Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system for moving a specific load as a separate unit – System includes a load supported by a conveyor portion which...
Patent
1996-02-09
1998-06-30
Valenza, Joseph E.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system for moving a specific load as a separate unit
System includes a load supported by a conveyor portion which...
198812, 1988602, 1988611, B65G 4704
Patent
active
057720029
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention concerns a pendulant product storage installation, in particular for food products, and more particularly for bars of chocolate or the like, these products being placed on shelves arranged horizontally on pendulant product carriers horizontally suspended on two chains mounted on a frame and moving parallel to each other in a closed circuit comprising a feed section going from a station for loading the products on the shelves, to a product receiving station arranged for unloading the shelves, and a return section in which the shelves are brought back empty from the receiving station to the loading station, in which the frame consists of a least one basic module comprising four vertical columns which are connected to each other in pairs by upper and lower longitudinal coupling members respectively and by upper and lower transversal coupling members respectively.
Numerous pendulant storage installations are already known, in particular that disclosed in the European Patent application published under number 0 538 742 A1. In food product production lines, for example of bars of chocolate, biscuits, chocolate covered products and other products which are fragile and delicate to handle, it is often necessary to be able to have a temporary storage installation available for these products, given that production is carried out continuously while packaging is carried out in batches and the packaging units of a same line are periodically subject to halts required for maintenance, repair or the placing of packing material.
These storage installations must comply with relatively burdensome specifications. They must allow large storage capacity and assure efficient and careful transport of the products from a loading station to a receiving station, while providing maximum security for the conveyed products, great flexibility of use and variable storage potential as a function of the instant demand.
One of the problems presented by these installations is space requirement. It is easy to understand that the user wishes to have available the greatest possible storage capacity for the minimum amount of space. Furthermore, in most cases, an installation of this type must be able to be erected in existing premises, which requires a "made to measure" configuration. Indeed, except in the case of a new building, it is often difficult, and rarely desirable, to adapt an existing building to the space requirements imposed by the erection of a storage installation on a product packaging line. Consequently, the manufacturer of this type of installation must usually adapt the design of his storage installation to a set of parameters which are connected on the one hand to the products, and on the other hard to the space available. This results in a compromise which does not always offer the ideal solution to storage problems. Most existing installations are standard constructions, comprising a fixed frame on which are mounted the two chains which carry the pendulant product carriers intended to receive the products. The design of this rigid construction does not enable the storage problem to be optimised to take account of parameters connected to the products without becoming dependent on parameters connected to the available space.
The present invention proposes to resolve the aforementioned problem by overcoming the disadvantages of the known prior systems, and offering great flexibility of use as well as the ability to be adapted as a function of different applications, so as to give this installation a substantially universal character.
These objects are achieved by the storage installation according to the invention which is characterised in that said vertical columns comprise at each of their ends four upper and lower connecting members respectively, and in that these connecting members are provided with coupling means arranged for assuring the assembly of adjacent and/or superposed modules.
In a preferred embodiment, the lower connecting members are arranged for carrying a lower sprocket wheel A and the up
REFERENCES:
patent: 2823811 (1958-02-01), Temple
patent: 3851764 (1974-12-01), Anders
patent: 4720228 (1988-01-01), Horiguchi et al.
patent: 5065499 (1991-11-01), Luciano et al.
Sapal Societe Anonyme des Plieuses Automatiques
Valenza Joseph E.
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