US3888342A - Diverting arrangements for example in conveying devices - Google Patents

Diverting arrangements for example in conveying devices Download PDF

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Publication number
US3888342A
US3888342A US363779A US36377973A US3888342A US 3888342 A US3888342 A US 3888342A US 363779 A US363779 A US 363779A US 36377973 A US36377973 A US 36377973A US 3888342 A US3888342 A US 3888342A
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US
United States
Prior art keywords
spherical member
rollers
rotation
horizontal axis
article
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US363779A
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English (en)
Inventor
Stephen Geller
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Sovex Ltd
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Sovex Ltd
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Publication date
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Publication of US3888342A publication Critical patent/US3888342A/en
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G13/00—Roller-ways
    • B65G13/08—Roller-ways of curved form; with branch-offs
    • B65G13/10—Switching arrangements
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G39/00—Rollers, e.g. drive rollers, or arrangements thereof incorporated in roller-ways or other types of mechanical conveyors 
    • B65G39/02—Adaptations of individual rollers and supports therefor
    • B65G39/025—Adaptations of individual rollers and supports therefor having spherical roller elements

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT An article diverting arrangement in conveying devices by means of which an article can be delivered from the arrangement in a chosen direction.
  • the arrangement basically comprises a large-diameter spherical member projecting above the conveyor surface and being rotatable about a horizontal axis by means of drive members which are selectively operable to cause the spherical member to revolve about its horizontal axis.
  • the drive members can be selectively operated whereby the horizontal axis of the spherical member can be rotated by a predetermined amount around the vertical axis of the spherical member in order to determine the direction of delivery.
  • This invention relates to diverting arrangements in, for example, conveying devices, and is particularly concerned with an arrangement for enabling a load supplied to the arrangement from one direction, for example by a conveyor, to be delivered from the diverter in another direction, for example to another conveyor extending at an angle to the first conveyor without any change in orientation.
  • Such arrangements are known and one such arrangement consists of a flat surface above which project a number of load bearing wheels or rollers which receive a load arriving from one direction. To discharge the load the wheels or rollers are driven by suitable means and the direction of discharge is determined by rotating the wheels or rollers about vertical axes. Such rotation may have a tendency to damage or disturb the undersurface of the load or article being conveyed which is particularly undesirable for example when handling bundles of newspapers or the like.
  • the present invention is concerned with overcoming this difficulty and with a way of enabling a greater choice of discharge direction.
  • an article diverting arrangement comprising a spherical member projecting partially above the surface of a horizontal plane, the spherical member being supported freely for rotation about a horizontal axis and being driven for rotation by at least one rotatable member which is operable to cause the spherical member to rotate about said horizontal axis.
  • the spherical member is provided with two sets of said rotatable members which consist of rollers which are selectively pressed against the spherical member and the drive means causes at least one roller of each set to rotate and drive the spherical roller about a horizontal axis, the axes of the rollers of each set also being horizontal and arranged on opposite sides of the spherical member at right angles to the other set.
  • rotatable members are provided on horizontal axes at right angles to each other, all in contact with the spherical member and being selectively driven or idle to cause the spherical member to rotate in the desired sense.
  • rollers may be continuously driven and are selectively pressed against the spherical member to generate the desired rotation.
  • the spherical member is supported on a mounting which allows it to revolve in any sense and is for example another sphere, such as the ball of a ball-caster assembly.
  • the spherical member may be supported in a recirculating ball system and in one embodiment of the invention rotation of the spherical member may be produced by driving the recirculating balls in the appropriate direction.
  • the diverter arrangement forms part of a distributing system fed for example by a conveyor.
  • FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the arrangement
  • FIG. 2 is a side elevation on the line AA of FIG. 1.
  • FIG. 3 is a side elevation on the line 3-8 of FIG. 2.
  • the article diverter arrangement comprises of a spherical member 1 which rests on a spherical bearing member 2 disposed immediately below the member 1 and the spherical member 1 projects above the top face of a horizontal plate 3 through an aperture 4 which as shown has a partspherical profile in close proximity to the surface of the spherical member 1.
  • the aperture 4 may have an anti-friction coating or lining for example of polytetrafluoroethylene.
