Conveying apparatus

The present invention is a conveying apparatus for the bi-directional guidance of one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components from a primary location to a secondary location. Matter, such as the objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging component, supplied to the conveying apparatus from the primary location are monitored and corresponding speed and directional values are determined that are indicative of the relationship between matter supplied to the conveying apparatus and the matter being guided by the conveying apparatus to the secondary location. Based upon the speed and directional values, the conveying apparatus may be managed for bi-directional guidance of one or more objects from the primary location to the secondary location.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA

This application claims priority to commonly assigned U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/634,216, filed Feb. 24, 2012, and entitled CONVEYING APPARATUS, the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference herein.

DESCRIPTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the technical field of conveyors, as machines and equipment which guide matter, such as one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components, from one place to another. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of a conveyor apparatus for the bi-directional guidance, sorting, orientating, combining, indexing or unscrambling of matter, such as one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components, from a primary location to a secondary location.

2. Background of the Invention

The present invention is directed to a conveying apparatus and, in particular, to a conveying apparatus in which matter, such as one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components is supplied to the conveying apparatus from a primary location and are guided by the conveying apparatus to a secondary location. The present invention is compatible to linear sorters, including positive displacement sorters, and carousel sorters, such as a tilt-tray and cross belt sorters. It is common for matter to be supplied to a material-handling apparatus for the guidance of the products from a primary location to a secondary location. One difficulty in such material-handling apparatus is that such apparatus are typically limited to guidance in a single direction. Where a user prefers guidance in more than one direction, multiple material-handling apparatus are required, at expense to the user in terms of process speed and required process footprint. The various aspects of the present invention relate to the speed and bi-directional guidance of matter, such as one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components from a primary location to a secondary location.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome some of the drawbacks relating to the designs of prior art devices as discussed above. The present invention is a bi-directional conveying apparatus for guiding matter, such as one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components, from a primary location to a secondary location, which increases the performance of a one directional material-handling apparatus by ensuring speed and directional efficiency in one unit, therefore improving process speed and reducing required process footprint. In other aspects, the invention provides a conveying apparatus optimizing speed and directional guidance of matter, such as one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components, from a primary location to a secondary location having features and advantages corresponding to those discussed above. These and other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.

It should be understood that the drawings are for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the present invention and are not necessarily the only possible configurations for illustrating the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiments of the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some examples of the embodiments of the present invention are shown. Indeed, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

The present invention is a conveying apparatus for guiding one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components from a primary location to a secondary location. Referring now specifically to the drawings ofFIGS. 1-5, and the illustrative embodiments depicted therein, there is shown a conveying apparatus10comprising a conveyor means12, and at least one integrally formed push plate member14, in a novel combination operable in a novel manner. The conveyor means12follows a continuous loop-shaped bi-directional path of travel, having the push plate member14aligned in the bi-directional path and speed of travel of the conveyor means12. The conveying apparatus10includes at least one driving means18for guiding the conveyor means12such that the conveyor means12is rotated aligned with the path and speed of travel. The driving means18is connected to the conveyor means12by at least one drive shaft means.

The conveying apparatus10of the present invention is configurable to guide a plurality of different sized and shaped objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components in conjunction with varied material handling systems from a primary location to a secondary location. The construction details of the conveying apparatus10as shown inFIG. 1are that the conveying apparatus10may of any sufficiently rigid and strong material such as high-strength plastic, metal, and the like.

The conveying apparatus10as shown inFIG. 1is useful with other types of material-handling apparatus known in the art such as transverse belt sorters, stationary pusher sorters, tilt wheel sorters, and the like.

In further detail, referring toFIG. 2, the conveying apparatus10has a receiving end20from the primary location for receiving guiding matter, such as one or more objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components and one or more discharge ends for discharging the guiding matter to the secondary location. In the preferred embodiment, only one receiving end would be active at any one time, but it is reasonably conceived that more than one receiving end could be active for operations. The receiving end20and discharge ends could be made up of a plurality of belt conveyors, gravity conveyors, chutes, loading or unloading dock, or the like.

Referring toFIGS. 1 and 3, the integrally formed push plate member14of the conveyor means12can function endlessly in either a frontwardly or backwardly direction and such direction is changeable during the conveying apparatus10use and operations. It is conceived that the push plate member14is substantially rigid and sufficiently wide and long to form a conveying surface for the guiding, sorting, orientating, combining, indexing or unscrambling of objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components from a primary location to a secondary location. In the preferred embodiment, the push plate14is substantially a rectangle shape, although it is conceived that the push plate could be of any shape, size or angular configuration, which configuration does not otherwise extend below the plane of conveyor means12. In the preferred embodiment, the push plate14is adjustably aligned with the conveyor means12and the secondary location.

Referring toFIGS. 1,4and5, the conveyor means12is supported in an upright position by a frame means16. The frame means16defines at least one horizontal surface24laterally offset from the conveyor means10. The frame means16is sufficiently tall to hold the push plate member14a distance off the ground when the push plate member14is conveying around the loop-shaped path of travel. The horizontal surface24supports a plurality of control input means22and at least one status indicator.

The preferred embodiment has a plurality of status indicators which are numbered or colored or otherwise marked so as to correspond to the status of the conveyor apparatus, which may include a start switch, a stop switch, and the like. In the preferred embodiment, it is reasonably conceived that the control input means22may rely on electrical or mechanical energy or other propulsion source as may be configured to the driving means18. The driving means18may include a variable speed and direction control means, which may be manually set or otherwise managed through real time or programmed application, such as a programmable logic controller, for bi-directional guidance of one or more objects by the conveying apparatus10from the primary location to the secondary location. The status indicator may include multiple color indicators, such as green, yellow, and red, utilized to indicate the status of the conveyor means10, including status of on/off, speed, direction, and the like.

In the preferred embodiment, an object identification means located at or about the receiving end20may be configured to the speed and direction means for the operation of the conveyor means12, as aligned with the push plate member14the guiding, sorting, orientating, combining, indexing or unscrambling of objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components from a primary location to a secondary location. Such object identification means may include an electrical operator, such as a photo eye, photo sensor, motion detector, a mechanical operator, programmed logic controller, a human or robot operator, scale or the like. In the preferred embodiment, the driving means18operates the conveyor means12at a slightly higher speed that the receiving end20or secondary location.

The advantages of the present invention include, without limitation, that the conveying apparatus10can sort, orient, combine, index or unscramble objects, ingredients, products, containers, packs or packaging components from a primary location to a secondary location. In an alternate embodiment, the conveying apparatus10includes a plurality of conveying apparatus12, configured in parallel operations.