阅读说明：本技术 金属等长条形产品分组装置和方法 (Metal equal-length strip product grouping device and method ) 是由 乔治·德尔法布罗 于 2020-03-11 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种金属等长条形产品(P)分组装置包括相对垂直平面倾斜的滑动平面(11),该滑动平面(11)具有配置为接收多个所述长方形产品(P)并允许在重力作用下横于长条形产品纵向延伸的滑动方向滑动的第一部位(11a),保持元件(14)设置在滑动平面(11)上。(A grouping device for metal, elongated products (P) of equal length comprises a sliding plane (11) inclined with respect to a vertical plane, the sliding plane (11) having a first portion (11a) configured to receive a plurality of said oblong products (P) and to allow sliding under the action of gravity transverse to a sliding direction of longitudinal extension of the oblong products, a retaining element (14) being arranged on the sliding plane (11).)

1. A grouping device for metal elongated products (P), comprising a sliding plane (11) inclined with respect to a vertical plane, said sliding plane (11) being configured to receive a plurality of said oblong products (P) and to allow said oblong products (P) to slide along a sliding direction (D) transversal to the longitudinal extension of said oblong products, a retaining element (14) being provided on said sliding plane (11), characterized in that said sliding plane (11) is provided with a stepped discontinuity (15) cooperating with said retaining element (14), wherein said retaining element (14) slides in said sliding direction (D) so as to delimit in any case, together with the stepped discontinuity (15), a temporary stacking zone (16) of the oblong products (P).

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the sliding plane (11) comprises a first portion (11a) arranged upstream of the stepped discontinuity (15) with respect to the sliding direction (D) and having a feeding zone (12) configured to receive one or more elongated products (P), and a second portion (11b) arranged downstream of the stepped discontinuity (15) with respect to the sliding direction (D) and having a removal zone (13), movement means (17) being provided in correspondence of the removal zone (13) to remove the elongated products (P).

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises a guide slot (18) parallel to the sliding direction (D), in which guide slot (18) the retaining element (14) is movable so as to in any case delimit the size of the stacking zone (16) with respect to the step-like discontinuity (15) in the sliding direction (D).

4. Device as in claim 2 and in claim 3, characterized in that said retaining element (14) is configured to slide in said guide slot (18) so as to bring the oblong products (P) previously grouped in the stacking zone (16) together towards said removal zone (13).

5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a striker pin (19) arranged inside said retaining element (14) and sliding between an inner position, in which said striker pin (19) is completely contained inside said retaining element (14), and an operating position, in which said striker pin (19) protrudes from said retaining element (14) to increase its height from said second portion (11b) of said sliding plane (11).

6. Device according to claim 2 or 5, characterized in that said moving means (17) are provided with a work position, in which said moving means (17) are located above said second portion (11b) of said sliding plane (11) in order to lift the elongated product (P) from said second portion (11b), and a non-interference position, in which said moving means (17) are located at least partially below said second portion (11b) of said sliding plane (11).

7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that each moving means (17) is provided with an interference portion (17a) configured to block the oblong products (P) and move with the holding element (14), and with a housing portion (17b) configured to house the oblong products (P) just blocked by each interference portion (17 a).

8. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises at least one moving drawer (23), said moving drawer (23) being arranged in correspondence of said removal zone (13) and being configured to cooperate with said moving means (17) in order to lift the elongated product (P).

9. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is provided with alignment means (24) ensuring the correct alignment of the elongated products (P) also in a transversal direction (T) perpendicular to said sliding direction (D), wherein said alignment means (24) comprise at least one wall (24a) delimiting the stacking zone (16) in the transversal direction (T).

10. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a containing element (25) between said infeed zone (12) and said stacking zone (16), said containing element (25) being configured to block the lifting and rotation of the elongated products (P) with respect to said sliding plane (11).

11. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is provided with a binding unit (21) arranged in correspondence of said removal zone (13), or a wrapping unit with suitable wrapping material, said binding unit (21) or wrapping unit being configured to bind or pack the elongated products (P) located on said mobile unit (17) at least when said mobile unit (17) is in said work position.

