Patent GB-362065-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to apparatus for handling materials
IPC: B65G37/00
Filed: 1930-09-30
Abstract: 362,065. Terminals and stations for overhead ways; elevated and rope railways. BAKER, D. S., 21, East 40th Street, New York, U.S.A. Sept. 30, 1930, No. 29252. [Classes 78 (iv) and 104 (ii).] Relates to conveying apparatus of the kind described in Specification 259,792, [Class 78 (iv), Loading &c.], in which trays or like carrying elements mounted on carriers are caused to move in single file past a loading station, then move slowly in multiple file through a treatment chamber, and are finally returned after emptying to the loading station ; and comprises an arrangement whereby the carriers are inclined within the treatment chamber with the trays in stepped relationship, and the outgoing and return tracks are located one above the other. Fig. 7 shows a single carrier comprising a number of trays 20, which, in the position shown, are arranged all in the same plane for loading. Each tray is pivotally connected at 16 to bars 15, 15<1> and at 13 to bars 11, the whole arrangement thus forming a parallelogram linkage. Each carrier is guided round the circuit by three independent sets of tracks a, b, c, engaged respectively by pairs of wheels A, B at one end of the carrier and a pair C at the other end. As shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2, the carrier enters the treatment chamber T from the loading station L in the position 10a with all its trays in line, the tracks a, b, c here lying in the same horizontal plane abc<1>, a, b being merged into a single pair of rails, as shown in Fig. 7. The descent of the track c at c<2> subsequently causes the carrier to take up the inclined position 10c. In the position 10d, the wheels A, B have commenced to descend the inclined portions a<4>, b<4> of their respective tracks, while the wheels C have passed on to the portion c<4> of their track, having passed between the tracks a, b and over the hinged switch members c<11>, normally held open by a counterpoise. As the motion of the wheels A, B becomes vertical, they pass through gaps a12, b<12> in their tracks and are re-engaged by lower curved portions a<5>, b<5>, after which the top part of the carrier passes through the gap left by the switch c<11> to the position 10e, the wheels C meanwhile having negotiated the normally open switch c<13> and passed on to the lower portion c<6> of their track. A normally closed switch b<11> is also provided at the lower part of b<5> to permit the passage of the wheels A to the part ab<6> when the tracks a, b again unite. The carrier now passes through the positions 10b, 10g in the lower part of the treatment chamber to the position 10h, in which the. wheels A, B have passed out of the chamber and through another normally open switch c<12> in the c track. This switch is closed just before the wheels C reach it by the wheels A engaging a hinged lever 35, Fig. 3, which operates the switch through a link 36. In the position 10<8> the wheels B have passed into a depression b in their track, causing the trays to be emptied at the dumping station D. In passing through the position 10j to the position 10k in which the carrier is again approaching the loading station, the wheels A, B pass another gap ab<13> similar to those at the other end, and the wheels C pass through a normally closed switch c<14> on to a horizontal part c<9> of their track, then up the part c<10>. The carriers are moved through the system, one immediately behind another, by three chain conveyers 40, 50, 60, Figs. 3 to 5, which are geared together in the correct speed ratios and suitably guided by sprockets. The conveyers 40, 50 are provided with suitably spaced sets of flights 48, 56 respectively, adapted to engage projections A<1> on the shafts of the wheels A, Fig. 7, while the conveyer 60 is provided with flights 67 adapted to engage projections C<1> on the shafts of the wheels C, and also exposed portions B<1> on the shafts of the wheels B. Immediately the projections A<1> of a carrier are released by the rapidly moving conveyer 50 at X, Fig. 4, its projections C<1> are engaged by the conveyer 60 at P, and it is moved slowly through the top part of the treatment chamber ; at the other end of the chamber the projections A<1> are again engaged at Y, Fig. 5, by the conveyer 40, which rapidly moves the carrier to the lower part of the chamber, and just as the projections A<1> are released at Z, the parts B<1> are engaged by the lower part of the conveyer 60. Finally, at W, Fig. 4, where the conveyers 50, 60 pass over concentric sprockets, the former conveyer again engages the carrier and brings it back to the loading point. Loading may be effected through the chamber L<2>, the vanes L<3>, rotated from the conveyer mechanism, serving to deliver a measured quantity of material to each tray. A modification is described in which only one conveyer is used, which moves the trays along the top part of their course in single file. after which they descend and pass back through the treatment chamber. The carriers, which are provided with spring buffers, abut against one another in the chamber; as one is pushed in, another is pushed out at the other end, and is immediately re-engaged by the conveyer and taken past the dumping station back to the loading station.