Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – Condition responsive control means including sensing...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-05
2001-11-06
Bidwell, James R. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
Condition responsive control means including sensing...
C198S349000, C198S347100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311822
ABSTRACT:
The present invention is directed toward a method and apparatus for article handling, and more specifically, toward a method and apparatus for cargo processing and sorting which presents items to a processing station in a controlled manner.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conveyor systems are widely used for transporting materials from one point to another. In factories, conveyors carry objects along assembly lines from one processing point to the next, bring materials out of storage and return finished products to warehouse locations. In airports, conveyors are used to move baggage and other cargo from ticketing counters to make up areas where the items are placed onto trucks and carried to waiting planes. Conveyors are also used to bring items from a plane to a baggage claim area inside an airport terminal. These systems can be quite long, move at a wide range of speeds and be arranged in many difference configurations.
When objects such as baggage arrive at a final or intermediate destination, they must generally be brought to rest before being further processed. At low speeds, the objects may fall off the end off the conveyor into a pile for further manual processing, or they may be pushed laterally off the conveyor by a diverter or pusher. When the objects are carried in a tray or other carrier, such as is commonly done with baggage, a device such as a tipper must be provided to tip or otherwise remove the baggage from the carrier. Baggage is relatively durable, and such treatment does little harm. However, when the baggage or other objects are moving at high speeds, it cannot safely be tipped or dropped from the conveyor. The kinetic energy of the moving baggage must be absorbed in order to stop the object, and when the energy is absorbed by the bag itself or other nearby bags, damage often occurs. Tippers operating at high speeds can also damage baggage. In addition, when baggage is to be manually processed after leaving the conveyor, the potential for injury to persons working near the terminal end of the conveyor is high. Finally, if items of baggage arrive in quick succession at a station, it can be difficult for the persons processing the items to work efficiently. However, slowing down a conveyor also results in a lower throughput and reduces efficiency. Therefore, systems today generally operate at a relatively high speed, and safety precautions must be taken to minimize damage to the baggage or other objects leaving the conveyor and injury to individuals working near the conveyor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses these and other problems by providing an article handling system that includes a high speed conveyor for transporting objects, a diverter for selectively removing objects from the high speed conveyor, an accumulation conveyor for receiving objects from the high speed conveyor, and an unloading device for removing articles from the accumulation conveyor, which device may be a tipper when the articles are carried on the conveyors in trays. The accumulation conveyor slows the articles leaving the high speed conveyor and presents them to the unloading device at a generally constant rate, a rate independent of that at which the objects are diverted from the conveyor.
In addition, the invention comprises a novel tipper mechanism that gently tips articles from the conveyor with a smooth, non-jarring motion and which is of a simpler construction than tippers heretofore known. The tipper is highly useful in connection with the subject article handling system, but can also be used quite effectively in most other situations where a baggage tipper is called for, and even in some applications where previous tippers would have been too violent or too expensive to maintain. The tipper includes a generally horizontal platform having a front edge and a rear edge and a holder for holding a container on said platform. The platform has a first platform support and a guide for guiding said first platform support. The guide has a first end at a first level and a second end at a second level, the second level being lower than the first level. A second platform support supports the rear edge at a level higher than the second level. An actuator is positioned to move the platform and the first platform support along the guide until the front edge support reaches the second end of the guide.
The present invention also includes a method of handling baggage comprising transporting baggage trays carrying baggage on a conveyor at a first speed and diverting at least a portion of the baggage trays transported on the conveyor to an accumulation buffer to form an accumulated line. The baggage is unloaded from the diverted trays at a second speed independent of the speed of the conveyor. The trays can be then removed from the accumulation line after baggage unloading. The second speed can be at a generally constant rate to enhance unloading. The unloading can include tipping each tray to unload the baggage. During tipping, a forward portion of the tray can travel along an arcuate and downward path during unloading, and a rearward portion of the tray can travel in a generally horizontal path during unloading.
The present invention is particularly useful in connection with baggage handling systems such as those used in airports, and for simplicity, the invention will be described herein in terms of an airport baggage handling system. It should be understood, however, that this invention is not limited to airport applications and could be used in connection with any article handling system in which the gentle handling of articles is required.
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide an article handling system for minimizing damage to the articles being processed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved tipping device for tipping objects from a tray.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a baggage handling system which includes an accumulation buffer between a high speed baggage conveyor and a baggage tray tipper to allow the tipper to operate at a rate independent of the rate of the high speed conveyor.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a baggage handling system in which baggage trays are routed to an appropriate processing station, emptied of their contents, and automatically carried to a storage location where they can be retrieved for further use.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an improved baggage tray tipper that is driven by the rotation of a rotary motor.
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Bidwell James R.
Dickinson Wright PLLC
Jervis B. Webb Company
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