Patent GB-700692-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to conveyor mechanism
Inventor: HARRIS ARTHUR JAMES
IPC: D06H1/00
Filed: 1950-12-18
Abstract: 700,692. Endless conveyers. MASSON SEELEY & CO., Ltd. Dec. 18, 1951 [Dec. 18, 1950], No. 30821/50. Class 78 (1) [Also in Group XVI] A conveyer comprises an endless chain &c. 3 adapted to feed folded articles to a marking machine and a marking bed located over the conveyer and spaced therefrom by a distance sufficient to permit a folded article to pass thereunder whilst allowing the uppermost fold of the article to pass over the upper surface of the marking bed for co-operation with the marking means. In the machine shown for marking the foot or welt 25 of stockings folded in boxes 1 the chain 3 is mounted on a sprocket at each end, the sprocket 4 at the delivery end being driven by a motor 7 through a variable speed mechanism 8, a reduction gear 9, and a driving shaft 10, a crank 11 mounted on the latter being coupled by means of a link 12 to a rocker arm 13 pivoted to the shaft 14 carrying sprocket 4. The rocker arm 13 carries a pawl 15 which engages and imparts a step by step motion to a ratchet wheel 16 also mounted on shaft 14 and thus drives the sprocket 4. The pawl and ratchet mechanism functions as a one way drive and enables the chain to be adjusted for registration purposes. Adjustment of this step by step motion may be provided, e.g. by adjustment of the throws of the crank and/or the rocker arm. The chain is supported by guide rails 17, and provided with bifurcated projections 18 which push the trailing ends of the boxes 1. The boxes are carried in the tilted position by guide rails 19, 20. The operator unfolds the welt or foot of the stocking from the box and lays it on a supporting plate 21 disposed at one side of the conveyer. The press may be of the kind having a reciprocating head on which the die is mounted and co-operates with a pigment coated foil or other carrier disposed between the head and the work, and a platform 6 forming the lower platen of the press is arranged near the delivery end of the apparatus. The welt or foot is folded from the support plate 21 on to the platform 6 by means of a lifting plate 22, rear support plate 23 which is in alignment with platform 6, and a turnover plate 24. Progressive positions of a box are shown at 1a, 1b and 1c. The welt or foot is raised above the level of the higher side of the box 1 by the upwardly inclined lifting plate 22, and, as the box passes beneath plate 23, is turned over by the diagonally arranged plate 24 on to plate 23 so that the box 1 passes under and the welt or foot over plate 23 and platform 6. When the box emerges from platform 6 the welt 25 drops into the box into its original folded position. A guard plate 26 is placed over the conveyer in the zone adjacent the entrance to the turnover station, and the marking station is surrounded by a transparent plastic guard. A series of switches for stopping the motor are provided along the frame 2. The marking machine is preferably driven by a separate motor controlled by the conveyer drive, thus the separate motor may include a clutch operated by a cable 28 secured to a pivotally mounted lever 29 carrying a cam follower 30 which co-operates with a cam 31 mounted on the shaft 10. To adjust the mechanism the cable may be adjustably secured to the lever 29 and the cam may be adjustably secured to shaft 10, e.g. by a bolt 32 passing through an arcuate slot 33 in the cam 31 and secured to crank 11 or a flange on shaft 10. The movement of the chain is preferably such that each step brings a box to the marking station, and the conveyer drive can be adjusted to vary the rate of feed and period of dwell. Preferably the dwell period of the marking head is also adjustable.