US 5791865

Patent Overview — US 5,791,865

Title: Bag palletizer
Patent number: US 5,791,865 A
Inventor: Rod W. Bublitz
Assignee: Individual (original assignee: Individual)
Application number: US 08/713,784
Priority/filing date: 1996-09-13 (also priority to CA 002214662 A, 1997-09-03)
Grant/publication date: 1998-08-11
Status listed at source: Expired – Fee Related; anticipated expiration 2016-09-13

Purpose. The patent describes an apparatus for palletizing bags of potatoes or other products, intended for use where washing, bagging, and palletizing occur on the farm and run only during harvest. Per the source, the machine stacks bags on a pallet so the stack's sides are "substantially vertical" and bags do not extend beyond the pallet edges, reducing lifting and bending by workers, cutting the number of people required, and increasing production rate. It also addresses problems described in the source: pallets difficult to move into vans by forklift, stacks falling against each other in transport, and manual unloading.

Plain-language scope. The bag palletizer includes a frame supporting two elevated stacking guides, with work stations at opposite ends. A first lift assembly raises a pallet to the level of the first stacking guide; a second lift assembly raises a pallet to the level of the second stacking guide. A stacker at each station moves bags laterally from a bag delivery conveyor into the adjacent guide in a predetermined arrangement; the pallet is then lowered. The two stackers can alternate taking bags, or one may take all bags until its pallet fills, permitting continuous operation while a loaded pallet is removed and replaced. Each stacking guide is described as a four-sided, open-top and open-bottom enclosure whose open area is less than the pallet, with wall height greater than one filled bag and preferably between 1½ and 2 times bag height.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5791865/en

What the excerpt does not establish. The supplied text is explicitly an excerpt with omitted portions (including claims and later description). It therefore does not establish the full claim scope, complete figures/steps, the bag delivery conveyor details, or the second lift control specifics. It also does not establish legal status, ownership transfers, validity, or litigation, none of which were researched here.