12. A method for grouping metal, elongated products, receives a plurality of said oblong products (P) on a sliding plane (11) inclined with respect to a vertical plane, the oblong products (P) slide at least under the action of gravity along a sliding direction (D) extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the oblong products (P), and on said sliding plane (11) there are retaining elements (14) to temporarily retain said elongated product (P), characterized in that the elongated product (P) slides on the sliding plane (11) under the action of gravity and falls into a step-like discontinuity (15) provided along the sliding plane (11), and is constrained together with the retaining element (14), the retaining element (14) moving in the sliding direction (D) in any case delimiting with the step-like discontinuity (15) a temporary stacking zone (16) of the elongated products (P).

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it comprises a step of bundling said elongated products (P) with a bundling unit (21) or wrapping unit located downstream of said stacking zone (16).

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to a device and a method for grouping metal equal-length strip-shaped products.

In particular, the invention is applicable to automatically, and uniformly, stacking and aligning a plurality of elongated products having the same shape or similar shapes in groups and moving them to a stacking area and possibly a bundling or packaging area where the products are automatically bundled together or packaged, such as wrapped or packaged, in preparation for storage and/or transport.

With respect to the term oblong product, here and in the following description we generally refer to products made of oblong bars, such as bars, rebars, possibly straightened, with a circular, square or similar shape, and with a cross section of circular, polygonal or flattened shape. For example, the strip-shaped product can be a medium-large bracket, a straight rod or a molding member with one or two bent ends.

Background

Various cutting and bending machines are known for making supports and/or shaped parts starting from straight and pre-cut bundles and wire coils.

Starting from a coil of wire, such machines can automatically straighten, cut, bend, and the wire by a computer system to form a stent and/or profile having a desired shape. Such machines can also make simple straightening bars, which are also necessary in building construction.

Known cutting and bending machines are configured to make supports and/or shaped parts starting from straight bars produced directly in bundles by steelworks, or from bars straightened by professional automatic straightening cutters.

In the field of the production of bars, supports and shaped parts (hereinafter referred to as "metal products") subsequent packaging becomes a problem.

In fact, once each size and type of metal product is produced on demand, it must be uniformly bundled in groups for movement and handling.

These metal products bound in groups also need to be labelled for correct storage so that they can be tracked before, during and after delivery to the destination of use.

All these operations are currently performed by professional operators immediately downstream of the cutting and bending machine. These operators manually collect the metal articles produced by the machine, neatly gather them, tie them, usually with wire, apply labels, and then return to the storage area.

In the storage area, various types of metal products are often bundled manually into larger packages, and grouped according to the requirements of specific customers.

Naturally, all this causes a certain waste of time and a certain slowness in the packaging of the metal product and all the associated operations, as well as safety problems for the operators who are required to handle heavy and bulky metal products.

Patent document US 3,837,465 describes a solution for a machine for the group-wise transport of bars, in which the bars to be grouped fall along inclined planes and are gathered in a space defined by a straight wall and an abutment wall provided between rotating holding elements. This solution is not particularly suitable for shaped bars with curved ends of different sizes.

In fact, if the finished products have a certain shape, for example if they are bent at their ends, or have a curvature in the longitudinal direction, these may cause them to cross each other and to arrange themselves disorderly, with consequent difficulties in packaging and bundling, which is particularly important when the products are long and of considerable thickness.

Although in some cases these operative parts may be performed by robotic systems that remove the metal product downstream of the cutting and bending machine by gripping means, these systems have various drawbacks.

In fact, these systems have to be elaborated, in particular in terms of gripping devices, which are costly and require a rather demanding technical treatment of the software and/or self-learning systems, that is to say they require a large number of complex activities necessary to handle the extensive metal products produced by the cutting and bending machine.

Another disadvantage is human-machine interaction, a very critical aspect in the case of robotic systems.

Particularly in terms of safety, the range of action of the moving arm and the range of movement of the metal product in movement need to be carefully selected.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved apparatus and method for grouping elongated products that overcomes at least one of the deficiencies of the prior art.

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an elongate product grouping apparatus which does not require operator intervention or at least minimises such intervention.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for automatically grouping the size and type of elongated products.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an elongated product grouping apparatus that is easy to handle.

Another object is to perfect a method for grouping elongated products according to the above mentioned objects.

The applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain the above and other purposes and advantages.

Disclosure of Invention

The independent claims recite and describe the technical features of the invention. The dependent claims describe further technical features of the invention or variants to the main inventive idea.

