GB2399330A

GB2399330A - Conveyor with cam-actuated release mechanism

Info

Publication number: GB2399330A
Application number: GB0317983A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Petra Schneuing
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-03-11
Filing date: 2003-07-31
Publication date: 2004-09-15
Anticipated expiration: 2023-07-31
Also published as: GB0317983D0; GB2399330B; DE20303945U1

Abstract

A conveyor 12, for carriers 26 suspended on a transport rail, comprises a chain with catches 16 disposed thereupon, the catches being pivotable about a horizontal axis 18. The catches have a cam face 24 on their lower side, and a claw 20 behind the cam face. The cam face acts in use against a front hook 30 of a carrier to pivot the catch about the horizontal axis and lift the claw away from a rear hook 32 of the carrier. The carriers may be used to transport coat hangers.

Description

Multiple Catch Conveyor The invention relates to a multiple catch conveyor

for collective carriers for coat hangers, which carriers are provided with two hooks which can be suspended in succession on a transport rail, the conveyor having a drivable chain which is guided above the transport rail and on which there are towed transport catches which can be pivoted upwards and downwards and which have, at the lower side thereof, a cam face and a claw therebehind.

A multiple catch conveyor of this type is known, for example, from Utility Model specification 296 21 786. The known conveyor has transport catches which have a cam face which bows outwards so far that, when the cam face of this catch comes into contact with a coat hanger, the claws of the corresponding catches are raised so far that they can also be lifted away above two coat hanger hooks which are hooked together and which are located one above the other. In this manner, malfunctions resulting from coat hangers which are hooked together can be prevented. Using conveyors of this type, items of clothing which are suspended on coat hangers can be transported with these coat hangers directly by means of transport rails, without the need for a trolley or other such collective device for coat hangers.

Conveyor catches of the type described allow multiple operation in that, whenever the catches come into contact with a coat hanger, they are lifted out by means of the cam faces thereof and release the coat hanger which has been carried. It is therefore possible for the transported hangers to be passed on in each case at the end of a queue and for the queue, on the other hand, to be gradually reduced from the front hanger in each case.

A similar conveyor is known from DE 299 08 461 U1 wherein coat hangers are not transported directly by means of the transport rails but a plurality of coat hangers are instead suspended on a collective carrier in a group, which approximately corresponds to a set of items of clothing which belong together. The collective carrier is, in turn, suspended on the transport rail by means of two hooks. Naturally, it must be ensured that the transport hooks grip this collective carrier by the front hook thereof in the transport direction, since carrying the rear hook would render so-called "Power and Free" operation impossible and would, furthermore, result in malfunctions, in particular at points, in queuing regions et cetera. In the collective carrier according to DE 299 08 461 Ul, this is achieved in that the rear hook of the collective carrier has a smooth surface having a surface area such that the claw of the transport hooks cannot be introduced therein, whilst, in the front hook of the collective carrier, there is provided an engagement opening which is open from above and in which the claws of the transport hooks engage. The transport hooks therefore pass over the rear hooks of the collective carriers in each case and grip the front hooks. On the other hand, the transport hooks can be lifted out by means of the rear hooks of the collective carriers so that they release a collective carrier when they come into contact with one of the collective carriers which are located on the transport rail. "Power and Free" operation is thus 1 5 possible.

The solution proposed above can be carried out only if the collective carriers are appropriately constructed. Moreover, the collective carriers can be used only in a given transport direction, that is to say, in such a manner that the hook which has the engagement opening is at the front in the transport direction.

However, there are also transport systems which have collective carriers of the type described and which are intended to be universally applicable and, consequently, also to be able to be orientated in both directions.

The problem addressed by the invention is therefore to provide a conveyor of the above type which allows collective carriers of the type described to be transported on transport rails by means of transport hooks, without the hooks of the collective carrier having to be specially orientated to enable transport on transport rails.

This problem is solved in a multiple catch conveyor of the above type in that the transport hooks are of such a size that the claw is lifted away above the rear hook of the collective carrier when the cam face of the transport hooks comes into contact with the front hook of the collective carriers.

