Feeding apparatus particularly for machines for the conveyance and sorting of objects

• US 4,815,582 A
• Filed: 03/26/1986
• Issued: 03/28/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sandvik Intellectual Property AB (Sandvik AB)
• Original Assignee: Francesco Canziani
• Inventors: Canziani, Francesco
• Primary Examiner(s): Cherry, Johnny D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hajec, Donald T.
• Application Number:
  US06/844,116
• Time in Patent Office: 1,098 Days
• Field of Search: 209/630, 209/610, 209/695, 209/914, 209/942, 209/539, 209/559, 198/365, 198/572, 104/118-120, 104/48, 104/146, 364/478
• US Class Current: 198/370.06
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 17/345 the surfaces being equipped with a conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2201/02 Articles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2207/18 Crossing conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/28 during transit by a single conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/31 by varying the relative speeds of the conveyors forming the series
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/914 Diverse sequential feeding steps
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 209/942 Operator selects destination of item

Abstract

An apparatus for feeding, selecting and sorting has a coding and feeding unit, a sorting machine and a synchronizing unit. The coding and feeding unit has a keyboard for keying in codes of respective unloading-station destinations of respective items thereat and conveys the items from the keyboard. The sorting machine has a monorail of T-shaped cross section, a plurality of conveying devices for conveying respective items in one direction along the monorail, a chain for moving the conveying devices along the monorail in the one direction one after the other, and pairs of feed rods spacedly parallel to each other, the pairs of feed rods being spaced along the monorail for defining an unloading station at each pair of the feed rods therealong and spaced from the monorail for sliding contact with slidable contacts of each conveying device as it moves therepast along the monorail in the one direction. Each conveying device has at least two pairs of idle wheels with substantially horizontal axes supporting the conveying device on the monorail for movement in the one direction therealong, at least one pair of idle wheels with substantially vertical axes for guiding the conveying device along the monorail in the one direction, a pair of rollers and a rotary belt thereabout for receiving the respective item of the conveying device and unloading the item by rotary movement of the belt transverse to the one direction, a permanent magnet D.C. electric motor for rotating the rotary belt, and the pair of slidable contacts connected to the motor. The synchronizing unit successively receives the items from the coding and feeding unit and feeds them respectively to the conveying devices. For this, the synchronizing unit has three rotating belts positioned one after the other, the speed of the rotation of the three rotating belts being controllable independently of one another.

Claims

1. An apparatus for feeding, selecting and sorting items, comprising:

a coding and feeding unit having a keyboard for keying in codes of respective unloading-station destinations of respective items thereat and means for conveying the items from the keyboard;

a sorting machine comprising;

a monorail of T-shaped cross section;

a plurality of conveying devices for conveying respective items, each conveying device having at least two pairs of idle wheels with substantially horizontal axes supporting the conveying device on the monorail for movement in one direction therealong, at least one pair of idle wheels with substantially vertical axes for guiding the conveying device along the monorail in the one direction, a pair of rollers and a rotary belt thereabout for receiving the respective item of the conveying device and unloading the item by rotary movement of the belt transverse to the one direction, a permanent magnet D.C. electric motor for rotating the rotary belt, and a pair of slidable contacts connected to the motor;

chain-like means for moving the conveying devices along the monorail in the one direction one after the other; and

pairs of feed rods spacedly parallel to each other, the pairs of feed rods being spaced along the monorail for defining an unloading station at each pair of the feed rods therealong and spaced from the monorail for sliding contact with the slidable contacts of each conveying device as it moves therepast along the monorail in the one direction, whereby the feed bars at the respective unloading-station destinations of the respective items keyed in at the coding and feeding unit can be energized as the conveying devices with the respective items move therepast for unloading the items by the transverse rotation of the rotary belts thereof, the direction and speed of the unloading being controllable by the relative polarity and voltage of the energization of the feed bars; and

a synchronizing unit for successively receiving the items from the coding and feeding unit and feeding the items respectively to the conveying devices, the synchronizing unit comprising three rotating belts positioned one after the other, the speed of the rotation of the three rotating belts being controllable independently of one another, whereby control of the speed of rotation thereof synchronizes the items fed to the sorting machine to the movement of the conveying devices of the sorting machine to the movement of the conveying devices of the sorting machine for respective receipt of the items thereby.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the chain-like means comprises a chain, at least two rotatable toothed wheels engaging the chain for moving the chain along the monorail upon rotationally driving either thereof and an electric motor for rotationally driving one of the toothed wheels, and further comprising an encoder operatively connected to one of the toothed wheels for producing a number of impulses for each rotation of the one toothed wheel, whereby the impulses are synchronized to the movement of the conveying devices for determining the positions thereof.