BE1016845A5 - METHOD FOR VISUALIZING THE SCROLLING OF A BELT OR TRANSPORT BELT. - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for increasing the safety of a conveyor belt or belt, the visibility of which is difficult to see when running, the visible face of this belt or belt representing a zone of single, uniform and homogeneous coloring or having zones of single, uniform and homogeneous coloring delimited by the parallel longitudinal edges of the strip or of the belt or by edges parallel to said edges of the strip or of the belt. The invention is characterized in that the uniqueness and / or the uniformity and / or the homogeneity of coloring of said coloring zones is broken by the creation, at said visible face, of coloring zones (4 ) additional irregularly arranged so that these additional coloring zones, which accompany the strip or belt when it is running, make the movement of the latter perceptible to the eye.

Description

METHOD FOR INCREASING THE SAFETY OF A CONVEYOR BELT OR BELT

The present invention generally relates to a method for increasing the safety of a belt or conveyor belt.

More specifically, the invention relates to a method for increasing the safety of a belt or conveyor belt whose visualization of the scroll is difficult to perceive visually, the visible face of this band or belt representing a single color zone, uniform and homogeneous or having single, uniform and homogeneous staining areas delimited by the parallel longitudinal edges of the belt or belt or by edges parallel to said edges of the belt or belt.

The scrolling of a belt or conveyor belt whose visible face is of a uniform and homogeneous color can be difficult to appreciate by a distracted eye or relaxed attention.

The same phenomenon of apparent immobility can be perceived when the face of this belt or of this conveyor belt comprises, in addition, one or more zones of uniform and uniform color, each parallel to the edges of the band or the belt.

However, for various reasons and in particular security, it is important that an individual wishing to approach such a band or belt can detect, early enough and in all circumstances, a scrolling movement thereof especially in case of low vision or laxity of attention.

Thus, it is not uncommon for an individual distracted or uninformed, for example a child, brought to deposit a commodity on the conveyor belt of a supermarket crate pinches a finger between the moving band and the support device of it.

Similarly, the lack of appreciation of the scroll of such a carpet can cause the fall of a tapered object such as a bottle when laying it on the carpet.

It is also known that unfortunate falls may occur especially when a visually impaired person on a treadmill absently puts his hand on the belt of a handrail without being able to appreciate its mobility or immobility.

The object of the present invention is to propose a method of the type indicated above, capable of overcoming these disadvantages in that it makes it possible, even for an individual with a low vision or of relaxed attention, to visualize or to detect more easily and more rapidly the moving a band or conveyor belt whose visible face has a single color, homogeneous and evenly distributed, and to increase the safety rate of this individual.

To achieve this goal, the method according to the invention is characterized in that one breaks the uniqueness and / or the uniformity and / or the homogeneity of coloration of said coloration zones by the creation, at the level of said face. visible, additional staining areas arranged irregularly so that these additional staining areas, which accompany the band or the belt during its travel, make the movement of the latter perceptible to the eye.

The conveyor belt in question, usually an endless belt, is in particular of the kind conveyor of goods serving a cash counter, for example a supermarket or similar store.

On the other hand, the conveyor belt, preferably endless, may correspond to a belt of a handrail in connection with a conveyor belt. However, it may also be a belt formed of a plurality of layers partially overlapping and moving relative to each other such as a belt for receiving and issuing baggage or carousel for luggage used in particular in an airport terminal.

Strips or belts as mentioned above may be made from a natural or synthetic material, in particular an elastomeric material such as rubber or a synthetic polymeric material such as polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane.

This band or belt may comprise a single sheet but more generally several sheets of different materials, in particular a reinforcing sheet capable of reducing the phenomenon of stretching. Such a strip or belt, perfectly flat and homogeneous over its entire visible outer face, has a coloration, generally uniform and uniform usually neutral and preferably black. This coloration comes in particular from the hue itself of its manufacturing material or a tint incorporated into the mass of this material.

Therefore, the scrolling of a belt or belt of this type may be difficult to detect by a distracted individual who could estimate motionless.

Alternatively, the band or belt in question may comprise on its visible face, one or more bands parallel to the edges of the band or belt themselves parallel to each other.

Each of these parallel strips has a single, uniform and homogeneous coloration which may however vary from one band to another so that a scrolling of such a band or conveyor belt can nevertheless give an impression of immobility to an individual. visually impaired or with little attention.

This apparent immobility of such a belt or conveyor belt when it runs, can be broken, according to the invention, by providing at its visible side, color zones arranged or arranged irregularly.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the areas in question, irregularly arranged on the visible face of the belt or the conveyor belt, have a single color or not, uniform or not and homogeneous or not. Thus, these irregular zones can take the most diverse shapes, aspects and colors.

Non-limiting, they may be lines or segments of open or closed lines such as straight, broken or curved line segments, partially straight and partially curved line segments or lines forming geometric or non-geometrical figures. than square, triangle, hexagon, circle, ellipse or the like.

These lines or line segments may be formed of regular lines or not and be of any size and any thickness which may be constant or vary over their entire length.

In particular, these line segments can be any signs of writing such as writing characters, numbers, punctuation marks or more generally can correspond to any sign usually used for the elaboration of words, sentences, mathematical data. or similar.

According to another embodiment, these irregularly arranged zones may correspond to any graphic pattern and in particular to decorative motifs taking the most diverse shapes and colors such as, for example, colored or unstained drawings, reproductions and photographic montages, reproductions of paintings, holograms or the like.

