Rail for conveyor for transporting goods hanging on hangers

The invention relates to a rail for accommodating and guiding a conveyor for transporting goods hanging on hangers. The conveyor may be a roller chain which travels and is guided in a chain channel in the rail. The tips of the hanger hooks rest on the roller chain. The chain channel is recessed with respect to the top side of the rail, which faces the hanger hook, and a conical groove extends upward from the roller chain and opens upward toward the outside of the rail. These features make it possible to transport the hanger hooks on their tips. The bevel which is formed by the conical groove, as well as the shape of the rail and the relative positions of the chain channel and the side edge of the rail, ensure that the hanger hook always slides in a well-defined position and orientation on the roller chain regardless of how it has been placed on the conveyor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a rail for a conveyor for transporting 
goods hanging on hangers. The conveyor travels, guided, in a channel in 
the rail with the tips of the hanger hooks supported on the conveyor. The 
channel is recessed into the surface of the rail that faces the hanger 
hook, and the channel opens upward toward the exterior of the rail. 
Particularly in the clothing industry, conveyors are used in which the 
goods to be conveyed hang on hangers, which may be ordinary clothes 
hangers. These hangers are placed onto the conveyor. 
German 39 29 158 C2 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,262), which exemplifies this type, 
discloses a conveyor for transporting goods hanging on hangers. In this 
conveyor, which can be used both as a storage conveyor and as an oblique 
conveyor, the pulling means circulating in the direction of transport 
grips the hooks of the hangers at their tips, the tips being spaced 
laterally from the hangers' center of gravity, in order to transport them. 
The tip of the hanger hook therefore lies on the pulling means. The 
advantage of transporting the hanger hook at its tip is that the loading 
and delivery areas, where the hangers are loaded onto the conveyor and 
unloaded from the conveyor, can be arranged parallel to the conveyor. In 
this way, there are no undesired forces or obstructions which interfere 
with movement of the hangers, such as might exist if the hanger were 
required to change direction at the loading and delivery areas. 
In this prior conveyor, the pulling means is developed as a toothed 
conveyor belt, which circulates along a path which defines a vertical 
plane. Therefore, it requires a substantial amount of space in the 
vertical direction to accommodate the movement of the toothed belt around 
its sprocket wheels. A conveyor path formed with a toothed belt must be 
substantially linear, since a toothed belt can be made to follow a curved 
course only with difficulty, if at all. Further, since the base body which 
serves as a rail in this prior conveyor performs only a supporting 
function with respect to the conveyor belt, fluttering of the belt can 
occur, particularly when the conveyor line is of substantial length, thus 
producing undesired noise. 
German 39 29 156 A1 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,107) discloses a hanging conveyor 
in which the primary pulling means is a horizontally revolving roller 
chain. This roller chain is guided in a chain channel arranged in a rail. 
In this case, however, the hanger hook cannot be transported at its tip 
and the hanger must be hung in a conventional manner on the chain. As a 
result, with this prior conveyor, linear feeding and delivery, at loading 
and unloading zones arranged parallel to the conveyor, are not possible. 
Therefore, this prior conveyor must provide an auxiliary toothed-belt 
conveyor to assist with delivery of the hangers from the roller chain. 
The disclosures of all prior art materials referred to herein are expressly 
incorporated by reference. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The object of the present invention therefore is to develop an improved 
rail for the aforementioned type of conveyor, so that the conveyor can 
follow a curved path in a horizontal plane, even a path with a small 
radius; and which will make it possible to transport the hook of the 
hanger on its tip, quietly and dependably. 
This object is achieved by providing a rail for supporting and enclosing a 
conveyor for transporting goods hanging on hangers. The conveyor is formed 
by pulling means which travels, guided, in a channel in the rail, with the 
tips of the hanger hooks supported on the pulling means. The channel is 
recessed with respect to a surface of the rail which faces the hanger 
hook, and the channel opens upward toward the exterior of the rail. 
The pulling means may be a roller chain, the roller chain being guided 
directly in and by the rail. The rail may have, adjacent to the channel, 
i.e., at the vertical level of the channel, a cross-section which is at 
least approximately trapezoidal. Because of this trapezoidal 
cross-section, the rail is broader at the top than at the bottom, and 
therefore, a hanger that is accidentally turned forward or backward will 
be guided by the side edge 12 into the preferred position, oriented 
transverse to the rail. Because the rail is not rectangular in 
cross-section, the sides of the bottom part of the rail are recessed from 
the sides of the rail, and do not project outward as far as the sides of 
the top part of the rail. Thus the side edge 12 generally matches the 
shape of the curved hanger hook, and accordingly does not obstruct any 
part of the hanger hook. 
