Patent ID: 7721876

Claim:
An adjustable rail assembly for an article handling conveyor extending in a conveying direction, the assembly comprising: a frame; a first toothed rack mounted slidably to the frame and driven by a drive gear that rotates about a substantially vertical axis, the first toothed rack extending and slidable along the conveying direction; a plurality of driven gears rotatably mounted to the frame and driven by the first toothed rack, each of the driven gears rotating about a respective substantially vertical axis; a plurality of second toothed racks movably mounted to the frame, each second toothed rack driven by one of the driven gears, the second toothed racks extending across the conveying direction, each of the driven gears having a first set of teeth meshing with the first toothed rack and a coaxial second set of teeth meshing with the second toothed racks; and a side rail extending along the conveying direction for the article handling conveyor attached to the second toothed racks, whereby sliding movement of the first toothed rack in one direction or the other via the drive gear moves the side rail toward or away from the center of the conveyor via the driven gears and the second toothed racks.