Railways – Trolley transfer
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-27
2003-10-07
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Railways
Trolley transfer
C104S130010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06629502
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a conveyance system for use in conveying various articles while supporting them.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As such a conveyance system, for example, the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-111719 is conventionally provided. This conventional configuration is provided with conveying trucks supported and guided along a main track and a branching track. Each of the tracks comprises a bottom wall, a right and a left side walls, and a top wall, and is shaped like a duct by forming a slit in a width-wise center of the top wall, a slit extending along a longitudinal direction. At least at a branching point, a guide along the main track and a guide along the branching track are provided. Further, the conveying trucks are each provided with a guide member following the guides and a directing mechanism for directing the guide member to one of the guides.
The guides comprise guide rails made of a magnetic body and extending along the main track and the branching track, respectively. The guide member comprises a magnetic roller which is directed to either one of the guide rails via an arm or the like.
With the above conventional form, however, the main and branching tracks must be provided with separate guide rails made of a magnetic body. This is cumbersome in assembling or constructing this form. Further, since the main and branching tracks are shaped like ducts, dust or the like collects on the bottom walls of the tracks, which cannot be cleaned easily. Accordingly, it is not easy to employ this conventional form cannot for clean rooms, where clean air is blown downward.
Furthermore, layouts that enable branching and juncture are limited. For example, it is difficult to provide a layout in which the tracks extend in parallel and in which the conveying trucks are shifted between the tracks. As a construction in which the conveying trucks are shifted between the tracks, a swinging table form disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-222122 is provided. This invention, however, requires a complicated structure and also requires the conveying truck to stop running between the tracks.
Further, since the main and branching tracks are shaped like ducts, for example, formation of a loop line requires separate exclusive parts to be prepared for a linear portion and a curve portion. In particular, the track of the curve portion is expensive.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a conveyance system constructed so that linear path portions and a branching-and-joining path portion are formed by rail apparatuses in which dust or the like is difficult to collect, wherein a simple structure is added to the rail apparatus arranged in a branching-and-joining section to achieve branching and juncture without any limitations on the layout, thereby realizing effective and flexible conveyance.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a conveyance system constructed so that a fixed path and a branching-and-joining path are formed by rail apparatuses in which dust or the like is difficult to collect, wherein moving bodies can be smoothly moved between the fixed path and the branching-and-joining path for branching and juncture, and wherein curve portions can be formed easily.
To attain the first object, the present invention provides a conveyance system comprising rail apparatuses and moving bodies which are supported and guided by the rail apparatuses so as to move freely on a fixed path, characterized in that: each of the rail apparatuses comprises a lateral pair of rail members each having an upward wheel supporting surface and an inward roller guide surface formed thereon; the fixed path comprises linear path portions and a branching-and-joining path portion; a branching-and-joining section formed by said path portions are provided with linear-side guide members extending along the linear path portions and a branching-and-joining-side guide member extending along the branching-and-joining path portion; and the moving bodies are each provided with wheels supported and guided on the wheel supporting surface, side guide rollers guided on the roller guide surface, and a direction restricting member guided by sideward guide sections of the guide members, the direction restricting member being driven by lateral-movement means to move in a lateral direction between a location corresponding to the linear-side guide member and a location corresponding to the branching-and-joining-side guide member.
With the above configuration of the present invention, the moving bodies can be stably moved and guided by the rail apparatus by supporting and guiding the group of wheels on the wheel supporting surface so as to roll thereon and guiding the side guide roller on the roller guide surface. In this case, the rail apparatus may have a space formed between the lateral pair of rail members along the entire length thereof, and a vertical-penetration portion formed by this space allows air to flow without being hindered, thereby enabling this conveyance system to be suitably employed even for clean rooms where clean air is blown downward.
When the moving body on the linear path portion is moved thereon without being branched or joined to the branching-and-joining path portion, the lateral-movement means may be used to move the direction restricting member away from the branching-and-joining path portion. Then, the direction restricting member can be guided by the guide section of the linear-side guide member, and the moving body can be stably moved straight by the linear path portion without moving into the branching-and-joining path portion.
On the other hand, when the moving body on the linear path portion is branched and joined to the branching-and-joining section, the lateral-movement means may be used to move the direction restricting member to the branching-and-joining path portion. Then, the direction restricting member can be guided by the guide section of the branching-and-joining-side guide member, and the moving body can be branched and moved smoothly and reliably to the branching-and-joining path portion.
In the branching-and-joining section, one of the wheels, rolling on the wheel supporting surface of the rail members, is rolled so as to move across the space between the rail members. Accordingly, this wheel falls into the space, and the weight of the moving body serves to generate a moment around the wheel on the other wheel supporting surface, thus inclining the moving body. At this time, the direction restricting member is guided by the sideward guide member, so that the moment on the moving body can be accommodated to restrict the direction of the moving body, while hindering its inclination. As a result, the above wheel can move across the space stably without falling into it.
As described above, according to the present invention, the conveyance system is constructed so that the linear path portions and the branching-and-joining path portion are formed by the rail apparatus in which dust or the like is difficult to collect, but the simple structure is added to the rail apparatus arranged in the branching-and-joining section to realize branching and juncture without any limitations to the layout, thereby achieving effective and flexible conveyance.
According to a first embodiment of the conveyance system of the present invention, the branching-and-joining path portion is arranged between a pair of parallel linear path portions, linear-side guide members of both linear path portions have linear guide sections formed outside parallel portions of the linear-side guide members and a branching-and-joining guide sections formed inside the parallel portions, the branching-and-joining-side guide member comprises a branching-side guide member and a joining-side guide member which are severed from each other, and a branching-side guide section and a joining-side guide section which are extended from the branching-and-joining-side guide member are formed to extend in different
Daifuku Co. Ltd.
Jaffe Michael A.
Jules Frantz F.
Kusner Mark
Morano S. Joseph
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