AU672498B2

AU672498B2 - A conveyor support carriage arrangement

Info

Publication number: AU672498B2
Application number: AU63278/94A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Lance Malcolm Vater
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-05-24
Filing date: 1994-05-24
Publication date: 1996-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 2014-05-24
Also published as: AU6327894A

Description

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i 3 43095 HKS:DP:KLS P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

eo e i Name of Applicant: LANCE MALCOLM VATER Actual Inventor: LANCE MALCOLM VATER Address for Service: COLLISON CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: A CONVEYOR SUPPORT CARRIAGE ARRANGEMENT Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Application No PL8933 dated 24th May 1993 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:

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2 The presetnt invention relates to a conveyor support carriage arrangement used within a channel having two spaced apart tracks and a lowermost opening between the tracks.

Carriages of this type are subjected to considerable wearing forces in use and are required to have qualities of resistance to wear to prolong their useful life whilst at the same time maintaining relatively low frictional forces for any load to be moved. It is also true that minimal manufacturing costs for these items J are necessary.

Of the frictional forces encountered by the conveyor support carriages under 1 0 consideration, the present invention is most directly concerned with those resulting from side loading. The conveyor load supported by the carriage is considerable and side thrust directed towards the conveyor is transferred to the carriage. The effects of side thrust on the carriage typically results in the 1 rim of a wheel of the carriage bearing against a side wall of the channel. In 1 5 conditions of high side loadings the wheel may be lifted from the carriage thus causing uneven distribution of the load on the support carriage, interrupting the smooth running of the carriage in the channel and causing considerable noise in operation. Moreover, the effect of the wheel rim engaging the side of the shannel is to cause considerable wear on the wheel and channel thereby 2 0 shortening the useful lifetime of the components thus increasing the cost to the end user.

99l The frictional forces on the wheel rim are also found to be greater around the outside of the rim and extended over a considerable area of the wheel.

The present inventor has considered a solution to the problem by including a 14 2 5 further wheel in the carriage, the wheel being supported t fate about a vertical axis and the wheel extending beyond the outermost edge of the remaining carriage wheels. The additional wheel is provided with a bearing support which allows for the rotation and is thus able to lower the resistance.

The difficulty of avoiding the effects of wear thus remains unsolved in practical situations.

The present invention thus attempts to resolve the above situation by LI 0 3 3 providing a conveyor support carriage which is adapted to reduce the effects of side loading on the carriage whilst at the same time providing for a more commercially acceptable alternative to the earlier arrangement described above.

Thus according to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a conveyor support carriage assembly comprising: a carriage body; a suspension bolt adapted for attachment of a door depending from the body; a plurality of aligned transverse axles extending through the body and being 1 0 supported for rotation on the body, at least one axle being located on either i side of a point of contact between the carriage body and the suspension bolt; each of the plurality of aligned transverse axles carrying thereon a supporting wheel at either end, the supporting wheels being adapted to run in a channel, each supporting wheel having a generally domed outer surface with an apex I 1 5 of the outer surface being coincident with a rotational axis of the supporting I wheel; whereby contact between the supporting wheel and the channel is restricted to the apex of the supporting wheel, to thereby minimise rolling

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resistance when the support carriage is subject to side thrust.

Preferably, the conveyor support carriage is characterised in that each 2 20 supporting wheel is formed of an apertured metal web supported on one end of one of the plurality of aligned transverse axles and a cap formed of plastics material being inserted into the web, the cap being located into an inner concave centre cut in to the web.

In a particularly preferred embodiment each supporting wheel further comprises an outer peripheral shape including a raised central portion, the raised central portion providing an interlocking shape for an outer part formed of moulded plastics material to be attached to a rim of the supporting wheel.

It is convenient if each of the caps inserted into the inner web and also the outer parts pressed fitted onto the raised portion are formed of a glass filled 3 0 nylon material. This material has been found to have appropriate characteristics in terms of low noise generation during use and good wear qualities. Moreover, these parts are economically acceptable to manufacture and readily assembled.

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4 Preferably, a spacer is supported on each of the plurality of aligned transverse axles, the spacer serving to separate the supporting wheels on each axle from the carriage body.

Preferably, ends of the axles are hollowed out and spread outwardly to thereby grab and interlock with a centre aperture in the supporting wheels in a secure arrangement; centre aperture of each supporting wheel having a notched edge for this purpose.

