Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Live roll
Patent
1990-09-18
1992-11-03
Olszewski, Robert P.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Live roll
198372, 198787, 193 35MD, B65G 1306
Patent
active
051600170
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a rolling ball assembly for a rolling ball deck, and also to a deck incorporating a plurality of rolling ball assemblies.
Rolling ball decks having a plurality of steel balls supported to be fully rotatable are well known and widely used to assist in the conveyance of articles in warehouses, etc. It is also known to provide rolling ball decks with the balls driven to rotation in one particular direction, and proposals have been made for omni-directionally rotatable, driven ball decks but these have been complex in construction and consequently expensive to manufacture. One proposal for providing a single, driven rolling ball is to be found in GB-A-1366206, where two perpendicular drive rollers in contact with the driven ball are spaced apart by 90.degree. about the ball for rotating the ball in mutually perpendicular directions.
The present invention seeks to provide a simple, and therefore relatively cheap, driven rolling ball assembly for a rolling ball deck.
According to the invention there is provided a rolling ball assembly for rolling ball deck, comprising a spherical ball, means for supporting the ball for free rotation about any horizontal axis through the ball; a pair of horizontal drive shafts, one either side of the ball; a collar on each driving shaft and a periphery of each collar being in driving engagement with the ball at or close to a horizontal plane through the equator of the ball, and between the horizontal axis of the ball perpendicular to the drive shafts and the horizontal axis parallel to the drive shafts whereby by rotating the drive shafts the ball may be rotated about any horizontal axis.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a rolling ball deck comprising a plurality of rolling ball assemblies as set out above.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a side-elevation through a rolling ball deck showing an individual rolling ball assembly;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the rolling ball assembly of FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 is an isometric view of alternative rolling ball assembly using conical collars,
FIGS. 3a to 3d show schematically in plan and elevation, a rolling ball assembly in use depicting modes of operation,
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a rolling ball deck incorporating preferred supporting blocks, overload protection and connection to drive means,
FIG. 4a is a plan view of FIG. 4 with ball deck cover removed,
FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial view taken from FIG. 4 showing a resilient material protective cap arrangement,
FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 5 but showing an alternative metal protective cap, and
FIG. 7 shows a more preferred protective cap.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an individual rolling ball assembly, forming part of a multiple ball assembly rolling ball deck, generally comprises a base plate 1, a rolling bearing 2, shown as a ball unit, mounted on an inclined face of a flange 3 which projects from the base plate 1, and other components as follows. A pair of parallel drive shafts 4, 5, are rotatably supported in respective brackets 6, 7, which project from the base plate 1. Each drive shaft has an annular collar 8, 9, affixed for rotation therewith, and a driven spherical ball 10 supported on the ball unit 2 between the drive shafts 4, 5, and resting against a corner 8a, 9a, of each of the annular collars 8, 9. An apertured cover plate 11 is positioned over the rolling assembly so that each driven spherical ball 10 has a small clearance from the aperture in the plate and projects freely therethrough to a small distance above the surface of the plate 11.
The rolling bearing 2 is a conventional ball-type rolling bearing or unit with a rolling ball supported in a part spherical bearing. Any functionally similar bearing could be used. The rolling bearing 2 is let in to the inclined face of flange 3. The drive shafts 4, 5, extend to a series of side-by-side rolling ball assemblies in the deck (not shown but see FIGS.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4852721 (1989-08-01), Stille
Fernley Anthony
Goodman John G.
FMC Corporation
Gastineau Cheryl L.
Kamp Ronald C.
Megley R. B.
Olszewski Robert P.
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