Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Endless conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-14
2004-11-23
Crawford, Gene O. (Department: 3651)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Endless conveyor
C198S860100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820737
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for guiding a conveyor chain or the like in a conveyor system, which travels sliding thereon, and more particularly to a track frame assembly suitable for use as a curved track portion in a conveyor system.
BACKGROUND ART
In the track frame assembly of the above type, the frame member is formed from iron or stainless steel. The frame member is formed by bending a steel plate, for example, of a suitable thickness and proper length by a press or bender to make a simple long structure, and connecting a plurality of such structures to each other, for example. The conventional frame members include also a one made of aluminum by the extrusion molding by which the frame member can be formed to have any complicated shape as desired.
The curved track portion of the track frame assembly is formed by deforming a frame member to a desired curved shape.
In the above-mentioned conventional track frame assembly, however, it is difficult to deform a frame member easily and accurately to a desired curved shape.
That is, to work a frame member with an appropriate accuracy and assure an appropriate rigidity of the worked frame member, the frame member is made of a thick plate material or bent pieces are formed integrally with a base plate as a side plate, which makes it difficult to deform the frame member to a desired curved shape.
Also, in the above conventional track frame assembly, a guide bracket or the like is installed to the base plate as the side plate of the frame member with bolts inserted through fixing holes formed in the base plate. That is, the guide bracket can only be installed to the base plate in positions corresponding to the fixing holes. Thus, the installation of the guide bracket is limited to such a limited place, takes a good amount of time and cannot be efficient.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has an object to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional art by providing a track frame assembly whose frame member can be deformed easily and accurately to a desired curved shape suitable for use of the frame member as a curved track portion of a conveyor system, and which is easy to handle, lightweight and workable with a high accuracy to have a high rigidity, can be manufactured at low costs, is safe, easy to assemble, simply configured and suitable for mass production and inexpensive.
The above object can be attained by providing a track frame assembly for guiding a conveyor chain in a conveyor system, the assembly including according to the present invention as set forth in claim
1
given later:
at least a pair of frame members A
1
;
a coupling block
10
to couple the pair of frame members A
1
to each other; and
synthetic resin-made track rails D fitted on each frame member A
1
and with which the conveyor chain is in sliding contact;
each of the frame members A
1
being formed as a channel having a generally bracket-shaped section and consisting of an elongated base plate portion
1
and a pair of elongated bent plate portions
2
and
4
joined to opposite longitudinal edges, respectively, of the base plate portion
1
and extending generally perpendicularly to the base plate portion
1
;
each of the bent plate portions
2
and
4
having a plurality of cuts
5
formed therein generally perpendicularly to the length thereof at predetermined intervals; and
the cuts
5
being deformed, and bent plate portions
2
and
4
being bent in the direction of their width when the base plate portion
1
is bent in the direction of its thickness.
Since the frame member A
1
can be deformed easily and accurately to a desired curved shape owing to the above construction, the above track frame assembly according to the present invention is optimally usable as a curved track portion in a conveyor system. Further, the track frame assembly is easy to handle, lightweight and workable with a high accuracy to have a high rigidity, can be manufactured at low costs, is safe, easy to assemble, simply configured and suitable for mass production and inexpensive.
Further, some or all of the plurality of cuts
5
are covered by the track rail D, so that the conveyor chain or the like is allowed to slide smoothly on the track frame assembly.
Also, the above object can be attained by providing a track frame assembly for guiding a conveyor chain in a conveyor system, the assembly including according to the present invention as set forth in claim
2
given later:
at least a pair of frame members A
1
;
a coupling block
10
to couple the pair of frame members A
1
to each other; and
synthetic resin-made track rails D fitted on each frame member A
1
and with which the conveyor chain is in sliding contact;
each of the frame members A
1
being formed as a channel having a generally bracket-shaped section and consisting of an elongated base plate portion
1
and a pair of elongated bent plate portions
2
and
4
joined to opposite longitudinal edges, respectively, of the base plate portion
1
and extending generally perpendicularly to the base plate portion
1
;
one (2) of the bent plate portions
2
and
4
having joined to the lateral end thereof an elongated folded plate portion
3
extending toward the base plate portion
1
, and each of the bent plate portions
2
and
4
and folded plate portion
3
having a plurality of cuts
5
formed therein generally perpendicularly to the length thereof at predetermined intervals; and
the cuts
5
being deformed, and bent plate portions
2
and
4
and folded plate portion
3
being bent in the direction of their width, when the base plate portion
1
is bent in the direction of its thickness.
Since the frame member A
1
can be deformed easily and accurately to a desired curved shape owing to the above construction, the above track frame assembly according to the present invention is optimally usable as a curved track portion in a conveyor system. Further, the track frame assembly is easy to handle, lightweight and workable with a high accuracy to have a high rigidity, can be manufactured at low costs, is safe, easy to assemble, simply configured and suitable for mass production and inexpensive.
Further, some or all of the plurality of cuts
5
are covered by the track rail D, so that the conveyor chain or the like is allowed to slide smoothly on the track frame assembly.
Also, the above object can be attained by providing a track frame assembly for guiding a conveyor chain in a conveyor system, the assembly including according to the present invention as set forth in claim
3
given later:
at least a pair of frame members A
1
;
a coupling block
10
to couple the pair of frame members A
1
to each other;
synthetic resin-made track rails D fitted on each frame member A
1
and with which the conveyor chain is in sliding contact; and
an elongated reinforcing plate
20
pre-bent in the direction of its width;
each of the frame members A
1
being formed as a channel having a generally bracket-shaped section and consisting of an elongated base plate portion
1
and a pair of elongated bent plate portions
2
and
4
joined to opposite longitudinal edges, respectively, of the base plate portion
1
and extending generally perpendicularly to the base plate portion
1
;
one (2) of the bent plate portions
2
and
4
having joined to the lateral end thereof an elongated folded plate portion
3
extending toward the base plate portion
1
, and each of the bent plate portions
2
and
4
and folded plate portion
3
having a plurality of cuts
5
formed therein generally perpendicularly to the length thereof at predetermined intervals;
the cuts
5
being deformed, and bent plate portions
2
and
4
and folded plate portion
3
being bent in the direction of their width, when the base plate portion
1
is bent in the direction of its thickness;
each track rail D being configured for fitting on one (2) of the bent plate portions
2
and
4
and folded plate portion
3
to cover their longitudinal edges, and flexible correspondingly to the cu
Kobayashi Kazuyuki
Koeda Motoya
Crawford Gene O.
Yamakyu Chain Co., Ltd.
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