Merging conveyor
First Claim
1. A conveyor configured to advance articles m a longitudinal downstream direction, said conveyor comprising:
- a. a first lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction, said first lane comprising a first upper conveying surface moving at a first speed;
b. a second lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction, said second lane being spaced apart laterally from said first lane, said second lane comprising a second upper conveying surface moving at a second speed;
c. a third lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction and interposed between said first and second lanes, said third lane comprising a third upper conveying surface moving at a third speed;
d. a fourth lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction and interposed between said second and third lanes, said fourth. lane comprising a fourth upper conveying surface moving at a fourth speed;
e. said first upper conveying surface configured to impart a force at at least a first angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said third lane to articles traveling on said first upper conveying surface;
f. said second upper conveying surface configured to impart a force at a second angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said fourth lane to articles traveling on said second upper conveying surface;
g. said third conveying surface configured to impart a force at a third angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said second lane to articles traveling on said third upper conveying surface; and
h. said fourth conveying surface configured to impart a force at a fourth angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said third lane to articles traveling on said fourth upper conveying surface, the fourth angle being greater than the second angle.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A conveyor system has a plurality of infeed staging conveyors configured to selectively feed batches of article arranged in a side by side configuration to a downstream merging conveyor. The merging conveyor is configured to merge batches of articles arranged in a side-by-side configuration and to singulate the individual articles of each batch while merging the batches as the articles are singulated while being advanced downstream as a flow of in-line separated articles. The merging conveyor includes a plurality of laterally spaced lanes of conveying surfaces which having a respective speed and each imparting an inward lateral force on the articles. A descrambling conveyor is disposed downstream of the merging conveyor.
22 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A conveyor configured to advance articles m a longitudinal downstream direction, said conveyor comprising:
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a. a first lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction, said first lane comprising a first upper conveying surface moving at a first speed; b. a second lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction, said second lane being spaced apart laterally from said first lane, said second lane comprising a second upper conveying surface moving at a second speed; c. a third lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction and interposed between said first and second lanes, said third lane comprising a third upper conveying surface moving at a third speed; d. a fourth lane extending in said longitudinal downstream direction and interposed between said second and third lanes, said fourth. lane comprising a fourth upper conveying surface moving at a fourth speed; e. said first upper conveying surface configured to impart a force at at least a first angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said third lane to articles traveling on said first upper conveying surface; f. said second upper conveying surface configured to impart a force at a second angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said fourth lane to articles traveling on said second upper conveying surface; g. said third conveying surface configured to impart a force at a third angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said second lane to articles traveling on said third upper conveying surface; and h. said fourth conveying surface configured to impart a force at a fourth angle relative to the longitudinal downstream direction toward said third lane to articles traveling on said fourth upper conveying surface, the fourth angle being greater than the second angle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A conveyor system configured to advance articles in a downstream direction, said conveyor system comprising:
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a. a first conveyor having a first discharge end, said first conveyor configured to discharge a first batch comprising a plurality of side by side articles from said first discharge end; b. a second conveyor having a second discharge end, said second conveyor configured to discharge a second batch comprising a plurality of side by side articles from said second discharge end; c. a third conveyor third conveyor having an infeed end and a third discharge end and disposed to receive said first batch and said second batch and discharge said first and second batches from said third discharge end, said third conveyor comprising; i. a first lane extending in said downstream direction, said first lane comprising a first upper conveying surface moving at a first speed; ii. a second lane extending in said downstream direction, said second lane being spaced apart laterally from said first lane, said second lane comprising a second upper conveying surface moving at a second speed; iii. a third lane extending in said downstream direction and interposed between said first and second lanes, said third lane comprising a third upper conveying surface moving at a third speed; iv. a fourth lane extending in said downstream direction and interposed between said second and third second lanes, said fourth lane comprising a fourth upper conveying surface moving at a fourth speed; v. said first upper conveying surface configured to impart a lateral force toward said third lane to articles traveling on said first upper conveying surface; vi. said second upper conveying surface configured to impart a lateral force toward said fourth lane to articles traveling on said second upper conveying surface; vii. said third conveying surface configured to impart a lateral force toward said second lane to articles traveling on said third upper conveying surface; and viii. said fourth conveying surface configured to impart a lateral force toward said third lane to articles traveling on said fourth upper conveying surface; and d. a fourth conveyor having a fourth discharge end, said fourth conveyor disposed to receive said first and second batches from said third conveyors and discharge said articles of said first and second batches from said discharge end, said fourth conveyor comprising a descrambler;
said third and fourth conveyors being operable to singulate said articles from their initial side by side configuration by the time said articles are discharged from said fourth discharge end,wherein said second speed is greater than said fourth speed. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of conveying articles comprising:
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presenting on a plurality of infeed conveyors disposed adjacent an infeed end of a first conveyor a succession of batches, each of the batches comprising a plurality of the articles disposed in a side-by-side relation proximal to each other; selectively discharging respective ones of the batches on to the first conveyor at respective time intervals following a previously discharged batch; singulating the articles of each discharged batch by the first conveyor, the respective timed intervals being sufficient to singulate the articles of each discharged batch and to merge each discharged batch with the previously discharged batch without overlap between singulated articles of each successive batch, wherein selectively discharging respective ones of batches comprises selecting the respective time interval based on whether the previously discharged batch was discharged from the same infeed conveyor as the infeed conveyor of the batch to be discharged. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of conveying articles comprising:
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presenting on a plurality of infeed conveyors disposed adjacent an infeed end of a first conveyor a succession of batches, each of the batches comprising a plurality of the articles disposed in a side-by-side relation proximal to each other; selectively discharging respective ones of the batches on to the first conveyor at respective time intervals following a previously discharged batch; singulating the articles of each discharged batch by the first conveyor, the respective timed intervals being sufficient to singulate the articles of each discharged batch and to merge each discharged batch with the previously discharged batch without overlap between singulated articles of each successive batch, wherein selectively discharging respective ones of batches comprises selecting the respective time interval based on whether the previously discharged batch was discharged from the same infeed conveyor as the infeed conveyor of the batch to be discharged.
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Specification