Classifying – separating – and assorting solids – Sorting special items – and certain methods and apparatus for... – Condition responsive means controls separating means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-21
2001-05-22
Walsh, Donald P. (Department: 3653)
Classifying, separating, and assorting solids
Sorting special items, and certain methods and apparatus for...
Condition responsive means controls separating means
C209S542000, C209S546000, C209S576000, C209S556000, C209S557000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06236008
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a conveyor sorter for diverting articles, such as parcels, off a conveyor into destination locations, and more particularly relates to such a conveyor sorter including diverter stations for diverting parcels at high speed to either side of the conveyor, or passing the articles straight through without diversion.
BACKGROUND ART
Package delivery companies pick up millions of packages daily from thousands of locations over a large geographical area and transport them, primarily by truck and airplane, to a correspondingly large number of scattered destinations. To meet a rigorous schedule and provide accurate deliveries, a package delivery company must use automated transfer systems to match incoming packages with proper outgoing transport headed for the packages' destinations. Because deliveries are time sensitive, the sorting equipment must be very fast, yet provide gentle and accurate handling of packages.
Meeting this goal is particularly difficult in the case of large or heavy packages. Some package delivery companies severely restrict the maximum size of packages they will accept for delivery, but United Parcel Service, the assignee of the present application, accepts a wide range of package sizes, shapes and weights.
Belt and roller conveyor systems have often been used in package sorting systems to move packages from incoming loading docks to outgoing transport. An initial sorting of packages traveling along a conveyor may be accomplished by diverting packages from the conveyor based on their destinations, or based on their size or another characteristic.
To automate handling of articles in conveyor systems, conveyor diverter assemblies of various types have been developed. Roller bed diverters using right angle transfer belts are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,275 to Leemkuil et. al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,774 to Bourgeois. These systems have a relatively large number of moving parts, and repair would be expected to be complex and time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,298, provides a main conveyor having multiple powered wheels, and a diagonal belt conveyor fitted between the wheels below the normal conveyor surface. A section of the drive rollers can be lowered to drop a parcel onto the belt conveyor, without interrupting the speed of articles moving along the primary path. However, the belt conveyor can divert in only one direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,084 shows a luggage sorting system in which bags are fed onto a moving carriage that includes multiple conveyors. After loading, the carriage moves along a track until it aligns with output conveyors. Then the carriage conveyors shift the bags from the carriage to appropriate output conveyors. This is not a high speed sorting system because the bags must come to rest on the carriage and be transported laterally, and then accelerated again after sorting.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a diverter that can reliably divert large packages from a main conveyor path, using a non-complex mechanism that is modular and easy to repair, all while operating at a high speed of throughput along the main path.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention seeks to provide an improved conveyor sorting system capable of operating at high conveyor speed and selectively carrying large articles to the side of a main conveyor or straight through the diverting location.
In accordance with the invention, this object is accomplished by providing a system and method for transferring articles moving along a conveyor, including a diverter positioned across the longitudinal axis of the conveyor, the diverter including a transport mechanism; and a shuttle mounted on the transport mechanism, the shuttle including a pass-through element and a diverting element positioned on one side of the pass-through element, the transport mechanism being operative to move the shuttle between a home position in which the pass-through element receives articles from the conveyor and transfers them along the direction of the longitudinal axis, and a diverting position in which the diverting element receives articles from the conveyor and transfers them away from the direction of the longitudinal axis.
In a preferred embodiment, the system includes means for acquiring destination information pertaining to the articles; and a controller selectively operative to operate the transport mechanism in response to the destination information. An optical reader may be positioned to read such destination information printed on a label on the articles. The transport mechanism preferably comprises a reversible belt drive on which the shuttle is mounted. The pass-through element may be a pass-through belt conveyor mounted on a frame carried by the reversible belt of the transport mechanism. The diverting element may be a diverting belt conveyor connected at one end thereof to the frame and extending away from the pass-through conveyor. Preferably, a stationary chute is positioned to receive articles from the diverting conveyor, and a free end of the diverting conveyor spaced apart from the frame moves relative to the stationary chute as the shuttle moves. In the alternative, the diverting element may be a chute, roller conveyor, or other appropriate conveying device rather than the preferred belt conveyor.
In the preferred embodiment, a second diverting element is positioned on the opposite side of the pass-through element. Thus, the transport mechanism can move the shuttle to position either diverting element in the path of oncoming articles and divert them to either side of the main conveyor path.
Multiple diverters may be utilized along the same main conveyor, either intermittently or one after the other.
The present invention also provides a method of transferring articles, comprising the steps of conveying the articles along a conveyor in the direction of a longitudinal axis of the conveyor; and moving a shuttle transverse to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor to place alternatively in the path of the conveyor either a pass-through element or a diverting element positioned on one side of the pass-through element; the pass-through element receiving articles from the conveyor and transferring them along the direction of the longitudinal axis, and the diverting element receiving articles from the conveyor and transferring them away from the direction of the longitudinal axis.
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patent: 3838763 (1974-10-01), Rooke et al.
patent: 3926298 (1975-12-01), Miller et al.
patent: 4174774 (1979-11-01), Bourgeois
patent: 4798275 (1989-01-01), Leemkuil et al.
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patent: 5433311 (1995-07-01), Bonnet
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patent: 5547084 (1996-08-01), Okada et al.
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patent: 1 296 093 (1969-05-01), None
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Alston & Bird LLP
Beauchaine Mark J.
United Parcel Service of America Inc.
Walsh Donald P.
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