Patent GB-982436-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to conveyor systems
Inventor: ORWIN OLAF JOHN BARCLAY
IPC: E03C1/264
Filed: 1962-05-31
Abstract: 982,436. Conveyer systems. FISHER & LUDLOW Ltd. June 13, 1961 [June 15, 1960 (2)], Nos. 20933/60 and 20935/60. Heading B7L. In a conveyer system in which an endless conveying element, e.g. a chain 15, Fig. 4, is adapted to advance a plurality of article carriers 27 along a track 25 the track having a plurality of work stations WS1, WS2, WS3, at which a carrier may be temporarily brought to rest without stopping the movement of the conveying element, a carrier or resting means is provided at each work station displaceable between carrier arresting and carrier advancing positions and these means are each connected to a carrieroperated control means as 1C, 2C, 3C, Fig. 2, situated in advance along the track, each control means comprising a carrier arresting control member ,as 1CA, 2CA, 3CA, and a carrier release control member as 1CB, 2CB, 3CB, operably connected respectively to the carrier arresting means of the next in rear and next but one in rear work station, so that as a carrier advances past control means, e.g. 2C, it moves the carrier arresting control member 2Ca to effect displacement of the associated arresting means of the station next in rear, WS2, into its arresting position to stop the next advancing carrier, and also moves the carrier advance control member 2Cb to effect displacement of the associated carrier arresting means at the station next but one in rear, WS1, to the carrier advancing position so as to permit the carrier to advance from the work station next but one in rear, WS1, to the station next in rear, WS2. The chain 15 is suspended from a track 22 by runners 18 carrying wheels 20, and the article carriers 27 are driven by dependant dogs 30 which engage between shoes 31, 32, Fig. 10, provided on the carrier. The carriers run on wheels 29 on the track 25, which is constructed with a central slot to allow the passage of the part 35 of the carrier body. The shoes 31, 32 are mounted on pivots 33, 34, respectively, and are normally held by gravity in the position shown in Fig. 10, but a dog 30 on taking up the drive will pivot the shoe 32 as it passes over it and this shoe will then hold the carrier from forward movement relative to the dog. The dog drives the carrier through the shoe 31, which is moved about its pivot 33 out of engagment with the dog when laterally extending flanges 38 on the shoe engage, at the undersides of their forward edges 39, with drive disengaging members 30, Figs. 4 and 9, provided at each work station. Each carrier arresting means is constructed as a plate 43, Figs. 4, 9, supported for pivotal movement about a vertical axis 45. The plate 43 carries at its upper edge the member 40, and with the plate in its carrier arresting position, the member 40 projects into the path of the flanges 38 on the carrier. At its lower edge the plate 43 carries a stop member 41 which, as the drive is disengaged, stops the carrier 27 by engagement with a roller 42, Fig. 10, provided thereon. This stop member is spring-loaded by a leaf-spring 47 so as to give way in the event of the drive disconnection being ineffective. Each carrier arresting control member Ca, Fig. 7, is constructed as a lever 53 pivoted on a vertical pivot 52 and is pivotally connected by a pin 55 to a rod 56, which is also connected through a bush 57, Fig. 9, to an arm 59 of the carrier arresting means at the station next in rear along the track 25. Thus an advancing carrier pushes, through its roller 42, the end 66 of the lever 53 from the dotted line position to the full line position in Fig. 7, and the associated carrier arresting means is moved into its carrier arresting position. Each carrier arresting means is normally held away from the track 25 by a spring 50, Fig. 9, and to ensure that it remains in its carrier arresting position when so displaced by the rod 56, the pin 55 is arranged to be in or over a dead centre position with respect to the pivot 52, as shown in Fig. 7, a spring 61, Fig. 9, permitting relative movement between the rod 56 and the bush 57 as the rod moves into its dead centre position. Each carrier release control member Cb, Fig. 7, is also constructed as a lever pivoted about the pivot 52 (the members Ca, Cb are shown in Fig. 2 to be on different pivots for clarity), and is pivotally connected to a rod 63 which is also connected to the carrier arresting control member Ca next in rear along the track, so that as the end 65 of the member Cb is moved by a roller 42 about the pivot 52 it moves the carrier arresting control member next in rear clockwise in Figs. 2, 7, about its pivot 52 causing the associated carrier arresting means to be displaced to its carrier release position. The effect is that until a carrier has reached a position in advance of a first work station, i.e. the position of the associated control means, a carrier cannot be released from the station next in rear of the first work station, and when released this carrier may only advance to the first work station. To ensure that a carrier is not released until a dog 30 is in a position to take up the drive the carrier arresting means may be held in its arresting position by a horizontally pivoted latch 67, Figs. 4 and 9, which engage a plate 72 fixed to the plate 43. A projection 74, Fig. 4, on the dog 30 engages a cam 73 and lifts the latch 67 to allow the plate 43 to swing away from the track 25. A spring-loaded vertically pivoted back stop 75, Fig. 9, may also be provided to prevent rearward movement of carrier held at a work station, by engagement of its edge 80 with a roller 78, Fig. 10, on the carrier. Alternatively, the carrier arresting means may be operated and controlled pneumatically or electrically, or the conveying element may be provided with pivotally displaceable or vertically slidable dogs. Specifications 819,343, 949,202, 949,207, 949,209 and 982,437 are referred to.