Patent ID: 6971501

Claim:
A screw conveyor for transporting conveyable articles hanging on hanging carriers, in particular items of clothing hung on clothes hangers, comprising a screw-shaft line which can be rotated about its shaft axis and has a conveying-groove system which is made in the outer surface of the screw-shaft line, winds helically along and around the shaft axis, and in which the hanging carriers can be suspended, by way of carrying hooks, and can be conveyed axially by rotation of the screw-shaft line, wherein the conveying-groove system has at least one primary conveying groove, from which a secondary conveying groove, which precedes the primary conveying groove, as seen in the conveying direction of the conveyable articles along the shaft axis, branches off at a branching-off location, the configurations of the primary conveying groove and of the secondary conveying groove being coordinated, in particular in respect of the pitch profile thereof, such that crossover-free hanging carriers which approach the branching-off location in the primary conveying groove pass the branching-off location without leaving the primary conveying groove, and wherein, in order to detect crossed-over hanging carriers, the screw-shaft line is assigned a sensor arrangement which is designed for monitoring at least the secondary conveying groove for hanging carriers conveyed therein.