  • the spherical member 1 is freely supported on the bearing 2 and is guided laterally by four horizontal rollers which bear against it just above the equator of the member 1.
  • the four rollers are arranged angularly around the spherical member 1 at to each other and the rollers 5 and 6 form one set of rollers diametrically opposite each other while rollers 7 and 8 form a second set at 90 to rollers 5 and 6.
  • Each roller is mounted on a shaft 9, 10 11 and 12 respectively and the shafts 9 and 11 each have a sprocket or pulley 13 fast therewith.
  • the rollers 6 and 8 are carried loosely on their shafts l0 and I2 and each shaft is carried in a bracket 14 pivoted about a lower horizontal shaft 15 below the re spective shaft.
  • the shafts 15 associated with the brackets carrying the rollers 5 and 7 are provided with freerunning double sprockets or pulleys 16, such sprockets or pulleys being fitted to each shaft as can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 3.
  • the double sprocket or pulley 16 on each shaft 15 is connected to the sprocket or pulley 13 above it by a chain or belt 17 and is also coupled by a chain or belt 18 to a drive means (not shown) by which the rollers 5 and 7 are caused to rotate about their horizontal axes 9 and 11.
  • the rollers 6 and 8 are not provided with any driving connections in this embodiment and the opposing pairs of rollers 5 and 6 and 7 and 8 are drawn towards each other by tensioning means 19 and 20 respectively so that all four rollers are in positive contact with the surface of the spherical member 1.
  • the tensioning means 19 and 20 may be tension spring units applying a constant force or they may be electro-mechanical or fluid-operated units which can be selectively operated to control the pressure of each roller against the spherical member 1.
  • Rollers 6 and 8 are always idle and serve as guide rollers counteracting the side loads imposed by their opposite rollers 5 and 7 when they are driving. If only one such roller is causing sphere 1 to rotate, all the other rollers will rotate idly.
  • the effect of this method of driving the spherical member 1 is that it rotates about an imaginary horizontal axis and this axis may be rotated about an 3 imaginary vertical centre line passing vertically through spherical member 1 and bearing 2.
  • both of the rollers 5 and 7 are driven at the same speed and in the same direction as indicated by arrows 22 with the result that spherical member 1 revolves in the direction of the arrow 21 about its horizontal axis which is perpendicular to the arrow 21.
  • rollers 5 and 7 are driven at differing speeds.
  • the direction of the arrow 21 will alter and in this way an article may be diverted in any chosen direction.
  • Each bracket I4 on its shaft is connected to the tensioning means 19 or 20 by means of an arm 23 one end of which is fixed to the shaft and the other end of which is coupled by a link to the tensioning means, the length of the link being adjustable by means of threaded portions and lock nuts as shown in the drawings.
  • each of the rollers may be driven by separate motors through the chains or belts. It is also possible to provide a single driving motor connected to the driven rollers for example by gears, the drive to each roller being controlled by selectively operable clutches or like devices.
  • the side rollers may preferably be driven continuously and the opposing rollers in each pair are pulled together by for example solenoids which are energised or released as necessary for the required direction of travel, drive being imparted to the spherical member 1 by the roller controlled by a particular solenoid.
  • solenoids which are energised or released as necessary for the required direction of travel
  • Energising a single solenoid will produce movement towards or away from the associated driven roller while release of this solenoid will allow the roller run without imparting any rotary movement to the spherical member 1.
  • energising a solenoid for each driving roller will produce movement in an intermediate direction as has been described. Where the tensioning means include springs, the rollers will be driven or not by the drive means as required.
  • the lateral rollers could be employed purely for location of the spherical member 1, the rotation of this body being obtained through its lower bearing arrangement.
  • a rotary body may be arranged below the spherical member 1 and operated to rotate in one direction and be rotated bodily about a vertical axis to determine the direction in which the spherical member I will rotate.
  • the spherical member 1 is for example between 9 and 12 inches in diameter. This ensures a relatively large contact area which will be effective to engage the load L and slide it on to and off the top surface of the plate 3 while minimising the risk of damage and abrasion to the load which may for example be a bundle of newspapers,
  • the driving rollers 5 and 7 may be between 1 inch and 2 inches in diameter and may be driven by any convenient method. The pressure may be applied to one pair of rollers only at any one time.
  • roller axes should be disposed above the equator of the spherical member 1 as shown to counteract any upward thrust component which would press the spherical member 1 against the aperture 4 in the surface plate 3 the vertical distance being adapted to particular requirements.
  • the spherical member 1 may be made of a synthetic plastics material or of a hard resilient material. It may also be of metal if desired and the material for the driv ing rollers is selected to ensure adequate driving friction with the sphere.
