Multi-track gravity conveyor
First Claim
1. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
- a plurality of rollers mounted on axles, with each of said rollers being mounted on a different one of said axles;
a section providing a base and a plurality of discrete elongate channel members extending from said base in a laterally spaced apart, parallel relation forming a plurality of rows, each of said channel members having integral therewith a plurality of opposite side walls extending along the length of said rows and a connecting side rigidly joining and maintaining said opposite side walls in a fixed spaced apart relation with the separation between said opposite side walls being equal to the separation between neighboring channel members;
said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members having a plurality of slots formed therein alignable in parallel columns with the corresponding slots in at least the closest of the opposite side walls of a neighboring channel member, said parallel columns being substantially perpendicular to the length of said rows, said slots being open substantially identical and equidistantly spaced on both sides and along an unjoined edge of each of said opposite side walls in each of said channel members, the spacing between successive slots along said unjoined edge of each side wall being less than the exterior diameter of said rollers within said section; and
said axles being disposable within said slots, both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members with the axles of rollers in any two neighboring rows being disposable in different ones of said columns, whereby the separation between axles of rollers in said any two neighboring rows may be less than one-half of the exterior diameter of said rollers.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An undriven gravity roller conveyor is disclosed in which a plurality of discrete, elongate channel members are attached in a spaced apart, parallel relation to a base structure. The separation between neighboring channel members is made equal to the separation between the opposite side walls of each channel member, thereby providing a plurality of rows extending between the side walls of the channel members. Open slots equidistantly spaced apart are formed along the upper edges of each side wall. The slots are aligned in parallel columns substantially perpendicular to the length of the rows. Load-bearing rollers mounted upon axles are arranged in rows both between the opposite side walls in each channel member and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of channel members, with the axles of the rollers held within the slots. The spacing between slots is substantially less than one-half of the exterior diameter of the rollers.
99 Citations
60 Claims
-
1. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
-
a plurality of rollers mounted on axles, with each of said rollers being mounted on a different one of said axles; a section providing a base and a plurality of discrete elongate channel members extending from said base in a laterally spaced apart, parallel relation forming a plurality of rows, each of said channel members having integral therewith a plurality of opposite side walls extending along the length of said rows and a connecting side rigidly joining and maintaining said opposite side walls in a fixed spaced apart relation with the separation between said opposite side walls being equal to the separation between neighboring channel members; said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members having a plurality of slots formed therein alignable in parallel columns with the corresponding slots in at least the closest of the opposite side walls of a neighboring channel member, said parallel columns being substantially perpendicular to the length of said rows, said slots being open substantially identical and equidistantly spaced on both sides and along an unjoined edge of each of said opposite side walls in each of said channel members, the spacing between successive slots along said unjoined edge of each side wall being less than the exterior diameter of said rollers within said section; and said axles being disposable within said slots, both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members with the axles of rollers in any two neighboring rows being disposable in different ones of said columns, whereby the separation between axles of rollers in said any two neighboring rows may be less than one-half of the exterior diameter of said rollers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
-
-
26. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
-
a plurality of rollers mounted on axles; a section providing a base and a plurality of discrete elongate channel members extending from said base in a laterally spaced apart, parallel relation forming a plurality of rows, each of said channel members having interal therewith a plurality of opposite side walls extending along the length of said rows and a connecting side rigidly joining and maintaining said opposite side walls in a fixed spaced apart relation with the separation between said opposite side walls being equal to the separation between neighboring channel members; said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members having a plurality of slots formed therein aligned in parallel columns with the corresponding slots in at least the closest of the opposite side walls of a neighboring channel member, said parallel columns being substantially perpendicular to the length of said rows, said slots being equidistantly spaced along an unjoined edge of each of said opposite side walls in each of said channel members, the spacing between successive slots along said unjoined edge of each side wall being less than the exterior diameter of said rollers within said section;
; andsaid axles being disposable within said slots, wherein said rollers are disposed both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
37. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
-
a base; a plurality of rollers mounted on axles; a plurality of n discrete elongate channel members attached to said base in a laterally spaced apart, parallel relation forming 2n-1 rows, each of said channel members having intregral therewith a plurality of opposite side walls extending along the length of said rows and a connecting side rigidly joining and maintaining said opposite side walls in a fixed spaced apart relation with the separation between said opposite side walls being equal to the separation between neighboring channel members; said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members having a plurality of slots formed therein aligned in parallel columns with the corresponding slots formed in at least the closest of the opposite side walls of a neighboring channel member, said parallel columns being substantially perpendicular to the length of said rows, said slots being open, substantially identical and equidistantly spaced apart by less than one-half the exterior diameter of said rollers along an unjoined edge of each of said opposite walls in each of said channel members; and said axles being disposable within said slots both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