In accordance with the above purposes, a grouping device for metal, elongated products comprises a sliding plane inclined with respect to a vertical plane and configured, for example, to receive a plurality of elongated products at a time and to allow them to slide, at least under the action of gravity, along a sliding direction extending transversely to the longitudinal extension of the elongated products, although this is not necessarily the case.

On said sliding plane there is a holding element configured to at least temporarily hold said elongated product.

According to an aspect of the invention, said sliding plane is provided with at least one step-like discontinuity cooperating with said retaining element. Furthermore, the retaining element is movable in the sliding direction so as to delimit in any case, together with the step-like discontinuity, an area for stacking elongated products of variable size.

The presence of such a step-like discontinuity allows the metal product falling along said sliding plane to always position itself in a specific direction within the discontinuity, thus preventing the intersection and tangling between the curved or arched portions.

The retaining element is movable in the sliding direction, enabling the bottom dimension of the stacking zone to be varied in order to adapt to elongated products having end curvatures of any size, even of variable size.

In this way, a certain number of elongated products can be grouped without operator intervention in order to properly prepare the metal products to be packaged and bundled. Due to this grouping, binding or packing operations, even automated operations, which can be performed by professional automatic binding, wrapping and discharging devices arranged in cooperation with the apparatus, can be performed more easily.

Furthermore, the device is very versatile and easy to handle, since it is sufficient to adjust the mutual distance between the retaining device and the discontinuity in order to group oblong products of the same type, but for example of different sizes than those previously grouped.

The embodiment of the invention also relates to a grouping method of the metal equal-length strip-shaped products.

The method receives a plurality of elongated products on a sliding plane inclined with respect to a vertical plane, the elongated products sliding, at least under the action of gravity, along a sliding direction transverse to the longitudinal extension of the elongated products.

The sliding plane is provided with a retaining element which at least temporarily retains the elongated product.

According to one aspect of the invention, the sliding plane is provided with the above mentioned step-like discontinuity which cooperates with the retaining element moving in the sliding direction in order to delimit in any case a temporary stacking zone of the oblong products together with the step-like discontinuity.

Drawings

The above and other objects, technical features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof, given by way of non-limiting example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

figure 1 shows a perspective view of the elongated product grouping device of the invention;

FIGS. 2-9 show the sequence of operations of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

to facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is to be understood that elements and features of one embodiment may be combined with or incorporated into other embodiments naturally, without further recitation.

Detailed Description

Reference now will be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of illustration of the invention and should not be construed as a limitation of the invention. For example, features illustrated or described in connection with some embodiments can be applied to or combined with other embodiments to yield yet a further embodiment. It is to be understood that the invention is intended to embrace all such modifications and variations.

Before describing the embodiments, it must also be clarified that the present description is not limited to the application of the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description with the accompanying drawings. The description may provide other embodiments and may be obtained or carried out in other various ways. It must also be clarified that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

The embodiments described in connection with the drawings relate to an elongate product grouping apparatus, generally indicated by reference numeral 10 in the drawings.

The elongated product grouping device 10 comprises a sliding plane 11, which sliding plane 11 is inclined with respect to a vertical plane and is configured to be able to receive a plurality of elongated products P and to allow them to slide, at least under the effect of gravity, along a sliding direction D extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the elongated products P.

On the sliding plane 11 there is provided a retaining element 14 configured to retain at least temporarily the above-mentioned elongated product P.

According to one aspect of the invention, the sliding plane 11 is provided with a step-like discontinuity 15 cooperating with the retaining element 14. The holding element 14 is movable in the sliding direction D to delimit in any case, together with the step-like discontinuity 15, a temporary stacking area 16 of the elongated products P.

The sliding plane 11 comprises a first portion 11a upstream of the step-shaped discontinuity 15 with respect to the sliding direction D, and a second portion 11b downstream of the step-shaped discontinuity 15 with respect to the sliding direction D, the first portion 11a being provided with a feeding zone 12 configured to receive one or more elongated products P, the second portion 11b being provided with a removal zone 13, and the removal zone 13 being provided with a moving device 17 for removing the elongated products P.

According to a possible embodiment, the feeding section 12 is configured to receive one or more elongated products P from a work machine located upstream. For example, the work machine may be a bending or cutting bender, calender, or other similar or similar machine.

