450,251. Load-handling machines for stacking articles in racks &c. RUNFOLD SAND & TILE CO., Ltd., and WILKINSON, H. A., Guildford Road, Runfold, Surrey. Jan. 7, 1935, No. 552. [Class 78 (iii)] [See also Group XVII] In apparatus for stacking articles comprising a series of racks each having a number of article supports, disposed one above the other, means for loading the racks and means for conveying the articles to rackloading position, all arranged so as to permit any of the supports in a selected rack to be loaded, the articles are fed into the racks by fluid-actuated means. They are also raised from the conveyer by fluidactuated means. In one construction, as applied to delivering pallets carrying freshlymoulded tiles to drying-racks, a series of guided racks I... VI, Fig. 1, are arranged side by side adjacent to a rope conveyer 22 along which the pallets are fed from a moulding- machine, and are suspended in pairs by ropes 21 so that they balance one another. The charging device is carried on a truck which runs on rails in front of the conveyer 22. Operation of the pallet-lifting and charging devices. Each pallet in turn, as it travels along the conveyer 22, rotates a lever 28, Fig. 5, about the pivot 29 and thus operates a valve to cause the ram 31 to raise the arm 24 from the dotted to the full-line position, raising the pallet 17 from the conveyer in the process and bringing it into register with the ram of the charging pusher 37. A dash - pot 55 controls the lifting movement. The movement of the arm 34 also operates a lever 53, which withdraws a tripping catch 50, 51, Fig. 4, from behind the projection 45 on a valve rod 42, thus allowing a compressed spring 49 to move the rod towards the left and set the valve for moving the ram 38 of the charging pusher forwards, the crosshead 40 sliding on the valve rod 42 during this movement until it reaches the spring 46 after which it carries the rod along with it and again operates the valve to reverse the movement pf the ram. During the first portion of this movement the pallet is pushed laterally clear of the lever 28, Fig. 5, and the latter is restored to its original position by the spring 54, thus re-setting its valve to cause the ram 31 to descend. This descent re-positions tripping catch 50 so that the pivoted member 51 is tripped to re-engage behind the projection 45 as the rod 42 moves towards the right. On the return stroke the rod 42 is held, and the crosshead 40 finally re-tensions the spring 49. Operation of the shelf-raising devices. The crosshead 40 during each charging movement operates a lever 77, Fig. 3, to tension a spring 78, and draw a pawl 81 backwards one tooth. When the lever is released, the spring causes the ratchet wheel 75 to be fed forwards one tooth by the pawl. After a predetermined number of operations, corresponding to the complete loading of one shelf with a number of trays, a recess 83 on a cam registers with the end 74 of a lever 71, Fig. 6, thus allowing the spring 73 to rotate the lever and operate the valve rod 70 of the ram 56. Elevation of this ram is communicated through a lever 58 to a second lever 61 which is supported by a hook at one end and rotates on a rock shaft 62 at the other. Elevation of the lever 61 raises the shelves through the medium of the depending link 65, Figs. 6 and 7, and the pawl 66 engaging the shelves, and also removes stop 85 from the path of the spring-controlled arm 84 thus enabling the latter to engage the shelves and limit the upward movement to the distance between successive shelves. The succeeding stroke of the pallet-charging ram removes the recess 83 from register with the lever 71 and thus re-sets the valve 70 for lowering, following which the levers 58 and 61 and the pawl 67 are positioned for another stroke. When the lowest shelf has been loaded and the whole rack is thus full, the next lift of the rack causes the pawl 66 to be rotated by a stop 89 so that a spring bolt passes automatically through the hole 88 and holds it out of action while the whole rack is re-lowered. A catch withdraws the spring bolt at the bottom of the descent. On delivery from the shelves, each pallet is partly supported at one side by an inclined angle-iron guide member 91, Fig. 4, so that the unsupported side falls on to the delivery conveyer, while the pallet as a whole is released gradually from the guide by the continued forward movement of the conveyer. The travelling carriage carrying the charging-mechanism may be provided with track-engaging means to fix it in the working position.