Railways – Selective delivery
Patent
1996-10-03
1998-08-18
Le, Mark Tuan
Railways
Selective delivery
104 89, 104 96, 209540, 198434, B61B 300
Patent
active
057945349
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a suspension conveyor in which objects are carried by and transferred between conveyor circuits.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conveyor for sorting clothes suspended from coat hangers has been suggested (EP-A1-0 582 224) wherein the unsorted clothes circulate with their coat hangers in one of the conveyor circuits and are selectively transferred to a second conveyor circuit through an automatically actuable switch. In the second circuit, the transferred clothes are sequentially accumulated in individual groups. However, such a sorting process is still relatively time consuming.
Another conveyor is known from the FR 2-577-500. It relates to a suspension conveyor where two conveyor circuits are driven to circulate in opposite directions, and are arranged as a conveyor circuit pair on opposite sides of an additional conveyor path. Roller devices are adapted to be pushed or pulled by the conveyor circuits, for carrying objects (a, b, . . . , n). A controllable switching means is arranged between the conveyor circuits, for transferring the objects individually from one of the conveyor circuits to the other conveyor circuit, and is adapted to transfer the objects selectively from the conveyor path to either of the conveyor circuits and from either of the conveyor circuits to the conveyor path. This conveyor, however, is not suitable for sorting objects but for transporting workpieces to work stations. For this reason, a transfer mechanism is provided, transferring the workpieces from a conveyor path to an inclined guide rail. The workpieces are transported by gravity along the inclined guide rail to the work station. After the workman has finished his work on the workpiece, it is transported back to the conveyor path via a slope conveyor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Like FR 2-577-500, the invention relates to a suspension conveyor where two conveyor circuits are driven to circulate in opposite directions, and are arranged as a conveyor circuit pair on opposite sides of an additional conveyor path. Roller devices are adapted to be pushed or pulled by the conveyor circuits, for carrying objects (a, b, . . . , n). A controllable switching means is arranged between the conveyor circuits, for transferring the objects individually from one of the conveyor circuits to the other conveyor circuit, and is adapted to transfer the objects selectively from the conveyor path to either of the conveyor circuits and from either of the conveyor circuits to the conveyor path.
The invention, however, may be used to sort all such objects which are arranged serially in any irregular order and are to be sorted into a predetermined order or assembled to groups of a predetermined order. In a preferred embodiment, the conveyor is designed to automatically sort clothes suspended from coat hangers which, in turn, are suspended from roller devices running on rails and driven by conveying means, preferably through pushers. In such an arrangement, identification codes may be attached to the coat hangers or roller devices and may be detected by sensors, the signals of which are fed to the control unit of the installation. The conveyor paths and conveyor circuits may in particular be arranged as stoppage or accumulation paths or circuits, respectively, in which the objects can be accumulated by means of stop members engaging the roller devices while the conveying means continues circulating. This may be achieved, for example, by releasing the drive connection between the circulating conveying means and the particular roller device partly or entirely or in such a manner that the connection remains engaged only in the form of a slight friction.
The invention solves the problem of how to design a sorting installation of the above-mentioned type such that even the sorting of numerous different objects conveyed in the sorting installation can be carried out in a speedy manner.
In accordance with the invention, this object is achieved by the following novel features: First, the suspension conveyor o
Enderlein Robby
Geiger Hansjorg
Robu Johann
Le Mark Tuan
MTS Modulare Transport Systeme GmbH
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