SUSPENDED CLOSED-CIRCUIT TRACK MONORAIL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM OF MODULAR DESIGN EMPLOYING FLEXIBLE CARRIAGES DRIVEN BY PAIRS OF FRICTION WHEELS

Abstract: This invention concerns a suspended closed-track mono­ rail transportation system, of modular design, comprising a monorail made up of a metal tube with a longitudinal incision on its lower surface, the function of said rail being to both guide and bear flexible carriages made in suitable laminate and driven by pairs of friction wheels, the articles to be trans­ ported being hung thereon.

Description: This patent application for an industrial invention concerns a suspended closed-track monorail transportation system, of modular design, that uses flexible transporter carriages driven by pairs of friction wheels. The most conventional forms of overhead conveyer systems for moving objects during selection, distribution, or storage are based upon the use of a continuous closed belt upon which the items to be transported are hung; the belt travels around a set course, driven by a chain wound around two pulleys, one of the latter providing the drive. Although quite functional, these system do have some drawbacks, the main one being the difficulties entailed in modifying the direction and length of course once the system has been definitively installed, as this would first of all involve using another conveyer belt of suitable length with a new, sufficiently powerful motor and, in addition, the modification of the supporting structure of the plant, thus resulting in a rather complex operation. In addition to this, as a result of the fact that a continuous closed belt is employed as means of transportation, on such systems it is impossible to transfer objects from one work station to another without going through all the intermediate stations situated between the point of departure and the destination. In consideration of the above drawbacks, overhead conveyer systems have been in existence for some time now which, in place of the continuous closed conveyer belt, are equipped with several independent carriages from which the objects are hung, said carriages being able to move directly from one station on the system to another, even when the stations are not consecutive, without having to go round the whole course and pass through the intermediate stations en route. In this type of system there is a guiding track within which the carriages run, together with a seperate driving line positioned above, generally composed of a chain that, at set intervals, has lateral protrusions onto which the carriages hook and which moves them along the route taken by the system. With regard to the direct transfer of each carriage from one station on the system to another, even when the latter are not consecutive, it should be said that the guiding line on these systems is equipped along its course with mobile segments that can move sideways while remaining parallel and function as points, able to divert the carriages from one line of the system to another, enabling them to go in any direction. Even these more recent systems, although in a position to repair some of the defects of continuous closed conveyer belts, cannot be considered completely satisfactory because of their complex and not very practical structure and because of some functional shortcomings that impair their prerformance. As regards the complexity of their structure, not only should the difficulties involved in building and putting into working order a system that consists of two seperate lines, one acting as a carrier and the other providing the drive, be stressed, but also the serious problems that would be encountered should one wish to lengthen the course of the system, something that would involve substantial and complex modifications, not only to the carriage carrying line, but above all to the drive line that, as is the case with the old systems, would have to have a more powerful motor. The actual carriages on these systems, because of the rigid nature of their longitudinal structure, encounter difficulties when going round bends, where, especially in the case of the sharper binds, they tend to stick, thus compelling the designer to always plan an overhead conveyer system with rather wide bends so that a rigid carriage can proceed without impediment; in addition to this, it should also be added that when they reach a bend these carriages position themselves along a succession of chords in relation to the actual bend, which presupposes that the designer takes this limit into account with regard to pillars, supports or the like. All this obviously involves a considerable waste of space, as such systems have to be installed in particularly large areas if they are to be set up in such a way as to render them useful and advantageous. The conformation of the system's various loading, off-loading and work stations is particularly complex, along with that of the system that feeds them; in fact these stations are generally situated at the sides of the main lines and are served by an outward section and a return one, usually perpendicular to the main line, and linked by a semi-circular arc that effectively constitutes the zone in which the carriage stops, usually being located at a level somewhat below that of the main line. Thus, in order to channel the carriages into these lateral branches, the guiding line has areas equipped with devices that divert the course of the carriages into the downward sloping outward section of an operating station along which the carriage descends simply with the aid of gravity. Once the operations at the station have been terminated, the carriage is hooked onto a drive mechanism that enables it to complete the sloping return tract and go back up to the level of the main line. From this it is clear that just the actual setting up of a work station must be considered somewhat complex, in that the lateral ramification of the carriage guiding line, in addition to a