Since the claw is lifted away above the rear hook by the front hook of the collective carrier, it is not necessary to construct the rear hook of the collective carrier in such a manner that it is overrun by the claw. The transport system according to the invention can therefore be used for collective carriers of any type. At the other side, the front hook of the collective carrier can be gripped reliably by the claw if it is simply ensured that the front hook is constructed in such a manner that it can grip the front hooks of conventional collective carriers in all cases.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will be explained in greater detail below with reference to the appended drawings, in which: 1 S Figure 1, is a section of a conveyor according to the invention, having a transport hook which carries a collective carrier; Figure 2, is a corresponding illustration and shows how a transport hook is lifted away above the rear hook of the collective carriers.

In Figure 1, 10 indicates a transport rail which can, for example, have a U-shaped profile-section which is open at the top. A chain-guiding profile-section 12 extends above the transport rail 10, parallel therewith and with spacing therefrom, in which profile-section 12 a driveable chain (not shown) is guided. Carriers 14 are located on this chain. Transport catches 16 are suspended on the carriers 14 and can be pivoted in a horizontal axis 18 which is directed transversely to the conveying direction. The transport direction of the chain (not shown) extends from right to left in Figure 1. The transport catches 16 are therefore towed by the chain, that is to say, at least the majority of the length of the transport catches 16 lies behind the carrier 14 in the conveying direction. At the rear end, relative to the transport direction, the transport catches 16 have a claw 20 which, from the rear, extends round a recess 22 which is let in from below.

In front of the claw 20 in the transport direction, that is to say, on the left in Figure 1, there is, at the lower side of the transport catch 16, a cam face 24 which is illustrated, bowed slightly downwards in Figure 1. In the position in Figure 1, this cam face can be introduced into the U-shaped profile-section of the transport rail 10 from above.

In the illustration in Figure 1, a collective carrier 26 is suspended on the transport rail, which carrier 26 is provided for receiving a number of coat hangers on a carrier rod 28.

Hooks 30, 32 which extend perpendicularly upwards project from the two end regions of the carrier rod 28 and are suspended from above on the transport rail 10 according to Figure 1.

The hooks 30, 32 can be connected to the carrier rod 28 by means of swivel joints 34, 36 so that the hooks can be rotated about 180 if the collective carrier 26 is to be used in the opposite orientation.

The swivel joints 34, 36 can also be advantageous in the case of transport tracks having narrow radii of curvature.

In the illustrated configuration, the carrier rod 28 comprises an upper rod 38 and a lower rod 40 which are connected at both ends thereof. The carrier rod 28 is provided with a relatively high level of rigidity owing to the dual layers and connecting struts 42, 44, 46 between the upper rod 38 and the lower rod 40. The connecting struts can also be used to separate the coat hangers from each other, which are transported on a carrier rod and which are not illustrated in the drawings.

Figure 2 shows the situation which arises when a transport catch 16 comes into contact with a stationary collective carrier when moving from right to left in Figure 2. The cam face 24 acts on the lower side of the transport catch in such a manner that the transport catch 16 is firstly increasingly lifted by means of the cam face 24 when it comes into contact with the rear hook 32. In each case, therefore, a further collective carrier which may have been brought and which is indicated with dotted lines in Figure 2, is released with sufficient spacing from the collective carrier which is shown by continuous lines in Figure 2. After the cam face has slid away over the rear hook 32, the cam face is gripped by the front hook 30 and the transport catch 16 is lifted or held at a sufficient height by the hook. The dimensions are selected so that the claw is lifted away above the rear hook 32 by means of the front hook 30 co-operating with the cam face 24, as is shown in Figure 2. It is thereby ensured that the transport catches do not ever grip the rear hook of the collective carriers. When a multiple catch 16 approaches a stationary collective carrier from the rear with a collective carrier, the multiple catch 16 comes into contact with the rear hook 32. The multiple catch is thereby lifted until the claw 20 is released from the front hook 30 of the following collective carrier (not shown). This collective carrier is released with spacing from the rear carrier 32 of the illustrated collective carrier, which spacing corresponds to the spacing of the two hooks of the collective carriers relative to each other.

Claims

Claims 1. Multiple catch conveyor for collective carriers (26) for coat

hangers, which carriers (26) are provided with two hooks (30, 32) which can be suspended in succession on a transport rail (10), the conveyor having a drivable chain which is guided above the transport rail (10) and on which there are towed transport catches (16) which can be pivoted upwards and downwards, and which have, at the lower side thereof, a cam face (24) and a claw (20) therebehind, characterized in that the transport catches (16) are of such a size that the claw (20) is lifted away above the rear hook (32) of the collective carrier when the cam face (24) of the transport hooks comes into contact with the front hook (30) of the collective carrier.