Eric Michael Pressler
Engineering at Pontalba St, New Orleans, LA

8528742, Sep 10, 2013

Mar 4, 2011

13/040919

Stephen G. Wargo - Laurel MD, US
Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US
John M. Dunlop - Gaithersburg MD, US

Laitram, L.L.C. - Harahan LA

B07B 13/00

209663, 209617, 209627, 209539

A package-culling conveyor system and a method for culling flat packages from a bulk flow of flat and non-flat packages. The conveyor system includes a tilted conveyor belt that conveys flat packages along its length while non-flat packages tumble off its lower side edge to initially cull flat packages from a bulk flow of packages. Retention means, such as a high-friction outer conveying surface or a raised barrier along the length of the outer conveying surface of the tilted conveyor belt, holds flat packages on the tilted conveyor belt. The initially separated packages are more fully culled in a conveyor comprising a roller conveyor belt with package-supporting belt rollers rotated in a direction to push packages sidewise toward a culling element that extends along the length of the roller conveyor belt. Examples of culling elements include powered rollers and vertical walls forming side guards. The powered roller lifts the contact side of non-flat packages to free flat packages underneath.

2006024, Nov 9, 2006

Jun 1, 2005

10/908933

Mark Costanzo - River Ridge LA, US
Eric Pressler - New Orleans LA, US
Matthew Fourney - Savage MD, US

B65G 47/46, B65G 17/24

198779000, 198370030

A conveyor and associated method for diverting closely spaced articles conveyed along the conveyor. The conveyor includes a conveyor belt with belt rollers oriented to rotate on axes oblique to the direction of belt travel. A series of arrays of bearing surface elements are arranged end to end along the length of the conveyor. The bearing surfaces may be static or rotational. Each array defines a roller-control zone in which the array is selectively activated with its bearing surface elements in contract with the belt rollers or deactivated with its bearing surface elements out of contact with the belt rollers. As the belt advances through an activated roller-control zone, the belt rollers rotate to propel a conveyed article toward a side of the belt. The contiguous roller-control zones are sequentially activated and deactivated to direct articles to the side and off the belt or to let them pass straight through. The length of the entire series of roller-control zones determines the lateral extent of the sidewise diversion. The length of each roller-control zone determines the minimum gap between consecutively conveyed articles. The serial cascade of these roller-control zones permits the tight sortation of closely spaced articles for high throughput.

7861847, Jan 4, 2011

May 28, 2009

12/473797

Matthew L. Fourney - Laurel MD, US
Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US

Laitram, L.L.C. - Harahan LA

B65G 47/26

198433, 1984192

A conveyor and a method for depalletizing and singulating packages. The conveyor comprises, in one version, a set-down conveyor on which pallet layers are deposited and conveyed, a row-separation conveyor that separates the pallet layer into spaced rows, a row-extraction conveyor that extracts a leading row of packages from the trailing rows and conveys the packages of the extracted row in a transverse direction, and a singulating conveyor that arranges the articles in a single file. The conveyor system operates by first pulling a gap in the leading row of a pallet layer when the packages cross into the row-separation conveyor. Then the row is extracted from the other rows on the row-extraction conveyor. Finally, as the packages travel on and along the singulating conveyor, they are aligned to the conveyor's outer edge and rotated, if necessary, to be properly singulated.

2011010, May 12, 2011

Jun 25, 2009

13/000236

Mark Costanzo - River Ridge LA, US
Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US

LAITRAM, L.L.C. - Harahan LA

B65G 11/00

1988361

A conveyor having a retractable stop providing a nonsliding contact surface to the leading faces of conveyed articles to prevent damage to the faces of the articles. One version of such a stop has a contact surface defined by the peripheries of rollers that rotate on the accumulated articles as the stop moves from a blocking position accumulating articles on the conveyor to a retracted position releasing accumulated articles to advance downstream along the conveyor.

2008012, May 29, 2008

Nov 29, 2006

11/564407

Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US
Mark Costanzo - River Ridge LA, US
Matthew L. Fourney - Laurel MD, US

B65G 47/24

198411

An alignment conveyor for aligning articles along a side of the conveyor without changing their orientation. The conveyor includes a conveyor belt having article-supporting rollers rotating in a direction oblique to the direction of belt travel as the belt advances. The rollers direct the articles to a side of the belt. A sideguard, formed by a series of plates or an array of rotatable elements, advances with the belt in the direction of belt travel and receives and aligns the articles without causing them to rotate on contact.

7891481, Feb 22, 2011

Sep 11, 2008

12/208913

Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US
Matthew L. Fourney - Laurel MD, US

Laitram, L.L.C. - Harahan LA

B65G 17/16

198779, 198853

A conveyor belt and a method for providing a conveyor belt with rollers that rotate on axes oblique to the direction of belt travel. Axles are mounted on rods extending perpendicular to direction of belt travel. The axles have cylindrical outer bearing surfaces that define a central axis that is oblique to the direction of belt travel when mounted on the rods. Rollers mounted on the axles rotate on the outer bearing surfaces in a direction oblique to the direction of belt travel.

8109384, Feb 7, 2012

Aug 22, 2008

12/671265

Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US
Mark Costanzo - River Ridge LA, US

Laitram, L.L.C. - Harahan LA

B65G 17/24

198779, 1984597, 1984601, 198853

A spacing conveyor having article-accelerating rollers and selectively retractable stops to control the gaps between consecutive conveyed packages. A sensor measures the length of a package being fed onto the spacing conveyor. A controller selectively actuates one or more actuators positioned along the length of the conveyor to move selected stops advancing with the conveyor from a retracted position to a blocking position to receive packages a variety of sizes and to control the gaps between consecutive packages.

8365902, Feb 5, 2013

Aug 22, 2008

12/671379

Mark Costanzo - River Ridge LA, US
Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US

Laitram, L.L.C. - Harahan LA

B65G 15/20, B65G 15/00, B65G 17/06

198779, 198853, 198817, 198851, 198845

A conveyor having a conveyor belt with wall segments that pivot between a retracted position below the conveying surface of the belt and an extended position above the conveying surface. When extended, the wall segments form a wall along the length of a portion of the belt to prevent conveyed articles from moving laterally past. The retractable wall segments are cam- or spring-actuated. Diverting conveyors using the retractable wall segments in an oblique-roller conveyor belt are useful as sorters or switches.

7878319, Feb 1, 2011

Dec 20, 2006

12/096736

Mark Costanzo - River Ridge LA, US
Eric M. Pressler - New Orleans LA, US

Laitram, L.L.C. - Harahan LA

B65G 47/26

19845702, 19837009, 198779

A sorting switch for diverting articles from one or more infeed conveyors to two or more outfeed conveyors. A cannulae pre-alignment conveyor receives articles from one or more infeed conveyors and selectively diverts individual articles into two or more lateral regions for delivery to an alignment conveyor downstream. The alignment conveyor more precisely aligns the articles within each of the regions for delivery to outfeed conveyors at the downstream end of the alignment conveyor. The alignment and pre-alignment conveyors are realized as belt conveyors with rollers arranged to rotate universally or on axes in specific orientations. In some versions, a belt's rollers roll on bearing surfaces whenever the belt is advancing. In other versions, rollers are selective actuated by moving bearing surfaces. In yet other versions, rollers are not contacted by bearing surfaces at all.