The removal zone 13 is positioned lower than the feeding zone 12 so that the elongated product P can slide under the action of gravity.

For this purpose, the sliding plane 11 must be inclined at an angle to ensure that the elongated products P slide uniformly, without lifting from the sliding plane 11 during their own movement. The inclination of the sliding plane 11 must also take into account possible surface ridges and ribs of the oblong product P which increase its roughness and therefore its friction with the sliding plane 11.

According to one aspect of the invention, the device 10 comprises a containing element 25, the containing element 25 being positioned between the infeed section 12 and the stacking section 16 and being configured to prevent the elongated products P from lifting and rotating with respect to the sliding plane 11.

According to some embodiments, the containing element 25 faces the sliding plane 11 so that there is space between them for the passage of the elongated product P. Particularly when the elongate product P has one or more bends at the end, the containing element 25 prevents the elongate product P from rotating about its longitudinal axis as it slides downstream, thereby preventing the longitudinal axis from changing the orientation of the bend in an undesirable manner.

Advantageously, the containing element 25 also extends with a step-like discontinuity 15 to prevent the elongated product P from rotating during its fall into the stacking area 16.

According to one aspect of the invention, the retaining element 14 is configured to slide in a guide groove 18 parallel to the sliding direction D, so as to define in any case the dimension of the stacking zone 16 with respect to the step-like discontinuity 15 in the sliding direction D.

The stacking area 16 is suitably enlarged with respect to the maximum dimension of the elongated products P in the sliding direction D so that the elongated products P can be orderly dropped therein without interference.

Furthermore, the depth of the stepped discontinuity 15 enables a plurality of elongated products P, equal to those prepared to constitute a uniform batch, to be grouped in order.

In particular, the depth of the stepped discontinuity 15 causes the elongated product P sliding on the sliding plane 11, in particular along the first portion 11a thereof, to "fall" into the stepped discontinuity 15, while adjusting the direction and position, for example, the bent end or bend thereof, to form a substantially uniform package in a manner consistent with the bend, etc., of the elongated product P previously discharged or subsequently discharged.

The depth of the stepped discontinuity 15, here and hereinafter, is referred to as the difference in height between the first portion 11a of the sliding plane 11 and the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11.

According to a possible solution, the depth of the step-like discontinuity 15 can also be variable, provided that the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11 is movable so as to increase/decrease said depth.

In order to ensure that the elongated products P are also correctly aligned in the transverse direction T, the device 10 is provided with alignment means 24, as described above, perpendicular to the sliding direction D.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the alignment device 24 comprises at least one wall 24a, which wall 24a is movable in the transverse direction to align the elongated products P with respect to each other with respect to the above-mentioned transverse direction T.

According to a possible embodiment, the alignment means 24 may comprise a pair of walls 24a, the walls 24a facing each other and delimiting the stacking zone 16 in the transverse direction T. At least one of the pair of walls 24a is movable in the transverse direction T towards the other transverse wall 24a so as to mutually align the elongated products P with respect to said transverse direction T.

The alignment device 24 is further provided with at least one moving element 24b for activating/deactivating the at least one moving wall 24 a. Advantageously, the mobile member 24b may have a fixed adjustable stroke, or it may be provided with means for measuring the pressure and/or the force, which means indicate when the alignment action can be considered to be completed.

According to said embodiment, the guide groove 18 extends at least up to the removal zone 13 starting from the step-like discontinuity 15, so that the retaining element 15 can slide on the sliding plane 11, in this case in its second portion 11b extending almost entirely with respect to the sliding direction D.

The retaining element 14 is configured to slide on said guide slot 18 to bring the elongated products P previously grouped in the stacking zone 16 towards the removal zone 13, moving together with said moving means 17.

During the movement of the retaining element 14, the elongated product P constantly rests on the retaining element 14 due to the effect of gravity and accompanies it, thus substantially adjusting the speed of the elongated product P.

The retaining elements 14 are configured to co-operatively slide along the respective guide slots 18 so that the ordered group of elongated products P continues to move towards the removal zone 13 without being misaligned. For this purpose, the holding element 14 is aligned in a transverse direction T perpendicular to the sliding direction D.