  • the sphere 1 may be supported on a ball race or a recirculating ball system.
  • the lower bearing arrangement may alternatively consist of a plurality of castor-like wheels or spheres which enable the spherical member to be supported for free rotation in any direction.
  • the spherical member may be supported on a fluidised bearing or cushion of air although in such an embodiment it may be necessary to dispose the lateral rollers sufficiently above the equator of the spherical member to counteract any upward thrust causing the spherical member to press against the surface plate.
  • each driven roller By providing independently controllable drives to each driven roller, it is possible to cause the horizontal axis about which the spherical member revolves, to ro tate about a vertical axis so that the direction in which the spherical member will revolve can be oriented in any chosen direction to divert an article passing over it.
  • This movement is achieved by driving the two adjacent rollers 5 and 7 in appropriate directions of rotation and by appropriate variation of their relative speeds.
  • the free mounting of the spherical member I requires the contact paths of the rollers 5 to 8 to be arranged to keep the spherical member 1 centrally located between the driving rollers and with respect to the aperture in the top plate 3. Such an arrangement will enable selective distribution of articles to chosen areas or points such as other conveyors, quarter-conical chutes or the like depending on particular needs.
  • rollers drive be driven by individual motors or by a common dirve system which is applied to or disengaged from the appropriate rollers depending on the selected direction of diversion as already stated.
  • Other driving arrangements may alternatively be employed such as additional driving members which can be engaged or disengaged by suitable linkages or actuators.
  • a particular advantage of this invention is that the roller mounting need not be arranged to rotate towards the direction of diversion, thus simplifying the construction of the installation.
  • either one spherical member may be provided, or a greater number may be employed depending on the nature of the articles being handled by the installation, and in certain instances the horizontal plate may be unnecessary.
  • Conveyor apparatus for selectively diverting articles along a selected one of a plurality of available paths comprising,
  • conveyor means having a first surface along which the articles are transported and also a second opposite surface
  • a spherical member disposed in major part opposite said first surface but having a minor portion thereof which protrudes through an aperture defined in said conveyor means so as to frictionally contact the articles propelled along said conveyor means
  • said spherical member selectively diverts the articles along respectively different paths as said articles come into frictional contact with said spherical member dependent upon the axis of rotation of said spherical member as selected by said drive means.
  • said drive means comprises at least two pairs of rollers disposed on opposite sides of said spherical member and further includes means for rotating at least one of said oppositely disposed rollers in either pair of rollers.
  • the conveyor apparatus of claim 3 which includes means for spring biasing at least one of said oppositely disposed rollers against said spherical member.
  • An article diverting arrangement comprising, a horizontal article-supporting member, a spherical member projecting partially above said articlesupporting member, means for supporting said spherical member for rotation about a selected horizontal axis, rotation means for rotating said spherical member about said selected horizontal axis, said rotation means comprising a first roller having a horizontal axis of rotation and means for urging said roller against said spherical member, and a second roller having a horizontal axis of rotation and being provided at right angles to said first roller, and drive means being selectively applicable to at least one of said first and second rollers, said spherical member being supported by a mounting means which enables said spherical member to rotate about its said selected horizontal axis and also about a vertical axis, the axis of rotation of each roller being vertically higher than the horizontal axis of rotation of said spherical member, whereby said spherical member selectively diverts the articles along respectively different paths as said articles come into frictional
  • An article diverting arrangement comprising, a horizontal article-supporting surface, a spherical member projecting partially above said article-supporting member, means for supporting said spherical member for rotation about a predetermined horizontal axis, two sets of opposed rotatable members each comprising a roller having a horizontal axis of rotation and means for pressing said rollers in frictional engagement with said spherical member, drive means for rotating a roller of at least one of said sets of opposed rollers to drive said spherical member for rotation about said selected horizontal axis, the axes of the rollers of each set being arranged on diametrically opposite sides of said spherical member and at right angles to the axis of the rollers in the other set, the spherical member being supported in a mounting means which enables said spherical member to rotate about said horizontal axis and about a vertical axis and with the axis of rotation of the rollers being vertically higher than the horizontal axis about which said sp

