Conveyors: power-driven – Conveying system having plural power-driven conveying sections – With relatively adjustable sections
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-17
2004-03-02
Ridley, Richard (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveying system having plural power-driven conveying sections
With relatively adjustable sections
C193S0350TE, C198S812000, C198S594000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698580
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field
Although not so limited in its utility or scope, implementations of the present invention are particularly well suited for incorporation in intra-facility transport systems such as those used in moving mail pieces through various stages of processing in a mail processing facility, for example.
2. Brief Description of an Illustrative Environment and Related Art
Large-scale material handling operations frequently involve the use of intra-facility transport systems such as conveyor belts and power roller conveyors. A module of a typical power roller conveyor includes a support structure defined by first and second laterally spaced, elongated frame members arranged in parallel and extending along a central longitudinal axis. Extending between, and supported by, the parallel frame members is a plurality of rollers, each of which rollers rotates about an axis perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis and parallel to the axes of other rollers among the plurality. The axes of the rollers are typically spaced apart in accordance with recognized industry-standard specifications. For instance, the roller spacing (i.e., distance between the roller axes) of a typical power roller conveyor in a mail-processing facility is 3 inches. Regardless of the roller spacing peculiar to a particular industry or application, the roller spacing in any particular power roller conveyor is typically fixed.
A typical module of a power roller conveyor includes at least one drive roller and a plurality of “driven” rollers. In some instances, the drive roller is mechanically linked to a motor through, for example, a belt, chain or drive shaft so that the motor can selectively rotate the drive roller. In other, typically more modern, configurations, the drive roller typically contains the motor internally. Driven rollers are mechanically linked to the drive roller, either directly or through intervening driven rollers, by belts or “o-rings,” for example. FIG. A illustrates a typical arrangement of driven rollers in relation to a single drive roller from which the driven rollers draw power. It is common for the drive roller to be among the central rollers along a power roller conveyor module because such an arrangement centers the torque transmission to the driven rollers.
Power roller conveyors are used to transport objects (e.g., mail piece trays) from one location to another within a mail-processing facility, for example. Frequently, an overall conveyor system comprises numerous roller conveyor modules linked in series. A single roller conveyor module can be used to join one roller conveyor segment to another roller conveyor segment, a roller conveyor segment to a piece of processing equipment or one piece of processing equipment to a second piece of processing equipment, for example. Typically, roller conveyor modules are fabricated in fixed lengths correlating to some whole-number multiple of the fixed roller spacing plus some constant. Difficulties arise, for example, as equipment is replaced and the spacing between a replacement piece of equipment and another fixed point within the facility is not equal to the distance between the replaced piece of equipment and the fixed point or, worse, does not correspond to a whole-number multiple of the fixed roller spacing plus the original constant. Consider the schematic illustration of such a scenario in conjunction with FIGS. B and C. In the original arrangement of FIG. B, first and second conveyor modules are arranged in series between units A and B. Each conveyor module is ten times the fixed roller spacing (frs) plus a constant “c” in length and the distance between units A and B is 20 frs+2 c. In FIG. C, unit B′ has replaced unit B and is set in place a distance equal to 20 frs+2 c+d from unit A, thereby leaving a gap of length d between the second conveyor module and unit B′.
Situations such as the one illustrated in FIGS. B and C result in dilemmas presenting choices such as adjusting the position of the replacement equipment and changing the roller spacing between two or more rollers near one or both ends of the roller conveyor module. Moving the piece of equipment is often not practical for any of various reasons. A single piece of mail-processing equipment, for example, can measure well in excess of one hundred feet long and weigh several tons. Moreover, these machines are frequently situated between two sets of conveyor apparatus, rendering movement away from one set of conveyor apparatus toward the other impossible. Adjusting the roller spacing near the end of a roller conveyor module presents difficulties of its own. For instance, the frame members may require cutting to shorten them or the addition of custom-cut lengths to lengthen them, new holes need to be bored in the frame members and the rollers mounted in the new holes. An obstacle other than the actual customization of the conveyor module is that changes in the spacing between rollers require drive belts or o-rings of different, and often, non-standard sizes thereby creating a need for customized o-rings.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a roller conveyor module that is adjustable in length and that is adapted for the selective addition and removal of rollers as indicated by a particular situation.
SUMMARY
In various embodiments, an adjustable roller conveyor module includes a roller support structure having first and second ends and first and second laterally spaced, elongated frame members arranged in parallel and extending between the first and second ends along a central longitudinal axis. Extending between, and supported by, the parallel frame members is a plurality of rollers, each of which rollers rotates about an axis perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis and parallel to the axes of other rollers among the plurality. The roller axes of the rollers supported by the support structure lie along a roller plane and, in a typical version, are spaced equally in accordance with a predetermined roller-axis spacing. At least one of the first and second ends of the support structure includes a set of extension apparatus adapted for selective extension to, and retention in, various positions in which the extension apparatus extends beyond the end of the support structure, thereby rendering the overall length of the support structure adjustable. The extension apparatus is adapted for selective coupling to, for example, a unit of equipment (e.g., another conveyor module) adjacent the conveyor module from which it depends. In a typical embodiment, each set of extension apparatus is infinitely positionable, and selectively retainable, between a fully retracted and a fully extended position. That is, the extension apparatus can be selectively retained in any position of an infinite number of positions along a continuum between the fully retracted and extended positions.
In another embodiment, an adjustable roller conveyor module includes first and second support structures. Each of the first and second support structures has first and second laterally spaced, elongated frame members arranged in parallel and extending along a central longitudinal axis. Extending between, and supported by, the parallel frame members is a plurality of rollers, each of which rollers rotates about an axis which, in a typical embodiment, is perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis and parallel to the axes of other rollers among the plurality. A typical embodiment is further characterized in that the roller axes of the rollers supported by each support structure lie along a roller plane and are spaced equally in accordance with a predetermined roller-axis spacing.
In various embodiments, the roller axes of the rollers supported by the first support structure are coplanar with the roller axes of the rollers supported by the second support structure. Accordingly, in a typical embodiment, one of the first and second support structures is reciprocably received between the elongated frame members of the other of the first and second support structures such th
Franco Louis J.
Hogan Patrick M.
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Ridley Richard
Schultz Leland D.
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