Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system for moving a specific load as a separate unit – System includes a load supported by a conveyor portion which...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-08
2002-07-09
Valenza, Joseph E. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system for moving a specific load as a separate unit
System includes a load supported by a conveyor portion which...
C198S486100, C198S680000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06415907
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit of PCT/A98/00666 filed Aug. 21, 1998 and published in English.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus for transferring one or more articles onto moving carriers.
In apparatus designed for the automated handling of articles, it is often necessary to transfer an article onto a carrier. The article may thereafter be processed whilst being transported on the carrier. Such processing might include labelling, cleaning, delabelling, identification, sorting, packaging or some other similiar operation. The present invention does not concern the manner by which an article might be processed whilst being conveyed by such a carrier, but rather relates to an apparatus for conveniently and quickly transferring articles onto a carrier which might then deliver the articles to another destination for further processing. The invention Is particularly suited for use in a garment hanger sorting apparatus such as the type described in the applicant's copending International Patent Application PCT/AU96/00721 and the contents of this earlier application is incorporated by reference.
It will be appreciated that the Invention hereafter described is suitable for use in transferring a range of different articles onto a carrier utilised in automated article handling apparatus. For convenience, however, much of the subsequent discussion of the invention is made with reference to the loading of a garment hanger onto a carrier. It should be appreciated that the present Invention, whilst having particular applicability in loading garment hangers onto a carrier is not so limited and that the invention is suitable in a range of different applications in which articles are to be handled by automated goods processing equipment.
In any goods processing equipment, the speed at which articles can be transferred or loaded onto a conveyor or carrier can be a limiting factor (and is often the most limiting factor) in determining the rate at which the apparatus can operate. Clearly the rate at which articles are loaded onto a automated processing apparatus sets an upper limit as to the rate at which the apparatus can operate (in terms of number of articles per unit time). For example, in the case of garment hanger sorting apparatus such as that described in the applicant's International Application PCT/AU96/00721 the rate at which garment hangers may be sorted is limited by the speed at which individual garment hangers can be loaded onto the hanger conveyor.
The present invention is more particularly concerned with an apparatus and method whereby an article can be transferred onto a carrier whilst the carrier is moving. If a carrier is required to be stationary for the transfer of articles on to it, this not only slows down operating performance but can also lead to malfunction due to the need for intermittent operation of the apparatus between loading and processing operations. Malfunction is particularly likely if the articles being transferred are suspended from a conveyor and the articles are moved to the carrier and then stopped. This intermittent operation can cause the articles to swing and potentially entangle.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for loading an article onto a carrier in a rapid manner and under conditions where it is less likely that there will be malfunction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for transferring an article onto a moving carrier, said apparatus including:-.
(a) a conveyor for transporting an article;
(b) drive means for moving a carrier; and
(c) coordinating means;
wherein said coordinating means is capable of controlling the relative movements of the conveyor and the drive means such that a carrier being moved by the drive means and an article being transported by the conveyor can be separately moved to a contact location at which the carrier will contact the article whilst both the carrier and the article are moving and wherein the conveyor and the carrier are configured such that the article is caused to be transferred onto the carrier upon or following the carrier's initial contact with the article.
Preferably, the coordinating means controls the relative movement of the conveyor and the drive means such that the carrier is moving faster than the article at the contact location. Preferably, the article Is being transported by the conveyor at the contact location at a speed which is between one half to two thirds of the speed at which the carrier is moving at the contact location.
Preferably the article and the carrier are moving in substantially the same direction immediately prior to reaching the contact location. Because the article is being moved at the time of contact, the article is less likely to jolt forward in an uncontrolled manner when the contact occurs than if it were stationary and this assists in efficient transfer of the article onto the conveyor. In the case of garment hangers, there are particular difficulties which arise from sudden and abrupt contact if the garment hanger is stationary. If the garment hanger is suspended from a conveyor it is likely to swing about if there is abrupt contact. Furthermore, in the case of garment hangers comprising a body which is rotatable on a wire hook, abrupt contact can lead to the body rotating and if garment hangers are closely spaced on a conveyor, this can lead to entanglement again causing malfunction.
Preferably, there is not a significant differential between the speed of the carrier and the speed of the article at the contact location. Most preferably, the differential is not more than 0.10 mts. In a preferred embodiment, for the transfer of garment hangers, the carrier travels at a speed between 0.15 m/s and 0.30 m/s at the contact location and the garment hanger Is travelling at a speed of between 0.10 m/s and 0.20 m/s at the contact location.
It is preferred that the apparatus be able to process multiple articles In succession. Accordingly, it is preferred that the conveyor be able to simultaneously transport a plurality of articles and the drive means be capable of moving a plurality of carriers. In this arrangement, the coordinating means should control the relative movements of the conveyor and the drive means so that for each article transported to the contact location, a separate carrier will be moved to reach the contact location at the same time.
The carrier may collect the article so that it is transferred from the conveyor at the time of initial contact and this may be achieved, for example. by the carrier incorporating a hook or ledge onto which the article may be transferred. However, transfer is preferably delayed so that the article may be moved in concert by or with the carrier for a distance prior to transfer. This enables a progressive increase in speed for the article and thus a smoother transfer onto the carrier.
Preferably the carrier includes holding means for engaging at least a portion of the article.
Preferably the holding means is in the form of a recess on the carrier which is configured to accommodate at least a portion of the article. In one embodiment, where the apparatus is used for collecting and conveying garment hangers, the recess includes a flat seat on which the hooked part of the garment hanger can be located. In this arrangement, the seat supports the hanger with the remaining part of the hanger being arranged to suspend from the carrier it is intended that the carrier be shaped and designed so that it is able to carry articles from one location to another.
Preferably each carrier includes an abutment surface which can abut against a portion of the article at the contact location. The abutment surface preferably projects forwardly from the holding means in the direction of the carrier's movement, so that on abutment with the abutment surface, the article moves with the carrier under operation of the drive means prior to being engaged by the holding me
Rosebay Terrace Pty Ltd.
Sharma Rashmi
Valenza Joseph E.
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