If the dimension of the elongated product P is greater or smaller than the transverse direction T, only part of the retaining elements 14 or all of the retaining elements 14 may be used and the remaining retaining elements 14 may be positioned, for example, in correspondence with the removal zone 13, beyond the movement means 17.

The retaining element 14 is raised in a vertical direction from the sliding plane 11 and therefore from the second portion 11b, so as to form, when doing so, the abutment of the elongated products P which fall in sequence in the stacking area 16.

The holding element 14 can house inside it a striker pin 19, which striker pin 19 slides between an inner position, in which the striker pin 19 is completely contained inside the holding element 14, and a working position, in which the striker pin 19 protrudes from the holding element 14, increasing its height from the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11.

In this way, the oblong products P are prevented from passing over the retaining element 14 and falling from the sliding plane 11 during their orderly fall into the stacking zone 16 or during their sliding towards the removal zone 13.

According to possible solutions, the retaining element 14 can comprise a plurality of walls with an extension in the transverse direction T, a plurality of cylinders suitably spaced apart in the transverse direction T or other elements capable of the same function.

If the holding element 14 comprises the above-mentioned walls, these walls are spaced apart from each other in the transverse direction T by a space 22 aligned with the respective moving means 17 located downstream. In this way, the holding element 14 can slide over the movement means 17, in particular between them, in the sliding direction D, in order to cooperate with the latter described in detail below.

In correspondence with the removal zone 13, the above-mentioned moving means 17 are able to temporarily contain the elongated products P and lift them from the sliding plane 11 (in this case from the second portion 11b thereof).

For this purpose, the movement means 17 are configured to pass from a work position, in which the movement means 17 lift the elongated product P from the sliding plane 11 (in particular from the second portion 11b thereof), above which the movement means 17 are located, in order to lift the elongated product P with respect to the sliding plane 11 to a non-interference position, in which the movement means 17 are partially located below the sliding plane 11.

The second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11 is provided with an aperture 20 matching the shape of the moving means 17 to allow the moving means 17 to move from the above-mentioned raised working position to the non-interfering position.

According to a possible embodiment of the invention, each moving device 17 has a concave configuration, wherein the concavity is open upwards to receive the elongated product P carried by the holding element 14.

The holding element 14 is configured to slide further downstream than the position of the moving means 17, able to transfer on the latter the oblong products P that have previously been grouped by interference.

To facilitate this operation, each moving device 17 is provided with an interference portion 17a for blocking the elongated product P, accompanied by a retaining element 14, and a housing portion 17b configured to house the elongated product P just blocked by each interference portion 17 a.

Specifically, in the non-interference portion of the moving means 17, the interference portion 17a is separated from the sliding plane 11 so as to block the elongated product P.

According to the embodiment, the apparatus 10 is provided with the binding unit 21 corresponding to the removal area 13, and the binding unit 21 is configured to bind the elongated product P on the moving unit 17 at least when the moving unit 17 is in the above-described working position.

Within the scope of the invention, the binding unit 21 may be replaced by an automated unit for winding the packaging material to form a packed product ready to be removed from the device 10.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the device 10 also comprises at least one mobile drawer 23, the mobile drawer 23 being arranged in correspondence of the removal zone 13 and configured to cooperate with the mobile device 17 in order to lift the elongated product P.

Advantageously, the device 10 comprises two mobile drawers 23, which mobile drawers 23 are aligned with the mobile devices 17 and are located at respective ends of the sliding plane 11 (in this particular case the second portion 11b) with respect to the transverse direction T.

Each moving drawer 23 is configured to receive the end of the elongated product P, which may or may not have one or more bends. In this way, these ends are always kept parallel to the sliding plane 11 even during the lifting by means of the moving means 17, so that they do not rotate with respect to the rest parallel to the transverse direction T and do not become disordered.

The lifting unit 24 is connected to the moving drawer 23 such that the lifting unit 24 moves with or without cooperation with the moving device 17.

The figure also shows the blade support element 26, the blade support element 26 being selectively activated to support the elongated product P before or after the bending operation is performed, when the elongated product P is out of the control of the bending element.

The embodiment of the invention also relates to a grouping method of the metal equal-length strip-shaped products.

