Abstract: A pallet or cart which can be coupled to a similar pallet or cart in a side by side relationship is disclosed. The pallet or cart, at its one or right side, has a coupling, which cooperate with an associated coupling on the opposite or left side of an adjacent pallet or cart. The couplings and the associated couplings can be connected to connect the two pallets or carts together to make them capable of being moved together, and even be lifted and lowered together by a standard lift truck or fork lift or a standard pallet jack. The couplings are also releasable so that, when necessary, each pallet or cart may be used as would be a single pallet or cart. The pallet or cart may have one or more foldable shelves therein.

Abstract: A cabinet having a deep shelf with limited access is described and includes at least two opposite sides carrying track means to permit easy adjustment of the shelf between two or more levels by a single person maneuvering only the one accessible end of the shelf. The cabinet can be mounted on wheels to form a cart. One or more such adjustable shelves can be provided. The shelves may be positioned just above the bottom of the cart to provide a maximum depth cart for use, in intermediate positions for use with smaller objects and/or at the very top and/or side of the cart and locked in position to provide a secured interior for the cabinet.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a cart loading machine that provides for improved operating efficiencies, and includes a cart loading station, an infeed conveyor, a pattern forming area, a carrier sheet and wiping mechanism, and a fork loading apparatus. The cart loading station includes a framework defining a cart loading position and a cart waiting position. With the carrier in its extended position having carried a fully formed pattern to the cart loading position, a wiping mechanism is extended from beneath the carrier plate to contact the bundles as they sit on the carrier so that when the carrier moves back to its retracted position, the bundles are blocked and stripped therefrom. The wiping mechanism is then retracted below the carrier to permit the loading of a subsequent pattern of bundles thereon. This wiping mechanism eliminates the need for an overhanging blocking mechanism thereby permitting more efficient loader design and easier access to the pattern forming and bundle stripping areas.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a cart loading machine that provides for improved operating efficiencies, and includes a cart loading station, an infeed conveyor, a pattern forming area, a carrier sheet and wiping mechanism, and a fork loading apparatus. The cart loading station includes a framework defining a cart loading position and a cart waiting position. With the carrier in its extended position having carried a fully formed pattern to the cart loading position, a wiping mechanism is extended from beneath the carrier plate to contact the bundles as they sit on the carrier so that when the carrier moves back to its retracted position, the bundles are blocked and stripped therefrom. The wiping mechanism is then retracted below the carrier to permit the loading of a subsequent pattern of bundles thereon. This wiping mechanism eliminates the need for an overhanging blocking mechanism thereby permitting more efficient loader design and easier access to the pattern forming and bundle stripping areas.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a caser for quickly organizing variously sized containers into a plurality of predetermined patterns and then simultaneously filling an equal plurality of individual cases with that predetermined number of products. The caser of the present invention includes two parallel in-feed conveyors each delivering a single file continuous stream of containers to a loading area. Clamp and sensor means provide for regulating a predetermined number of containers into a pattern forming area from each conveyor. After a pattern is formed by an alternating pusher means that provides for pushing the group of containers either right or left to a position over one of two loading areas. Each loading area includes trap door means and a gripper head assembly. Each gripper head assembly includes a plurality of gripper heads each for gripping one of the plurality of patterns of containers. The gripper heads provide for gripping the containers and lowering them into cases after the trap door means open.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a cart having a base and three sidewalls extending there around and upward therefrom. Four wheels are secured at bottom corners of the sidewalls to provide for easy mobility of the cart. A pair of partial doors are hingedly secured to and extend along end edges of two opposing sidewalls for permitting partial coverage of a fourth side of the cart. Each partial door includes a spring biased manually operable pin for cooperating with a plurality of slots in the cart base. In this manner the doors can be positioned from an orientation substantially coextensive with a front edge of the cart base, to positions wherein the doors are oriented inwardly of the cart loading interior space. Each door is secured to its respective sidewall in a manner wherein it can be lifted a distance sufficient to lift the pin thereof free from and above the base slots.

