Methods for accumulating, moving, and palletizing articles

• US 7,537,104 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2007
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Laitram LLC
• Original Assignee: Laitram LLC
• Inventors: Costanzo, Mark, Lally, Brett A., Riddick, David W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hess; Douglas A
• Application Number:
  US11/766,209
• Publication Number:
  US 20070284220A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• Field of Search: 198/382, 198/411, 198/416, 198/457.01, 198/457.02, 198/457.05, 198/617, 198/779, 414/801
• US Class Current: 198/617
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 17/24 comprising a series of rollers which are moved , e.g. over a supporting surface, by the traction element to effect conveyance of loads or load-carriers
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2207/30 Modular constructions
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/086 cubiform articles
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/22 Devices influencing the relative position or the attitude of articles during transit by conveyors during feeding B65G47/14
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 47/244 by turning them about an axis substantially perpendicular to the conveying plane

Abstract

A conveyor using a roller belt with rollers arranged to rotate on oblique axes to urge articles toward a side guide. The conveyor includes an oblique-roller belt supported on a carryway for running in a direction of belt travel. Rollers extend above an outer conveying surface of the belt without contact with the carryway. Each roller rotates on an axis oblique to the direction of belt travel and intersects the side guide downstream of the roller'"'"'s position. A retractable stop is movable to and from a blocking position along the carryway. In the blocking position, the stop blocks the conveyed articles from advancing in the direction of belt travel. The rollers underlying the blocked articles rotate as the belt runs by contact with the articles. The rotating rollers provide a component of force to the blocked articles directed toward the side guide to push the articles against the side guide or other articles as they accumulate under low pressure upstream of the stop. The conveyor may be used to register articles single file against the side guide or to group the articles for palletizing. For palletizing applications, an infeed conveyor feeds articles onto the belt at the side opposite the side guide.

Claims

1. A method for forming a pallet layer, comprising:

advancing consecutive articles along a first side of a conveyor moving in a conveying direction and having article-supporting rollers freely rotatable on axes oblique to the conveying direction;

blocking the advance of the articles with a stop while the conveyor continues moving to cause the rollers to rotate beneath the articles supported on the rollers to provide a component of force pushing the articles along the stop across the width of the conveyor toward an opposite second side of the conveyor;

forming a first pallet layer row by stopping a leading blocked article at the second side of the conveyor and trailing blocked articles against consecutive leading blocked articles in a row across the width of the conveyor.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

forming subsequent pallet layer rows by using already formed pallet layer rows to block trailing articles and cause them to be pushed by the rollers across the moving conveyor along the upstream end of the blocked already formed pallet layer rows.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

unblocking the conveyor to allow the formed pallet layer to be advanced downstream by the conveyor in the conveying direction.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

forming a pallet by receiving consecutive pallet layers one atop another on a palletizer table at the downstream end of the conveyor.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

feeding a first group of consecutive articles onto the conveyor in one orientation to form the first pallet layer row; and

feeding a second group of consecutive articles onto the conveyor in a different orientation to form a subsequent pallet layer row.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

moving the stop to different positions along the conveyor to block the articles at the different positions.

7. A method for aligning articles against a guide along a conveyor, comprising:

advancing consecutive articles atop article-supporting rollers on a conveyor moving in a conveying direction, wherein the rollers are freely rotatable on axes oblique to the conveying direction;

blocking the advance of a first article of the consecutive articles with a stop while the conveyor continues moving to cause the rollers to rotate on the oblique axes beneath the first article to provide a component of force pushing the first article along the stop and against a guide at a side of the conveyor;

advancing a second article on the conveyor into contact with the blocked first article to cause the rollers beneath the first article to rotate and push the second article along the trailing end of the first article and against the guide.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

moving the stop to different positions along the conveyor to block the articles at the different positions.

9. A method for moving accumulated articles laterally, comprising:

advancing articles atop article-supporting rollers on a conveyor moving in a conveying direction, wherein the rollers are freely rotatable on axes oblique to the conveying direction;

accumulating the articles at a stop blocking articles from advancing past the position of the stop as the conveyor continues to advance, wherein the rollers rotate by contact with the accumulated articles with a component of motion opposite the conveying direction;

moving the accumulated articles laterally toward a side of the conveyor by the rotation of the rollers beneath the accumulated articles with a component of motion directed to the side of the conveyor.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

moving the stop to a different position along the conveyor to accumulate the articles at the different position.