Conveyor system with diverting track network
First Claim
1. A diverting system for diverting articles from a conveying surface of a conveyor comprising:
- a plurality of movable pushers associated with the conveying surface and adapted to be movable transversely across the conveying surface;
a plurality of diverting tracks configured to guide selected ones of said movable pushers across the conveying surface;
a plurality of diverters, each said diverter adapted to selectively divert at least one movable pusher to one of said diverting tracks when said diverter is activated into a diverting state; and
a controller for selecting at least two diverters from said plurality of diverters to divert at least two movable pushers, said controller first activating a first one of said selected diverters into the diverting state and subsequently activating a second one of said selected diverters into the diverting state, to divert an article from the conveying surface with said at least two movable pushers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A diverting assembly for diverting articles from a conveying surface includes a plurality of movable pushers that are associated with the conveying surface and adapted to move transversely across the conveying surface. A plurality of diverting tracks are configured to guide selected ones of the movable pushers across the conveying surface. A plurality of diverters are adapted to selectively divert at least one movable pusher along the diverting tracks when activated into a diverting state. The diverting tracks may include segments that are oriented at different angles with respect to each other. A controller may select a subset of at least two diverters from the plurality of diverters and activate them into the diverting state. The activation of the diverters may be simultaneous, or the downstream diverter may be activated prior to the upstream diverter being activated.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A diverting system for diverting articles from a conveying surface of a conveyor comprising:
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a plurality of movable pushers associated with the conveying surface and adapted to be movable transversely across the conveying surface;
a plurality of diverting tracks configured to guide selected ones of said movable pushers across the conveying surface;
a plurality of diverters, each said diverter adapted to selectively divert at least one movable pusher to one of said diverting tracks when said diverter is activated into a diverting state; and
a controller for selecting at least two diverters from said plurality of diverters to divert at least two movable pushers, said controller first activating a first one of said selected diverters into the diverting state and subsequently activating a second one of said selected diverters into the diverting state, to divert an article from the conveying surface with said at least two movable pushers. - 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)
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25. A method for diverting articles from a conveying surface of a conveyor comprising:
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providing a plurality of movable pushers associated with the conveying surface and adapted to be movable transversely across the conveying surface;
providing a plurality of diverting tracks configured to guide selected ones of said movable pushers across the conveying surface;
providing a plurality of diverters, each said diverter adapted to selectively divert at least one movable pusher to one of said diverting tracks when said diverter is activated into a diverting state;
selecting at least two diverters from said plurality of diverters to divert at least two movable pushers;
activating a first one of said selected diverters into the diverting state to divert at least one of said at least two movable pushers onto one of said diverting tracks; and
activating a second one of said selected diverters into the diverting state to divert another one of said at least two movable pushers onto another one of said diverting tracks substantially after activating said first one of said selected diverters into the diverting state to divert an article from the conveying surface with said at least two movable pushers. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A diverting assembly for diverting articles from a conveying surface of a conveyor comprising:
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a plurality of movable pushers associated with the conveying surface and adapted to be movable transversely across the conveying surface;
a plurality of diverting tracks configured to guide selected ones of said movable pushers across the conveying surface;
a plurality of diverters, each said diverter adapted to selectively divert at least one movable pusher to one of said diverting tracks when said diverter is activated into a diverting state; and
a controller adapted to activate into the diverting state, at least occasionally, at least two diverters from said plurality of diverters such that an article to be diverted on the conveying surface is initially diverted with a partial rotational motion and subsequently diverted without further rotational motion. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method of diverting articles from a conveying surface of a conveyor, at least some of the articles being of different lengths, said method comprising:
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providing a plurality of movable pushers associated with the conveying surface and adapted to be movable transversely across the conveying surface;
providing a plurality of diverting tracks configured to guide selected ones of said movable pushers across the conveying surface;
providing a plurality of diverters, each said diverter adapted to selectively divert at least one movable pusher along one of said diverting tracks when said diverter is activated into a diverting state;
determining a length of an article to be diverted;
activating at least two of said diverters into a diverting state at substantially the same time to divert an article if the length of the article to be diverted is less than a first length; and
activating at least two of said diverters into a diverting state at different times to divert an article if the length of the article to be diverted is greater than the first length. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification