Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080289936 | ROLLER-BELT CONVEYOR FOR MOVING ARTICLES ACROSS THE CONVEYOR - A conveyor using a roller belt with rollers arranged to rotate on oblique axes to urge articles toward a side guide. The conveyor includes an oblique-roller belt supported on a carryway for running in a direction of belt travel. Rollers extend above an outer conveying surface of the belt without contact with the carryway. Each roller rotates on an axis oblique to the direction of belt travel and intersects the side guide downstream of the roller's position. A retractable stop is movable to and from a blocking position along the carryway. In the blocking position, the stop blocks the conveyed articles from advancing in the direction of belt travel. The rollers underlying the blocked articles rotate as the belt runs by contact with the articles. The rotating rollers provide a component of force to the blocked articles directed toward the side guide to push the articles against the side guide or other articles as they accumulate under low pressure upstream of the stop. The conveyor may be used to register articles single file against the side guide or to group the articles for palletizing. For palletizing applications, an infeed conveyor feeds articles onto the belt at the side opposite the side guide. | 11-27-2008 |
20080302634 | Conveyor Switch - A sorting switch for diverting articles from one or more infeed conveyors to two or more outfeed conveyors. A pre-alignment conveyor receives articles from one or more infeed conveyors and selectively diverts individual articles into two or more lateral regions for delivery to an alignment conveyor downstream. The alignment conveyor more precisely aligns the articles within each of the regions for delivery to outfeed conveyors at the downstream end of the alignment conveyor. The alignment and pre-alignment conveyors are realized as belt conveyors with rollers arranged to rotate universally or on axes in specific orientations. In some versions, a belt's rollers roll on bearing surfaces whenever the belt is advancing. In other versions, rollers are selective actuated by moving bearing surfaces. In yet other versions, rollers are not contacted by bearing surfaces at all. | 12-11-2008 |
20100059334 | ROLLER-BELT CONVEYOR FOR MOVING ARTICLES ACROSS THE CONVEYOR - A conveyor using a roller belt with rollers arranged to rotate on oblique axes to urge articles toward a side guide. The conveyor includes an oblique-roller belt supported on a carryway for running in a direction of belt travel. Rollers extend above an outer conveying surface of the belt without contact with the carryway. Each roller rotates on an axis oblique to the direction of belt travel and intersects the side guide downstream of the roller's position. A retractable stop is movable to and from a blocking position along the carryway. In the blocking position, the stop blocks the conveyed articles from advancing in the direction of belt travel. The rollers underlying the blocked articles rotate as the belt runs by contact with the articles. The rotating rollers provide a component of force to the blocked articles directed toward the side guide to push the articles against the side guide or other articles as they accumulate under low pressure upstream of the stop. The conveyor may be used to register articles single file against the side guide or to group the articles for palletizing. For palletizing applications, an infeed conveyor feeds articles onto the belt at the side opposite the side guide. | 03-11-2010 |
20100200365 | CONVEYOR AND METHOD FOR SPACING PACKAGES - A spacing conveyor having article-accelerating rollers and selectively retractable stops to control the gaps between consecutive conveyed packages. A sensor measures the length of a package being fed onto the spacing conveyor. A controller selectively actuates one or more actuators positioned along the length of the conveyor to move selected stops advancing with the conveyor from a retracted position to a blocking position to receive packages a variety of sizes and to control the gaps between consecutive packages. | 08-12-2010 |
20100219048 | BELT CONVEYORS WITH RETRACTABLE WALL SEGMENTS - A conveyor having a conveyor belt with wall segments that pivot between a retracted position below the conveying surface of the belt and an extended position above the conveying surface. When extended, the wall segments form a wall along the length of a portion of the belt to prevent conveyed articles from moving laterally past. The retractable wall segments are cam- or spring-actuated. Diverting conveyors using the retractable wall segments in an oblique-roller conveyor belt are useful as sorters or switches. | 09-02-2010 |
20110108396 | CONVEYOR WITH A GENTLE RETRACTABLE STOP - A conveyor having a retractable stop providing a nonsliding contact surface to the leading faces of conveyed articles to prevent damage to the faces of the articles. One version of such a stop has a contact surface defined by the peripheries of rollers that rotate on the accumulated articles as the stop moves from a blocking position accumulating articles on the conveyor to a retracted position releasing accumulated articles to advance downstream along the conveyor. | 05-12-2011 |
20140090961 | CONVEYOR BELT HAVING BIDIRECTIONAL STACKED ROLLERS - A conveyor belt and a belt module having multiple roller sets, each roller set including a bottom roller in contact with an axially elongated top roller. Driving the bottom roller in a first direction causes rotation of the top roller in an opposite angular direction. The bottom rollers in first longitudinal lanes are arranged to rotate obliquely toward one side of the belt, and the bottom rollers in second lanes are arranged to rotate toward the other side of the belt. Either the first lanes of roller sets or the second lanes can be selectively actuated to direct articles conveyed atop the top rollers rearward and toward one side of the belt or the other or to receive articles fed onto the belt from either side. | 04-03-2014 |
20140332343 | DIVERTING CONVEYOR WITH BIDIRECTIONAL ASSIST ROLLER - A sorting conveyor including a diverting conveyor and a bidirectional assist roller to help sort articles over the side of the diverting conveyor. The diverting conveyor includes, in one version, a conveyor belt with diverting rollers selectively actuated to push articles toward a side of the diverting conveyor. The bidirectional assist roller rotates on an axis parallel to the main conveying direction. As articles to be diverted reach the side of the diverting conveyor, the bidirectional roller rotates in a direction to assist articles over the side of the diverting conveyor and the bidirectional roller and onto an exit conveyor. When the diverting rollers are not actuated, the bidirectional roller rotates in the opposite direction to prevent articles from exiting the side of the diverting conveyor. In some instances, the bidirectional roller can be raised above the level of the diverting rollers to further block articles not selected for sorting from exiting over the side and onto the exit conveyor. | 11-13-2014 |