Apparatus and methods for conveying objects
First Claim
1. A conveyor comprising:
- a conveyor belt including a plurality of cavities and a plurality of diverting rollers, each diverting roller being disposed in a cavity; and
at least one transverse roller having an axis that extends in a direction of travel of the conveyor belt and that can couple to the plurality of diverting rollers to cause the diverting rollers rotate as they travel along the at least one transverse roller.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are conveyors and methods for making the conveyors. In one embodiment, a conveyor comprises a modular conveyor belt that includes a plurality of mat-top chains having a plurality of cavities and a plurality of first rollers disposed in the cavities of the mat-top chains. The conveyor further includes at least one second roller that operatively couples to the first rollers such that the first rollers rotate as the conveyor belt travels along the second roller. The invention can also be construed as providing the method for conveying objects. The method can comprise the steps of driving a modular conveyor belt in a direction of belt travel; rotating a plurality of first rollers disposed into the modular conveyor belt in a manner in which slippage of the first rollers is reduced; and conveying objects on the modular conveyor belt using the rotating first rollers.
68 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A conveyor comprising:
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a conveyor belt including a plurality of cavities and a plurality of diverting rollers, each diverting roller being disposed in a cavity; and at least one transverse roller having an axis that extends in a direction of travel of the conveyor belt and that can couple to the plurality of diverting rollers to cause the diverting rollers rotate as they travel along the at least one transverse roller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20, 21)
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10. A conveyor comprising:
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a conveyor belt that travels in a linear motion, the conveyor belt including a plurality of cavities and a plurality of diverting rollers, each diverting roller disposed in a cavity; and a plurality of transverse rollers having axes that extend along a direction of belt travel, the transverse rollers being free to rotate and being adapted to couple to the plurality of diverting rollers, wherein such coupling causes the diverting rollers to rotate in a first direction transverse to the direction of belt travel and the transverse rollers to rotate in a second direction transverse to the direction of belt travel, the second direction being different from the first direction. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23)
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17. A method for conveying objects, the method comprising:
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driving a conveyor belt in a first direction; coupling diverting rollers disposed in the conveyor belt with a transverse roller that is free to rotate in a direction that is transverse to the first direction, wherein the driving of the modular conveyor belt produces rotary motion in both the diverting rollers and the transverse roller as a result of their coupling; and diverting objects from the conveyor belt using the diverting rollers. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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24. A conveyor comprising:
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a conveyor belt that travels in a linear motion including a plurality of cavities and a plurality of diverting rollers, each diverting roller disposed in a cavity, the cavities and diverting rollers being laterally spaced across a width of the conveyor belt such that a plurality of rows of diverting rollers are provided parallel to the linear motion; and a transverse roller having an axis that extends in the direction of the linear motion and that is located under one of the plurality of rows to couple to a row of diverting rollers; wherein the diverting rollers rotate in a direction transverse to the linear motion as the conveyor belt travels when the diverting rollers are coupled to the transverse roller. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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Specification