US3844465A

US3844465A - Material handling apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3844465A
Application number: US00376191A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Hill; K Klusmier
Original assignee: Morgan Construction Co
Current assignee: Siemens Industry Inc
Priority date: 1972-05-01
Filing date: 1973-07-03
Publication date: 1974-10-29
Anticipated expiration: 1991-10-29
Also published as: GB1387764A; SE7605541L; FR2183107B1; CA983539A; GB1387765A; SE399045B; FR2183107A1; DE2320760A1; US3750799A

Abstract

A material handling apparatus which includes a pusher mechanism operating in conjunction with fixed and movable stops to individually separate elongated elements from a batch and to laterally feed each separated element into a given path.

Description

United States Patent [191 Hill et al. Oct. 29, 1974 MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS [56] References Cited 75 inventors: William J. Hill, Holden; Kenneth L. UNITED STATES PATENTS Klusmier, Worcester, both of Mass. 3,147,653 9/1964 Jones, Jr 214/ 1.4 X [7 Assigneez Mo ga Construction p y 3,371,770 3/1968 Graham et a1. 226/180 X Worcester, Mass. FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS Filed y 3 1973 851,666 10/1960 Great Britain 214/].4

[21] Appl. No.1 376,191 Primary Examiner-Frank E. Werner Related U S A cation Data Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Thompson, Birch, Gauthier pp & Samuels [62] Division of Ser. No. 249,691, May 1, 1972, Pat. No.

3,750,799 57 ABSTRACT [52] U S Cl 226/181 A material handling apparatus which includes a [51] In} .Cl 39/00 pusher mechanism operating in conjunction with find [58] Fie'ld 32 34 and movable stops to individually separate elongated 214/1 P, 1 PB; 226/181, 180, 174, 189, 188, 184

elements from a batch and to laterally feed each separated element into a given path.

2 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures 1 MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS This is a division of application Ser. No. 249,69l filed May 1, 1972 now US. Pat. No. 3,750,799.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to the art of material handling, and is particularly concerned with an improved apparatus for selecting individual elongated elements from a batch and for laterally feeding each element thus selected into a given .path. The invention overcomes the problem of selecting one elongated element from a batch of elements arranged in a generally parallel side by side formation. To this end, the elements are placed on a roller table, which is the preferred embodiment to be hereinafter described in greater detail, includes skewed driven rollers arranged to impart both axial and transverse motion to the elements. The axial motion is eventually limited by a first stop having a flat surface against which the front ends of the elements are aligned. Thereafter, the elements continue to move laterally across the first stop until the front end of the leading element moves past the end of the first stop. The' leading element then continues axially past the first stop into engagement with a third stop. At this point, continued lateral movement of the leading element is arrested by a second disappearing stop which in its raised operative position is located between the first stop and the path into which each element is to be individually fed. The first stop is laterally adjustable with reference to the second stop so as to provide a gap therebetween which is wide enough for one element. Thus, when the leading element is in the ready" position between the first and second stops and against the third stop, its further movement in both the axial and lateral directions is arrested, and it holds back all other elements in the batch.

At the appropriate time, the second stop is retracted and a pusher contacts the end of the leading element and pushes it laterally into the path. The pusher is then retracted and the second stop returned to its raised position as the next succeeding element advances to the ready position.

The invention is particularly useful in the handling of product lengths produced by a rolling mill, although it will be appreciated from the following description that other uses are also contemplated.

A more detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention now follows with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a plan view of an apparatus embodying the concepts of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 33 of FIG. 2; and,

FIGS. 4-6a are schematic plan and sectional views depicting the apparatus in various stages of its operation.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-3, the apparatus is shown located adjacent to a path P into which individual elongated elements are to be fed laterally. The apparatus includes delivery means in the form of conveyor chains 12, conical rollers 14 and cylindrical skewed rollers 16. The conveyor chains are supported by sprockets (not shown) and are driven continuously in a conventional manner in the direction indicated schematically by the arrow 18. The conical rollers 14 are disposed at an angle with respect to the feed direction 18 of the conveyor chains 112. The rollers 14 are driven by means (not shown) acting through suitable pinion gears contained in housings 20, the latter being interconnected by shafts 22 and couplings 24. The cylindrical skewed rollers 16 are likewise disposed at an angle relative to the feed direction 18 of the conveyor chains 12. The rollers 16 are driven by means (not shown) through gears contained in housings 26, the latter being interconnected by shafts 28 and couplings 30.

As viewed in FIG. 1, a table apron 32 is located to the right of the above-described delivery means. A first stop member 34 is supported on the table apron 32. Stop member 34 is provided with a flat face 36 which is disposed at an acute angle in relation to the path P."

A second stop member 38 is located between the path P" and the end of the first stop member 34. The second stop member is movable by means (not shown) through aslot40 in the table apron 32 between a raised operative position as shown in FIGS. 4a, 4b and 6a, and a lowered inoperative position as shown in FIG. 5a. A third stop member 42 is fixed at a position downstream from the first stop member 34.

The apparatus further includes a pusher means 44 which is movable laterally relative to the path P between an inoperative retracted position shown by the solid lines in FIG. I and an advanced operative position indicated by the dot-dash lines at 44a. The pusher means is operated by a drive (not shown) contained within housing 46.

