GB1321127A - Conveyors - Google Patents

Abstract

1321127 Conveyer systems TISSMETAL LIONEL-DUPONT 28 Sept 1970 [14 Oct 1969 10 Feb 1970] 46098/70 Heading B7L A conveyer comprises an endless chain 1 which continuously moves in a direction F and has drive dogs 2 for moving trolleys 4 on running rollers 5 and guide rollers 6 along a runway 3 parallel to the chain 1, each trolley 4 comprising an arm 9 pivotable about a pivot 8 and a lever 14 pivotable about a spindle 15. The arm 9 has a downwardly curved extension 10 and also two facets 11 1 , 11 3 between which is a ramp 11 2 , the lever 14 having an end 13 with surfaces 13a, 13b. When the arm 9 is in an operative position, Fig. 1, the facet 11 1 engages the surface 13a and the trolley 4 is moved along the runway by a dog 2 which engages a step 17 on the arm 9. The trolley continues to move until the lever 14 engages an abutment 24 and is pivoted thereby in an anticlockwise direction, Fig. 1, against the action of a spring 16 into a retracted position, Fig. 3, out of the path of the dog 2. In this position the surface 13b engages the facet 11 3 , the lever 14 having passed through an unstable intermediate position wherein the end 13 engages the ramp 11 2 . Recesses 19 and 19a are provided in edgings 20 on either side of the runway 3 to receive rollers 18 on each side of the arm 9 when the arm is in its retracted position, the spring 16 serving to hold the rollers 18 against rear end walls 19 1 of the recesses 19, thus keeping the trolley in a stationary position. When a second trolley 4 2 , Fig. 4, meets a first stationary trolley 4 1 , the lever 14 of trolley 4 2 is pushed rearwards by a hook 23 of the trolley 4 1 and the pivot arm 9 of the trolley 4 2 is wound into its inoperative retracted position, its rollers 18 dropping into a recess 19 placed at a predetermined distance from the preceding recess. When the abutment 24 holding the trolley 4 is retracted, the spring 16 biases arm 9 into its operative position where it will be engaged by the next dog 2 to be brought past the trolley 4. Trolley 4 1 then moves off and the extension 10 of trolley 4 2 slides over a ramp 23a on the hook 23 of the trolley 4 1 and then, as the trolley 41 moves further away, lever 14 of the trolley 4 2 is free to move its pivot arm into its operative position. In a modification (Figs. 5 to 11, not shown), the abutments 24 are operable by a rolling trolley which biases them into the path of a following trolley.