WO2000029318A1

WO2000029318A1 - Person conveying device

Info

Publication number: WO2000029318A1
Application number: PCT/GB1999/003772
Authority: WO
Inventors: Elizabeth Mcfarlane
Original assignee: Campbell, Iain, Cameron
Priority date: 1998-11-12
Filing date: 1999-11-12
Publication date: 2000-05-25
Also published as: AU1064600A; GB9824873D0

Abstract

A person conveying device (10) comprises an endless web (11) having regularly spaced seats (21-25) on its outside surface for conveying people from the front to the rear of a queue. A moving floor device (60, fig. 2) may be provided adjacent to the device (10). The devices are driven intermittently as the queue advances. A warming signal is given before each movement of the devices. Movement of the device may be prevented if a weighing sensor detects that a seat is occupied by a child. The device is particularly suitable for people with loads, e.g. in a supermarket check-out queue or an airport check-in queue. The moving floor device may incoporate parallel grooves (61, 62, fig.3 not shown) with recesses (64) for receiving and holding the wheels (68) of a luggage or shopping trolley. The grooves may also house elongate magnets (63).

Description

PERSON CONVEYING DEVICE

The present invention relates to a queue conveying or advancing device and in particular to a device incorporating moving seats for people queuing e.g. in a supermarket checkout or an airport check-in queue. It also relates to a method employing such a device .

There are many queues in which people with loads to carry or push are required to make a succession of relatively small advances as people at the head of the queue receive attention in turn. This is inconvenient especially for those with heavy- loads and/or with children to look after and/or those who are elderly or infirm.

Japanese Patent Application 8268675 (NKK Corp) discloses a conveying device comprising a transportation belt, a handrail belt and between them a belt forming a continuous seat. However, this device is for transportation, not for queuing.

The present invention seeks to provide a queue advancing device and a method with which, once a person has joined a queue, no further movement or lifting is required until the person reaches the front of the queue .

According to the present invention there is provided a conveying device comprising an endless web member passing around at least two end members, the web member having a top run arranged to extend horizontally and a return run, the outside of the web member being provided with a plurality of seats spaced therealong at regular intervals.

In a preferred arrangement, the web member is arranged to be driven intermittently, each time through a distance corresponding to the spacing between the seats. This ensures the maintenance of an orderly queue of people . A moving floor device is preferably provided adjacent to and generally parallel with the conveying device.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a conveying device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of a conveying device in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 shows a schematic view of a modification of part of the second embodiment ; and

Fig. 4 shows a trolley suitable for use with the conveying device of Figs . 2 and 3.

Referring now to Fig. 1, a conveying device 10 comprises an endless web or belt 11 comprising a plurality of mutually hinged elements 12. The belt 11 passes around two end pulleys or rollers 14, 15, to define a top run 16 and a bottom run 18. One or both of the rollers is/are driven intermittently by a motor (not shown) actuated by a control apparatus (not shown) . The intermittent drive arrangement will be described subsequently.

Located on the upper surface of top run 16 are five seats 21 to 25 each comprising a substantially circular and flexible cushion, e.g. a disc of soft plastics material.

In use, a person joining the queue sits on the lowest- numbered vacant seat . For example , in a supermarket queue people may sit on the seats with a basket on their laps. People joining the queue later, will occupy successively higher numbered seats. As the supermarket cashier indicates the end of a transaction automatically e.g. by electronic completion of payment, or manually by pressing a button (not shown) , the belt 11 is advanced by a distance "S" corresponding to the distance between adjacent seats. The speed of advance is preferably 1 metre per minute so that there are no undue jolts.

One or more safety measures are incorporated in the device to prevent accidents or injuries. In particular:

(i) Prior to commencement of motion the device 10, and in particular the seats, are vibrated slightly to warn of the imminent movement. This vibration may be accompanied (or replaced) by an audible and/or visual warning signal.

(ii) The device 10 incorporates a fixed detector beneath the position of the second seat (22 in Fig. 1) which prevents motion unless the occupant of that seat weighs at least 15 kg. This avoids the possibility of injury to a small child sitting there.