By providing a wheel including one portion extending axially beyond the remaining portion of the wheel the present invention thereby provides a single 1 0 point of contact with the channel in which the carriage is fitted. Further, where the point of contact is concentric with the axle on which the wheel is mounted the frictional forces caused by rotation of the wheel whilst in contact with the channel are minimised.

For a better understanding of the invention it will now be described with 1 5 reference to a preferred embodiment which shall be described with the S9,o assistance of drawings in which, do 054 S. FIG 1 is a cross-sectional view through both an appropriate channel and a conveyor support carriage within the channel operating in accord with the invention; a"oot, 20 FIG 2 is a perspective view of the carriage with one part of the conveyor 04 support carriage exploded; FIG 3 illustrates in cross section a wheel of the conveyor support carriage of FIG 1; and FIG 4 illustrates the wheel of FIG 3 in side view.

Referring in detail to the drawings, there is a conveyor support carriage 1 which is comprised of the elements assembled as shown and these include two plates 2 and 3 which are of substantially identical shape and size and i which are joined together by rivets one of which is shown at 4 and another of which in a symmetrically located position on the other side is not viewable, 1 30 such that together the two plates 2 and 3 form a body,having defined there T NrO 1<__e between a half round shape 5 defining thereby an aperture.

A bolt 6 with a head passes through the aperture and into a channel 7 the relative sizes of which are such that the bolt has a certain amount of freedom to the extent that there is 70 degrees of freedom from the vertical.

The bolt 6 is used to provide a suspension point for whatever load is to be carried such as one end of a garage or factory door.

The body formed by the plates 2 and 3 provides for support of transverse axles at each of two ends and in each location there is an aperture mutually passing through both of the plates into which is pressed a bell shaped 1 0 housing one of which is shown at 8 and together with an oppositely located housing at 9 hold therein a plurality of needie bearings 10 which are located to extend fully transversely from an end of one of the casings such as 8 through to the end of the other casing 9.

t.tIn order to provide wear resistance against side thrust, each of the bell shaped i 15 housings 8 and 9 in the one case and the equivalent at the other end of the :i body are case hardened steel.

u An axle 11 is of solid steel having a hollowed out end at 12 and a cylindrical spacer 13 passes through the aperture so as to engage with bearing contact the needle bearings 20 At each respective end of the axle 11 and as determined by the spacer length 13, the wheels 14 in the one case and 15 in the other are joined onto the axle by having the adges of the hollowed out end as illustrated in the one case at •12 peened which in turn grabs and interlocks with scored edges as shown at 16 in the metal rim 17 of the wheel 14.

The respective wheels two of which are shown at 14 and 15 and a remaining two at 18 and 19, in each case the wheel incorporating a metal inner part which is formed by being turned on a metal lathe and having an outer peripheral shape at 20 which includes a raised central portion at 21 which provides an interlocking shape for a moulded outer part 22 which is moulded in an injection moulded step using glass filled nylon.

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a 6 The metal rim is shaped to include an inner web 23 having an axially central aperture at 24 and having a number of notches around the periphery at 16 which are in place to ensure that when the axle passes there-through and is peened so as to firstly spread the end and at the same time swell that part of the axle passing through the aperture 24, the shapes will go slightly out of round and spread into the notches so that there will be a relative rotatable interlocking.

A further feature of the arrangement is that the metal part 17 has also cut therein a concave shape 25 across which can be secured, with interlocking fit, acap 26.

The cap 26 is moulded from again a glass filled nylon and is of circular crosssectional shape with a reverse taper shape at 27 which matches an equivalent shape on the inner side of the concave part 25 such that when the V. cap 26 is pressed with sufficient pressure, this will snap into position and be I 1 15 able to provide support against side thrust.

When the carriage is used in practice within a channel and specifically a narrow mouth channel of a type in which the channel includes the lower-most inwardly turned ends which in turn are upturned to provide there between a gap, then when the carriage is pulled to one side or another in such an 20 arrangement, the wheels themselves will be pulled to engage against the sides of the channel.

.Ol SS S The shape of the cap together with the remaining dimensions of the relative spacing of the wheels as such, can be arranged that by with the cap having a dome shape so that at its axial centre, this is located at an outmost position.

This will of course depend upon the respective dimensions firstly of the width I of the respective wheels, the distance apart of these and then the relative dimensions of the channel in which the carriage is used.

