US1581352A

US1581352A - Movable conveyer rack

Info

Publication number: US1581352A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1926-04-20
Anticipated expiration: 1943-04-20

Description

April 2o .1926. 1,581,352

E. A. KU EN MovABLE GONVEYER RACK F'led lApril 1l, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l E o 53 .IgE-x, f Of 2 E m ff Vg l o! vgl; O

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April lzo, 192e. l 1,581,352 E. A. KUEN l KOVABLE CONVEYER RACK Filed April l1, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr.V 2G, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE.

EUGENE A. IrUnN, or orncl'NNArLoHro, Assranon To v'rire anos. .rconooRAN LAMP ooivrrarrv,l or erncINnA'rI, cerro, A coneona'rron or OHIO.

MOVABLE CONVYER RACK.

Application filed April 11, 1924. Serial No. 705,946.

y operations are necessary to complete them.

V.as

In the latter case greater efficiency of production is obtained by dividing a factory into departments, each of which is arranged to take care of but one operation. Forinstance in the manufacturing of automobile lamps, the lamp door which lits over the open end of the lamp body, hasto be passed through several operations before it is completed and ready for assembly with the body. `VIn the making of such a lamp door, apiece of metal of a shape and size calculated to prevent Waste, is put upon a draw press and drawn into the desired generalV shape. This constitutes one operation. VThe partially finished door must now be transported to another department Where the door rim receives a buiiing operation, in which the metal is cleaned and freed from scale. After the cleaning operation the doorfisprovided.

manufacturing of this article, vit-.Was necessary to move the article from one department to another. If this is not doney care-L fully the article is damaged and loss of time and increased cost of production is the result.

I have therefore provided a movable conveyer rack comprising a base, uprights mounted at the corners of the'b'ase and connected by frame members/,and rotatably mounted shelves or racks located adjustably at intervals on the uprights and adapted to be swung into an accessible position to receive the articles and to be returned to a safe and vrcompact position Within' the rack for transportation from one department to another.

rack, lie in some of the objects of my inyention Which are to produce a rack aitording convenience and ease in loading, as Well as safety against damage to the articles in transporting them to and from the various departments, a. further object being to increase the rapidity of movement through the departments of the factory with the eifect of bringingabout a greaterr degree of e'iii clency and reduced cost of production.

A further object of my invention is to produce a conveyer rack` movable in any direction and having rotatably mounted shelves or rack members adapted to be swung outwardly and loaded and to be thereafter' swung back into closed position. Y

A lfurther object y'in my invention is to produce a movable conveyor rack so designed and arranged thatI it may be ,conveniently and easily unloaded on' one side While it is being reloaded on the previously unloaded side,y or, in other Words to produce a conveyor raclr which may be', under some conditions of usage, loaded and unloaded simultaneously. v

Another object of my invention is to produce a 'movable conveyor "rack in Which the rotatabiy mounted shelves n'iay bemade adjustable to the transportationofany article of manufacture and which maybe so adjusted as to accommodate the rack to articles of different sizes and shapes, n

These and other objects are attained in the rack described in the following speciiication and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a prospective view of my movable conif'eyer rack, showing'tvvo of the shelves or rack members in position forunloading or ready for movement to loaded. position after the articles have been placed thereon.

Fig. 2 is a prospective View upon an enlarged scale, of a supporting member and Ymeans whereby it is rotatably mounted and adjust-ably located.

, 6() The advantages of my movableconveyer Fig. 3 is a prospective view upon an enlarged scale, of an upper corner of my improved rack.

Fig. 4 is a sectional vieW on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view on line 5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. G is a sectional view upon an enlarged scale, taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a prospective view upon a somevvhat reduced scale, of a modified form of supporting element or member.

i-ffy invention of which l have given a brief description, has a movable base 7 and a framework 8. The base 7 is of Wood or metal construction and is mounted upon a number of rollers 9. have shown in the draw/ings four rollers, one of which is positioned at each corner of the base. To provide a means of steering the device l have used rollers of the caster type one end to permit the conveyor to pivot at the opposite end, thus enabling an operative to direct it as he desires.

