Patents Examined by Anice Krizek
  • Patent number: 5380138
    Abstract: An article feeding apparatus which feeds articles from a feed source to a section to be subjected to feeding includes a stocker for stocking a plurality of pallets retaining a plurality of articles in units of types of articles, with the stocker being capable of moving one pallet to a predetermined position, and a take-out unit for taking the pallet moved to the predetermined position outside the stocker in order to transfer articles to the section to be subjected to feeding. In addition, a buffer receives replacement of the pallets retaining the articles from external equipment and temporarily stores the plurality of pallets, and a replacing unit replaces the pallets in the stocker with the pallets in the buffer in accordance with a decrease in number of articles in the pallet in the stocker to a predetermined value as the articles are fed to the feeding section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1993
    Date of Patent: January 10, 1995
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shozo Kasai, Takeo Tanita, Masateru Yasuhara, Yusaku Azuma, Toshihiro Yamamoto, Norio Nikaido, Ryohei Inaba, Mitsuo Arai