Patent ID: 7168552

Claim:
An article joining system comprising: a plurality of conveyance paths for conveying an article; and a joining apparatus for joining and conveying out the article that is conveyed by the plurality of conveyance paths, each of said plurality conveyance paths comprising: an accumulation conveyor comprising in a row a plurality of zones for successively accumulating therein articles conveyed in from the upstream side and successively feeding out the accumulated articles therefrom to the downstream side, and conducting a speed control for conveying the articles accumulated in the zones at a constant speed or a speed higher than the constant speed; and a carry-out conveyor connected to a downstream end of the accumulation conveyor, said carry-out conveyor conducting a speed control for conveying the articles conveyed in from the accumulation conveyor at a constant speed or a speed higher than the constant speed, conducting an article spacing control for conveying the articles with a prescribed spacing or a spacing narrower than the prescribed spacing between each articles, judging a conveyance state of the articles to said joining apparatus from each of said conveyance paths, thereby conducting a carry-out control for carrying out the articles to the joining apparatus, said article joining system further comprising a control device for conducting control of the accumulation conveyor and carry-out conveyor constituting each conveyance path, wherein said control device operates to: when articles are conveyed by the plurality of conveyance paths, conduct a speed control of the accumulation conveyor at the constant speed, conduct a speed control of the carry-out conveyor at the constant speed, and conduct an article spacing control of the carry-out conveyor at the prescribed spacing; and when the articles are conveyed only by any one of the conveyance paths, stop the article spacing control and carry-out control of the carry-out conveyor in the conveyance path where the conveyance of articles is not conducted, conduct a speed control of the accumulation conveyor at the higher speed in the conveyance path where the conveyance of articles is conducted, conduct a speed control of the carry-out conveyor at the higher speed in the conveyance path where the conveyance of articles is conducted, and conduct an article spacing control of the carry-out conveyor with a spacing narrower than the prescribed spacing between the articles.