The framework S comprises a number of uprights 10 mounted on the base and secured thereto in threaded sockets 11, fixed to the base, and held together at their other or upper ends by cross bars 12.

lhe shelf supporting means consists of primary and secondary elements in cooperation, such that the shelf may be adjusted vertically if desired and may be capable of a rotatory motion with respect to the frame. The upright 10 and an adjustable collar 14 embody the primary supporting elements, While the secondary supporting` elements consist of a sleeve 13, a collar 14 and a block or clamp 15. The sleeve 13 is adapted to lit the upright 10 loosely enough to permit its movement on the upright and may be held at the desired height by the movable collar 14 engaging the lower end of the sleeve. The clamp 15 consists of tivo

separate parts

15a and 15b which grip the sleeve 13 When they are brought together.

The shelves that I have used in this conveyei for the transportation of auto lamp doors embody U shaped members 17 oveI` which the doors may be hung, as I have illustrated in the drawings. The supported ends of the U members are reduced in diameter, to form shoulders 18, so that when the clamp members 15a, 151 are located on these reduced ends, the nuts 19 will force the

parts

15a and 15b of the clamp 15 toward the shoulders 18 to engage the clamp With the Wall of the sleeve 13. Thus have I produced a rigid, adjustable and rotatable shelf. As a means of retaining the shelves or rack members in a closed and aligned position While the conveyer is being moved I have provided a clip 2O rotatably secured to the end of one of the shelves and adapted to be hooked over the end of the shelf opposite it.

Although I have described my invention being provided with the arms or shelves 17, it may as readily be understood that dat surfaced members or trays, as shown iii Fig. 7, may be provided if desired. Such a modification would yender the rack usable for other articles. do not intend it to be understood that ll confine myself to the specific forms of article supporting elements disclosed, but have merely illustrated the tivo forms with the idea of showing the adaptability of my invention to all article transportation purposes.

ll have described and illustrated this movable conveyer as being one adaptable to the transportation of annular members. However With very slight alteration of the eX- tended portion of the shelf the conveyer may be made adaptable to the support and transportation of articles of any shape or size.

in the use of my improved rack, the articles, suoli the lamp door l have choosen as an example, having been formed in the first step or manufacturing operation, are placed, one at a time, by the operative of the press, upon the shelves or arms which he has previously swung toward hiin one at a time for the reception of the articles. As each shelf is filled it is swung to the closing position until the one side of the raclr is entirely loaded. it may then be turned with the opposite side to the operative so that when this side also is filled it may be quickly moved to the next department and replaced by another conveyor. Following the conveyor to the next department the operative there may swing the rotatably mounted shelves outwardly one at a time, as before and unload them one at a time until the one side of the rack is unloaded whereupon he may turn it around and unload the other side While another operative may reload the side which was first emptied, with the more completed article. 0r, an operative may have a rack located upon each side of him, one of these racks being filled `with articles to be Worked upon and the other one being empty ready to receive the articles after the operative has performed the desired operation upon the article he removed from the rst mentioned rack. Thus as may be seen, a continuance of operation results from the use of my improved movable conveyer rack, which is one of the principal elements entering into increased efficiency in factory operation and decreased production cost.

Having thus described my invention What l claim is:

1. A movable conveyor racl comprising a base, a frame mounted on the base, a pri` mary shelf supporting means adjustably mounted on the frame, a secondary shelf supporting mea-iis rotatably supported on the first mentioned supporting means, said secondary means comprising a sleeve, and

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a clamp upon the sleeve, said sleeve being rotatably attached to the frame, said primary supporting means consisting of a collar adapted to form a bearing for the lower endof the sleeve and to be fixed to the frame at the desired position, said clamp being adapted to encircle the sleevev and to be clamped tightly thereto, and a shelf or rack member mounted on the clamp.

2. A. movable conveyer rack comprising a base, a frame mounted on the base and hav ing a pair of uprights supported in substantially parallel relation to each other, a 'series of sleeves rotatably mounted upon each upright, a collar beneath each sleeve and l5 mountedrfor adjustable clamping von each upright to hold the sleeves the desired distances apartand simultaneously to support them rotatively on the uprghts, a clamp upon each sleeve adapted to be clamped thereto,l an article support extending from each clamp, and meansvadapted detachably to connect the supports When they are swung toward each other between the uprghts.

In testimony whereof I have hereuntolaflixed my signature. l

EUGENE A. KUEN.