Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – Plural laterally spaced locations fed to or received from a...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-30
2004-03-09
Valenza, Joseph E. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
Plural laterally spaced locations fed to or received from a...
C198S370020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06702106
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter of the present invention relates to sliding shoe sorters and methods of using those sorters. Embodiments of the present invention can be utilized to sort any type of item regardless of its composition, size, container or shape. Novel structures and steps for monitoring or tracking the items as well as actually sorting the items are within the ambit of the current invention, e.g., a plurality or pluralities of shoes, rods, shafts, pushers or the like are interposed between the sorters's conveyors's lateral edges. Importantly, the shoe can be anything which moves about the conveyor that is capable of pushing items toward the edge of the conveyor.
One or more pluralities of the shoes which have been interposed between the conveyors's lateral edges can be ordered and advanced in lines. Representative lines can include mechanical, electromechanical, electrical, electronic or electrical field tracks. Controllers activate or deactivate the diverters which direct the sliding shoes toward one or more receivers, i.e., mechanical, electromechanical, electrical, electronic or electrical field lines. Diversion of the shoes can result in the egressing of an item away from the conveyer. The receivers can be provided with rediverters to redirect the shoes toward the interposed sliding shoes.
Items advanced by the conveyor may have a code placed about them. Types of coding can include radio frequency identification, bar coding, color coding or light coding. After a code has been placed about the item to be sorted, a paradigm or paradigms responsive to the code can be created to orchestrate activation or deactivation of the diverters and/or the rediverters. The requisite logic, sensors and controllers necessary to control the diverters can be incorporated into the various paradigms. As a result, dependent upon the items to be sorted, the nature and scope of paradigms operable in accordance with the present invention is virtually unlimited.
Unlike the prior art, embodiments of the present invention interpose one or two pluralities of shoes between the receivers. When a single plurality of shoes is interposed, the diverter can direct shoes toward either the left receiver or the right receiver or both which enables two distinct rows of items to be advanced and sorted. Within the scope of this embodiment, alternating or simultaneous diversion of the shoes toward either receiver can be accomplished. And in accordance with another feature of the present invention, along with the conventional front loading of the conveyor associated with sliding shoe sorters, items can be laterally ingressed directly onto the conveyor, i.e., items can be induced onto the conveyor at two or more locations.
2. Description of the Previous Art
a) U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,105-Sapp, et. al., also owned by the current assignee of the present invention enables a novel switching system for sorters. The '105 Patent further discloses a conveying mechanism incorporating the traditional teachings for tracks, crossovers and pushers. Sapp, et. al, is silent regarding the use of a medially interposed primary track or tracks.
b) U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,715-Sapp owned by the current assignee of the present invention also enables a novel switching system for sorters. And in a vein similar to U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,105, the '715 Patent teaches what has been the traditional conveying mechanism for conveyors, including the tracks, crossovers and pushers. As with the '105 Patent, this Patent is also silent with respect to the use of an interposed primary track or tracks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Typically, the currently available sliding shoe sorters require justification of the majority of shoes in a single row to either the right or left of sorters's center. Specifically, the prior art teaches the justification of shoes near either the right or left border of the sorters's conveyor bed. In operation, shoes which have been justified to the right will slide leftward to divert goods off of the left side of the conveyor slats or tubes. Conversely, shoes justified to the left will slide rightward to divert goods off the right side of the conveyor slats, tubes, etcetera, making up the conveyor bed.
Operation of prior art sliding shoe sorters mandates front end loading of the sorter. Cases to be sorted are bar coded, then singulated and tracked by currently available bar code sensors operable, in conjunction, with their respective computer programs. After the cases are front loaded in single file onto the sliding shoe sorter, dedicated computer programs activate select shoes to crossover from one side of the conveyor to the opposite side of the conveyor bed. Thus, dependent upon the cartons's bar code, the computer program will activate shoes to divert the case to the appropriate spur conveyor, chute or other destination.
It has been determined that when operating in the most optimal environment and upon the most appropriately sized and spaced cases, physical characteristics of prior art sorters limit their capacity to about 200 diverted cases per minute. Practice of either the device or method embodiments or both of the present invention can virtually double the number of cartons per minute which can be sorted. Moreover, since less tangible components are required, it is believed that the unique structure and steps of the present invention will reduce the expense associated in construction and/or maintenance of sorting systems while concurrently increasing the volume of items which can be sorted.
As enabled in U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,705 and 5,333,715, those skilled the art will readily recognize some of the types of currently available bases for supporting the sorter as well as selected drives for advancing the conveyors's slats and shoes. Generally, the conveyors of the present invention advance in a circularly continuous pathway. A plurality of or pluralities of shoes, rods, shafts, pushers or the like which can be diverted are interposed between the sorters's conveyors's lateral edges. And as previously set forth, shoes can be orderly interposed mechanically, electromechanically, electrically, electronically or in linear electrical fields. Further, those skilled in the art recognize that the shoes or pushers are not limited to any particular configuration, but can include any device capable moving about the conveyor and pushing the item to be sorted.
Within the scope of the present invention, embodiments can monitor items to be sorted and can signal controllers to activate or deactivate the diverters and rediverters. Any kind of controller capable of activating or deactivating the diverters and rediverters can be incorporated into the present invention. Activation of the diverters directs the shoes toward one or more receivers which may cause an item to egress from the conveyor. Conversely, activation of the receivers's rediverter will redirect the shoes toward the interposed plurality. This novel feature allows shoes to perform more than one sort per conveying cycle.
In accordance with the present invention, one or more diverters and one or more rediverters can be utilized to direct or redirect the shoes. Diverters and rediverters can include mechanical, electronic, electrical or electromechanical switches, electrical fields, or any other structure which can cause a shoe or shoes to be directed from the interposed plurality toward a receiver, or from a receiver toward the interposed plurality of shoes.
According to any of the plethora of possible paradigms, direction and timing of the diversion of the shoe or shoes is predetermined. Operable paradigms can include sensors, controllers and their respective logics, as well as computer programs utilized, in association, with bar coding, color coding, light coding, radio frequency identification coding, or any combinations thereof. However, paradigms can be something as simple as human activation of the shoes dependent upon color coding of the items to be sorted.
Unlike cur
Pearce Kenneth F.
Valenza Joseph E.
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