Kenneth J Schmidt

US Patent:

7736121, Jun 15, 2010

Filed:

Oct 4, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/973108

Inventors:

Thomas G. Berger - Ridgefield NJ, US
Moysey Shtilerman - Elmwood Park NJ, US
Kenneth L. Schmidt - Succasunna NJ, US

Assignee:

Solbern LLC - Fairfield NJ

International Classification:

B65H 3/08
B65G 59/06

US Classification:

414797, 4147977, 271105, 271270

Abstract:

Disclosed herein is a destacking device for dispensing planar food products, such as tortillas, from a stack bottom. In some embodiments of the invention, the device includes a frame and a carriage assembly configured for linear reciprocation with respect to the frame. The carriage assembly has a drum that rotates in response to linear reciprocation of the carriage assembly, and a suction lip is positioned proximal a wall of the drum. A stack of tortillas can be disposed on the suction lip, and a negative pressure is applied to close the suction lip and “suck” a bottommost tortilla against the lip. A movable arm has a leading edge for cooperating with the suction lip to separate the bottommost tortilla from a next bottommost tortilla. The drum rotates the suction lip and tortilla, and the vacuum is released to allow the tortilla to fall downwardly onto an endless belt.