Advantageously, these irregular areas can mix signs of writing and decorative graphic patterns and correspond in particular to brands, slogans, advertisements or not, any information brought to the attention of the public.

Thus, according to a particular and advantageous feature of the invention, the irregularly arranged coloring areas comprise words and / or sentences and / or mathematical data and / or graphic patterns that can form an advertisement.

All these additional colored areas each show a unique color, a mixture of colors or shades of one or more colors.

The irregularly arranged coloration zones according to the invention can be created by direct printing on the face of the belt or belt intended to receive this printing or by a transfer printing method from a base sheet generally a sheet of transfer paper supporting the staining area to be transferred and this, in particular by implementing the method described in Belgian Patent No. 860988.

In another way, these additional colored areas can be drawn, painted or engraved directly on the visible side or printed on a support which is then fixed on this face. In particular, these colored zones may be printed on one side of a plastic support sheet, for example polyvinyl chloride, the opposite face of which is covered with an adhesive, this support then being adhered to the visible face of the strip. or belt.

In each of these cases, it seems advantageous to cover the visible face of the strip or belt with a protective varnish, in particular the colored zones made according to the invention so as to protect them from shocks or frictional wear when objects come into contact with them.

The invention will be better understood and other purposes, features. and advantages thereof will appear more clearly in the following explanatory description given with reference to the appended schematic drawings given solely by way of non-limiting example illustrating an embodiment of the invention and in which: FIG. 1 is a sectional representation of an embodiment of a belt or conveyor belt according to the invention; • Figure 2 is a plan representation of a cash counter equipped with a modified conveyor belt according to the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the strip 1 intended to transport goods towards the body of a supermarket checkout counter is formed of a layer 2 of material such as polyester covered with a sheet 3 of polyvinyl chloride of uniformly black color.

The layer 2 has the particularity of increasing the tensile force so as to avoid the stretching of the strip 1 when stretched between two driving rolls (not shown).

On the visible outer face of this sheet 3, color patterns 4 are then applied by printing transfer according to a known technique involving the transfer of colors and adhesive from a paper base sheet, while still hot (120). and 160 ° C), under pressure (2 to 6 bar) and for 10 to 60 seconds.

These reasons in the form of an advertisement, are distributed over the entire outer face of the sheet 3 in a perfectly visible manner for an individual located in the immediate vicinity of this band 1.

The outer face of the sheet 3 having received these colored patterns 4 is then covered with a layer 5 of protective material such as a layer of a protective varnish against the shocks and friction produced by goods deposited on the strip 1 to from this face.

Thus, a conveyor belt of this nature can serve in particular to supply goods to a cashier of a store as shown in Figure 2.

In this figure, there is shown at 6 a cash desk with the conveyor belt 1 which reveals patterns 4 whose color is significantly different from that of the bottom of this band. These colored areas 4, which are irregularly distributed on the visible face of the strip, correspond to lines that form letters of the alphabet assembled into words. These words appear in Figure 2 are purely fanciful and exemplary: they can be advantageously replaced by a brand, a slogan, an advertisement or not, a tip for the client or others, each can be accompanied if necessary by graphic elements .

This figure 2 also shows a client 7 ready to deposit an article on the tape but still waiting for the end of the scrolling thereof, scrolling that this client was clearly visible by the colored patterns 4 which move at the same speed than the band.

On the other hand, the client 8 even visually impaired, can easily detect the movement of the band 1 controlled by the cashier 9, since the colored areas 4 are in his field of vision. It can thus, when the scroll is marked, abstain from coming into contact with the band 1 or deposit therein any object, for example tapered bottles.

The method according to the invention for viewing the running of a belt or conveyor belt has undeniable advantages because it allows to secure its environment. In fact, a child, an elderly person, a person with a low vision or a distracted nature may be warned in good time of a problem or inconvenience that may arise during a contact with a band or belt whose mobility has not been detected. even of a potential danger that this person can run. For example, the scrolling of a baggage carousel can be better appreciated by a child who can avoid grazing or even take place. Similarly, the individual attentive to climb on a treadmill can better coordinate his actions and ensure his balance if he was able to realize the scrolling or not the belt of the handrail and possibly the speed of this scroll. In addition, the customer wishing to place fragile goods on the conveyor belt of a cash counter will be better able to judge the opportunity to make this deposit depending on whether the mat is still or moving.

Claims (8)

1. A method for increasing the safety of a belt (1) or conveyor belt whose visualization of the scroll is difficult to perceive visually, the visible face of this band or belt representing a single, uniform and uniform coloring zone or having single, uniform and homogeneous coloring areas delimited by the parallel longitudinal edges of the strip or belt or by edges parallel to said edges of the strip or belt, characterized in that the singularity and / or the uniformity and / or homogeneity of coloration of said coloring areas by the creation, at said visible side, of additional coloring zones (4) arranged irregularly so that these additional coloring areas, which accompany the band or the belt during its scrolling, make the movement of it perceptible to the eye. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the irregularly arranged areas have a single color or not, uniform or not and homogeneous or not. 3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the irregularly arranged coloring areas are open or closed lines or line segments. 4. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the irregularly arranged coloring areas are graphic patterns. 5. Method according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that the irregularly arranged coloring areas are any signs of writing, numbers or any other sign usable for the elaboration of words, sentences and / or mathematical data. 6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the words and / or sentences and / or mathematical data and / or graphic patterns form an advertisement. 7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the irregularly arranged coloring areas are printed, drawn, painted or engraved directly on the visible side. 8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the irregularly arranged coloring areas are printed on a support which is fixed on the visible side.