Conveyor mechanism

• US 3,983,990 A
• Filed: 02/19/1975
• Issued: 10/05/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Pittsburgh National Bank (The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Gardy, Victor R., Farmer, Edward G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Blunk, Evon C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thomson, Richard K.
• Application Number:
  US05/550,951
• Time in Patent Office: 594 Days
• Field of Search: 198/131, 198/189, 198/195, 59/85, 59/86, 59/93, 74/252, 89/35 R, 89/35 A
• US Class Current: 198/803.14
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 17/36 having concave surfaces, e.g. buckets
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2201/02 Articles
• CPC Class Codes: F41A 9/04 using endless-chain belts carrying a plurality of ammunition

Abstract

A cradle is provided for use in a train of cradles in a constraining chute which has a universal joint intercoupling adjacent cradles. A joint is provided by a truncated male sphere on one cradle and a slotted female sphere on the next adjacent cradle. Each cradle is made in one piece and is provided with one male and one female sphere.

Claims

1. An endless conveyor system comprising:

a chute having a pair of longitudinally extending, transversely opposed channels; and

an endless train of cradles for movement along said chute, each cradle having as a one-piece, integral structure all of the following;

a load-supporting platform,

a rigid leading arm fixed to said platform and projecting longitudinally therefrom,

a rigid trailing arm fixed to said platform and projecting longitudinally therefrom,

a pair of transversely spaced apart feet means fixed to said platform and projecting transversely therefrom and respectively disposed in and transversely constrained by said channels,

one of said arms terminating in a male sphere,

said male sphere being truncated by a pair of mutually spaced apart and parallel surfaces define a beam of a first thickness,

the other of said arms terminating in a clevis having a pair of subarms mutually spaced apart to define a slot of a second thickness greater than said first thickness, whereby when adjacent cradles are angularly displaced by 90°

, the beam of one cradle may be passed into the slot of the adjacent cradle,

the inner faces of said subarms which define said slot each having a respective concavity,

said pair of concavities mutually defining a slotted female sphere,

the planar orientation of said slot being perpendicular to the planar orientation of said truncated male sphere, and

immediately adjacent cradles having the male sphere of one cradle disposed within the female sphere of the other cradle.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein:

each of said platforms is adapted to support and constrain a round of ammunition.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein:

the thickness of said slot is slightly greater than the thickness between said truncating surfaces of said male sphere and less than the diameter of said male sphere.

3. A cradle for an endless train of cradles, comprising as a one piece, integral structure:

a load-supporting platform;

a rigid leading arm fixed to said platform and projecting longitudinally therefrom on a first axis;

a rigid trailing arm fixed to said platform and projecting longitudinally therefrom on said first axis;

a pair of transversely spaced apart feet means fixed to said platform and projecting transversely therefrom;

one of said arms terminating in a male sphere,

said male sphere being truncated by a pair of mutually spaced apart and parallel surfaces which are parallel to said first axis; and

the other of said arms terminating in a clevis having a pair of subarms mutually spaced apart to define a slot,

the inner faces of said subarms which define said slot each having a respective concavity,

said pair of concavities mutually defining a slotted female sphere,

the planar orientation of said slot being perpendicular to the planar orientation of said truncated male sphere.

4. A cradle according to claim 3, wherein:

said feet means define an axis of rotation for said platform.

5. A cradle according to claim 3, wherein:

the thickness of said slot is slightly greater than the thickness between said truncating surfaces of said male sphere and less than the diameter of said male sphere.