suitable conformation, must also have an independent mechanism for driving the carriages along the upward-sloping return section from the station. In addition to this, the interruption of the main conveyer line at the mobile segments that act as points and the very presence of these mobile segments, whose positioning is usually controlled electrically, are particularly inconvenient, especially in the event of powercuts when the progress of the carriages, if not completely halted, would at least be limited to the route that, depending on the positioning of the points, had been selected before the powercut, because the mobile elements that comprise the points cannot be moved manually. Another type of similar suspended transportation systems is described in patent US-A-3 537 402 in the name of Harkess; this system involves carriages suspended and sliding along a double "T" rail which closes the system track. These carriages are driven by means of pairs of friction wheels positioned along the above rail at regular intervals which are however not less than the length of each of the carriages. Each carriage consists of a longitudinal bar suspended to a metal belt which is in turn supported by a series of "U" shaped brackets each bearing a pair of opposing wheels resting and sliding on the front side of the double "T" rail. In the face of such a large number of defects, the creation of an overhead transportation system according to the invention has become more appropriate than ever; an invention which, in comparison with previous systems, is still equipped with independent carriages but has a far greater degree of functionality. In fact, it consists of a continuous monorail made up of several set modular elements that can be combined in a variety of ways, said monorail acting both as a track and carrying structure for a number of carriages made in flexible laminate from which the articles to be transported can be hung. The carriages move along the monorail driven by pairs of friction wheels, one on each side, spaced at regular intervals along the route, the distance between each obviously being less than the length of each carriage so that the latter are constantly subject to the driving action of at least one pair of wheels. From this first overall description of the system according to the invention it is already possible to observe the notable degree of progress brought into the technical field by this invention. First and foremost, the highly simplified nature of this system should be emphasised: in this case, a modular monorail, made up of a simple metal tube with a longitudinal incision on its lower surface has the dual function of guiding and carrying, a function that in previous systems was delegated seperately to far more complex entities that here can be eliminated, the result being that any modifications to the system can be carried out very rapidly and, above all, without encountering any particular technical problems; this is due to the simplicity of installation of any additional tubular elements necessary from time to time and also due to the structure of the carriage driving system, the adaptation thereof simply requiring the addition of further pairs of friction wheels to the system, attaching them onto the newly installed tracts of monorail. In the system according to the invention the points are created in a very simple fashion, there being at the points of intersection and confluence of the sections of monorail, inside the actual monorail, small revolving barriers that are automatically activated using a conventional control device and, if need be, can also be activated by hand. In contrast with previous systems, the provision of said revolving internal barriers enables the continuity of the track to be maintained so that that there are no interruptions; this, together with the possibility of acting manually upon the points, permits the carriages to be driven and moved around even when the system is without electricity, thus avoiding useless loss of time and disruptions during the work cycle. Furthermore, the new structural arrangement that such a system lends to the loading, off-loading and work stations must also be considered of particular importance. It has already been said that such stations must generally be situated at a lower level in relation to the main conveyer line, and it has also been pointed out how, in previous systems, it was necessary, on the one hand, to endow the lateral ramification of the line with an appropriate conformation depending on the degree of inclination required, and, on the other hand, to attach a drive system, studied for the purpose and seperate from the main one, to bring the carriage back up into the main line once its period of arrest at the lowest point of the lateral ramification has terminated. On the system according to the invention these problems have been overcome with extremely simple solutions that have enabled many technical difficulties to be eliminated together with many of the economic burdens that the particular overall structure of the stations used in previous system entails. In the herein described system each lateral branch is simply made up of a modular U-shaped element designed for the purpose, made from the same shaped tubing as the main conveyer line, with which it is therefore able to make a perfect connection; said element, because of its inherent elasticity, boasts _ without detracting from its principal function _ a substantial degree of flexibility which, within reasonable limits, allows the curved external end that unites the two branches to be lowered as required, thus bringing about the inclination of the rectilinear outward and return sections, the end being fixed at the desired operating height. With regard to the feeding of the stations, it should be noted that in the system according to the invention the carriage drive on the outward and return sections of these sloping U-shaped branches is supplied by the usual pairs of friction wheels