Patent ID: 6325198
Filing Date: 2001-12-04
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
A high speed manufacturing system for processing articles of manufacture requiring processes to be performed thereon at a pre-selected processing rate, said system comprising:a trunk for simultaneously conveying a plurality of the articles of manufacture at said pre-selected processing rate in a first mode of motion from a beginning of said system to an end of said system;at least one branch processing station, positioned intermediate said beginning and said end, wherein said branch processing station during operation thereof performs at least one process on articles of manufacture conveyed thereon while conveying the articles in a second mode of motion; andat least one transfer device positioned intermediate said trunk and said branch processing station to continuously extract articles of manufacture from said trunk and transition the movement of the extracted articles of manufacture from said first mode of motion to said second mode of motion for transfer to said branch processing station, and further to extract each of the processed articles of manufacture from said branch processing station and transition the movement of the articles from said second mode of motion to said first mode of motion for transfer to said trunk.