck and... | 11/07/1995 |
| 5338149 | Signature stacker A signature stream is intercepted by a bucket unlatched from the intercept position. The buckets are moved by drive chains. A spring assembly maintains tension upon the drive chains and spring loads the bucket in the "home" position, providing a detent ac... | 08/16/1994 |
| 5320479 | Packet feeding and stacking system A packet feeder system having a track extending between a packet feeder and the packet receiving end of a magazine includes a discharge end of the track that is adjustably positionable relative to the receiving end of the magazine. Appropriate sensors are... | 06/14/1994 |
| 5318401 | Stacking tray system with nonvertically receding elevator yielding square stacks A sheet stacking system for stacking the sequential sheet output of a reproducing apparatus, with a sheet stacking tray providing an upwardly inclined sheet stacking surface at a substantial angle above the horizontal for receiving and registering sheets ... | 06/07/1994 |
| 5207727 | Can end handling system A system for storing and transporting can end members comprising multiple tray units having multiple parallel rows of elongated compartments for receiving and supporting stacks of end members. The tray units are nestable and stackable one upon another to ... | 05/04/1993 |
| 5180277 | Can end handling system A system for storing and transporting can end members comprising multiple tray units having multiple parallel rows of elongated compartment for receiving and supporting stacks of end members. The tray units are nestable and stackable one upon another to p... | 01/19/1993 |
| 5076754 | Apparatus for forming stacks from consecutively conveyed, flat workpieces An apparatus for forming stacks from consecutively fed, flat workpieces, preferably bags, comprises a ram, which is movable up and down and serves to force the workpieces from a plane of conveyance onto a stacking plate or onto a stack formed on said stac... | 12/31/1991 |
| 5026034 | Document output apparatus having anti-dishevelment device Apparatus for feeding and stacking sets of finished sheets in an electrostatographic copier or printer includes means for feeding a set of such sets one at a time onto the top of a stack of such sheets already in an output hopper, and an anti-dishevelment... | 06/25/1991 |
| 4986730 | Stacking apparatus for continuously arriving generally rectangular printed products This invention is directed to an apparatus for stacking sheet-like articles (15) which are delivered by a conveyor to the upper portion of a stack compartment (18). The stack compartment (18) includes stop rails (19, 20, 21, 22) which define the edges of ... | 01/22/1991 |
| 4966521 | Tail stopping and knockdown device A device for slowing cut sheets in seriatum flow by nipping the trailing edge of the sheets as they leave a high-speed conveyor system is provided whereby the sheets pass to a stacking pile at a slow speed. The nipping device is provided in several embodi... | 10/30/1990 |
| 4954045 | Apparatus and method for transferring articles from a sewing machine A device to automatically transfer pantyhose articles from a sewing machine to a conveyor for packed pantyhose articles includes a carriage 2 reciprocable on a horizontal track 10 extending from an unloading station of a sewing machine (LC) to a loading s... | 09/04/1990 |
