Patent GB-733419-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to conveyor systems
IPC: B65G47/48
Filed: 1952-01-16
Abstract: 733,419. Conveyers. FREEMAN (ENGINEERS), Ltd., A., and FREEMAN, A. Jan. 9, 1953 [Jan. 16, 1952], No. 1269/52. Class 78 (1). In a conveyer system including index devices attached to a conveyer in association with particular goods, each index device comprising a set of elements individually projectable and retractable whereby it can be set to a particular combination of projections and retractions, and reader mechanisms at desired points along the conveyer each responsive to a particular index combination to select an index device with such combination and accordingly trip means acting on the associated goods, punched cards cooperate with the index elements and/or movable elements of the'reader mechanisms to determine the combinations set on the index devices and/or the reader mechanisms. As shown, in one form, Figs. 2, 5, 6, bags carrying the articles, e.g. shoes are attached to a carrier bracket 19 having a hook 23 by which it is hooked manually on to a passing roller 16 on an endless chain 11. The chain 11 is as described in Specification 723,420, its rollers 13 running on a track 14. Each index device 18 associated with the bracket 19 comprises two parts 24, 25 screwed together and providing a housing for vertically slidable pins 30, this sliding movement being limited by collars 32. A punch card 36 determines which pins shall be up and which down, the holes in the punch card allowing certain of the pins to fall through. In operation, the index device 18 which is hinged to bracket 19 at 27 is raised and a roll of articulated punch cards 39 is inserted in a scroll 38 secured under bracket 19. A selected card, e.g. the first, is placed on top of bracket 19, located between two studs 34, and the device 18 is then lowered on to it, in which position it is held by spring-loaded balls 28 engaging in holes in lateral members 20 secured to bracket 19. The bag carrying the article is then attached by a stud 21. Each reader mechanism comprises a plurality of pivoted reader levers 50 in positions for cooperation with the various pins of each index device on the conveyer, each being pivoted on a shaft 49 and held in a downwardly and forwardly inclined position by studs 53 with which tails 52 of the levers engage. Raised pins 30<SP>11</SP> on the index device raise the levers 50, whereas the remaining levers 50 are unaffected. Each lever 50 has an upstanding pin 54 on it which is shifted when the lever is raised. A perforated plate 55 having staggered perforations corresponding to the " ups " and " downs " of the pins in a set combination rests on top of the pins 54 and is associated with a lever 56 pivoted at 44 and having a nose 61 at its outer end normally above the level of the top of the hook 23 on each carrier bracket 19. When the appropriate levers 50 are raised by pins arranged in the set combination, all the pins 54 are in line with the perforations in the plate 55 which therefore drops over the pins 54 and causes nose 61 to drop into the path of the hook 23 which is thereby dislodged from the roller 16 and the carrier 19, index device 18 and bag containing the article are thereby discharged. A cam portion 63 of nose 61 subsequently rides up on the roller 16 to raise the bar 56 and plate 55, and hence allow levers 50 to fall back to their original positions. The plate 55 may be replaced by a carrier for a punch card so that the combination can be changed. In another form, Figs. 10 and 14, the index device 18 is permanently attached to the chain 11, e.g. by a cotter-pin 79, and is arranged-to be set to a desired combination by a setting mechanism controlled by a punch card 93. For this purpose a spring-loaded locking pin 81 is provided which holds the collars 32 of the pins 30 in their set positions. A pair of pins 83 formed with conical surfaces 84 is arranged such that by pushing up the pins 83 the surfaces 84 force back the bar 81 and allow the pins 30 to be set. This is accomplished by pair of ramps 101 at the approach side of the setting station. The setting mechanism comprises an index device 88 similar to the device 18 of Fig. 2 in which the combination of " ups " and " downs " of the pins 95 is determined by punch card 93 supported between locating pins on a plate 89 to which the index device is pivotally mounted. Levers 96 pivoted on a shaft 97 and arranged above the pins 95 are lifted or remain lowered according to the position of the corresponding pins 95 and each lever has a ramp formed by springy wire 98 secured on it for engagement with the pins 30 on the index device 18 attached to chain 11. The corresponding pins 30 of this index device are thereby lifted or remain lowered whilst a pair of ramps 102 beyond the setting mechanism depress the pins 83 and so release the bar 81 for locking the pins 30 in set position. The set index device 18, to which an article is now attached, discharges the article at a corresponding receiving station of the kind shownin Fig. 6, but. wherein the nose 61 is replaced by a depending lug adapted to engage dumping means such as is described in Specification 723,421. Specification 733,420 also is referred to.