Patent ID: 6435331
Filing Date: 2002-08-20
Classification: B65G,B65H

Abstract:
An article conveyor system, comprising:at least two upstream conveyors wherein each one of said at least two upstream conveyors respectively conveys a plurality of serially spaced articles along an upstream conveyor path; at least one downstream conveyor onto which the plurality of serially spaced articles, conveyed along each one of said at least two upstream conveyor paths, can be deposited for conveyance along said at least one downstream conveyor; said at least two upstream conveyors being adapted to have said upstream conveyor paths converge at a merge point so as to convey their respective serially spaced articles onto said at least one downstream conveyor; means for detecting the presence of the plurality of serially spaced articles upon each one of said at least two upstream conveyors at predetermined locations along said each one of said at least two upstream conveyor paths and for generating signals indicative of the detected presence of the plurality of serially spaced articles at said predetermined locations along said each one of said at least two upstream conveyor paths; and a single synchronizer means operatively associated with only one of said at least two upstream conveyors for adaptively varying the conveying speed of only said only one of said at least two upstream conveyors by selectively speeding up and slowing down said conveying speed of said only one of said at least two upstream conveyors in response to said signals indicative of the presence of the plurality of serially spaced articles at said predetermined locations along said each one of said at least two upstream conveyor paths in order to synchronize the conveyance of the plurality of serially spaced articles disposed upon said conveyor paths of said at least two upstream conveyors whereby the plurality of serially spaced articles, originally disposed upon said upstream conveyor paths of said at least two upstream conveyors, are able to be conveyed onto said at least one downstream conveyor without experiencing any spatial interference between any of the plurality of serially spaced articles as the plurality of serially spaced articles are conveyed onto said at least one downstream conveyor from said at least two upstream conveyors.