Abstract: A shelf slide and shelf using a plurality of such slides is shown. The slides are releasably securable to wire supports used to form a display shelf. The slides are made of an extruded material having a lower coefficient of friction than the shelf wires and facilitate the movement of product on the shelf from the rear of the shelf to the front of the shelf under the force of gravity. A universal mounting device for permitting the use of a particularly sized shelf with existing shelf support framework where the existing framework is not sized to support the particularly sized shelf. An air baffle mountable on each shelf is also shown for reducing air flow around the shelves for preventing frost formation on refrigerated products.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for automatically loading successive layers of similarly shaped objects, such as newspaper bundles and the like, into wheeled carts. The bundles are first delivered at a controlled rate from a source thereof to a device that arranges and delivers the objects in organized groups to an initial loading position. The organized group is then moved onto a carrier from the loading position. The carrier then moves from its loading position to a position within the wheeled cart. A blocking plate serves to prevent the objects from moving with the carrier as it move back to its initial loading position wherein the objects are deposited in the cart. The cart is held on a lift and is first moved to a top loading position for receiving the first layer of bundles and subsequently lowered the needed amount for receiving successive layers of bundles.

Abstract: A ratchet driven continuous chain accumulator conveyor and an accuumulating and retrieval system includes a frame having a pair of continuous chains. The chains are mounted on sprockets on either end of the accumulating conveyors and run in upper and lower chain channels. A hydraulic drive cylinder is supported by the frame of each accumulating conveyor and includes gravity dogs on an operable piston end thereof. The gravity dogs provide for imparting a ratcheting motion to each pair of chains through extension and retraction of the drive cylinder. Each accumulating conveyor includes a plurality of lift means along the length thereof for lifting cases from contact with the driving chains for relieving weight pressure thereon. The accuumulating and retrieval includes a computer control and loading mechanisms for automatically loading the accumulator conveyors with product.

Abstract: The present invention is a compressed gas cylinder carrier for retaining and transporting a plurality of such cylinders. The carrier includes a cage or framework having a base and top interconnected by a plurality of vertical bars. The base includes slide rails on which is slideably mounted a sled that can move between opposite ends of the carrier within the framework thereof. The sled has a base and a sidewall portion integral there with and extending upward there from. The sled base and sidewall form a cylinder retaining space. One carrier end has a hinged door for providing access to the interior of the carrier. A strap extends around the sled and is engaged through an adjustable buckle secured to the door. The top end of the carrier has a roof structure for forming a forklift receiving cavity. In operation, the present invention is sized to retain a plurality of compressed gas cylinders.

Abstract: A bi-directional ratchet conveyor is shown including a carrier bar slideably mounted centrally of a frame and operated by a power cylinder. The carrier bar has a first plurality of gravity dogs pivotally secured along a first side thereof, and a second plurality of gravity dogs secured along a second side thereof oriented in an opposite direction from the first plurality of gravity dogs. Dog operating rods are slideably secured to each side of the carrier bar for independently operating the first and second plurality of dogs between active and neutral positions. Each dog operating rod is operated by a separate pneumatic cylinder. When the first plurality of dogs are maintained in an active position, the second plurality of dogs are maintained in a neutral position, thereby providing for movement of goods in one direction along the conveyor through repeated extension and retraction of the power cylinder.

Abstract: A conveyor for providing motion of a wheeled cart, and the like, through a curve. A rigid frame supports a central fixed support and a pair of wheel guides on either side thereof. A mounting rail is slideably secured to the central support and includes a plurality of gravity dogs pivotally secured thereto. The central support, mounting rail and cart wheel guides extend through a common arc. A cylinder drive, is pivotally secured on one end to the main mount rail, and on an opposite end thereof to the frame. A control provides for alternate extension and retraction of the cylinder to provide for a back and forth ratcheting motion of the main mount rail with respect to the central support. The double pivot mounting of the drive cylinder provides for converting the linear motion thereof to the radial motion of the main mount rail relative to the central mount rail support.

