US 11,851,218 B1
Material handling apparatus
Brian Stuart Hoffman, Seattle, WA (US); David L. Alspaugh, Seattle, WA (US); Paul Roy Raines, Seattle, WA (US); Timothy Alan Talda, Renton, WA (US); Garett Ochs, Seattle, WA (US); Steven Todd Johnson, Kirkland, WA (US); and Seshachalamgupta Motamarri, Sammamish, WA (US)
Assigned to Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed by Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed on Sep. 23, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/579,469.
Int. Cl. B65B 35/24 (2006.01); B65B 57/02 (2006.01); B65B 35/56 (2006.01); B65B 57/14 (2006.01); B65G 47/64 (2006.01); B65B 57/12 (2006.01); B65G 47/53 (2006.01)
CPC B65B 35/24 (2013.01) [B65B 35/56 (2013.01); B65B 57/02 (2013.01); B65B 57/14 (2013.01); B65G 47/646 (2013.01); B65B 57/12 (2013.01); B65G 47/53 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A material handling apparatus comprising:
an input conveyor operable to supply an item in a horizontal configuration in which a bottom surface of the item is in a substantially horizontal orientation;
a packaging conveyor having an advanceable belt surface operable to receive the item in a vertical configuration in which the bottom surface of the item is in a substantially vertical orientation and supply the item to a packaging apparatus with the item in the vertical configuration;
a backside vertical panel positioned along the packaging conveyor;
a base;
a support member having a first side pivotally coupled with the base to define a rotation axis positioned adjacent to a perimeter edge of the support member disposed closest to the packaging conveyor, the support member rotatable around the rotation axis between a receiving configuration, a rejection configuration, and a packaging configuration; the support member being configured to receive the item in the horizontal configuration from the input conveyor when in the receiving configuration, the support member being rotatable around the rotation axis from the receiving configuration to the rejection configuration such that the item is dropped from the support member in a rejection direction, and the support member being rotatable around the rotation axis from the receiving configuration to the packaging configuration to impart item movement such that (i) the item is reoriented toward the backside vertical panel in a motion that reorients the item away from the horizontal configuration and to the vertical configuration and (ii) the item is transferred in the vertical configuration directly onto the advanceable belt surface of the packaging conveyor and into a position along the backside vertical panel; and
an actuator assembly drivingly coupled to the support member such that the support member is rotated around the rotation axis in response to operation of the actuator assembly (i) in a first mode between the receiving configuration and the rejection configuration and (ii) in a second mode between the receiving configuration and the packaging configuration.