(iii) An optical or infra-red beam device 30 forms a barrier at the end of the device to stop motion before the end seat starts to turn round the end if it is still occupied.

(iv) Emergency stop buttons (not shown) are provided within the reach of the cashier and within the reach of at least the person occupying the end seat .

(v) Various guard rails and covers are provided so that there is no possibility of people riding on the device 10 becoming entangled in the mechanism. Thus, of the moving elements, only the seats 21-25, and possibly the adjacent parts of the belt are visible and accessible. The guard rails and covers are not shown in the Figure for reasons of clarity.

The advance movement stops automatically when the next seat reaches the end position.

An advantage of the above-described embodiment is that the people in the queue do not have to stand for a long time while they are waiting. Moreover, they do not need to stand up, or indeed take any action, in order to move to the head of the queue. This is of particular advantage to the elderly or infirm.

Various modifications may be made to the above-described device. In particular the top run 16 may incorporate any convenient number of seats, preferably up to a maximum of ten. One or more of the safety features may be omitted and others may be provided.

With reference to the detector of the occupants' weight, a similar device may be provided adjacent one or more of the other seats. In an alternative arrangement, the detector (s) may be incorporated in the seats themselves, rather than being fixed. The or each detector may also incorporate a lower threshold element so that motion is permitted if the seat is actually unoccupied.

The seats may incorporate back rests. These are arranged to fold flat against the seats when not in the top run 16 and folding and unfolding mechanisms (not shown) are provided at the head and tail of the queue. Alternatively, the unfolding mechanism at the tail of the queue may be omitted, in which case the users raise the back rests.

The device 10 may be used in a wide range of applications - in supermarket check-out queues, airport check-in queues, hospital queues and ticket queues.

In Fig. 2 there is shown a device 50 in accordance with a second embodiment in which a moving floor device 60 is provided alongside a conveyor device 10. The top run 66 of the belt or web member of device 60 is shown in Fig. 2; it also has a bottom return not shown. The belt moves in synchronism with the belt 11 of device 10. The device 60 is preferably directly adjacent to,^' but separate from, device 10. With such an arrangement a person sitting on one of the seats 21 to 25 can place a load on the belt 11 and it will move with them. This load could be a basket or a trolley loading shopping in a supermarket queue, or it could be the person's luggage, whether or not on a trolley, in an airport queue. For both applications, the arrangement has the advantage that the load automatically moves together with the respective person, who does not need to repeatedly move the load over short distances.

In a modification, the devices 10 and 60 may be directly connected, e.g. by sharing a common drive mechanism and being driven by different gear trains. Alternatively, they may have separate electric motors, being arranged to operate synchronously. In another modification the devices 10 and 60 are spaced apart with a fixed floor region therebetween. The belts of devices extend generally parallel to each other, but may terminate at different locations. For example in a supermarket, device 10 may terminate at the cash till, whereas device 60 leads to a position where a check-out employee can remove articles from the basket or trolley to be read by a barcode reader. In an airport, device 10 may lead to the check-in desk while device 60 leads to the weighing device for items of luggage .

In the modification of Fig. 3, the outer surface of the belt of device 60 is provided with two parallel grooves 61, 62. The grooves contain elongate magnets 63 separated by relatively short recesses or gaps 64. The ends of the gaps are defined by stop bars 67. The spacing 'w' between the grooves 61 and 62 corresponds to the width of a luggage or shopping trolley and the distance '1' along the belt between adjacent gaps 64 corresponds to the length of such a trolley, such that its four wheels 68 can enter four gaps and be held there by the stop bars 67. Even if only one or two wheels 68 properly enter a' respective gap 64, 'the magnets 63 can ^'exert a sufficient attractive force on suitable metallic parts of the trolley wheels to prevent unwanted movement relative to the belt. If desired the gaps 64 may be omitted so that the trolley wheels 68 or other loads are held solely by magnetic forces. Alternatively, the magnets 63 may be omitted, in which case only the gaps hold the trolley wheels 68. If desired, other magnets (not shown) may be located at the bases of the recesses forming the gaps 64.

Other load-restraining means may be provided, e.g. projections from the surface of the belt.

