Patent GB-1278600-A (GB)
Title: Conveyor apparatus for moving a wheeled vehicle
IPC: B60S3/00
Filed: 1969-11-03
Abstract: 1278600 Conveyer systems ROCKET MFG CO 3 Nov 1969 [22 Jan 1969] 53712/69 Headings B7J and B7L A conveyer apparatus 10 moves a vehicle 11 across a floor 28 by means of rollers 48 and 56, which rollers 48 abut a front tyre 68 of a vehicle wheel 50. Each roller 48 or 56 is journalled on an axle 52 fixed on the end of a link 54 whose other end is pivotally connected to a conveyer chain 18, the chain 18 having an operative run 24 adjacent to the wheels 50 on one side of the vehicle 11 for moving the rollers 48 and 56 from an entrance end 12 of the conveyer system 10 to an exit end 16 of said system 10 and an inoperative run 26 adjacent to the wheels 50 of the vehicle on the opposite side of the vehicle 11 to the wheels adjacent to the operative run 24. The run 26 is horizontally spaced from the run 24 and moves the rollers 48 and 56 from the end 16 to the end 12 of the system 10, and side thrust compensator means in the form of a smoothfaced wheel 64 journalled on a horizontal shaft 66 is secured in the chain 18 at a predetermined distance from each roller 48 or 56 on the same side of these rollers as the exit end 16 when the chain is moving along the operative run 24. The faces of the wheels 64 abut side walls of tyres 68 or 58 so that these side walls cannot be gashed by contact with a channel 70 through which the operative run 24 of the chain 18 travels. The rollers 48 and 56 are maintained above the level of the floor 28 in the operative run 24 by means of roller axle wheels 60 riding on spaced glides or tracks 62 on the floor 28. If the vehicle is in gear or has the handbrake in the "on" position when a roller 48 abuts a front tyre 68 of the vehicle 11, the roller 48 lifts up the front wheel 50 and passes thereunder and the following roller 56 moves under the front and rear wheels until the vehicle 11 is able to advance. The chain 18 moves in a single horizontal plane above the floor 28 in the runs 24 and 26 between gears 20 and 22 of a take-up mechanism 14 and a chain drive mechanism 17 respectively, the mechanisms 14 and 17 being located in pits 76 and 74 respectively. The rollers 48 and 56 descend a ramp 78 into the pit 74 through a floor opening 80, travel around power gear 22 at the end of a pivoted link 54 by means of a gear shaft 46 and then ascend a ramp 82 to pass through a floor opening 84 to the inoperative run 26. At the end 12, a floor opening 86 has a ramp 88 leading into the pit 76 for rotating the rollers 48 and 56 about a take-up gear shaft 30 and leading them up a ramp 98 or 92 through a trap door opening 94 or 100 into the operative run 24. A vehicle 11 may enter the conveyer apparatus 10 at the end 12 and the rollers 48 ascend the ramp 92 which is pivoted and controlled by a cylinder 97. Then a roller 48 abuts a front tyre 68 of the vehicle 11 at a pick-up station 90 situated on one side of a trap 94 through which the rollers 48 and 56 may return to the operative run 24. If the ramp 92 is in its down position, the rollers 48 and 56 bypass the vehicle pick-up station 90 and ascend the ramp 98 to pass through the trap door 100 into the operative run 24 where they travel along tracks 62 without contact with the tyres 68 of the vehicle on the station 90.