AU551663B2 - Article conveying diverter - Google Patents

Description

1.8

MICROUCOPY RESO1 UTION ;LSI CHARI

14429/85 6 14'4.9

PATENTS ACT 1952 In support Full name(s) by FE APPLICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT of Applicant(s)

for -a pate

Title of Invention I/We, FENAMEC (AUST4RALLIA). P'_,!LTD.

of 68 Humie Highway, Lansvale, New South Wales 2166, Full name~s) and of Australia, hereby apply for the grant of a standard patent address(es) of Declarant(s)

for an invention entitled: do solemn "HIGH SPEED PACKAGE SAVWNG DEVICE"

which is described. in the accompanying provisional

specification. 1 am/I Full name(s) of Applicant(s) te api My/Our address for service is:- on its, n.. Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys-, Level 22, CBA Centre, Margaret Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. FuU name(s) and address(es) of Inventor(s) o I DATED this TEN'IH day of MAY, 1982 .11 l'E N AvEC I A PTY. LTD.

is/.am upon 'v

applic

j ~iI Set out how Applicant(s) Regipsterea Pa nt Attorney. ,1 derive title from actual inventor(s) e.g. 'Me The A Applicant(s) is/are the assignee(s) of the invention from the Inventor(s)

TO: THE COMMISSIONER OF 7rATENTS, OI~ AUSTRALIA. VALA Declared at PUTA

ISFP'3 To: The Commis!

invention relates to diversicn rechanism3 the package. The present nnPn~ rb~ used for the purpose of hiqh speed sortinci of oackaaes from loh"COMMON WEAL-ni OF AUSTIOALIA N.4ON {EN*TIOf STANDARD 14429/83THE PATENTS A~qT i952 PETTY PP TENT DECLARATION DECLARATION IN SUPPORT OF AN APPLiCATION FOR PATENT

In support of the Application made Full namne(s) by FENAMEC (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD. of Applicant(s)

for -a patent for an invention entitled:

"HIGH SPEED PACKAGE SAVING DEVICE" r Title of Invention

I/We- C. CUTHBERTSON '(Charles Cuthbertson)

Full namhe(s) and of 81 MILPERRA4 ROAD, address(es) of Declarant(s) REVESBY. 2212. N.S.W. Au st raliia do solemnly and sincerely declare as follows: 44We.& a eapea1~ f~ -t 3t-te

(or, in the cL.je u/an application by a body corporate) I am/We-are authorised Iby FENAMEC (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD. Full name(s) of Applicant(s) the applicant(f4 for the patent to make this declaration on its/44e4 behalf.

(or, where a person other than the inventor is the applicant) 2. JOHN COLIN WATERHOUSE Full name(s) and address(es) 0of FFICE Inventor(s) of 68 Hume Highway, Lansvale, New South Wales 2166, Australia

is/. the actual inventor-e) of the inventio n and the facts upon which the applicantk4-is/are entitled to make the application are as follows: Set out how Applicant(s) derive title from actual Inventor(s) e.g. The The Applicant is the Assignee of the Invention Applicant(s) is/are the assignee(s) of the invention from the from the Inventor. Inventor(s)

Declared at F11- this day of11A 19 C,:

.6I. Signature of Deciarant(s)

.SFP'3 To: The Commissioner of Patents 11/81

the packagt. having a One particular known system uses a ram which t-x-nri-,

_1___11

(12) AUSTRALIAN PATENT ABRIDGMENT (19) AU (11) AU-B-14429/83

(54) ARTICLE CONVEYING DIVERTER (71) FENAMEC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD (21) 14429/83 551663 (22) 10.5.82 (23) 10.5.83 (24) 10.5.82 (43) 17.11.83 (A4) 8.5.86 (51) 3 B07C 3/08 B65G 47/48 B65G 47/53 (72) JOHN COLIN WATERHOUSE (74) SF (56) 39705/68 59.4; 5 9.9-1; 59.9-91 14906/62 262733 70.8; 5 9.6 28609/49 145493 91.8;32 59.6 (57) Claim

1. A diverter mechanism to divert objects from a

conveyor upon which objects rest so as to be moved thereby

along a predetermined path; said nec-anisrr. including an

endless flexible elongated element having a portion extending

across the conveyor, said element having lengths of different

thicknesses so that r'ien a first narrower portioi, of said

element is located adjacent said path, objects ar" allowed to

continue with the convey whi e wht.n a thicker second

portion of said eler'erin is loc ted adjid,:en sald path to

intersect same, objects are diverted therettom; and drive

means to move said element to selectively locate the first (o

second portions ad -cent said belt.

