After the initial carousel stripping machine development and the later development of the linear stripping machine, Falconbridge personnel developed the Kidd Process High Capacity Linear Machine (“HCLM”). This machine included a loading and unloading system that was based on robotics.
The new design improved, among other things, the discharge area of the stripper. This had been a problem area for the carousel stripping machines, in which copper released from the cathode plate fell into an envelope and was then transferred to a material handling device. Copper that misbehaved and failed to transfer often required manual intervention. The new robot discharge system eliminated the free falling of the copper and physically transferred the released copper to the discharge location.