GB2389568A

GB2389568A - Conveyor with support facilitating belt removal

Info

Publication number: GB2389568A
Application number: GB0213157A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Alan Norris
Original assignee: D C Norris & Co; DC Norris and Co Engineering Ltd
Current assignee: D C Norris & Co; DC Norris and Co Engineering Ltd
Priority date: 2002-06-07
Filing date: 2002-06-07
Publication date: 2003-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 2022-06-07
Also published as: GB2389568C; GB0213157D0; GB2389568B

Abstract

A conveyor comprises an endless belt 2 supported on at least two rollers 8, 10, one of which is driven, and a bed structure 4 supporting the rollers on one side only. The bed structure includes a resilient member 28 which biases the position of the rollers to tension the belt. A locking mechanism can lock the rollers in a retracted position against the bias of the resilient member, to relieve the tension on the belt. The bed structure is formed from a tubular spine 6, with spaced apart transverse ribs 16, 16a, 16b supporting an upper run 14 of the conveyor belt. Removable stationary side guides can be supported by the ribs on opposite sides of the belt. The spine may be pivoted about a central support in a horizontally transverse axis to the direction of movement of the belt. Two pivotally mounted supports 56 may be included to allow height adjustment of the spine. A height-adjustable foot structure is also claimed.

Description

- 1 CONVEYOR

This invention relates to conveyors.

Especially in the food Industry, equipment must be kept scrupulously clean.

Traditionally, cleaning endless belt conveyors has been tedious and time consuming 5 because the construction of conventional conveyors leads to a need to dissemble the apparatus merely In order to remove the belt to facilitate cleaning it and its bed Against this background, in accordance with one aspect of the there is provided a

conveyor, comprising. an endless belt providing an upper run for conveying material or articles from one position to another and running round at least two rollers at least one of 10 which Is driven, the rollers being supported rotatably on a bed structure which is supported on one side only. The belt can be removed on the side on which there Is no support without the need to dissemble any of the support Most preferably, the bed structure includes a resilient member to bias the relative positions of the rollers so as to tension the belt, and even more preferably includes a 15 locking mechanism for locking the rollers in relative positions retracted against the bias so that tension In the belt is relieved. This greatly increases the ease with which the belt may be removed. The belt may be grasped towards the middle of the upper run, for example, and pulled transverse to the run and the axes of the rollers, a process known as "swngeng" in a nautical context This provides an enormous mechanical advantage 20 to move the rollers relatveiy against the bias The rollers may be locked In their retracted relative positions and the belt lifted off over the free side of the bed structure.

To provide even greater convenience, the locking mechanism preferably latches the rollers in the retracted relative positions.

In a preferred arrangement, the biased roller is at one end of the upper run 25 One of the problems In cleaning a traditional conveyor, Is that in, say, the bed.

there are large flat horizontal surfaces from which water used for cleaning does not drain easily. Against this background an alternative or additional aspect of the invention

- 2 ( provides a conveyor, composing an endless belt providing an upper run for conveying material or articles from one position to another and running round at least two rollers at least one of which Is driven; the rollers being supported rotatably on a bed structure In the form of a tubular spine from which spaced transverse ribs extend to support the 5 upper run. Especially If the tubular member is round In cross section, the area from which drainage is difficult can be minimal The conveyor may Include stationary side guides removably supported by the ribs on opposite sides of the upper run.

Adjustment of the conveyor may be provided for by mounting the spine for 10 pvotable movement relative to a support, about an axis transverse to the direction of movement of the belt Adjustment In a vertical plane may be provided if the axis is horizontal.

The optional provision of two supports pivotably mounted remote from the spine so that the pivotable mounts lie on the corners of a quadrilateral allows adjustment of the 15 height of the spine.