Abstract: A wheel lock mechanism for use in carts and the like for releasably locking an opposed pair of swivel caster wheels of such carts. The present invention includes a lever arm extending outwardly from the cart operable by the foot of an operator for moving a locking mechanism between a wheel locking position and a free wheeling position.

Abstract: An improved pegbar has a double strength peg mounted therein. The new and improved peg for the pegbar has a generally U-shaped configuration with a pair of elongate adjacent bodies extending from a common front nose, and a key on the back end of each body. The nose is twisted 1/4 turn to rotate the keys from a normal lock to an unlocked position. Methods of making and using the double strength peg are presented.

Abstract: An adjustable work stand has fixed and hinged legs connected to a leg bracket, a table having a table bracket connected to a fulcrum in the leg bracket and fixed leg, a lock bolt in the hinged leg indexes both legs and the tables in several configurations including a plurality of table angles and a collapsed storage configuration, and a single actuator operates the lock bolts for any and all adjustments of the work stand and its mechanism.

Abstract: A pegbar display device has a pegbar and a display sign, the sign is a decour frame around a perimeter of the pegbar and is formed of several lengths of an extruded plastic channel and discrete connectors, the decour frame is held in position and supported by carrier pegs attachable to the pegbar. A method of providing this display sign is also provided.

Abstract: A new and improved transfer cart, specifically for the transfer, delivery and retail display of bottled milk or other packaged goods, has a new base and a new bottle retainer guide. The base is formed of a single elongate strip rolled in to a recurved outwardly convex section and folded and welded into a continuous band with inward facing top and bottom flanges and an outward extending bumper; corner posts are welded into the base band, and base beams are formed into the same cross-section of the base band and have swagged ends fitted into and affixed into the base band. The gate guides hold a liftable gate on the rear of the cart, the guides extend contiguously from the second to the top shelf gusset reinforcing the cart, and shelf tabs extend from each guide over the back of each shelf, and each shelf is welded to a pair of respective tabs to strengthen the cart and enable usage of less steel.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for washing transfer carts, the method having the steps of placing the cart on an advancement conveyor and advancing the cart into a soak station for soaking with a soak solution; advancing the cart into the wash station where a plurality of nozzle carrying wash arms are extended through an open side of the cart spraying a high pressure washing solution at an angle onto each of the respective shelves of the cart after which the washing nozzles are retracted again passing over the respective cart shelves; advancing the cart into a rinse station, rinsing the cart first with clear water and then with a dilute acid solution; and advancing the cart from the apparatus.

Abstract: A pegbar display device for presenting packages such as cold cut or cheese packages for retailing has an improved peg support bar and an improved peg; the bar is a rectangular tube having a greater height than depth, the bar front member has a keyhole that is taller than it is wide and with a flat bottom, the bar back member has a corresponding backbore which is directly behind and slightly below the keyhole; the peg has a front body, a toe on the back of the body, a horizontal indexing flat on the bottom of the peg, and lateral abutments between the toe and the index flat; the peg is turned ninety degrees to go into the bar; when in the bar the peg is then turned back ninety degrees and the index flat rests upon the keyhole flat bottom and the abutments engage the inside of the tubular bar to retain the peg in the bar, the peg bar is of lesser weight and very strong, and does not droop when loaded.

Abstract: A pegbar display device for presenting packages such as cold cut or cheese packages, or automotive parts, for retailing has a peg support bar and a merchandise peg; the bar is a rectangular tube having a keyhole that is taller than it is wide and with a flat bottom, the bar back member has a corresponding backbore which is directly behind and slightly below the keyhole; the peg has a front body, a toe on the back of the body, a horizontal indexing flat on the bottom of the peg, and lateral abutments between the toe and the index flat; the peg is turned ninety degrees to go into the bar; when in the bar the peg is then turned back ninety degrees and the index flat rests upon the keyhole flat bottom and the abutments engage the inside of the tubular bar to retain the peg in the bar.