Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or... – By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
Reexamination Certificate
2003-06-23
2004-12-07
Dillon, Jr., Joe (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor arrangement for selecting among plural sources or...
By loading or unloading section at selected one of a...
C198S779000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827198
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a conveyor arrangement with a tiltable offloading section along the conveyor path and, more particularly, to such an arrangement preferably using a modular conveyor belt.
2. Background Discussion
In the material handling industry, especially the package handling industry, it is often necessary to sort conveyed articles, such as boxes, by size, weight, destination, or some other parameter. One way of sorting articles is to offload them over the side of a conveyor according to preselected sorting criteria at one or more offloading stations. One way to offload articles over the side of the conveyor is to push them. A push rod at one side of the conveyor is actuated to push against the conveyed article and force it off the opposite side to another conveyor or collection area. Another example is a shoe sorter, in which a slat-type conveyor has shoes that can controllably slide laterally in the gaps between consecutive slats. The shoes push articles off the side of the conveyor. These pushing systems work well in many applications, but can be somewhat complex in that they often require tight coordination between the pushing mechanism and the speed of the conveyor. Often, especially with shoe conveyors, the conveyor frame can be quite complex, with diverter channels and other arrangements required to guide or control the motion of the shoes.
Another side-offloading sorting system is the tilt tray, in which a conveyor includes a series of trays, each of which contains one or more articles. The trays are pivotable about a pivot axis parallel to the conveying direction. When a tray reaches a designated offloading station, the tray is tipped about its pivot axis, depositing its load over the side of the conveyor. To prevent articles from tumbling while being offloaded, the trays are specially designed, and the tipping mechanism is carefully controlled. These special-purpose conveyors tend to be rather expensive. Furthermore, the individual trays limit the size of the articles that can be sorted—a drawback in some applications.
The high degree of accuracy and control provided by sorting conveyors like those described and their associated high costs are not necessary in many non-critical applications. Thus, there is a need for a low-cost and simple side-offloading conveyor for the package handling industry.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
These needs and others are provided by a conveyor having features of the invention. The conveyor, which is designed to offload articles, includes a conveyor belt, such as a modular conveyor belt constructed of a series of rows of belt modules interlinked hinge-like to form an article-conveying surface. The belt is supported by a carryway defining a conveying path. The article-conveying surface extends longitudinally along the carryway and laterally from a first side to a second side defining the width of the belt. A drive system drives the belt continuously or in a stop-and-go fashion along the carryway in a direction of belt travel. The carryway includes a tilt section at which the first side of the belt is elevated relative to the second side to offload articles carried on the article-conveying surface across the lower second side of the belt.
In one version of the conveyor, the belt includes a plurality of rollers mounted in the belt for rotation. A salient portion of each roller extends above the article-conveying surface to engage conveyed articles in rolling contact and facilitate their side-offloading. Preferably, the rollers are cylindrical rollers having an axis of rotation in the direction of belt travel. In another version of the conveyor, the article-conveying surface is flat and molded of a slick plastic material to provide a low-friction sliding surface for offloading at the tilt section.
In another version of the conveyor, the belt carryway at the first side of the belt is higher than at the second side in the tilt section. In still another version, the tilt section is made of a number of lateral slats that are pivotable about a pivot axis parallel to the direction of belt travel. A push rod can be used to push on the underside of the slat to elevate its first side above its second side to control the tilt of the conveyor belt in the tilt section. Thus, a simple modular conveyor belt, such as is available off-the-shelf, can be used to construct an inexpensive side-offloading system.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3286811 (1966-11-01), McWilliams
patent: 4031998 (1977-06-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4461378 (1984-07-01), Roth
patent: 5086905 (1992-02-01), Polling
patent: 5101982 (1992-04-01), Gentili
patent: 5353912 (1994-10-01), Killer et al.
patent: 5477955 (1995-12-01), Madden et al.
patent: 5653326 (1997-08-01), Liedgens
patent: 5667054 (1997-09-01), van den Goor
patent: 5894918 (1999-04-01), Bonnet
patent: 5967290 (1999-10-01), Bonnet
patent: 5988351 (1999-11-01), Warkentin
patent: 6044956 (2000-04-01), Henson et al.
patent: 6247576 (2001-06-01), Bonnet
patent: 6318544 (2001-11-01), O'Connor et al.
patent: 6334526 (2002-01-01), Hatton
patent: 6494312 (2002-12-01), Costanzo
Cronvich James T.
Dillon, Jr. Joe
Laitram L.L.C.
LandOfFree
Tilt conveyor does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Tilt conveyor, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Tilt conveyor will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3332863