US Patent 7533767 Apparatus for forming groups of battery plates

Apparatus for forming groups of stacked battery plates is generally indicated at 10 and includes input stations 11, 11′, respective envelopers 12, further input conveyors 13, 13′ for inputting plates onto respective conveyor 15, 15′ downstream of the envelopers. Transfer conveyors 22, 22′ are disposed at respective ends of the main conveyor 15, 15′ to feed an intermittently driven pocket conveyor 16, 16 via interrupt conveyors 23, 23′. The interrupt conveyors 23 include respective releaseable stops 32, which enable stacks to be formed on the interrupt conveyors 23, 23′ and for them to be released at the appropriate moment to be fed into a respective pocket on the pocket conveyor 16, 16′.