Railways – Trolley transfer – Swing stub
Patent
1996-09-30
1998-06-23
Morano, S. Joseph
Railways
Trolley transfer
Swing stub
104107, 104111, 1041724, B61B 300
Patent
active
057689989
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a suspension conveyor system which includes a rail network. The rails of the rail network comprise at least two sectional running girders each with upper and lower running surfaces. The girders extend side by side and are interconnected through strips spaced from each other so as to form a guide slit having a defined width between the two sectional running girders.
A roller apparatus is adapted to travel along the rail network. It has a carriage comprising two bearing rollers, having a common travelling axis, and supported by the upper running surfaces of the girders. The lower end of the roller apparatus is equipped with a load carrier, potentially a load hook, arranged below the guide slit. The roller apparatus has only one travelling axis and includes two lateral guide rollers spaced from each other in the travelling direction of the roller apparatus. The axis of the guide rollers extends perpendicular to the axis of the bearing rollers. The guide rollers are arranged between the bearing rollers and the stabilizing rollers such that they are guided in the guide slit.
Such a suspension conveyor for manual operation is known from GB 2 120 617, for example. This document teaches two rigid self-supporting sectional running rails defining a guide slit therebetween. The rolling apparatus of this suspension conveyor is further provided with lateral guide rollers and a lower stabilizing slide element which may be also arranged in a rotatable manner.
Suspension conveyors comprising a rail network and individual roller apparatuses travelling along the rails have been known for a long time and are used to convey loads of very different sizes; the design of a particular suspension conveyor system may depend to a great extent on the load to be conveyed. In the textile industry, suspension conveyor systems are often employed to convey reels of yarn, sewed clothes or similar work pieces having a relatively low weight. In this context, the suspension conveyor systems are often designed such as to allow both manual operation, i.e. individual roller apparatuses running on the rails and carrying loads suspended therefrom can be pushed by hand, and automatic operation, i.e. driver members convey the respective roller apparatuses automatically.
Special sectional girders have been conventionally used as the rails, the special sectional girders being manufactured by welding individual sectional girders to each other, or by an extrusion process. However, such designs have the drawback that complicated special sectional girders have to be manufactured and, thus, the whole structure cannot be assembled using conventional sectional rails. Moreover, such special sectional girders cannot be sufficiently combined with each other in a modular manner, thus requiring numerous special parts in order to assemble rail systems of arbitrary shape. In addition, the special sectional girders have to be designed relatively large and heavy in order to achieve the desired rigidity of the rail system.
The roller apparatuses known in the prior art can be entrained by a driven conveyor means extending along the running rails and comprising driver members to be coupled to respective roller apparatuses; such a roller apparatus is provided with a carriage having at least one cylindrical bearing roller journalled thereto for rolling on the flat running surfaces of the rail system; and the roller apparatus is further provided with a load-carrying means, in particular a load-carrying hook, at the bottom of the carriage.
The suspension conveyor system may in particular implement an installation for sorting objects suspended from respective load-carrying means where the objects are to be sorted into a predetermined order or arranged into groups having a predetermined order. Such a suspension conveyor and sorting installation, for which roller apparatuses according to the invention are intended, may in particular implement a system for automatically sorting clothes suspended from coat hangers which in turn are suspended from the loa
REFERENCES:
patent: 4471867 (1984-09-01), Forshee
patent: 4635558 (1987-01-01), Hoehn
patent: 4694531 (1987-09-01), Foy
patent: 5400717 (1995-03-01), Hoehn
patent: 5598784 (1997-02-01), Kubsik et al.
patent: 5598785 (1997-02-01), Zaguroli, Jr.
Enderlein Robby
Geiger Hansjorg
Robu Johann
Morano S. Joseph
MTS Modulare Transport Systeme GmbH
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