The method receives a plurality of elongated products P sliding under at least the effect of gravity along a sliding direction D extending transversely to the longitudinal extension of the elongated products P on a sliding plane 11 inclined with respect to a vertical plane. On the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11 there is provided a retaining element 14 which at least temporarily retains the elongated product P.

According to one aspect of the invention, the sliding plane 11 is provided with the above mentioned step-like discontinuity 15, the step-like discontinuity 15 cooperating with the retaining element 14 moving in the sliding direction D to delimit in any case the above mentioned temporary stacking zone 16 of the elongated products P together with the step-like discontinuity 15.

According to one aspect of the invention, the method comprises the step of binding or wrapping the elongated products P with a wrapping material by means of a binding unit 21 located downstream of the stacking zone 16.

Referring to fig. 2-9, a possible operational sequence of the device is shown in fig. 1.

If it is desired to group and pack in batches certain types of elongated products P, for example coming from a bending machine located upstream of the apparatus 10, the position of the retaining means 14 is suitably adjusted in the sliding direction D so as to delimit the stacking zone 16 of figure 2 in the same direction.

The striker pin can be brought into or out of the above-mentioned operative position to increase the height of the retaining means 14 from the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11 and to make the sliding of the elongated product P more efficient and safer.

Subsequently, as shown in figures 3-4, in this particular case of the first portion 11a, the feeding zone 12 of the sliding plane 11 is provided with at least one oblong product P at a time. Under the action of gravity, the elongated product P slides along the first portion 11a of the sliding plane 11 until it reaches the stepped discontinuity 15.

The elongated product P then falls outside the stepped discontinuity 15 while continuing to slide along the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11 until it encounters resistance to the travel thereof blocked by the retaining means 14 and is able to be stacked in order, at least in the sliding direction D.

In this way, the products P in strip form, one after the other, are grouped with the previous ones until the quantity required for packaging a batch is satisfied.

To ensure the correct alignment of the oblong products P being processed, the alignment device 24 is activated. For this purpose, the mobile wall 24a is translated towards the other in the transverse direction T, pushing the ends of the elongated product P until alignment is achieved as desired.

As shown in fig. 5, once grouping and alignment are completed, the retaining means 14 slide on the guide slots 18 carrying the above-mentioned elongated products P towards the removal zone 13.

The mobile devices 17 are in the above-mentioned non-interfering position, so that only the interfering portion 17a of each mobile device 17 is distanced from the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11.

The sliding means 14 slide on the guide grooves 18 until they pass the moving means 17, so that the elongated product P is gripped by the interference of the above-mentioned interference portions 17 a.

Subsequently, as shown in fig. 6, the moving device 17 is moved from the non-interference position to the above-described working position. During its lifting, the elongated products P gripped by the interference portion 17a stay in the housing portion 17b of the holding device 17 supporting them, at least until the subsequent binding operation is finished.

At least the mobile drawer 23 may be provided to support the ends of the elongated products P during their lifting.

When the moving means 17 are moved from the non-interference position to the working position, the retaining means 14 are brought back to the desired position in order to re-size the stacking zone 16 exactly for grouping further elongated products P, see fig. 7.

At the end of the tying operation performed by the tying unit 21, the elongated product P may be removed and removed by the bridge crane, as shown in fig. 8-9, or it may be placed again on the second portion of the sliding plane 11 for sliding to other transport vehicles downstream. In this way, the moving means 17 is brought into the non-interference position, so that the interference portion 17a is also below the plane of the second portion 11b of the sliding plane 11.

According to a possible solution, the retaining element 14 can be placed in an internal position directly next to the step-like discontinuity 15 with the striker pin 19, if it is desired to group the elongated products P that extend greatly in the transverse direction T. In this way, the elongated product P falls outside the stepped discontinuity 15 and is directly prevented from sliding downstream by the interference portion 17a of the moving device 17.

It is clear that modifications and/or additions of parts or steps may be made to the apparatus and method for grouping metal equal length products as described heretofore, without departing from the field and scope of the present invention.

It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to some specific examples, a person of skill in the art shall certainly be able to achieve many other equivalent forms of device and method for grouping metal equal-length products, having the characteristics as set forth in the claims and hence all coming within the field of protection defined thereby.

In the following claims, the reference numerals in parentheses are for the sole purpose of facilitating reading and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of protection claimed in the particular claims.