ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,312,194, issued on May 27, was assigned to A. G. Stacker Inc. (Weyers Cave, Va.).
"Diverter conveyor" was invented by Dalton Hege (Weyers Cave, Va.), Eric Stempihar (Rockingham, Va.) and Joseph Wunder (Lexington, Va.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A diverter conveyor includes a main conveyor having an upper deck and a lower deck, the upper deck including a plurality of belts, and the lower deck including a plurality of contact elements such as wheels. A plurality of paddles is mounted downstream of an entrance end of the conveyor and an actuator is configured to shift the plurality of paddles from a first position outside a sheet transpo...