Conveyors: fluid current – With load braking or retarding means – Utilizing a fluid
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-18
2001-11-27
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: fluid current
With load braking or retarding means
Utilizing a fluid
C406S019000, C406S050000, C406S151000, C406S169000, C406S177000, C406S180000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06322295
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to the field of transportation of objects by pneumatic tubes or ducts, and more particularly to transportation of large, irregular objects such as bags of recycled material by pneumatic tube.
BACKGROUND ART
Pneumatic tubes or ducts have long been used in the transportation of small, uniform solid objects such as hollow cases or canisters for transporting mail within a building. The use of pneumatic tubes or ducts has also been applied to the transport of bags of rubbish. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,355 Buisson issued Dec. 10, 1974 discloses a system for discharging rubbish through pneumatic ducts. This system is designed for transporting bags of unsorted household waste in which the bags are heavy and irregular and sometimes leaking sticky substances, so the main problem to be overcome by that system was to provide sufficient momentum to transport the bags of rubbish to the central destruction facility. This was done by having the bag of rubbish travel downwardly, then horizontally and using a secondary fan to first suck air from the tube ahead of the bag and then blow behind the bag. Another pneumatic system for transporting rubbish is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,765 Tokuhiro et al. issued Feb. 26, 1991. Again the units to be transported in this system relate to unsorted household waste which is relatively heavy, and the system involves the containers dropping vertically and then being forced horizontally to the collection area.
Currently, supermarkets collect recycled waste such as aluminum cans which require transportation from the front of the store, where the customers deposit the cans, to the rear of the store where collection vehicles can pick up the materials for recycling. It is undesirable to transport such beverage cans for recycling at ground level through the supermarket at floor level since the materials may leak liquids causing an unsanitary and unsightly situation. Consequently there is a need for a system to transport bags of recycled aluminum cans and the like above the floor level of supermarkets and back down at the rear of the supermarket for collection.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for transporting large, irregular objects upwardly, then horizontally, then downwardly. The invention provides an apparatus for pneumatically transporting objects comprising: a) a main duct having an input opening for introducing the object, and an output opening; b) a fan communicating with the main duct through a fan duct for drawing air out of the main duct upstream from the output opening; c) first valve means for selectively opening or closing the output; d) second valve means for selectively opening or closing the communication between the fan duct and the main duct; e) sensing means for sensing when the object passes a selected point in the main duct; and f) control means for opening the communication between the fan duct and the main duct, and closing the first valve means when an object is placed in the input, and subsequently closing the second valve means when the object reaches the designated location in the main duct.
The invention also provides a method of pneumatically transporting irregular-shaped objects comprising: i) providing a) a main duct having an input opening for introducing the object, and an output opening; b) a fan communicating with the main duct through a fan duct for drawing air out of the main duct upstream of the output opening; c) first valve means for selectively opening or closing the output opening; d) second valve means for selectively opening or closing the communication between the fan duct and the main duct; e) sensing means for sensing when the object passes a selected point in the main duct; f) control means for opening the communication between the fan duct and the main duct, and closing the first valve means when an object is placed in the input, and subsequently closing the second valve means when the object reaches the designated location in the main duct; ii) placing an object in the input and closing the input opening; iii) opening the communication between the fan duct and the main duct, and closing the output opening, thereby accelerating the object in the main duct from the input towards the output; iv) closing the second valve means when the sensing means detects that the object has reached the designated location in the main duct, thereby causing the object to decelerate; and v) opening the first valve means to permit the object to exit from the outlet opening of the main duct.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1849119 (1932-03-01), Stoetzel
patent: 3198581 (1965-08-01), Gamberini
patent: 3853355 (1974-12-01), Buisson
patent: 4984939 (1991-01-01), Foreman et al.
patent: 4993882 (1991-02-01), Nishizuka et al.
patent: 4995765 (1991-02-01), Tokuhiro et al.
patent: 5299891 (1994-04-01), Grosswiller et al.
patent: 5846030 (1998-12-01), Beard et al.
patent: 6039510 (2000-03-01), Greene et al.
patent: 6210080 (2001-04-01), Haul et al.
Dillon, Jr. Joe
Ellis Christopher P.
Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala
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