Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-13
2004-07-20
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
C198S809000, C198S370080, C198S463300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06763927
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus for installation in a conveyor line that is repeatedly unloaded of or loaded with articles.
2. Description of Related Art
Usually, conveyor lines are incorporated in various assembling manufacture lines or at distribution stations wherever articles are successively transported along the lines or within the stations. For example, a number of conveyor lines may typically be arranged lengthwise and crosswise in each distribution station, with some transverse conveyors called “cross feeders” being placed at given positions. Such cross feeders will operate to transfer the articles from one conveyor line to another so as to forward them to respective destinations.
Generally, each cross feeder is composed of a transporting mechanism and a lifting mechanism. The top of the transporting mechanism takes its normal position below the article-supporting surface of the longitudinal conveyor line, so as not to interfere with any article being moved on and along this conveyor line. A sensor or the like device will detect the destination of every article so that a stopper is driven to catch and temporarily hold the thus selected article on the cross feeder. Thereafter, the lifting mechanism will be turned on to raise the transporting mechanism above the article-supporting surface of the longitudinal conveyor line. The transporting mechanism will subsequently be switched on so that the selected article thus lifted moves onto an adjacent conveyor line.
One of the prior apparatuses known in the art is the “motor installed-roller” having a cylinder that encloses therein a motor accompanied by a speed reducer. This prior art apparatus is for use as the lifting mechanism in the cross feeder (see Patent Laying-Open Gazette H. 6-312832).
FIG. 19
recites the cross feeder disclosed in this Gazette H. 6-312832. This cross feeder
100
is composed of a transporting mechanism
101
and a lifting mechanism
102
, wherein motor-installed rollers
110
and
105
serve as principal parts of the respective mechanisms
101
and
102
.
The transporting mechanism
101
constituting the cross feeder shown in
FIG. 19
has an idle roller
111
and some guide rollers
112
, in addition to the motor-installed roller
110
. Each of two belts
115
lying in parallel with each other engages with those motor-installed roller
110
, idle roller
111
and guide rollers
112
, to thereby form a loop around them.
On the other hand, the motor-installed roller
105
of the lifting mechanism
102
has rings
106
fixed on its outer peripheral zones. A tie link
108
has one end operatively connected by a pin
107
to the ring
106
, with the tie link's other end adjoined to the transporting mechanism
101
.
As will be seen in
FIG. 19
, the transporting mechanism
101
will remain above the transporting surface of the conveyor line so long as the pin
107
is kept at its uppermost position. When the transporting mechanism
101
is subsequently retracted below the said surface of conveyor line, the motor-installed roller
105
will spin a quarter of one rotation to lower this mechanism synchronously with the pin
107
.
The cross feeder
100
of
FIG. 19
is for use in combination with a roller conveyor line such that each belt
115
of the feeder does intervene between two adjacent rollers included in the conveyor line.
When the conveyor line is loaded with or unloaded of an article, the motor-installed roller
105
in the lifting mechanism
102
will operate at first. This motion is made to lift the transporting mechanism
101
until the upper traveling path of each belt
115
protrudes up between the constituent rollers of the conveyor line so as to raise the article above it. Next, the motor-installed roller
110
in the transporting mechanism
101
will be switched on to circulate the belts
115
over and around its rollers, thereby removing the article from the conveyor line.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As described above, each of the two parallel belts
115
of the prior art cross feeder is intended for insertion in between the two adjacent rollers of a conveyor. It is however to be noted that a distance between the adjacent rollers is not necessarily constant but largely varies between the types of roller conveyors. Thus, it has been difficult in some cases to properly dispose each belt among the rollers.
Further, the prior art cross feeder is composed of two discrete sections, that is the transporting and lifting mechanisms
101
and
102
. This structure has rendered the feeder considerably large in its overall size, to such an extent as possibly disabling the cross feeder to be installed in a requisite portion of the conveyor line.
An object of the present invention made in view of the drawbacks inherent in the prior art is therefore to develop and provide a transversely conveying apparatus rendered smaller in size and capable of installation into any narrow space.
A conveying apparatus provided herein to achieve the object does include a motor-installed device having a casing, a motor accommodated in the casing and a shaft. This casing is capable of rotating relative to and about the shaft, and the shaft is also capable of rotating about a rotation axis so as to produce a torque. The apparatus further includes at least one cam fixed on the casing, an endless member, a drive member for driving the endless member, a terminal member disposed opposite to the drive member, and a deflector for converting the rotation axis to a transverse axis for the drive member. The transverse axis extends crosswise to the rotation axis so as to transmit the torque to the drive member. In this apparatus, the drive member and the terminal member are spanned with the endless member that substantially encloses the motor-installed device. The apparatus still further includes a support that is interposed between the casing and the endless member so as to be capable of contacting both the at least one cam and the endless member. When the shaft rotates relative to the casing standing stationary, the torque will be applied to the drive member so as to cause the endless member to travel in a circulating manner. If contrarily the casing rotates together with the cam relative to the shaft standing still, then the cam will raise or lower the support so as to expand outwards or retract inwards a portion of the endless member.
Here, “the transverse axis extending crosswise to the rotation axis” includes an axis not actually crossing and not parallel to the rotation axis, as well as an axis actually crossing the rotation axis.
In the conveying apparatus from the above-described aspect of the invention, all the principal parts take their position to be enclosed by the endless member. The apparatus thus rendered much smaller in its overall size as compared with the prior art ones can now be incorporated in any desired space, broad or narrow.
Preferably, the endless member noted above may be a belt and both the drive and terminal members may be a pulley. The endless member may otherwise be a chain cooperating with sprockets employed as the drive and terminal members.
Also preferably, the terminal member is movable towards and away from the drive member. Thus, distance between the rotation axes of those drive and terminal members is variable so that tension appearing in and along the endless member stands constant, not affected by the ascending or descending movement of the flat support.
It also is desirable to provide the apparatus with a braking means that will force the casing not to spin but to stand still. In this case, the endless member will start to travel in a circulating manner upon stoppage of the casing braked by said means, as the casing and the shaft rotate relative to each other.
Preferably the motor-installed device is a motor-installed cylinder, the casing is a cylindrical casing, a speed reducer accompanying the motor is further accommodated in the casing, and at least one end of the shaft protrudes outwards from at least one en
Itoh Kazuo
Nakamura Tatsuhiko
Ellis Christopher P.
Itoh Electric Company Limited
Sharma Rashmi
Wood Phillips Katz Clark & Mortimer
LandOfFree
Conveying apparatus, a roller conveyor system and a conveyor... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Conveying apparatus, a roller conveyor system and a conveyor..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Conveying apparatus, a roller conveyor system and a conveyor... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3201681