that are attached to this section of the monorail in the same way as they are attached at any other point along the conveyer line, with, however, an advantage over previous systems in that the carriage drive in this case is not only present on the upward sloping tract but also on the descending one, acting almost as a brake and preventing the objects being transported from falling to abruptly, not to mention the fact it is also possible to interrupt the descent of the carriage on its way to the station at the desired point. For further clarity of explanation, the description of the invention continues with reference to the attached diagrams, reproduced for illustrative and not restrictive purposes, in which; figure 1 shows the plan view of an imaginary course obtained by combining the modular elements used in the setting up of the system according to the invention; figure 2 shows a plan view of the various seperate modular elements used in the setting up of the system according to the invention; figure 3 shows a transporter carriage of the type used in the system according to the invention; figure 4 is a section of the monorail within which the carriage is situated, showing the pair of friction wheels which drive the carriage; figure 5 is the plan view of a section of the monorail where the friction wheels that drive the carriage are mounted. With reference to the attached drawings, the following components are used to set up the system according to the invention: modular element (1) comprising a closed-track monorail with two straight parallel sections (1a) connected to each other, at one end by a semi-circular arc (1b) and at the other end they are connected by means of two quarter-circle arcs (1c) to a straight section (1d) lying perpendicular to sections (1a), the former actually making up a section of the main transporting line of the circuit; the abovementioned straight sections (1a) connected by the curve (1b) make up lateral branches which feed the work stations positioned along the abovementioned main transporting line. A modular element (2) composed of a closed-track monorail with two straight parallel sections (2a), the ends of which are connected by two semi-circular arcs (2b), in such a way that the two straight sections (2a) actually make up two tracts of the circuit main line, these being transversally connected by the two curves (2b). A modular element (3) consisting of a monorail curved to form a semi-circular arc linking two straight tracts of the circuit, the latter being parallel but leading in opposites directions. A modular element (4) consisting of a monorail curved to form a quarter-circle arc which connects two straight tracts of the circuit positioned at right angles to one another. A modular element (5) consisting of a straight tract of monorail. As illustrated in fig. 4, all the abovementioned modular components are made from a tubular bar (6) with a central incision running for the entire length of its lower surface in such a way that it acts as a carrier and guide for the transporter carriages (7), the latter consisting of lengths of flexible laminate (7a) near the lower edge of which there are holes (7b) from which the objects to be transported are hung by means of hooks or brackets, while along their upper edge there is a set of slide wheels (7c) rotating around a vertical axis alternating with a set of slide wheels rotating around a horizontal axis, said wheels arranged in such a way as to be able to accurately guide the flexible laminate (7a) inside the longitudinal opening that runs for the entire length of the lower wall of the monorail (6), thus avoiding the possibility of horizontal or vertical oscillaion. On the front edge of each carriage (7) according to the direction of travel, a pair of slide wheels (7e) placed one above the other is positioned underneath the top edge of the flexible strip (7a); the diameter of said wheels is identical to the internal width of the monorail (6) with the result that the front edge of the strip is prevented form skidding sideways along the curved sections of the circuit. As already mentioned, each carriage (7) is driven along the monorail (6) by pairs of friction wheels, each pair made up, as illustrated in figs. 4 and 5, of a friction wheel (8), touching one surface of the flexible strip (7a) and working in conjunction with a counter wheel (9) touching the opposite surface of the strip (7a). The counter wheel (9) is freely supported by an anchoring pin (9a) fixed externally on the side of the monorail (6), while the friction wheel (8), activated directly by the shaft of a motor (10) or, alternatively, by means of suitable gears, connected together with the other friction wheels to a single driving mechanism, is constantly pressed against the strip (7) by a precompressed spring (11) which draws the oscillating arm (12) towards the monorail (6), said arm being hinged to the monorail (6) at one end and terminating at the other end in a flange (12) which is attached to the motor (10). It should be remembered that along the monorail (6) the pairs of drive wheels are distributed at intervals, which are less than the length of the carriages (7) to be driven. To be able to effectively control the course covered by the carriages from one station to another without following the order of sequence of the carriages on the circuit, at the points of intersection and confluence of the monorail sections, inside the actual monorail, there are points, simply made up of revolving barriers, activated manually or automatically, using conventional control devices of standard design and therefore not described herein. Similarly, it should be noted that this description purposely omits any reference to certain structural details of standard design, such as those pertaining to the metal supporting structure of the suspended monorail and the system of route control and selection for each carriage; for the production of the abovementioned, no inventive effort is required.