In one form the quadrilateral Is a parallelogram Frequently, plant or other structure requires adjustment to accommodate an Imperfectly level floor. A common way that is achieved Is to use a screw foot, the foot being mounted on a threaded rod allowing adjustment to the degree to which it projects 20 from the plan or other structure. The food industry dislikes such arrangements because the thread is Inherently difficult to keep clean Against this background an alternative or additional aspect of the Invention

provides an adjustable foot for plant or other structure, comprising a hollow body having opposed ends, one for attachment to the plant or other structure the other having an 25 opening having a cylindrical wall and from which projects a plug having a cylindrical wall sealingly engaging that of the opening, the plug connected to the body Inside the body

- 3 by an screw co-axal with the cylindrical wall of the plug, so as to allow adjustment of the amount by which it projects from the body Embodiments of the invention Will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which.

5 Figure 1 is a side view of a conveyor embodying the invention; figure 2 is a plan view of the conveyor of Figure 1; figure 3 Is an end view of the conveyor of Figure 1; Figure 4a Is a scrap section of an end of the conveyor of figure 1, when extended; figure 4b is a scrap section of the end of the conveyor when retracted, 10 figure 5 Is a detail of a rib of the conveyor of Figure 1, figure 6 Is a detail of another rib of the conveyor of Figure 1; figure 7 Is a side view of another conveyor embodying the invention; figure 8 is a plan view of the conveyor of Figure 7, Figure 9 Is a detail of a rib of the conveyor of Figure 7, 15 figure 10 Is a detail of another rib of the conveyor of Figure 7; and figure 11 Is a side view of a side support suitable for use in the conveyor of figure 1 or Figure 7.

Referring to the drawings, In which like reference numbers denote like elements, the conveyor shown in figure 1 to 6 has an endless belt 2 running on a bed 4. The bed 20 4 has a stainless steel cylindrical, tubular spine 6 at opposite ends of which rollers 8 and 10 are rotatably mounted In respective U-shaped brackets 12a and 12b The roller 8 is driven by an internal electric motor (not shown) The upper run 14 of the belt 2 is supported by a plurality of ribs 16, 16a, 16b Each rib 16, 16a, 16b Is formed of stainless steel with a PTFE cap 18 on which the belt 2 runs. The lower run 20 of the belt 2 Is 25 supported by a sufficiency of rollers 22 (one is shown) depending from a respective rib 16b

- 4 The tubular spine 6 Is telescopic having a section 24 which slides in another section 26, the U-shaped bracket 12a Is mounted on the outer end of section 24, the bracket 12b being mounted on the outer end of the section 26. So as to tension the belt 2, a self tensioning arrangement as provided. A compression spring 28 bears on a plug 5 30 In the inner end of the section 24 urging it outwardly The sections 24 and 26 are restrained against relative rotation by a guide rod 32 which is mounted on the bracket 12a and received by an aperture 34 In which it slides, In the rib 16a. Also mounted on the bracket 12a Is a latch member 36. At one end, this has Jaws 38 and 40 loosely received by a slot 42 In the bracket 12a, and which loosely receive the bracket so as to 10 pivot thereon. The other end of the latch member 36 Is sldingly received by an aperture 44 In the rib 16a. Between its ends the latch member 24 has a detent 46.

The belt 2 may be removed without tools It Is grasped In the middle of the upper run 14 and pulled in the direction of the arrow Z which Is normal to the extent of the run and to the axes of the rollers 8 and 10 In nautical terms, this process is known as 15 "swngeng" and gives an enormous mechanical advantage which compresses the spring 28 and retracts the section 24 into the section 26. As this happens the latch member 36 slides In the aperture 44. When the detent 46 has passed through the aperture 44, the latch member 36 drops and when the tension on the belt 2 is released, the detent latches the section 24 against returning to its fully extended position thus relieving 20 tension on the belt.

The bed 4 Is supported on one side only A tubular three legged base 48, having legs 50, 52 and 54, supports two tubular C-shaped brackets 56. Each of these is attached to the tubular spine 6 on the same side thereof The result is that with the tension In the belt relieve as described above, the belt may be simply slipped off. The 25 whole process is very easy and quick

( - 5 llaving removed the belt easy access to clean the bed and stand Is obtained. The round tubular nature of the spine and stand and the slimness of the nbs, avoids large flat areas on which water can lie after cleaning.

