Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Endless conveyor having means for suspending load
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-29
2001-01-09
Hess, Douglas (Department: 3652)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Endless conveyor having means for suspending load
C198S349000, C198S346100, C198S465400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170642
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a system for transportation, storage, classification and control of hanging lightweight products, and more particularly to systems used in the tailoring industry and in similar fields.
The aerial system of this invention is especially useful in the process of manufacturing lightweight products that may be transported hanging, whether directly or on intermediate supports. The system allows active and passive control of the products from the beginning of the manufacturing process until their classified output for consignment. The passive control involves knowledge of the location and status of each production unit throughout the process controlled by the system. The active control involves making decisions and executing actions to modify the situation and/or state of each production unit throughout the process controlled by them may include automatic warehouses for the production units at any stage of the production process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The systems for transportation, storage, classification and control of hanging lightweight products are well known in the prior art. There are products on the market that may perform the same general function. What makes them different are the means to achieve the objectives. The basic differences lie in the design of the transporter, in the supports of the production units or carriages, in the means for identification and in the control logic of the system. These products are not profitable in a wide range of industries within their field of application, either due to their size, or due to their high cost and the production costs in the countries in which they are located.
Some of these transporters form a main circuit designed in such a manner as to prevent detours to the left and right from the main traveling direction of the transport system as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,141 and UK Patent Application GB 2 124 989. This characteristic means that the main circuit must be longer for the same number of work posts than for transporters that may have both detours, as in the case of the transporter of the present invention, which effects the cost of the transporter and the surface area it occupies.
Other transporters that may have detours to the both sides of the main circuit are formed by a guide rail on which the drive element for the production unit supports or carriages run, which do not rest on the rail, but on another one on which they travel (Spain Invention U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,558). This rail duplication has a repercussion on the cost of the transporter.
As to the invention described in the publication No. EP 0 093 863, the aforementioned differences are applicable.
These basic differences imply others in the detour mechanisms and the actual support carriages of the production units, as will be seen in the following description.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The priority objective of this invention is the concept of resources that are specified in an obviously more economic materialization of the system. In this sense, the transporter in this invention has important differences compared with the existing ones on the market. This invention is an automatic system that integrates the operations of transport, storage, classification and control of production of lightweight products that may be transported and/or stored hanging, from the beginning of the production process, or from any phase of it, until their output classified as a finished product.
The system includes a transporter for hanging products formed by a closed circuit along which the production units can be moved between the different areas for work, storage or classification. The production units are moved hanging from intermediate supports or carriages that include an identification code that may be recognized at different points of the transport system by means for reading the identification codes of the production units or their supports. The intermediate supports travel around the main circuit hanging from other primary supports while the stations, or areas for work, storage and/or classification move on wheels. The system includes diverse mechanisms to route the production units from said circuit to the work, storage and/or classification zones, and to return them from said zones to the closed circuit. The diverse means for communication located in the work, storage and/or classification zones may exchange information between the system control unit and operators.
The input of the carriages to the main circuit and their hanging on the primary supports is performed by mechanisms that guarantee synchronization of the movements. Activation of the holding device releases the cage so it detours to the left or right. The primary supports are joined to a series of band strips that are rigid to traction and elastically deformable to flexion, so the supports are located at a constant distance and one of the stretches leading off each support is articulated on it as to a horizontal axis. With this layout, the set formed by the strips of band and the primary supports may by moved and guided along a rail forming horizontal curves by flexion of the band stretches, or vertical curves by articulation of the supports. The traction system for movement of the set is formed by one or several motor sets that act on the strips of band through specific wheels.
The carriages have an identification code, that may be a bar code, to be read at adequate points of the main circuit, preferably between detours and entrances to control the position of the carriages and thus of the production units. The means to identify the codes shall be adequate: the conception of the carriages and their means of movement on the main circuit allows use of means of identification with a small tolerance (about 2 mm), and thus the most economic and reliable ones. The relationship between the code on each carriage and the type of product hung, as well as the initial assignment of routes or modification of these according to the real flow of the production, and all the other functions concerning the passive and active control of the production units may be performed using the appropriate computing resources.
A fundamental contribution of this invention is the possibility of having detours and entrances to/from the main circuit on both sides, without requiring a rolling rail for the carriages on said main circuit.
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patent: 5404989 (1995-04-01), Veen et al.
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patent: 0 093 863 (1990-06-01), None
patent: 555255/9 (1986-05-01), None
patent: 2 124 989 (1984-02-01), None
Andrada Galan Mario
Carlos Cristos Juan
Juarez Javier Fernandez
Chapman & Cutler
Hess Douglas
Investronica Sistemas S.A.
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