US3586153A

US3586153A - Conveyor systems

Info

Publication number: US3586153A
Application number: US805596A
Authority: US
Inventors: George Henry Rainbow
Original assignee: Metal Box PLC
Current assignee: Crown Packaging UK Ltd
Priority date: 1968-03-12
Filing date: 1969-03-10
Publication date: 1971-06-22
Anticipated expiration: 1988-06-22
Also published as: GB1152299A; FR2003690A1; FR2003690B1

Abstract

This disclosure has to do with a conveyor system particularly adapted for conveying cans and bottles which is of a construction wherein it may be readily assembled and installed in the desired position accurately with a minimum of drilling and fitting.

Description

O United States Patent [72] lnventor GeorgeHenryRainbow [50] FieldofSearch 4 1 i i 7. 198/190, Gerrards.Cross. England 204. 189, 130, 137, 177; 52/730, 731; 104/95, 111 121 AppLNo. 805,596 [22] Filed Mar. 10.1969 1 ReferencesCited 45 Patented June22, 1971 UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 1 1 Assign *MmIBmC0mpanyLimited 1961,006 5/1934 Marty 52/731x hmdm'Enghnd 2,290,981 7/1942 Maguireetaluflm. 198/189 Pflomy 2 3,282,007 11/1966 Campbelletal 52/731x 1 3,313.400 4/1967 Johnson 19s/2o4x 311 12,052/68 [54] CONVEYOR SYSTEMS 11 Claims, 12 Drawing Figs.

Primary Examiner-Albert J. Makay AttorneyDiller, Brown, Ramik & Holt ABSTRACT: This disclosure has to do with a conveyor system particularly adapted for conveying cans and bottles which is of [52] U.S.Cl 198/130, a construction wherein it may be readily assembled and in- 198/137, 198/190, 104/11 1 stalled in the desired position accurately with a minimum of [51] Int. Cl B6lb 11/00 drilling and fitting.

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CONVEYOR SYSTEMS This invention relates to conveyor systems and in particular to conveyor systems for conveying cans or bottles. Conveyor systems at present in use for conveying cans or bottles are so constructed that they require a considerable amount of workshop fabrication prior to erection or installation and considerable work during their erection or installation. With the known kinds of systems it is necessary to effect a considerable amount of accurate drilling and during erection or installation a considerable number of bolts must necessarily be secured in place in order to secure in position the guide devices for the endless conveyors, whether the conveyors be endless ropes or cables or whether they be endless bands or chains. Further once the guide devices have been secured in position their position can only be altered by further drilling operations at the new positions.

It is a main object of the present invention to provide a conveyor system which reduces to a minimum the preerection work and the work of erection, and which permits repositioning of the guide devices without the necessity of further drilling operations.

According to the invention there is provided a conveyor system comprising rigid structural members disposed in sideby-side relation to determine the general path of endless conveyor means, and guide devices cooperable with the conveyor means to determine the path traversed by the conveyor means and each of which embodies first and second structural member engaging portions so constructed that when disposed one over the other they respectively engage upper and lower portions of the structural members and determine the lateral spacing between said members and register with edge portions of said members, and a retaining element which extends between said first and second portions and is arranged to draw the portions towards each other to secure them to the structural members.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of a part of a conveyor system according to the invention adapted for an endless rope or cable conveyor,

FIG. 2 is a section of a guide device for the upper run of the rope conveyor,

FIG. 3 is a section on line III-III, FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a plan of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a section through a guide device for the lower run of the rope conveyor,

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of FIG. 5,

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic elevation of a part of a conveyor system according to the invention adapted for an endless chain or endless band conveyor,

FIG. 8 is a section through a guide device used in the system in FIG. 7,

FIG. 9 is a section on line IX-IX, FIG. '8,

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating the connection of one pair of structural members to another, and

FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate diagrammatically guide devices connected to pairs to of structural members of T- and anglesection respectively.

In the drawings like or similar parts are indicated by like reference numerals.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, the conveyor system comprises rigid structural members 1, of channel section, disposed in side-by-side relation to determine the general path of endless conveyor means which, in this embodiment of the invention consists of an endless rope or cable 2. The members 1 are supported in any suitable manner, not shown, as is customary for similar members employed in known forms of can or bottle conveyor systems.