A new or cleaned belt can be readily slipped over the retracted rollers. The belt Is 5 then tensioned by lifting the latching member 36 allowing the detent 46 to pass the aperture 44.

The C-shaped brackets 56, each have two points 58 and 60 at which they are articulated so as to allow pivotal movement Since these points lie on the corners of a parallelogram (see Figure 1) the height of the bed 4 may be adjusted. The bed may be 10 locked In position by nuts 62.

Conveniently, the wing 64 to power the drive for the roller 8, can be largely run through the tubular bed and stand Each of the ribs 16, 16a and 16b, has slots 64 to receive the lower edge of a side support 66 The side supports are further located by upturned portions 68. In one of the 15 ribs the slot 64 is shallower than the others. This Is aligned with a slot 70 In the side support 66 In which the rib engages to locate the side support longitudinally.

In order that the conveyor may be levelled In a direction transverse to the belt 2, an adjustable foot 53 Is provided on the leg 52. The foot will be described In more detail below. 20 The embodiment shown In Figures 7 to 10 Is broadly similar, differing In the shape of the ribs and the method of support As may be seen in figures 9 and 10 the ribs 72, 72a are curved transverse the length of the belt 2, to form the upper run 14 Into a trough The spine 6 is supported by a tubular bracket 74 in only one position. Articulation Is provided at a point 76 so that the bed 4 can be pivoted to a suitable angle and licked 25 by a nut 62 Referring to Figure 12, the leg 52 is fitted with an adjustable screw foot 53 The food Industry dislikes screw feet because the exposed threads of conventional ones are

( - 6 nherently difficult to keep clean. As may be seen from Figure 12, the foot 53 has a hollow cylndncal body 78 which Is attached to the end of the leg 52. The body 78 has a cylindrical bore 80 opening downwards. In that a cylndncal nylon plug fits in sliding engagement with the walls of the bore so as to form a seal against ingress and egress of 5 dirt, grease etc. The plug sits on the floor The plug has a threaded stem 84 which engages in a treaded hole 86 in the side of the body opposite its open side. The conveyor may thus be levelled by screwing the plug 82 In or out of the body without the dirt Implications of convenhonal screw feet.

Claims

J CLAIMS

1. A conveyor, composing: an endless belt providing an upper run for conveying material or articles from one position to another and running round at least two rollers at least one of which Is driven; the rollers being supported rotatably on a bed 5 structure which Is supported on one side only.

2. A conveyor as claimed In claim 1, wherein the bed structure includes a resilient member to bias the relative positions of the rollers so as to tension the belt.

3 A conveyor as claimed In claim 2, Including a locking mechanism for locking the rollers in relative positions retracted against the bias so that tension in the l O belt is relieved

4. A conveyor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the locking mechanism latches the rollers in the retracted relative positions

5 A conveyor as claimed In any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the biased roller Is at one end of the run 15

6. A conveyor as claimed In any preceding claim, wherein the bed structure Is a tubular spine from which spaced transverse ribs extend to support the upper run

7 A conveyor as claimed in claim 6, including stationary side guides supported by the ribs on opposite sides of the upper run.

8. A conveyor as claimed In claim 7, wherein the side guides are removable.

20

9. A conveyor as claimed In claim 6, 7 or 8 wherein the spine Is mounted for pvotable movement relative to a support, about an axis transverse to the direction of movement of the belt

10. A conveyor as claimed in claim 9, wherein the axis Is horizontal.

1 1. A conveyor as claimed In claim 9 or 10, including two supports pvotably 25 mounted remote from the spine so that the pvotable mounts lie on the corners of a quadrilateral allowing adjustment of the height of the spine.

- 8 ( 12 A conveyor as claimed in claim 11, wherein the quadrilateral is a parallelogram. 13 An adjustable foot for plant or other structure, comprising a hollow body having opposed ends, one for attachment to the plant or other structure the other having 5 an opening having a cylnducal wall and from which projects a plug having a cylindrical wall Tellingly engaging that of the opening, the plug connected to the body inside the body by an screw co-axial with the cylndncal wall of the plug, so as to allow adjustment of the amount by which it projects from the body.