Coin handling – Deliverer – Belt or chain
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-22
2003-07-15
Walsh, Donald P. (Department: 3652)
Coin handling
Deliverer
Belt or chain
C198S699100, C209S917000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06592446
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a device for conveying separate objects, especially disk-shaped objects, such as coins, with a guideway and with a conveyor circulating on a conveying arm at a spaced location from the guideway, wherein the distance between a strand of the transport belt facing the guideway and the guideway is smaller than the smallest height of an object above the guideway, wherein the objects can be grasped by the strand of the conveyor facing the guideway and can be conveyed on the guideway and wherein the static friction and/or sliding friction forces between the objects and the conveyor are greater than the static friction and/or sliding friction forces between the objects and the guideway, as well as to applications of such a device. The objects that can be conveyed within the framework of the present invention usually have a disk shape, wherein one principal surface slides on the guideway and the opposite principal surface is grasped by the conveyor. A guideway may be designed, e.g., as a sorting plate.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A device of the design described in the introduction has been known, e.g., from the reference EP 0 616 303 B1 for conveying coins. The side of the transport belt facing the coins has a smooth surface here, at any rate without readily visible elevations. The pressure of the transport belt on the coins to be conveyed is applied by a plurality of support rollers which are subject to a spring force in the direction of the guideway and which are arranged along the conveying arm. Even though this design has proved basically successful, it has a plurality of drawbacks. It can be pointed out at first that the effort needed for mounting the conveying arm as well as the effort needed for adjusting the individual rollers are considerable. It is disturbing from a kinematic viewpoint that the pressure of the transport belt declines in the areas between the support rollers, which may be disturbing especially during the conveying of coins with greatly varying thicknesses in the case of the thin coins. Furthermore, the prior-art arrangement is also complex from a dynamic viewpoint because of the many spring-loaded support rollers, because a system with pronounced natural frequencies is thus created, which may lead to problems in light of the usual high conveying velocities. To avoid disturbing vibrations of the transport belt against the guideway, certain conveying velocities are therefore to be avoided or suitable damping measures are to be taken. Finally, it is disturbing that the springs of the support rollers may fatigue during long operation times, with the consequence that reliable conveying of even very thin coins is not always guaranteed.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
In contrast, the basic technical object of the present invention is to provide a device for conveying separate objects which can be manufactured in a simple manner in terms of mounting and nevertheless guarantees the reliable conveying of objects of different thicknesses and it does so even during long operation times.
To accomplish this technical object, the present invention teaches that the conveyor is a lamella belt and that the strand of the lamella belt facing the guideway is guided over the entire longitudinal extension of the convening arm with the proviso that the distance d′ between the lamella tips pointing toward the guideway and the guideway is smaller than the smallest height of an object above the guideway.—A transport belt which has a continuous, especially uniform sequence of vertically or obliquely projecting lamellae on its side running against the guideway, which lamellae are arranged at a belt base, is called a lamella belt. The terms “lamella belt” and “lamella” also cover within the framework of the present invention embodiments with knobs, e.g., of a cylindrical design, arranged regularly or irregularly, laterally (or at right angles to the longitudinal extension of the belt). The lamellae may be oblique against the direction of conveying or in the direction of conveying. The form of the lamellae is basically freely selectable. Centrally symmetrical lamellae with a triangular cross section (relative to a plane arranged at right angles to the guideway and extending in the direction of conveying) are preferred, the tips of the lamellae being rounded. The lamellae may extend at right angles to the direction of conveying in their extension at right angles to the direction of conveying (continuously) or may be set at a pitch angle in relation to the direction of conveying (in the case of the knobs, knob rows may be arranged at right angles or with a pitch angle). The latter arrangement, i.e., with a pitch angle, is advantageous, e.g., when the objects are to move on the guideway along a guide edge. In this case, the pitch angle, measured between the longitudinal extension of the transport belt and the transverse extension of the lamellae, namely, on the side in the direction of movement of the transport belt, is smaller than 90°, e.g., between 80° and 89.5°. The term “lamella” implies within the framework of the present invention that these are rubber-elastic or elastic. The distance d′ can be selected in a range from 0 to a value slightly below the thinnest object to be conveyed. A range of 0 to 1 mm, preferably 0 to 0.5 mm and especially 0 to 0.1 mm is recommended for d′ in the case of coins.
Objects with very greatly varying thicknesses can be surprisingly conveyed with the present invention with very high reliability. Without wanting to be bound to a theory, the reason for this is presumably, especially in the case of thin objects, an effect supporting the conveying during the coming into contact of a lamella with an edge of an object standing opposite the direction of conveying. This object is now conveyed not only because of the friction effects of lamellae that are in contact, but the object is additionally quasi pushed. Furthermore, the use of a lamella belt according to the present invention makes it unnecessary to arrange a plurality of support rollers, which must press the smooth belt against the objects according to the state of the art, doing so with corresponding spring excursions in the case of varying thicknesses. Finally, the risk of fatiguing of the springs is therefore eliminated as well. It is also particularly advantageous that the present invention is suitable not only for horizontal conveying, but also for oblique and vertical conveying. Consequently, the longitudinal extension of the guideway may form any desirable angle with the horizontal direction. In particular, the angle between the guideway and the horizontal direction may be variable and preferably continuously variable over the course of the guideway. Consequently, curved guideways are also possible, besides flat guideways.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that at least the lamellae of the lamella belt, preferably the lamella belt as a whole (optionally with reinforcing inserts) is made of a material which is selected from the group comprising “elastomers, rubbers, natural rubber, synthetic rubber, polyurethane, polyether polyurethane, polyester polyurethane, rubber-elastic materials and mixtures of these materials.” These lamella materials possess advantageous properties in terms of their rubber-elastic material properties as well as the friction forces occurring between the material and the objects. It is preferred in these connections for the lamellae to have a Shore A hardness of 50 to 100 and preferably 60 to 80 measured according to DIN 53505 (version: June 1987).
Concerning the geometric design, it is preferable for the height of the lamellae to be in the range of 2 to 20 mm, preferably 2 to 8 mm and especially 3 to 5 mm. The measure from a lamella base at the belt base to the tip of the lamella is called the height of the lamella. The density of the lamellae is preferably in the range of 100/100 mm to 10/100 mm and preferably 50/100 mm to 20/100 mm. The number of lamellae per 100
Beauchaine Mark J.
F. Zimmermann GmbH & Co. KG
McGlew and Tuttle , P.C.
Walsh Donald P.
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