Patent GB-982437-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to conveyor systems
Inventor: ORWIN OLAF JOHN BARCLAY
IPC: B61B10/02
Filed: 1960-06-15
Abstract: 982,437. Conveyer systems; suspended vehicles. FISHER & LUDLOW Ltd. June 13, 1961 [June 15, 1960], No. 20934/60. Heading B7L. In a conveyer system in which an endless conveying element, e.g. a chain, is provided with a plurality of driving dogs, which are adapted to advance a plurality of article carriers e.g. trolleys 27, as in Fig. 2, along a track, each carrier is provided with a driving shoe 31 which is mounted for pivotal movement about an axis transverse to the direction of carrier advancement, e.g. a pivot 33, between a dog disengaged position and a dog engaging position, in which position a dog engages the rearwardly directed face 36 of the shoe 31, shoe displacing means, e.g. as cam member 40, Fig. 5, located at a number of positions alone the track, and movable horizontally between carrier arresting and carrier advancing positions, the arrangement being such that in the carrier arresting position the cam member 40 pivots the shoe 31 out of engagement with the driving dogs and a dog engaging abutment, e.g. a shoe 32 on each carrier to prevent the carrier overrunning the conveyer element. A trolley 27, Fig. 2, runs on wheels 29 on a track which has a central space to allow for the passage of the plate-like body 35 of the trolley. The body 35 carries vertical spindles 35b, on which are mounted rotatable sleeves 35d, carrying bosses 35e for the axles 35f of the wheels 29. Each spindle 35b is also fitted with a roller 35g and a rearwardly extending portion 35i of each sleeve 35d carries a further roller 35h. These rollers 35a, 35h engage the opposed edges of the central space in the track and serve to guide the trolley laterally, i.e. the axles 35f are able to move about their associated spindles 35b as the rollers 35h follow the central space in the track. The chain carrying the driving dogs is suspended from an I -section rail, disposed above the trolley track, by runners having upper forked ends secured to rollers on the track. As a dog engages a trolley 27 it passes over and tilts the shoe 32 on the trolley about its pivot 34, the shoe reverting under gravity to the position shown in Fig. 2 after the dog has passed and the dog thus comes into engagement with the driving shoe 31. The shoe 31 is fitted with laterally extending flanges 38 and when these engage, at the underside of their edges 39 with a cam member 40, the upper surface 49 of which is upwardly inclined in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 5, the shoe 31 is tilted clockwise about its pivot 33 and is disengaged from the driving dog. The cam member 40 is fitted to the top edge of a vertical plate 43 which is constructed for pivotal movement about a bearing 45. The plate 43 and thus the cam member 40 is moved between its carrier arresting position, shown in full outline in Fig. 5, and its carrier advancing position, shown in dotted outline, and in which it is normally held by a spring 50, by the movement of link bars L connected to means, not shown, operated by passage of the trolleys along the track. The plate 43 also carries at its lower edge a stop member 41 which engages a roller 42, Fig. 2, on a trolley from which the drive has been disconnected by the cam member 40. This stop 41 is movable under the action of a leaf-spring 47 to allow the passage of a trolley in the event of the drive disconnection being ineffective. To ensure that a carrier is not released until a dog is in a position to take up the drive, the plate 43 may be held in its carrier arresting position by a horizontally pivoted latch 67, Fig. 5, which engages a plate 72 fixed to the plate 43. A projection, not shown, on the dog engages a cam 73 and lifts the latch to allow the plate 43 to swing away from the track under the action of the spring 50. The shoes 31, 32 on the trolley 27 may alternatively be held in their dog engaging positions by spring loading. Specifications 805,449, 819,343, 949,202 and 982,436 are referred to.