a machine designed for the disassembly of unit loads at the terminal point of the transportation process. The machine may be installed in warehouses, where the packages are broken down prior to sending the individual items to the production shops. They can also be installed in the shops as a part of automated assembly lines. On the line, they function as the first link in the manufacturing process, breaking down loads and determining where the items will be transferred next. The first disassemblers appeared in the USSR and abroad in the 1940’s.
Package-disassembling machines can be automatic or semiautomatic, with packages dismantled from the top or bottom. They can be set up to handle goods packaged in soft, semirigid, or rigid containers or unpackaged goods, such as lumber, sheet metal, shaped rolled stock, and metal slabs. They may handle items of a single standard size or items in a range of standard sizes. The standard disassembler consists of a frame on which all the components are mounted; a feed conveyor; a receiving table with a mechanism that allows it to be raised, lowered, or tilted; a transport mechanism that grips or pushes the materials; and a distribution conveyor.
Disassemblers can be effectively used in automated assembly line operations with production rates of more than 800 items in unit loads per hour. They are used in the metallurgical, wood-products, paper and pulp, and printing industries.
Improvement of disassemblers will involve the development of universal designs with automatic adjustments to permit the sequential processing of items of the same general type but of various standard sizes.