Guide devices

3 and 4 cooperate with the rope or cable 2 to determine the path traversed by the rope or cable and each

device

3, 4 embodies a first structural member engaging portion 5 and a second structural member engaging portion 6, which portions are so constructed that when disposed one over the other, FIG. 2, they respectively engage upper and

lower portions

7, 8 of the structural members and determined the lateral spacing between the members I and register with edge portions of the members 1. As shown in FIG. 2, each

portion

5, 6 is provided with a spigot 9 which determines the lateral spacing between the members 1, and grooves 10 effect the register with the edge portions of the members 1. A retaining element, consisting of a bolt 11 and nut 12, extends between the first and

second portions

5, 6 and is arranged to draw the

portions

5, 6 towards each other, FIG. 2, to secure them to the structural members 1.

FIGS. 2 to 4 illustrate the guide devices 3 which guides the upper run of the endless rope or cable 2. The first portion 5 of the guide device 3 includes an arm 13 which carries a freely rotatable roller 14 which, as shown in FIG 2, is peripherally grooved to receive the rope or cable 2. The arm 13 is integral with the first portion 5, extends lengthwise, FIGS. 3 and 4, of the structural members 1, and together with the roller 14 is located between the structural members 1.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the guide device 4 which guides the lower run of the endless rope or cable 2. The second portion 6 of the guide device 4 includes an arm 15 which depends from the portion 6 and carries a freely rotatable roller 16. The roller 16 is aligned with roller 14 and the arm 15 includes a guide portion 17, FIG. 5, which extends laterally therefrom and which is arranged to prevent displacement of the lower run of the rope or cable 2 from the peripheral groove of the roller 16.

The conveyor system embodies a number of

guide devices

3, 4 but generally more guide devices 3, as is illustrated in FIG. 1, will be used than devices 4 because the devices 3 guide the upper run of the conveyor which carries the cans or bottles whereas the devices 4 only guide the return run of the conveyor and it is of no consequence if there should be a slight sagging of the return run. It will be understood that the endless rope or cable 2 may be driven in any desired manner, not shown.

FIGS. 7 to 9 illustrate an embodiment of the invention in which the endless conveyor is a chain, a belt, or a wire mesh conveyor,. In FIG. 8 the conveyor is shown as an endless double chain 18 and in this embodiment of the invention only one set of like guide devices 19 is necessary Each device 19 consists of a first structural member engaging portion 20 and a second structural member engaging portion 21, and the first portion 20 includes a slot 22, FIG. 8 which extends lengthwise of the structural members and the opposite sides of the slot 22 are provided with two

pairs

23, 24, 25, 26 of aligned grooves disposed one pair over the other. Conveyor-supporting

rails

27, 28 are located one in each pair of grooves respectively to support the upper and lower runs 29, 30 of the chain. As can be seen from FIG. 8, the rail 27 is located in the

grooves

23, 24 and the rail 28 is located in the

grooves

25, 26. To save wear of the rails 27, 28 a detachable band or strip 31 is located between each rail and the run of the chain passing over the rail. The bands or strips 30 are made of any suitable material, for example form nylon, and can be easily replaced when they become worn.

The first structural member engaging halves. 19 consists, as shown in FIG. 8, of two halves 19a, 19b which abut each other on the median plane between the structural members 1. In this embodiment the retaining element 11 includes an inverted V- shaped head 32 arranged to cooperate with a complementary abutment 33 formed on the first portion 19. This arrangement is necessary because the portion 19 is made in two halves.

As shown in the drawings, the members I are of channel section and the bases 1a of the sections face each other while the flanges 1b register in the grooves 10.

In each of the embodiments described above the structural

member engaging portions

20, 21 may be made of any suitable material but are preferably moulded from synthetic plastics material for example from acetyl resin.

In each embodiment of the invention the structural memhers I will consist oflengths of about l5 feet and such lengths will be arranged in endwise abutting relation. Connection of the endwise abutting members I is effected by fishplates 3%, FIG. 10, which are located between the flanges lb and which cover the joint 35. The fishplates 34 and the members l are connected by couplings 36 which consists of first and

second portions

36a, 36b so constructed that when they are disposed one over the other, a shown in FIG. 10, they respectively engage upper and lower portions of the members 1 to determine the lateral spacing between the members l and they register with edge portions of the members 1 and of the fishplates 34. Thus it will be understood that the

portions

36a, 36!) are of generally similar construction to that of the guide devices described above and bolts 11 and nuts 12 extend between the

portions

36a, 36b and draw them towards each other to secure them to the members 1. The fishplates may be flat plates but, as show in FIG. 10, are preferably of channel section. The

portions

36a, 36b may be made of any suitable material but preferably are moulded from synthetic plastics material, for example from acetyl resin.

in the preferred embodiments of the invention the members 1 are of channel section as described above but it is to be understood that, if desired, they may be of other section and FIGS. 11 and 12 respectively diagrammatically illustrate members of T-section and angle-section.

