Patent ID: 9221605
Filing Date: 2015-12-29
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
1. An article transfer device for transferring two or more kinds of articles having different lengths in an article lateral direction which is perpendicular to an article transfer direction, comprising: a placement support portion that is provided to a base platform and that receives and supports an article to be transferred; a pair of clamp portions that are configured to be moved along the article transfer direction with respect to the placement support portion, and that are capable of being moved toward and away from each other between gripping positions for gripping the article to be transferred and releasing positions that are spaced apart wider than the gripping positions; and a clamp actuator for moving the pair of clamp portions toward and away from each other; wherein, the placement support portion includes a pair of divided placement support portions that separately receive and support both side portions, in the article lateral direction, of a bottom surface of the article to be transferred, each of the pair of divided placement support portions includes a plurality of rotary rollers which can rotate about laterally extending axes arranged along the article transfer direction, a roller actuator for drivingly rotating the plurality of rotary rollers is provided to each of the pair of divided placement support portions so as to be movable in unison therewith in the article lateral direction with respect to the base platform, the pair of divided placement support portions are configured to be moved toward and away from each other within limits of a movable range defined in the article lateral direction and to face each other in close proximity when located at approach limit positions which are limit positions in the movable range that are closer to each other, there are provided a placement support portion actuator for moving the pair of divided placement support portions toward and away from each other and a controller for controlling operations of the clamp actuator and the placement support portion actuator based on length information, in the article lateral direction, of the article to be transferred, arranged below the plurality of rotary rollers is a conveyor driving belt which contacts a lower portion of at least part of the plurality of rotary rollers, and the roller actuator circulates the conveyor driving belt.