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Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-14
2004-03-30
Bidwell, James R. (Department: 3651)
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Reexamination Certificate
active
06712194
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a tilting mechanism comprising an article-supporting member, such as a tray or a conveyor belt or any other suitable member for a sorter for transporting and sorting various articles. The article-supporting member may be held tilted about two parallel axes each being fixed with respect to the tilting part or the stationary and being movable along a predetermined path with respect to the other part.
The present invention further relates to a sorter comprising article-supporting members arranged on tilting mechanisms to tilt the members when passing curves and during induction of articles from the side of the sorter so as to prevent articles form sliding off the members and thus enable the sorter to operate at much higher conveying speeds than known sorters.
BACKGROUND
Sorters having tilt mechanisms for tilting trays by rotating the tray about a tilting axis being stationary with respect to a frame part of the tilting mechanism and to the sorter are well-known. Tilting mechanisms divided into two separate mechanisms, normally one mechanism for discharging to each side, in which each mechanism has a tilting axis are also known.
It is further known from EP 0 664 262 A1 to have a tilting mechanism that has a simple movable tilting axis, in this mechanism two axles move in linear paths being a horizontal and a vertical path. The drive means is a rail along the moving path of the tilt-sorter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,430 discloses a mechanism that comprises “a rotatable pinion placed on one of the uprights”, the uprights being placed on a frame part and “an arc of a pinion co-operative hoop extending from the plate for engagement with the pinion”, the plate here being the tilt tray. There is no disclosure in this document about tilting of the tray to other angles than a full tilt or no tilt.
The stationary tilt axis and the simple movable tilt axis provides no or only limited possibility to design the movement of the article-supporting member tilted by the tilting mechanism in an advantageous way so as to e.g. take advantage of the act of gravity on the member and an article during discharge of the article from the member or to discharge the article at a suitable distance from the sorter transversely to the conveying direction of the sorter without requiring an excessive distance between the article-supporting member and the stationary track means of the sorter.
The conveying speed of most known sorters is restricted due to the risk of articles sliding off the article-supporting members of the sorter during passage of horizontal curves due to the so-called centrifugal force. Another speed limiting factor is the induction of articles onto the article-supporting members of the sorter from the side of the sorter by induction lines being arranged at an angle to the sorter so that the articles are given a velocity in the conveying direction of the sorter as well as in the transversal direction. The higher the conveying speed the higher the transversal speed which may cause the article to slide past the article-supporting member and off the sorter. The transversal speed may be decreased by decreasing the angle between the conveying direction of the sorter and the conveying direction of the induction line but the induction station will in that case take up an excessive area. Sorter do usually maintain the article-supporting surfaces at horizontal positions during the operation of the sorter except for tilt tray sorters during discharge of articles.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The tilting mechanism of the present invention makes it possible to provide an advantageous design of the tilting movement of the article-supporting member. It has been realised that by letting the frame part and the tilting part of the tilting mechanism be mutually engaging about at least two points, each of the points being fixed with respect to one of said frame part and said tilting part and being movable along a predetermined path with respect to the other of said two parts, and by letting at least one of the predetermined paths being nonlinear, it is possible to design the tilting movement to advantageous embodiments as opposed to the above-mentioned known tilting mechanisms.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tilting mechanism in which the tilting part, comprising an article-supporting member and the article thereon, may be tilted in a manner so that the centre of gravity of the tilting part and an article supported thereon is lowered during a first part of the tilt, so as to minimise the force that is needed for performing the tilt. Other objects of the present invention will be understood from the following description.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sorter having tilting mechanisms that are controlled to tilt an article-supporting surface of an article-supporting part e.g. a tray or a cross-belt, in a ungraduated way and to control this tilt so as to tilt in any angle within a range at any time, so that the article is kept on the surface or discharged from the surface as desired, e.g. at high speed in horizontal curves, at high speed induction of articles from the side of the sorter and when being discharged from the article-supporting surface at the discharge stations.
Thus, the present invention relates to a tilting mechanism for a sorter comprising
a frame part,
a biting part for supporting an article-supporting part of the sorter, the article-supporting part having an article-supporting surface,
drive means for tilting the tilting part of the mechanism, the frame part and the tilting part mutually engaging about at least two points, each of the points being fixed with respect to one of said frame part and said tilting part and being movable along a predetermined path with respect to the other of said two parts,
at least one of the predetermined paths being non-linear.
The frame part and the tilting part engage in a preferred embodiment of the invention mutually about at least two axes being substantially parallel, each of the axes being fixed with respect to one of said frame part and said tilting part and being movable along a predetermined path with respect to the other of said two parts,
the frame part and the tilting part each defining a main direction, the main direction of the frame part being defined by a vector having the frame part as its initial system and the main direction of the tilting part being defined by a vector having the tilting part as its initial system, the vectors being coincident in an article-carrying non-tilted position of the tilting part in which position the vectors are projections of a vertical vector on a plane perpendicular to the axes, both the vectors pointing in a direction away from the frame part,
the predetermined paths being designed so that both axes during the course of a tilting operation are moved with a component in the main direction of the part with respect to which the respective axis moves.
The main directions are hereby defined as directions “painted” on the two parts of the mechanism, and the directions are moved as the part moves. These main directions are defined from the position of the tilting part that in general means that the supporting surface is horizontal.
During the course of a tilting operation, at least one of the axes may be moved in a direction having a component in the main direction as well as in a direction having a component in the opposite direction of the main direction of the part relatively to which said axis moves.
The non-linear path may in a preferred embodiment of the invention be shaped so that when the tilting part is in a predetermined tilt position any rotating movement of the drive wheel will cause the centre of gravity of the tilting part including the article-supporting part and optionally an article supported thereon to move in a direction having a positive component in the main direction of the frame part.
This predetermined tilt position is the position where the translating movement of the article and the tilting mechanism is zero and
Abildgaard Anne-Mette Hjortshøj
Christensen Jan Gullev
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Crisplant a/s
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