-
-
45. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
-
a plurality of rollers mounted on axles, with each of said rollers being mounted on a different one of said axles; a section providing a base and a plurality of elongate, spaced apart, parallel side walls defining a plurality of discrete parallel channels extending along the length of said section, said side walls being rigidly joined to said base with a fixed spaced apart relation existing between each pair of side walls defining said channels; said plurality of side walls defining each of said channels having a plurality of slots formed therein alignable in parallel columns with the corresponding slots in at least the closest of the pair of side walls of a neighboring one of said channels, said parallel columns being substantially perpendicular to the length of said channels, said slots being open, substantially identical and equidistantly spaced, on both sides and along an unjoined edge of each of said side walls, the spacing between successive slots along said unjoined edge of each side wall being less than the exterior diameter of one of said rollers within said section and substantially equal to the quotient of the sum of the exterior diameter of one of said rollers and the clearance between two successive rollers in a channel divided by the number of said channels; and said axles being disposable within said slots, both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members with the axles of rollers in any two neighboring rows being disposed in different ones of said columns, whereby the separation between axles in any two neighboring rows may be less than one-half of the exterior diameter of said rollers. - View Dependent Claims (46)
-
-
47. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
-
a plurality of rollers mounted on axles, with each of said rollers being mounted on a different one of said axles; a section providing a base and a plurality of discrete elongate channel members extenting from said base in a laterally spaced apart, parallel relation forming a plurality of rows, each of said channel members having integral therewith a plurality of opposite side walls extending along the length of said rows and a connecting side rigidly joining and maintaining said opposite side walls in a fixed spaced apart relation with the separation between said opposite side walls being equal to the separation between neighboring channel members; said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members having a plurality of slots formed therein being alignable to define parallel columns with the corresponding slots in at least the closest of the opposite side walls of a neighboring channel member, said parallel columns being substantially perpendicular to the length of said rows, said slots being spaced on both sides and along an unjoined edge of each of said opposite side walls in each of said channel members with the spacing between successive slots along an unjoined edge of each side wall being less than the exterior diameter of said rollers within said section; and said axles being disposable within said slots, both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members, with the axles of rollers in any two neighboring rows being disposed in different ones of said columns, whereby the separation between axles in any two neighboring rows may be less than one-half of the exterior diameter of said rollers. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
-
-
55. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
-
a plurality of rollers mounted on axles, with each of said rollers being mounted on a different one of said axles; a section providing a base and a plurality of discrete elongate channel members extending from said base in a laterally spaced apart, parallel relation forming a plurality of rows, each of said channel members having integral therewith a plurality of opposite side walls extending along the length of said rows and a connecting side rigidly joining and maintaining said opposite side walls in a fixed spaced apart relation with the separation between said opposite side walls being equal to the separation between neighboring channel members; said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members having a plurality of slot formed therein alignable in parallel columns with the corresponding slots in at least the closest of the opposite side walls of a neighboring channel member, said slots being on both sides and along an unjoined edge of each of said opposite side walls in each of said channel members with the spacing between successive slots along said unjoined edge of each side wall being less than one-half of the exterior diameter of said rollers; and said axles being disposable within said slots, both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members with the axles of rollers in any two neighboring rows being disposable in different ones of said columns. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57)
-
-
58. An undriven gravity roller conveyor, comprising:
-
a plurality of rollers mounted on axles; a section providing a base and a plurality of channel members extending from said base in a laterally spaced apart, parallel relation forming a plurality of rows, each of said channel members having integral therewith a plurality of opposite side walls extending along the length of said rows and a connecting side rigidly joining and maintaining said opposite side walls in a fixed spaced apart relation with the separation between said opposite side walls being equal to the separation between neighboring channel members; said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members having a plurality of slots formed therein alignable in parallel columns with the corresponding slots in at least the closest of the opposite side walls of a neighboring channel member, said slots being spaced along an unjoined edge of each of said opposite side walls in each of said channel members with the spacing between successive slots along said unjoined edge of each side wall being less than one-half of the exterior diameter of said rollers; and said axles beinhg disposable within said slots, wherein said rollers are disposed both between said plurality of opposite side walls in each of said channel members and between adjacent side walls of neighboring pairs of said channel members. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60)
-
Specification