Patent ID: 11952220
Assignee: LAITRAM, L.L.C.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 8:
9. A conveyor system comprising:
first and second arrays of freely rotatable rollers, each array actuatable to change the orientations of the freely rotatable rollers;
a main conveyor conveying articles in a main conveying direction and including a roller belt having two opposite sides and belt rollers rotatable on axes parallel to the main conveying direction;
discharge conveyors at discharge positions along the length of the main conveyor receiving articles over the sides of the main conveyor;
wherein the first arrays underlie the roller belt at the discharge positions are selectably actuated to orient their freely rotatable rollers in contact with the belt rollers to cause the belt rollers to rotate and divert articles atop the belt rollers to one of the discharge conveyors;
wherein each of the discharge conveyors includes an inclined portion in which one of the second arrays is mounted;
wherein articles diverted to the discharge conveyors ride directly atop the freely rotatable rollers in the second arrays and are diverted in one direction or another by the selectably actuated orientations of the freely rotatable rollers.