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Rollers For Roller Conveyors For Transfer (AREA)
  • Attitude Control For Articles On Conveyors (AREA)
US363779A 1972-07-07 1973-05-24 Diverting arrangements for example in conveying devices Expired - Lifetime US3888342A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB3197772A GB1366206A (en) 1972-07-07 1972-07-07 Diverting arrangements for example in conveying devices

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US3888342A true US3888342A (en) 1975-06-10

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US (1) US3888342A (ja)
CH (1) CH565694A5 (ja)
DE (1) DE2332549A1 (ja)
FR (1) FR2192050A1 (ja)
GB (1) GB1366206A (ja)

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3978975A (en) * 1975-06-30 1976-09-07 The Boeing Company Cargo power drive unit
US5147032A (en) * 1987-01-16 1992-09-15 Fmc Corporation Conveyor system with driven balls, protectable against overloading
AU629813B2 (en) * 1988-01-28 1992-10-15 Fmc Corporation Rolling ball assembly and deck
US5222585A (en) * 1989-12-14 1993-06-29 Hadewe B.V. Conveyor table
US5238099A (en) * 1992-08-04 1993-08-24 Premark Feg Corporation Conveying system
US5261526A (en) * 1987-01-16 1993-11-16 Fmc Corporation Conveyor system with driven balls, protectable against overloading
US20160340125A1 (en) * 2014-01-17 2016-11-24 Flexagile Systems Aps A modular transport system and a method for moving goods around in a modular transport system
CN110077780A (zh) * 2019-04-27 2019-08-02 钱永福 一种两轮驱动的万向滚动机构
US11008175B1 (en) * 2019-03-09 2021-05-18 Titus Gadwin Watts Multi-directional ball rotation apparatus for maneuvering an item

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3439966C2 (de) * 1984-11-02 1986-09-18 Dipl.-Ing. A. Lödige GmbH, 4790 Paderborn Transportvorrichtung für Stückgüter oder dergleichen
GB2172558B (en) * 1985-03-20 1989-05-04 Bill Thomas Edwin Warne Co-ordinative rotatable supports.
FR2616498B1 (fr) * 1987-06-12 1991-01-18 Leclere Philippe Procede de calage, de freinage ou de transmission et dispositifs utilisant ce procede
DE3908856C1 (ja) * 1989-03-17 1990-05-23 S.A.E.A. Innovationsprodukte Gmbh, 8390 Passau, De

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2628462A (en) * 1952-01-07 1953-02-17 Babcock Alexander Ball turning machine
US2831205A (en) * 1956-04-26 1958-04-22 American Mach & Foundry Bowling ball cleaner and polisher
US3249957A (en) * 1963-01-09 1966-05-10 American Mach & Foundry Apparatus for cleaning and/or polishing a bowling ball or the like
US3289354A (en) * 1964-03-11 1966-12-06 Brunswick Corp Ball reconditioner
US3740784A (en) * 1971-10-26 1973-06-26 W Morrissey Cleaner device for balls

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2628462A (en) * 1952-01-07 1953-02-17 Babcock Alexander Ball turning machine
US2831205A (en) * 1956-04-26 1958-04-22 American Mach & Foundry Bowling ball cleaner and polisher
US3249957A (en) * 1963-01-09 1966-05-10 American Mach & Foundry Apparatus for cleaning and/or polishing a bowling ball or the like
US3289354A (en) * 1964-03-11 1966-12-06 Brunswick Corp Ball reconditioner
US3740784A (en) * 1971-10-26 1973-06-26 W Morrissey Cleaner device for balls

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3978975A (en) * 1975-06-30 1976-09-07 The Boeing Company Cargo power drive unit
US5147032A (en) * 1987-01-16 1992-09-15 Fmc Corporation Conveyor system with driven balls, protectable against overloading
US5261526A (en) * 1987-01-16 1993-11-16 Fmc Corporation Conveyor system with driven balls, protectable against overloading
AU629813B2 (en) * 1988-01-28 1992-10-15 Fmc Corporation Rolling ball assembly and deck
US5222585A (en) * 1989-12-14 1993-06-29 Hadewe B.V. Conveyor table
US5238099A (en) * 1992-08-04 1993-08-24 Premark Feg Corporation Conveying system
US20160340125A1 (en) * 2014-01-17 2016-11-24 Flexagile Systems Aps A modular transport system and a method for moving goods around in a modular transport system
US10081495B2 (en) * 2014-01-17 2018-09-25 Robot Logistics Aps Modular transport system and a method for moving goods around in a modular transport system
US11008175B1 (en) * 2019-03-09 2021-05-18 Titus Gadwin Watts Multi-directional ball rotation apparatus for maneuvering an item
CN110077780A (zh) * 2019-04-27 2019-08-02 钱永福 一种两轮驱动的万向滚动机构

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB1366206A (en) 1974-09-11
CH565694A5 (ja) 1975-08-29
FR2192050A1 (ja) 1974-02-08
DE2332549A1 (de) 1974-01-24

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