D1 AND 02 16 2

116(19)/32

~Ypya;~ i I

A 9 3 COMMONWEALTH OF AUS iRALIA

PATENTS AC, 1952-73 5j~ 6~ m1

COMPLETE SPEC IFYdATION 'OR IGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE

Class Int. Class Application Number PF'3932 14 4 Lodged: 10 May 1982

Complete Specification Lodged Accepted Published

~r,.ority

Related Art

Name of Api ccart FENANEC (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD. 0 3Y~chm'

Address of App con, 68 HUME HIGHWAY LANSVALE, NEW SOUTH WALES 2166, 2.USTRALIA

,Actual nivento, JOHN COLIN WATERHOUSE

Address fo~r Ser,-ce SprUson FerguJson Patent Attorneys. CRA Centre Margaret Street Sydney Newv SoLth Wales 2000 AUstralia

C omplete Spec-fication ior the nrvenhair entitled;

"HIGH SPEED PACKAGE SAVING DEViCE"

The following statement is a full description of this invention, inciuding the best method of performing it known to 4Wus

SFP17 1 SFP176/80

0 VAL, t Of ATTMA

SSFP3 To: The Comn

The present invention relates to diversion mechanisms the package.

used for the purpose of high speed sorting of packages from One par

one conveyer to a number of destinations. across the co

In the design of certain conveyor systems the diverted. As

requirement to achieve the automatic highspeed sortation of package to be it. Class

packages frequently arises. For instance, a particularly disadvantage

common application of this nature is for sorting packages at slow speed api

a post office into specific mail destination categories. In package damage

such a case all the packages are placed one by one on a In order

single conveyor which passes across the ends of a number.of 10 having to trav

chutes. As each package is placed on te conveyor its another desigr

destination is entered on a keyboard and the package is then roller conveyi

automatically diverted into the prescribed destination chute with pusher do

by a mechanism mounted on the conveyor adjacent to the chute. items of a con

The method of signalling the prescribed diverter to dogs to engage .OFUICF

operate when a package arrives varies for different conveyor A variat

manufacturers but more recently the use of microprocessors chain, to plac

and limit switches along the conveyor has been employed and conveyor and t

particularly accurate signalling to the diverter mechanism the package of

,28, raising and lo can be guaranteed.

The main requirements for a diverter mechanism are S from a powered m

that it should effectively transfer a nominated package from itself is effec

a conveyor without interfering with the passage along the raising and lov

conveyor of other packages not nominated to be diverted by itself.

that diverter. Because of the need not to interfere with It is an

packages not destined to be diverted and at the same time to substantially

enable a high total throughput along the conveyor to be There is

divert objects obtained, the diverter must operate in a short length of time

at the same time the impact of to be moved the and space along the conveyor: Smechanism inclu the diverter upon the package must not cause any damage to HS/1598z AAC/0515C 2 PF3932

6/80 1 the packagE-.

One particular known system uses a ram which extends

across the conveyor and retracts if the package is not to be

diverted. As the ram extends across the conveyor, the

package to be diverted is deposited on another conveyor. The

disadvantage of this system is that it is only suitable for

slow speed applications as high speed operations would cause

package damage.

In order to overcome the probler, of a pusher plate having to traverse the full width of the conveyor and return,

another design of diverter employs chains running through a

roller conveying surface. A pair of chains may be fitted

with pusher dogs, however this device is suitable only for

items of a constant size because of the necessity for the

dogs to engage evenly. A variation of the chain diverter is to use a single

chain, to place it at an angle to the line of the main

conveyor and to selectively raise or lower the chain to guide

the package off the main conveyor. This design involves the o28" raising and lowering of the chain to divert selected packages

from a powered roller conveyor. The diversion operation

itself is effective, bui problems arise in the mechanism from

raising and lowering the chain and the guiding of the chain

itself.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or

substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages.