The act of sitting and/or placing a load on the devices 10 and/or 60 may activate energy storage means, e.g. a coiled spring, which may be used to drive the system wholly or in part .

Instead of run 18 being underneath run 16, it can be to one side so that the entire device is of a generally elliptical configuration operating on a roundabout principle.

The conveying device can be used with conventional trolleys. Alternatively, it may be used with trolleys having a liftable base, such as that shown in Fig. 4. Here, a shopping trolley 70 has a base 71 which can be lifted by a mechanism 72. The mechanism 72 controls the height of the base within the trolley in accordance with the number of articles in the trolley; when the trolley is full, base 71 is in its bottom position as shown, and as the trolley is emptied the base is raised relative to the rest of the trolley 70. Such a trolley may constitute an independent invention. Access to the last articles in the trolley is thus facilitated.

The lifting mechanism may be of any convenient type and may operate electronically, mechanically, hydraulically or pneumatically. The trolley may incorporate weighing or other load-sensing means which automatically raise the base as the load decreases. Alternatively, the mechanism 72 may be controlled by a check-out operator or by a user of the trolley on the basis of a visual inspection.

The base 71 may constitute an inner member of the trolley (as shown) or it may constitute the only base member of the trolley.

In a modification, the lifting mechanism 72 is provided as part of the check-out installation at the head of the queue; in this case suitable projecting arms (not shown) engage the base 71 to lift it in use. The arms have suitable lifting devices at their free ends.

In preferred arrangements, means (not shown) are provided for sensing that a trolley wheel 68 is present in one or more of the recesses 64 at the head of the queue. In this case, the lifting mechanism 72 is allowed to operate only when a trolley wheel is present.

The trolley may be a luggage or other type of trolley. Alternatively, or in addition, pushchairs may be accommodated on the device 60.

Claims

1. A conveying device comprising an endless web member passing around at least two end members, the web member having a top run arranged to extend horizontally and a return run, the outside of the web member being provided with a plurality of seats spaced therealong at regular intervals.

2. A conveying device ^'according to claim 1, wherein the web member is arranged to be driven intermittently, each time through a distance corresponding to the inter-seat spacing.

3. A conveying device according to claim 1 or 2 , and further comprising a moving floor device having a second web member adjacent to the first-mentioned web member.

4. A conveying device according to claim 3 , wherein the web members extend generally parallel to each other.

5. A conveying device according to claim 3 or 4 , wherein the web members are driven in synchronism.

6. A conveying device according to any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the second web member has parallel grooves containing elongate magnets.

7. A conveying device according to claim 6 wherein the magnets are separated by recesses.

8. A conveying device according to any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the surface of the second web member has recesses.

9. A conveying device according to claim 7 or 8 wherein the ends of the recesses are defined by stop bars.

10. A conveying device according to any preceding claim, wherein the seats are made of flexible material .

11. A conveying device according to any preceding claim, wherein before movement of the web member (s) commences, a warning signal is given.

12. A conveying device according to claim 11, wherein the warning signal induces vibration of at least the seats of the conveying device .

13. A conveying device according to any preceding claim, comprising weighing means provided at or adjacent to at least one of the seats, and means for detecting if a child is occupying the seat, the weighing and detection means being arranged to prevent movement of the web member (s) in such a case .

14. A conveying device according to claim 13 , wherein the weighing and detection means has a threshold of substantially 15 kg.

15. A conveying device according to claim 11, wherein the weighing and detection means also has a lower threshold to permit movement of the web member (s) if the seat is unoccupied.

16. A conveying device according to any preceding claim, wherein an optical barrier is provided at the head of the conveying device .

17. A combination of a conveying device according to any preceding claim and a plurality of wheeled trolleys, each of the trolleys having a base, wherein lifting means are provided which are capable of raising the trolley bases as items are removed from the trolley.

18. A combination according to claim 17 incorporating a conveying device according to any of claims 7 to 9 wherein sensing means are provided for detecting when a trolley wheel is in at least one of said recesses, said sensing means being connected to said lifting means so that the lifting means can only operate when a trolley wheel is in said recess.

19. A trolley for carrying a load of articles, the trolley comprising a base and means for raising the base as articles are removed from the trolley.