GB1495164A - Conveyor with driven slippable rollers - Google Patents

Abstract

1495164 Rollerway conveyers SHUTTLEWORTH Inc 17 Feb 1975 6546/75 Heading B8A Rollerway rollers 50 and 51 (Fig. 2) each have a concentric bore which is slightly larger in diameter than a drive-rod disposed within the bore. This allows the roller to slip under excess load relative to the drive rod. Also until slip occurs, the driving torque applied to the roller increases with the gravitational load on the latter. In Figs. 2 and 3, rollers of a rollerway section 33B rotate at a slower speed than those of an upstream section 33A. The rollers of both sections are driven from a single motor 67 through the belt gearing shown. In Fig. 5, a section 35 of rollers driven by belt gearing similar to that described above, is movable from the full line position, to the broken-line position, and vice versa, relative to the fixed main section 33B (Fig. 2). The drive shaft 86 for the belts 85 driving the individual rollers, is in keyed coaxial sliding relationship with the drive shaft 68 of the belts of the section 33B. Rollers in the vicinity of the bearing (Fig. 8, not shown), are driven by couplings to adjacent rollers, instead of from belts directly coupled to the shaft 86. A frame 45 (Fig. 3) may support lane-dividing members, adjustment of the spacing of which, may be effected by screws 44 (Fig. 2). A rollerway corner section is described (Fig. 9, not shown). Roller drive rods may be supported by plastics side members 200 (Fig. 17), each rod (not shown) resting in a recess 201 of slightly more than 180 degrees of arc. Slots 202 may provide for thermal expansion. Rollers may be built up from unit rollers 210 (Figs. 19 and 20) having recesses 215 formed to provide cooling ribs 211 and 215. The rollers may be of rubber or plastics and may have outer surfaces of higher or lower friction coefficient, compared with the coefficient of the surface of the inside bore. The outer surface may be of stainless steel. The rollers may be of diabolo shape (Fig. 15, not shown). There may be a roller section of reduced diameter between two normal-diameter sections (Fig. 16, not shown).