The

guide devices

3, 4, and 19 ad the couplings 36 may be mass-produced so that when a conveyor system is to be erected all that is necessary is to draw from store the appropriate number of members i, fishplates 34, guide devices and couplings and then to assemble the parts and tighten them in position by the retaining elements. it will therefore, be understood that workshop fabrication is reduced to a minimum and that the position of the guide devices may, if necessary, be easily altered merely by loosening the retaining elements and sliding the component parts of the guide devices along the members 1, thereafter retightening the retaining elements when the components are located in the new positions thereof.

1 claim:

1. A conveyor system comprising endless conveyor means, rigid structural members disposed in side-by-side relation to determined the general path of the endless conveyor mean, and means, devices cooperable with the conveyor means to determined the path traversed by the conveyor means, each of said guide device including first and second structural member engaging portions so constructed that when disposed one over the other, they respectively engage upper and lower portions of the structural members and determine the lateral spacing between said members and register with edge portions of said members, and a retaining element which extends between said first and second portions and is arranged to draw the portions towards each other to secure them to the structural members.

2. A conveyor system according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor means consists of an endless flexible member, and one portion of a guide device for each run of the flexible member includes an arm carrying a freely rotatable roller peripherally grooved to receive the rope or cable.

3. A conveyor system according to claim 2, wherein the roller engageable with the upper run of the conveyor is located between the structural members and is carried by an arm integral with the first structural member engaging portion and which extends lengthwise of the structural members.

4. A conveyor system according to claim 3, wherein the roller engageable with the lower run of the conveyor is aligned with the roller carried by the arm integral with the first structural member engaging portion and is carried by an arm integral with the second structural member engaging portion and which depends therefrom.

5. A conveyor system according to claim 4, wherein the depending arm includes a guide portion extending laterally therefrom and arranged to prevent displacement of the lower run of the flexible member from the peripheral groove of the roller.

6. A conveyor system according go claim 1, wherein the conveyor means consists of an endless flexible member and the first structural member engaging portion includes a slot which extends lengthwise of the structural members and the opposite sides of which are provided with two paris of aligned grooves disposed one pair over the other, and wherein conveyor-supporting rails are located one in each pair of grooves respectively to support the upper and lower runs of the endless flexible member.

A conveyor system according to claim 6, wherein a detachable strip or band is located between each conveyor-supporting rail and the run of the endless flexible member passing over the rail.

8. A conveyor system according to claim 6, wherein the first structural member engaging portion consists of two halves abutting each other on the median plane between the structural members, and wherein the retaining element includes an inverted V-shaped head arranged to cooperate with a complementary abutment formed on the first structural member engaging portion.

9. A conveyor system according to claim 1, wherein each of said structural members is of channel section, the bases of the channel sections face each other, and the flanges register in grooves formed in said structural member engaging portions.

it). A conveyor system according to claim 9, wherein fishplates are located between the flanges of endwise abutting structural members and cover the joints between said members, and wherein the fishplates and the structural members are connected by a coupling consisting of first and second portions are drawn towards each other by a retaining element which extends between said portions, said first and second portion being so constructed that when disposed one over the other they respectively engage upper and lower portions of the structural members to determine the lateral spacing between said members, and register with edge portions of said members and of said fishplates.

11. A conveyor system according to claim 10, wherein each fishplate is of channel section.

Claims

6. A conveyor system according go claim 1, wherein the conveyor means consists of an endless flexible member and the first structural member engaging portion includes a slot which extends lengthwise of the structural members and the opposite sides of which are provided with two paris of aligned grooves disposed one pair over the other, and wherein conveyor-supporting rails are located one in each pair of grooves respectively to support the upper and lower runs of the endless flexible member. A conveyor system according to claim 6, wherein a detachable strip or band is located between each conveyor-supporting rail and the run of the endless flexible member passing over the rail.

10. A conveyor system according to claim 9, wherein fishplates are located between the flanges of endwise abutting structural members and cover the joints between said members, and wherein the fishplates and the structural members are connected by a coupling consisting of first and second portions are drawn towards each other by a retaining element which extends between said portions, said first and second portion being so constructed that when disposed one over the other they respectively engage upper and lower portions of the structural members to determine the lateral spacing between said members, and register with edge portions of said members and of said fishplates.