There is disclosed herein a diverter mechanism to

divert objects frogn a conveyor upon which objects rest so as

to be moved thereby along E predetermined path; said

mechanism including an endless flexible elongated element

I HS/1598z 3 14429/83 having a portion extending across the conveyor, said element conveyor having lengths of different thicknesses so that when a first 12. Addi narrower portion of said element is located adjacent.said gaps whic path, objects are allowed to continue with the conveyor, without h while when a thicker second portion of said element is Fic located adjacent said path to intersect same, objects are the chair diverted therefrom; and drive means to move said element to as to all selectively locate the first or second portions adjacent said 11. At a belt. brought i A preferred form of the present invention will now be 10 16 are th described by way of example with reference to the protrude .4. accompanying drawings wherein: .1! therefore Figure 1 is a schematic plan view of two conveyors with S This acti ft a diverter adapted to selectively channel objects from one S diverter n conveyor to the other; and mechanisrr t., r*.

Figure 2 is a schematic side elevation of the diverter rr AcC employed in Figure 1. 15 would In Figure 1 there is schematically depicted a conveyor to select and diverter system 10 which i icludes a first conveyor 11 In S* which is adapted to move objects in the direction indicated 20 positione S. by the arrow 17. Extending at an angle to the conveyor 11 is S could pas a further conveyor 12 which is adapted to receive objects when the f selectively diverted from the conveyor 11. The objects the narro moving along the conveyor 11 are diverted to the conveyor 12 11.

by means of a diverter mechanism 13 which is more fully

depicted in Figure 2. The diverter mechanism 13 includes a

pair of rollers 14 around which passes an endless chain

Pre'erably one of the rollers 14 (or sprockets) is driven.

Preferably the chain 15 is provided with diverter sections 16

which are selectively positionable across the

HS/1598z 4 14429/83 IMS/206U ia0 conveyor 11 so as to divuirt objects therefrom to the conveyor

12. Additionally spaced between the diver Lot sections I are gaps which will allow objects to pass along te.l conveyntor 1

without hindrance.

Fig. I shows the case where the narr.wer prt i.:os 15 of the chain are positioned vertically below the convey' 11 so as to allow the passage or the objects along the conveyor

1 At a desired time the livet ter sections 16 wi ll be

brought into line with the conveyor 11 and as these sections 16 are thicker than the narrow sections 15, they will

protrude above the level of the conveyor 11 and will

therefore divert the desired objects onto the convey.i 12.

This action removes the need to either raise or lower the S diverter chain and therefore provides a simpler and cheaper mechanism.

Accordingly in operation of the above device, the chain

would be selectively rotated or continu.ously rotated so as

to selectively divert objects from the conveyor 11.

In another embodiment the diverter chain 15 could be

'0 positioned vertically above the conveyor 11 so that objects

could pass under the narrower portions 15 and be diverted

when the thicker portions 16, which would now extend below

the narrower portions 15, were placed adjacent the conveyor

II.

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SThe claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A diverter mechanism to divert objects from a

conveyor upon which objects rest so as to be moved thereby

along a predetermined path; said mechanism including an

endless flexible elongated element having a portion extending

across the conveyor, said element having lengths of different

thicknesses so that when a first narrower portion of said

element is located adjacent said path, objects are allowed to

continue with the conveyor, while when a thicker second

portion of said element is located adjacent said path to

intersect same, objects are diverted therefrom; and drive

means to move said element to selectively locate the first or

S" second portions adjacent said belt.

2. The diverter mechanism of c'air 1 wherein said

element is looped about two spaced rollers which are located

on opposite sides of the conveyor.

3. The diverter mechanism of clair 1 or 2 wherein

said element has two of said first portions and two of said

second portions.

4. The diverter mechanism of clair 2 wherein one of

said rollers is driven.

A conveyor assembly having a diverter mechanism

according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. A diverter mechanism substantially as hereinbefore

described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

7. A conveyor h6ving a diverter mechanisF

substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the

accompanying drawings.

y l1598z 6 14429/83 HS/1598

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DATED this EIGHTEENTH .day of FEBRUARY 19'86

FENAMEC (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD.

Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON

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"HIGH SPEED PACKAGE SAVING DEVICE"

The following statement Is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to v'us

SFP17 6/80

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