Claims: 1. A suspended closes-track monorail transportation system, of modular design fitted with carriages (7) made of flexible laminate driven by a pair of friction wheels (8) and (9) positioned at intervals no less than the length of the above carriages (7), characterized in that the support and guide element of the above carriages consists of a monorail made of a tubular bar having a central incision running along the entire lenght of its lower surface for housing the wheels of the above carriages (7). 2. Suspended closed-track monorail transportation system of modular design, using flexible transporter carriages driven by pairs of friction wheels, according to claim 1), characterised by the fact that the modular elements used for the monorail, made from a tubular bar (6) with a central incision running along the entire length of its lower surface with the purpose of housing the carriages (7) when in motion, have the following, characteristics: a modular element (1) consisting of a closed-track monorail with two straight parallel sections (1a) connected to each other at one end by a semi-circular arc (1b) and at the other connected by two quarter-circle arcs (1c) to straight section (11), lying perpendicular to sections (1a), said straight section (1d) actually making up a tract of the main transporting line of the circuit, while the abovementioned straight sections (1a) connected by the curve (1b) make up lateral branches for feeding the work stations positioned along the abovementioned main transporting line; at the points of connection between the straight and curved sections, inside the actual monorail, there are revolving barriers which are able to divert the course of the carriages; a modular element (2) consisting of a closed-track monorail with two straight parallel sections (2a), the ends of which are connected by two semi-circular arcs (2b) in such a way that the two straight sections (2a) go to make up two tracts of the main circuit, these being transversally connected by the two curved (2b); at the points of connection between the straight and curved scetions, inside the actual monorail, there are revolving barriers, able to divert the course of the carriages; a modular element (3) consisting of a monorail curved to form a semi-circular arc, linking two straight of the circuit, said tracts being parallel but travelling in opposite directions; a modular element (4) consisting of a monorail curved to form a quarter-circle arc which connects two straight tracts of the circuit positioned at right angles to one another; a modular element (5) consisting of a straight tract of monorail. 3. Suspended closed-track monorail transportation system of modular design, according to claim 1), characterised in that the carriages (7) in flexible metal laminate (7a) holes (7b), near to its bottom edge, upon which hang, by means of suitable hooks or brackets, the objects to be transported, while along the top edge there is a set of small slide wheels (7c), rotating around a vertical axis, alternating with a set of small slide wheels (7d) rotating around a horizontal axis, arranged in such a way as to accurately guide the flexible strip (7a) inside the longitudinal opening along the lower wall of the monorail while avoiding horizontal and vertical oscillation; on the front edge of each carriage (7) according to the direction of travel, a pair of slide wheels (7e), one above the other, is attached to the top edge of the flexible laminate(7a) the diameter of said wheels being identical to the internal width of the monorail, thus avoidinig sideway skidding where the front edge of the strip (7a) runs along the curved sections of the track. 4. Suspended closed-track monorail transportation system, of modular design, using flexible transporter carriages driven by pairs of friction wheels, according to claim 1), characterised by the fact that each pair of friction wheels is made up of one friction wheel (8), touching one surface of the strip (7a) working in conjuction with a counterwheel (9) touching the opposite surface of the strip (7a), said counterwheel (9) being freely supported on an anchoring pin (9a), fixed externally to the side of the monorail (6); the friction wheel (8) is activated directly by the shaft of the motor (10), or, alternatively, by means of a suitable form of transmission connected to a single drive mechanism together with the other friction wheels; the friction wheel is constantly pressed against the strip (7a) by a pre-stressed spring (11) which draws the oscillating arm (12) towards the monorail (6), said arm (12) being hinged to the monorail (6) at one end and terminating in a flange (13) at the other end where the motor is attached.

Inventors: SANTICCHI, AUGUSTO
Applicants: METALPROGETTI DI SANTICCHI AUGUSTO & C. - S.N.C.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B61B13
IPC codes: B61C13, B61D17, B65G17