Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
Patent
1998-03-04
2000-08-01
Ellis, Christopher P.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
19837003, 198845, B65G 4710, B65G 4746
Patent
active
060953152
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a sorting apparatus which is suitable, in particular, for sorting and distributing mail in public post offices or central in-house mail departments of large companies.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A known sorting apparatus comprises a plurality of conveyable-article carriers which circulate on at least one conveying device and are intended for receiving and transporting the conveyable articles and for discharging them in a controllable manner, each conveyable-article carrier comprising a fixedly arranged wall part and a movably arranged wall part, the movably arranged wall part forming, in a closed position, together with the fixedly arranged wall part, a receiving pocket for the conveyable articles, the movably arranged wall part forming, in a discharging position, together with the fixedly arranged wall part, an ejection slit which is open at the bottom and is intended for the conveyable articles, and one of the two wall parts forming an ejection chute which adjoins the ejection slit at the bottom and is inclined counter to the transporting direction. In the case of such a sorting apparatus, which is known, for example, from WO 95/02469, the ejection chute has the effect of reducing the relative speed between the discharged conveyable articles and a sorting container which receives the latter. Moreover, even when the conveyable articles are located obliquely, the ejection chute permits vertical discharge and ordered stacking of the conveyable articles in the corresponding sorting containers.
The earlier German Patent Application 19516666.3 describes a device for transferring articles, which is likewise suitable for mail in particular. This transfer device has a transfer element which receives, between an endlessly circulating conveying belt and an endlessly circulating pressure-exerting belt, articles arriving on a first conveying device and discharges these articles to circulating article carriers of a second conveying device. Reliable transfer of the articles is achieved in that it is possible to displace the discharging region of the transfer element in the transporting direction of the article carriers, and in that the transfer element and the second conveying device are aligned with respect to one another such that the articles are discharged into the associated article carrier without a movement component transverse with respect to the transporting direction.
During the transfer or the discharge of articles into conveyable-article carriers circulating on a conveying device, it may be the case that, depending on the speed and mass of the respective conveyable articles, there are more or less pronounced jolts against the wall parts of the conveyable-article carriers. In addition, the aim is to design a conveyable-article carrier with as lightweight a construction as possible, in order to keep the production outlay low and to reduce the mass of the circulating conveyable-article carriers. Thus, for example during sorting of mail, use is preferably made of conveyable-article carriers whose wall parts are produced by the injection-molded plastic.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The problem on which the present invention is based is to configure a sorting apparatus of the type mentioned in the introduction such that damage to the conveyable-article carriers, which are of lightweight construction, during introduction of the articles can be reliably avoided with low outlay.
The invention is based on the finding that the severest stressing to which the circulating conveyable-article carriers are subjected occurs only during introduction of the articles, and that it is thus sufficient for measures for mechanically stabilizing the article carriers to be provided only in the introduction region. This temporary mechanical stabilization of the conveyable-article carriers is effected by supporting means which are arranged in the introduction region, beneath the circulating conveyable-article carriers, and are intended for the wall part forming the ejection chute. It
REFERENCES:
patent: 2689657 (1954-09-01), Lens
patent: 3679045 (1972-07-01), Morgan et al.
patent: 4183707 (1980-01-01), D'Aloia
patent: 4375256 (1983-03-01), Selleri
patent: 5850901 (1998-12-01), Schuster et al.
Andersch Walter
Schuster Rudolf
Crawford Gene O.
Ellis Christopher P.
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
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