Patent ID: 6286654
Filing Date: 2001-09-11
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
A plurality of conveyor systems, each conveyor system comprising, in combination:(a) a load support structure, said load support structure having an input position at which loads can be placed onto said load conveyor system and an unload position at which loads can be removed from said conveyor system, said load support structure also having a load staging position located between the input position and the unload position;(b) a plurality of sensors including an input sensor which senses a load at the input position, an unload sensor which senses a load at the unload position, a staging sensor which senses a load at the staging position, and a filled sensor which determines when a pre-selected portion of said load support structure has been filled with loads;(c) a propulsion system which moves loads from the input position to the unload position along said load support structure;(d) a control system for said plurality of conveyor systems responsive to said sensors to cause said driver to move a load to the unload position of said load support structure when the unload position is empty and to move a load from the input position to the staging position of said load support structure when the unload position is full, until such time as said filled sensor determines the pre-selected portion of said conveyor support structure has been filled; and(e) the load support structure of each successive conveyor system of said plurality of conveyor systems including a portion of the load support structure of the immediately preceding conveyor system to cause the unload position of the immediately preceding conveyor system to become the input position of the load support structure of each successive conveyor system.