The channel opens upward into a substantially V-shaped or conically opening 
groove. The angle of opening (.alpha.) of the conical groove is preferably 
about 120.degree.. 
As a result of the oblique shape of the chain channel, the hook of a hanger 
always slides downward along the V-shaped groove into a well-defined 
position on the roller chain, regardless of how it is placed on the 
conveyor. Because the roller chain is guided in and by the rail, swinging 
movements of the pulling means are effectively avoided so that quiet 
operation is possible.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
FIG. 1 shows the profile of the rail 1 in cross-section. Two chain channels 
3 are formed in the profile extending in the longitudinal direction, 
parallel to each other, each having two horizontally extending grooves 7, 
7a. The dimensions of the chain channels 3 and of the grooves 7, 7a are 
selected so that an ordinary roller chain 2 can be guided directly 
therein. The rail 1 is preferably formed of plastic so as to assure quiet 
travel of the endless roller chain 2. 
Toward the top of the rail 1, each chain channel 3 widens conically outward 
to form a conical groove 6, so that a V-shaped bevel is obtained which is 
directed downward, in the direction toward the roller chain 2 inserted 
into the chain channel 3. The cone angle .alpha. of the conical groove 6 
is preferably 120.degree.. The groove has a depth t which will depend on 
the type of the hanger hooks 5 that are to be transported. The depth t is, 
in any event, less than the height h between the tip 5a of the hanger hook 
and the top inner side of the hanger hook 5 of the hanger 4, so that the 
hanger hook 5 which rests by means of its tip 5a on the roller chain 2 
does not come directly against the rail 1. 
The conical groove 6 provides assurance, on the one hand, that the hanger 
hook 5 can slide in a defined position on the roller chain 2 regardless of 
how it has been introduced; and on the other hand, it prevents the hanger 
hooks 5 from sliding out of the conveyor path at the transition point T, 
between the conical or V-shaped part and the rectanguar part, of the chain 
channel 3. 
In order to assure the freest possible passage of the hanger hook 5, the 
rail 5 is of trapezoidal shape in profile, its bottom 1b being narrower 
than the top side 1a facing the hanger hook 5. The chain channels 3 lie 
far enough toward the center of the rail 1 that the side edge 12 can 
perform both a guiding and a supporting function for hangers 4 which are 
not precisely perpendicular to the direction of transport, and can receive 
their hanger hooks 5 so as to prevent jamming of individual hangers 4 
during transport. In other words, only a limited turning of the hanger 
hook is permitted as a result of the relative positions of the chain 
channel 3 and side edge 12. 
The conveyor provided with this rail 1 can be either linear or curved or 
both. In particular, due to its compact measurements, even small curve 
radii can be provided, so that the rail can serve as a transfer conveyor 
between two cable conveyors SF1, SF2 which are arranged at an angle to 
each other. 
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic top view of a transfer conveyor provided with the 
rail 1 for transferring hangers from a cable conveyor SF1 to a cable 
conveyor SF2. The drive motor 9, which is arranged above the rail 1, 
engages via a gear wheel (not shown in detail) into a recess 10 in the 
rail 1, thereby driving the roller chain 2. The roller chain 2 is 
tensioned in a simple manner by a tension spring 8, one end of which is 
fastened to the top 1a of the rail 1, while its other end acts on the 
drive gear of the drive motor 9. The rail 1 is preferably suspended from 
the ceiling of the room by a plurality of suspension devices 11 fastened 
to it by means of screws 13. 
The cable conveyors SF1 and SF2 are arranged at an angle to each other. The 
rail 1 is either developed as a single piece or else it is composed of 
individual segments, not shown here. It need not be explained in detail 
that individual segments can be used, individually or in combination, to 
afford the advantage of bridging over any angular offset of the cable 
conveyors SF1, SF2, by keeping a suitable supply of segments in stock. Via 
connecting pieces 17, 18, the rail 1 is connected on both sides with the 
cable conveyors SF1, SF2. The roller chain 2 is shown in dot-dash line in 
the figure. It can be noted that, by laterally offsetting the transition 
pieces 14, 15 with respect to the conveyor line 16, a linear transfer from 
the cable conveyor SF1 to the rail 1, and from there to the cable conveyor 
SF2, is possible. 
The rail 1 can be relatively narrow, so it will take up the least possible 
space. The width of the rail 1 is, in the final analysis, determined only 
by the space which is occupied by the roller chain 2. In turn, the minimum 
radius of the curved transport path is also determined by the size of the 
links of the roller chain 2 within the rail. 
Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular 
embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other 
uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, 
therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific 
disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.