The apparatus may also include a drive means generally indicated at 48 for propelling elongated elements along the path P." With further reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the drive means 48 includes a lower bed 50 having short pads 52 which slidably engage rails 54 on an underlying stationary base 56. The bed 50 is movable laterally relative to the path P by means of a screw drive 58. The bed 50 further includes a pedestal 60 on which is mounted an upper support stand 62 for pivotal movement about a transverse shaft 64. A cylinder 66 is pivotally attached to the bed 50 as at 68 and has its extensible piston rod 70 connected to the upper support stand 62 as at 72. The upper support stand 62 carried a horizontally extending roll shaft 74a which is driven through a coupling 75 by a motor 76. A second roll shaft 74b is carried on one end of an adjustable arm 78, the other end of which is keyed to a third shaft which is in turn journalled for rotation at the upper end of a support 82. A crank 84 is also attached to shaft 80. The lower end of crank 84 is connected as at 85 to the extensible piston rod 85 of a second cylinder 88 pivotally mounted on the upper support stand 62 asat 90. The

roll shafts

74a and 74b each have

pinch rolls

92a and 92b mounted thereon. The pinch rolls are shown in the closed drive" position in FIG. 2.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described with additional reference to FIGS. 4 and 6A. At the stage shown in FIGS. 4 and 4a, the delivery means (conveyor chains 12, conical rollers 14 and cylindrical rollers 16) have delivered several elongated elements A. and A to positions abutting the angularly disposed face 36 of the first stop member 34. Another element A, has passed between the first and

second stop members

34 and 38 and is at rest against the third stop memher 42. A fourth element A, is being driven along the path P by the cooperative action of the

pinch rolls

92a and 92b. A fifth element A is being carried by the delivery means towards the first stop member 34. As is best shown in FIG. 4a, when the pinch rolls 92a and 92b are operatively positioned, a product length gripped therebetween is lifted slightly above the level of table apron 32. It will also be observed that the second stop member 38 is at its raised operative position, thus preventing any lateralmovement of subsequent product lengths into the path P."

Although not shown, it will be assumed for purposes of discussion that additional propelling rolls, for example those included as part of a straightening device, are located downstream from the apparatus along path P. After the product length A., has been fed into these additional rolls, the pinch rolls 92a and 92b are adjusted to their inoperative positions as shown in FIG. 4b. This is accomplished by retracting the piston rod 86 of cylinder 88 to pivotally raised the roll shaft 74b while simultaneously retracting the piston rod 70 of cylinder 66 to pivotally lower the upper support stand 62.

After the tail end of element A. has cleared the apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, the path P is clear and ready to accept the nest product length. At this point, the second stop member 38 is lowered as indicated in FIG. 5a. The next subsequent product length A; is then pushed into the path P by the pusher 44. Once this has been accomplished, the pinch rolls 92a and 92b are again closed by reverse operation of

cylinders

88 and 60, thereby exerting a propelling force on the product length A The pusher 44 is immediately withdrawn, and the second stop member 38 is again elevated. While the product length A is being drive along path P," the next subsequent product length A will move along the first stop member 34 under the influence of the delivery means and will eventually pass between the first and second stop members to come to rest against the third stop member 42. This condition is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 6a.

The above-described sequence of operation will be repeated each time a new product length is fed into the path P."

Having thus described the apparatus and its operation, the advantages to be derived therefrom will now be more readily appreciated by those skilled in the art. Of particular importance is the ability to select or separate individual elements from a batch and to control the lateral feeding of each element into a given path.

The arrangement of the fixed stops 34, 42, the movable stop 38 and the pusher 44 is such that each element can be rapidly fed into the path P as soon as the tail end of the preceeding element has cleared the apparatus. This insures minimum spacing between elements being processed further down the line. The distance between the first and

second stops

34 and 38 can be adjusted to accommodate elements of varying width, and the pinch rolls 92a and 92b can be quickly changed to accommodate different cross sections. Thus the apparatus can be rapidly converted to handle other types of products such as for example flats or rounds.

It is our intention to cover all changes and modifications of the embodiments herein chosen for purposes of disclosure which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

We claim:

I. Apparatus for axially propelling an elongated element along a given path, comprising: lower support means positioned to one side of and at a level beneath that of the path, a platform mounted on said lower support means for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the path, a first rotatable roll shaft carried on said platform, means on said platform for driving said first roll shaft, linkage means on said platform, a second rotatable roll shaft parallel to said first roll shaft, second roll shaft being adjustably carried by said linkage means for movement towards and away from said first roll shaft, first and second pinch rolls mounted respectively on said first and second roll shafts for rotation therewith, a first operating means for pivotally adjusting said platform relative to said lower support means between an operative position at which said first pinch roll contacts an elongated element at said path and an inoperative position spaced below said path, and a second operating means connected to said linkage means for adjusting the position of said second roll shaft and the second pinch roll mounted thereon between an operative position contacting an elongated element at said path and an inoperative position spaced above said path, whereupon when said pinch rolls are operatively positioned, an elongated element contacted therebetween will be propelled axially along said path.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further characterized by means for laterally adjusting the position of said lower support means relative to the said path. l I=

Claims

1. Apparatus for axially propelling an elongated element along a given path, comprising: lower support means positioned to one side of and at a level beneath that of the path, a platform mounted on said lower support means for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the path, a first rotatable roll shaft carried on said platform, means on said platform for driving said first roll shaft, linkage means on said platform, a second rotatable roll shaft parallel to said first roll shaft, second roll shaft being adjustably carried by said linkage means for movement Towards and away from said first roll shaft, first and second pinch rolls mounted respectively on said first and second roll shafts for rotation therewith, a first operating means for pivotally adjusting said platform relative to said lower support means between an operative position at which said first pinch roll contacts an elongated element at said path and an inoperative position spaced below said path, and a second operating means connected to said linkage means for adjusting the position of said second roll shaft and the second pinch roll mounted thereon between an operative position contacting an elongated element at said path and an inoperative position spaced above said path, whereupon when said pinch rolls are operatively positioned, an elongated element contacted therebetween will be propelled axially along said path.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further characterized by means for laterally adjusting the position of said lower support means relative to the said path.