Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – One of a plurality of main line conveyors selectively moves...
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-15
2001-08-28
Skaggs, H. Grant (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
One of a plurality of main line conveyors selectively moves...
C198S465100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279721
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a conveyor system for conveying articles of different types. A conveyor system according to the present invention is in particular useful in a check-in area for checking in articles such as luggage or baggage at airports or other locations where article check-in is performed such as, e.g., railway stations or ship departure halls. However, a conveyor system according to the present invention may be applied for any appropriate purpose at any appropriate location, such as in production lines and/or distribution/collecting lines at, e.g., factories or mail terminals. The articles to be conveyed may be of a kind which needs to be supported by a separate supporting member, such as, e.g., a tray or of a kind which needs no support by a supporting member. An article which needs to be supported by a supporting member may, e.g., be an irregular or fragile article.
The invention further relates to a conveyor plant comprising one or more conveyor systems according to the invention.
BACKGROUND ART
It is well known to employ a tray when transporting irregular or fragile pieces of luggage or goods from a check-in counter at, e.g., an airport, to a predetermined destination, such as a certain departure gate, using a conveyor system.
Thus, in many airport check-in areas a tray is used when an irregular or fragile piece of luggage is brought to the check-in counter. The trays are carried manually from a storage area to the check-in counter by an operator operating the check-in counter.
In other known systems, trays or carts are used for conveying every single piece of luggage brought to a check-in counter, including the ones not necessarily needing support from a tray or a cart. Systems of this kind are disclosed in European patent applications Nos. EP 0 456 297 A2 and EP 0 556 037 A1.
European patent application No. EP 0 456 297 A2 discloses an endless conveyor for conveying trays carrying pieces of luggage. The system further comprises a supply conveyor and two discharge conveyors. The supply conveyor feeds the trays carrying the pieces of luggage onto the endless conveyor, and the two discharge conveyors move the luggage and the empty trays, respectively, away from the endless conveyor.
European patent application No. 0 556 037 A1 discloses a baggage handling system for use at an aircraft passenger check-in position. The system comprises lift means for lifting empty baggage-conveying carts or trays from a position below the check-in area to the check-in counter. The luggage is placed in a cart and is checked in. The cart carrying the luggage is then lowered by the lift means, and is thereby moved to a conveyor system positioned below the level of the check-in area.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a conveyor system which, while retaining the flexibility of the manual system, is capable of providing a supporting member to, e.g., a luggage delivery platform at a luggage check-in counter in a way that is less troublesome for the person operating the check-in counter than in a system in which supporting members are provided manually, thus eliminating or at least reducing the risk of causing lingering diseases to the operator due to overload of, e.g., the operator's back. In addition, it is desirable to provide a conveyor system which makes it possible to obtain a rational and fast handling of both the supporting members and the articles not needing to be supported by supporting members.
The present invention provides a conveyor system for conveying articles of different types including articles which need to be supported by separate supporting members when being transported by the conveyor system, the conveyor system comprising
a delivery platform for receiving an article to be transported,
storing means for storing a supply of supporting members, and
conveyor means for selectively moving a supporting member from the storing means to the delivery platform when actuated by an operator or an operating means.
The articles which need to be supported may be, e.g., soft or irregular pieces of luggage or baggage, such as, e.g., backpacks, or fragile goods. The supporting members are preferably trays, but may also be other kinds, such as, e.g., boxes, containers etc. They may preferably be made from a rigid and hard-wearing material, such as, e.g., a plastics material or any suitable metal including aluminium and steel and their alloys. For most applications, the supporting members preferably have an open top and a substantially plane bottom surface. Trays having relatively high side walls may be used as supporting members.
Articles to be transported are received at the delivery platform. The delivery platform may be, e.g., a weighing conveyor for weighing articles. The storing means is used for storing a supply of supporting members. The storing means may comprise actual storage space located at a distant location, such as, e.g., at a central tray storage at an airport. It may further comprise tray conveyors used both for storing the supporting members and for conveying them from a distant storage space to a given location. These tray conveyors may ensure that there is always a tray available near the delivery platform when needed. The conveyor means for selectively conveying a supporting member from the storing means to the delivery platform is adapted for conveying a supporting member from the part of the storing means positioned near the delivery platform to the delivery platform when actuated by a human operator or by an operating means. Thus, the operator or the operating means may select or determine whether a tray is to be provided for transporting the article brought to the delivery platform.
The tray conveyor may comprise a rack and/or other stacking means for stacking trays at a location near the delivery platform.
Where in the present context, the term “tray” is used, this should be understood as any appropriate supporting member including the above-mentioned types of supporting members.
The conveyor means mentioned above for transporting the supporting members from the tray conveyor to the delivery platform is preferably belt conveyors, but could also be other kinds of conveyors, such as, e.g., double belt conveyors, roller paths or gravity conveyors including skids or chutes. The tray conveyor is preferably a double belt conveyor having a pair of transversely spaced belts for supporting and driving an article and/or a supporting member. The tray conveyor may, however, be another kind of conveyor, such as, e.g., a belt conveyor, a roller path or a gravity conveyor.
Thus, the invention provides a system for automatically providing selectively a supporting member when a supporting member is needed/desired, as determined by an operator or an operating means. Thereby, the system according to the invention is effective in the sense that through this selective operation, only a relatively small number of supporting members is needed and in the sense that the size of articles to be conveyed is not limited by the size of the supporting members.
Thus, the conveyor system according to the present invention, being capable of both selectively and automatically providing supporting members, is flexible, time saving and ergonomic as it to a maximum degree prevents the operator from being subjected to physical stress.
In the present context, the term “operating means” should be interpreted as any equipment capable of actuating the conveyor system so as to cause a supporting member to be moved from the storing means to the delivery platform as a response to a demand determined by the operating means or equipment co-operating with the operating means. Thus, the operating means may comprise or co-operate with sensing means, such as one or more optical sensors, cameras, weighing devices or other appropriate sensing means which create an output signal indicating the demand for an action. The sensing means may be incorporated in or electronically connected to the operating means, so that its output signal may be
Lyngso Henrik
Pedersen Ole Vitting
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Crisplant a/s
Sharma Rashmi
Skaggs H. Grant
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