As shown in the drawing, the channel 7 is of rectilinear shape having at its lower end two inwardly turned parts 28 and 29 at the end of which in each case respectively is an upturned lip 30 in the one case and 31 in the other.

-For the invention to operate with respect to any channel, the protruding portion I 'T of the cap shown for instance in FIG 1 at 26 needs to be the most outwardiy protruding part and in order to effect a reduced resistance this needs to be at or close to the axial centre of the wheel and of course the supporting axial 11 in so far that it is supported for rotation by the needle bearings 10 and the body elements 2 and 3. The tolerances accordingly have to be chosen to allow for clearance on the inside edge of a respective wheel with respect to the upturned lip on that same side when the carriage 1 is pulled so that these two parts might ordinarily close together.

In the drawing, there is shown significant clearance here while the protruding cap bears against the wall of the channel 7 providing firstly a minimal contact area a contact of which one part is rotating fully, with respect to the other and accordingly, there is a reduction in frictional resistance and any resultant noise that might have otherwise been caused by prior art type arrangements.

1 5 Throughout this specification the purpose has been to illustrate the invention and not to limit this.

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Claims

1. A conveyor support carriage assembly comprising: a carriage body; a suspension bolt adapted for attachment of a door depending from the body; a plurality of aligned transverse axles extending through the body and being supported for rotation on the body, at least one axle being located on either side of a point of contact between the carriage body and the suspension bolt; each of the plurality of aligned transverse axles carrying thereon a supporting wheel at either end, the supporting wheels being adapted to run in a channel, 1 0 each supporting wheel having a generally domed outer surface with an apex, of tho outer surface being coincident with a rotational axis of the supporting wheel; whereby contact between the supporting wheel and the channel is restricted to the apex of the supporting wheel, to thereby minimise rolling resistance when the support carriage is subject to side thrust. 4 41 S1: 15 2. A conveyor support carriage assembly according to claim 1, in which each supporting wheel is formed of an apertured metal web supported on one end of one of the plurality of aligned transverse axles and a cap formed of plastics material being inserted into the web, the cap being located into an inner concave centre cut into the web. S 20 3. A conveyor support carriage assembly according to either claim 1 or claim 2, in which each supporting wheel further comprises an outer peripheral shape including a raised central portion,- the raised central portion providing an interlocking shape for an outer part formed of moulded plastics material to be attached to a rim of the supporting wheel. 2 5 4. A conveyor support carriage assembly according to either claim 2 or claim 3, in which the plastics material is a glass filled nylon material. A conveyor support carriage according to any of the preceding claims, in which a spacer is supported on each of the plurality of aligned transverse axles, the spacer serving to separate the supporting wheels on each axle from the carriage body, .A A conveyor support carriage assembly according to any one of the Of WR-" 1 9 preceding claims, in which ends of the axles are hollowed out and spread outwardly to thereby grab and interlock with a centre aperture in the supporting wheels in a secure arrangement; the centre aperture of each supporting wheel have a notched edge for this purpose.

7. A conveyor support carriage assembly according to any of the preceding claims, in which the carriage body comprises a pair of aligned plate members each include a central groove formation such that by superimposing the plate members a central aperture is formed, the suspension bolt being held in the central aperture; the plate members further including apertures for 1 0 supporting each of the plurality of aligned transverse axles therein, each transverse axle being held in position by a bell shaped housing pressed into the apertures, the bell shaped housing holding a plurality oi ieedle bearings therein. a

8. A conveyor support carriage assembly according to any one of the S 1 5 preceding claims in which the plurality of aligned transverse axles comprises a pair of axles, one axle being located on the carriage body either side of the suspension bolt, each axle carrying a supporting wheel at an end thereof. S9, A conveyor support carriage assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 9th day of August 1996 LANCE MALCOLM VATER By his Patent Attorneys, COLLISON CO. J' o I -I Y C ABSTRACT The specification describes a conveyor support carriage adapter co minimise the effects of side loading on the carriage. The invention provides a conveyor support carriage comprising a carriage having at least two opposed supporting wheels connected on an axle, each supporting wheel being adapted to run in a channel, each supporting wheel having or including a portion attached to or forming a part of each wheel so as to rotate with the wheel and being located such that the portion at all times project or protrudes about the axis of the wheel further than any other part of the wheel. 1 0 By providing a point of contact between the wheel and the channel in which the wheel is located the effects of friction and increased noise and jamming- are all reduced. I 4 9 9999

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