GB727047A - Improvements in overhead conveyor systems - Google Patents

Abstract

727,047. Endless over-head conveyer; shoots. MORRIS, Ltd., H., ADKIN, C. J. G., and CRUMP, R. C. May 8, 1953 [May 9, 1952], No. 11831/52. Class 78 (1). An overhead conveyer system for use in factories for distributing at different receiving stations loads carried on tipping trays suspended from an overhead endless chain, comprises contact mechanism in advance of each station operable by a selected advancing tray, a control device influenced by such contact mechanism to cause a ramp to be moved into the path of the selected tray whereby to tip the tray, a second contact mechanism located beyond the station and operable by the selected tray leaving the station to restore the ramp to inoperative position so that following trays may pass the ramp and a device for rendering the first contact mechanism ineffective, said latter device being controlled by the amount of material held in store at a station. In the embodiment shown, trolley frames 11 carrying tipping trays 12 travel around an overhead track 10, and at each station a ramp 14 is pivotally mounted on a fixed framework 13 straddling the track and is adapted to be moved from a dotted line position to a full line position in which it is adapted to tilt a tray 12 as it passes. The position of the ramp is determined by a piston- and-cylinder device 18, 18a interposed between the framework 13 and a counterweighted arm 19 balancing the ramp and controlled by a piston valve 15 in a cylinder 15b connected by conduits 16, 17 with the cylinder 18, air being supplied to the cylinder 15b by a conduit 15a. The cylinder 15b is also connected by a conduit 21 to a valve 20 which is located ahead of the station and connected by a conduit 22 with a valve 23 operated by the material in the shoot being loaded when this becomes filled. Beyond the station is a valve 24 connected by conduits 25, 26 with the cylinder 15b. The valves 20, 24 at each station are similarly disposed with respect to the track 10 and to an actuating lever 28 carried by the trolley frame of a tray to be discharged at that station, but the disposition of the valves 20, 24 at one station differs from that at the other stations. Furthermore, the disposition of the levers 28 on their trolley frames differs for each station so that only the trolley of the tray intended to be discharged at a particular station operates its ram actuating mechanism. When a tray approaches its discharge station its lever 28 operates the valve 20 allowing air to flow from the valve 23 to the cylinder 15b causing the valve 15 to be displaced to allow air from the pipe 15a to enter the lower end of the cylinder 18 whereby the piston-rod 18a raises the counterweighted arm 19 of the ramp to bring the ramp into its operative fullline position. As a pivoted arm 30 on the tray meets the lowered ramp, it is depressed and through levers (not shown) tips the tray. As soon as the arm 30 leaves the ramp it returns to the normal position indicated to the left of Fig. 1. The lever 28 now operates the valve 24 whereby air pressure is admitted to operate the valve 15, permitting the escape of air from the lower end of the cylinder 18 and the supply of air to the upper end, whereby the ramp is moved to its dotted line position. When the shoot at a particular station is full, the valve 23 is held depressed, thereby cutting off the supply of air from the pipe 23a to the valve 20 so that when this valve is actuated by a lever 28, the control valve 15 is not effected and the ramp remains in its inoperative position.