Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Unit load conveying surface means moved about an endless or...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-01
2001-01-09
Bidwell, James R. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Unit load conveying surface means moved about an endless or...
C198S465100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170650
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a conveyor system for transporting flatbed trucks, skids or the like (hereinafter occasionally referred to as “load-support members”) through a yard or a plant with or without a load being carried on each load-support member. More particularly, the present invention relates to a conveyor system including driven and driven carriers on which the load-support members are supported.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of conveyors are used for transporting load-support members, such as flatbed trucks or skids, through a yard or a plant.
In an automated vehicle assembly line, works such as vehicle bodies are painted, then transferred into a drying oven for drying the coated paint while they are carried on flatbed carriages or trucks.
FIGS. 11 and 12
exemplify a conventional flatbed truck used for transporting the painted vehicle bodies through the drying oven. The conventional truck A
1
has four flanged wheels A
2
(two being shown) rotatably mounted to the underside of a body of the truck A
1
. The wheels A
4
are carried on a pair of guide rails A
4
fixed to a support frame or base A
3
placed on a floor surface A of the drying oven. The truck A
1
travels along the guide rails A
4
as it is pulled or dragged by a truck conveyor A
5
located centrally between the guide rails A
4
.
When the truck A is advanced along a curved path, the wheels A
2
fail to smoothly move through a curved portion of the guide rails A
4
due to a relatively small radius of curvature of the curved path. To cope with this problem, the conventional flatbed truck further has four casters A
6
mounted on the underside of the truck body interiorly of the wheels A
2
. The casters A
6
thus provided act for the wheels A
2
in supporting truck A
1
.
As shown in
FIG. 12
, the curved path is devoid of the guide rails A
4
(
FIG. 11
) on which the wheels A
2
are supported, but it includes a pair of laterally spaced guide tracks A
7
attached to a support frame A
8
for supporting thereon the casters A
6
.
The truck conveyor A
5
has a succession of trolleys A
11
(only one being shown) each supported by two pair of guide rollers A
10
received in a pair of confronting channel-shaped guide rails A
9
for rolling movement along the guide rails A
9
.
The trolley A
11
is connected to a conveyor chain A
12
so as to suspend the conveyor chain A
12
, as shown in FIG.
13
. The trolley A
11
supports a pusher dog A
13
and a retainer dog A
14
above the guide rails A
9
so that these dogs A
13
, A
14
are pivotally movable about pivot pins A
15
, A
16
, respectively.
A tow pin A
17
provided on the underside of the body of the truck A
1
is inserted between the pusher dog A
13
and the retainer dog A
14
. When the conveyor chain A
12
is driven, the pusher dog A
13
pushes the tow pin A
17
forward to thereby advance the truck A
1
.
FIG. 14
shows a conventional roller conveyor for transporting works via skids. The roller conveyor B
1
includes a number of support frame or base B
2
installed on a floor surface along a conveyance path, a series of flanged free or idle rollers B
3
arranged along the conveyance path and each supported on one end of each support frame B
2
, and a series of drive rollers B
4
arranged along the conveyance path and each supported on the other end of each support frame B
2
in confronting relation to the corresponding flanged idle roller B
3
.
Each of the flanged idle rollers B
3
is freely rotatable about a horizontal axis and supports thereon the undersurface of a roller engagement portion t of one leg B
6
of the skid B
5
while opposite sides of the roller engagement portion t are guided between opposite annular flanges F, F of the flanged idle roller B
3
.
Each of the drive rollers B
4
carries thereon the undersurface of the other leg B
6
of the skid B
5
. Upon rotation of the drive rollers B
4
, the skids B
5
is conveyed along the conveyance path.
In the conventional conveyor system shown in FIGS.
11
-
13
, because the wheels A
2
are fixed in orientation relative to the tuck body, the flatbed truck A
1
can travel along the guide rails A
4
extending along a straight-line conveyance path or a gently curved conveyance path. For enabling the flatbed truck A
1
to travel along a curved conveyance path with small radius of curvature, the casters A
6
designed to roll along the caster tracks A
7
must be used in place of the wheels A
2
.
Thus, the flatbed truck A
1
is rendered complicated in construction and increases the equipment cost due to the necessity of the guide rails A and the caster tracks A
7
.
In the roller conveyor B
1
shown in
FIG. 14
, one leg B
6
of the skid B
5
, which in general is made relatively long in the conveyance direction, is guided between the respective annular flanges F of the idle rollers B
3
. Accordingly, at a curved portion of the conveyance, smooth conveyance of the skid B
5
is difficult to achieve. To cope with this problem, a turntable is used to change the direction of the skid. However, use of the turntable may pose a limitation about the layout design of conveyance path.
According to another conventional attempt, a trolley conveyor is employed in which a skid is conveyed while being carried on carriages. However, the trolley conveyor requires a large vertical conveyance space. Additionally, since the carriages have substantially the same area as the skids, the carriages occupy a large area even when they move along a return path with no loads carried thereon.
Furthermore, conventional slat conveyors used for conveyance of the flatbed trucks or the skids are not successful because in order to transport the tracks or the skids along a curved path, a turntable must be used to change the direction of the tracks or the skids.
Additionally, since the conveyors disposed in different processing stations each have a particular design well suited for a process achieved in the corresponding station, the conventional conveyor systems are unable to handle different types of load-support members, such as trucks and skids, without reconstruction of conveyors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor system which is free from the foregoing problems, and can smoothly transport load-support members, such as flatbed trucks or skids, through different processing stations along a conveyance path including a curved portion, without requiring a large area for installation thereof.
To achieve the foregoing object, a conveyor system according to the present invention includes at least one guide rail, a flexible drag member driven to travel along the guide rail, and a drive carrier movably supported by the rail via a first roller means rotatably mounted on the drive carrier. The drive carrier has a drive socket projecting above the guide rail, and a portion connected in driven relation to the drag member for movement along the guide rail. A driven carrier is movably supported by the rail via a second roller means rotatably mounted on the driven carrier. The driven carrier has a driven socket projecting above the guide rail. A load-support member for supporting thereon a load to be transported by the conveyor system has a pair of downwardly projecting engagement plugs at a front portion and a rear portion thereof, respectively. One of the engagement plugs is removably received in the drive socket and the other engagement plug is removably received in the driven socket. The load-support member is driven to move in the same direction as the drive carrier while the overall weight of the load-support member is supported by the drive and drive carriers.
With this construction, the overall weight of the load-support member is supported by the drive and driven carriers which are preferably located on a longitudinal centerline of the load-support member. The drive carrier driven by the drag member drives the load-support member to move in the same direction as the drive carrier via the engagement between
Anzai Mitsuo
Morikiyo Akira
Bidwell James R.
Dann Dorfman Herrell and Skillman, P.C.
Skillman Henry H.
Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
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