CONVEYOR

TRANSPORTEUR

English Abstract

ABSTRACT
Conveyor comprising a belt passing
around at least one pair of pulleys and rollers attached
to the belt adapted to roll on at least one pair or rails
having each an inclined portion between two essentially
horizontal portion, the lower horizontal portion of each
rail comprising a first tilting switch and the upper
horizontal portion a second tilting switch similar to the
first but directed the opposite way, the ascending rollers
being arranged to pass alternatively above and below each
rail.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR
PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A conveyor comprising a belt, a pair of parallel side rails,
and a pair of end pulleys, the belt passing around the end pulleys, and having
a pair of chains running along side of it, the chains being interconnected by
transverse bars, rollers mounted on the ends of the bars outside the marginal
edges of the belt, every second bar passing through a tube fixed to the belt,
the alternate tube-free bars being unconnected with the belt, each side rail
having a lower generally horizontal section, an inclined section and an upper
generally horizontal section, each inclined section in profile widening from
that end adjacent the lower section and contracting towards that end adjacent
the upper section, each horizontal side rail section consisting of a generally
elongated triangular switch with its point defining the extremity of a side
rail and its base being of a length which exceeds the height in profile of
the ends of the inclined rail sections, each switch being pivotally mounted on
a horizontal axis and shaped so that the pair of rollers on every tube-free
bar are directed to ride on the upper side of the side rails
during operation of the conveyor thereby to form the upper run
of the belt into and then out of a series of horizontal steps.

Description

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Tllc prescnt invclltion is a convcyor particularly intendcd for thc
transport of goods on a trajectory at an angle to the horizontal.
Existing convcyor belts fulfill in principle this condition, but
their possible angle to the horizontal is limited, particularly for transporting
slippery goods. This limitation may be obviated to some extent by having trans-
verse bars fixed to the belt but in this case, it becomes impossible to clean
the surface of the belt by means of a scraper blade.
The present invention obviates these inconvenients. The conveyor
according to the invention comprises a belt, a pair of parallel side rails, and
a pair of end pulleys, the belt passing around the end pulleys, and having a
pair of chains running along side of it, the chains being interconnected by
transverse bars, rollers mounted on the ends of the bars outside the marginal
edges of the belt, every second bar passing through a tube fixed to the belt,
the alternate tube-free bars being unconnected with the belt, each side rail
having a lower generally horizontal section, an inclined section and an upper
generally horizontal section, each inclined section in profile widening
from that end adjacent the lower section and contracting towards that end ad-
jacent the upper section, each horizontal side rail section consisting of a
generally elongated triangular switch with its point defining the extremity of
a side rail and its base being of a length which exceeds the height in profile
of the ends of the inclined rail sections, each switch being pivotally mounted
on a horizontal axis and shaped so that the pair of rollers on every tube-free
bar are directed to ride on the upper side of the side rails
during operation of the conveyor thereby to form the upper run
of the belt into and then out of a series of horizontal steps.
The annexed drawing represents, by way of example, an embodiment
of the invention.
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Figure 1 shows n diagrammatlc side view of the conveyor.
Figure 2 shows a detail of the conveyor at a larger scale.
In the drawing, the conveyor comprises a belt 1 passlng around end pulleys 4,5
at least one of which drives the belt, and having rollers 2, 2', 2" attached.
A pair of rails 3 comprise
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two horizontal portions A and C between which there i5 and
inclined portion B. The horizontal portion A comprises a
tilting switch 6 and the horizontal portion C comprises a
similar tilting switch 7, placed in the opposite direction.
Each switch comprises a thickned portion 8 and a point 9.
In operation, the belt moving in the direction of the
arrow, the roller 2' passes over the tilting switch 6 and
continues rolling on the upper side of the rail 3 on the
ascending portion B. As soon as the roller 2' has reached
the thickned portion 8 of the switch, it tilts down this
thickened portion, the point 9 tilting upwards. As a conse-
quence, when the roller 2 will arive at the switch 6, it
will pass under the point 9 and will continue rolling under the
inclined portion of the rail 3, as does the roller 2". When
passing under the thickened portion 8 of the switch, the roller
2 will lift this portion, lowering the point 9 and so on. The
tilting s~itch 6 may be called a"mechanical flip-flop".
When arriving at the switch 7, the rollers operate this
switch the otheriway round.
On the inclined portion B of the rails, the belt takes
an escalator shape and goods deposed on the belt are transpor-
ted horizontally even with a steep gradient of the rails.
Figure 2 shows in detail a preferred embodiment in
which a pair of chains 10 run along the belt 1. These chains
are connected by transverse bars 11 carrying the rollers and
one out of two bars carries a tube fixed to the belt 1. If
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1080fà57
the number of bars 11 is even, it may be arranged that the
bars carrying the tubes 12 pass always under the rail 3 and
the bars 11 without tube above the rail. In this way, the belt
1 is always bent in the same direction, which reduces its
fatigue.
The belt 1 taking a round, smooth shape when passing
around the pulleys 4,5, it is possible to place a scraping
blade at this place to clean it. In the embodiment of figure 2,
this blade must be movable radially relatively to the pulley
axis in order to follow the differences in diameter
caused by the passage of the bars 11 over the pulleys.
It is clear that if the belt moves in the direction
opposite to the arrow (figure 1), the device may serve to
move goods down the incline.
In a modified embodiment, the belt may be driven by
` a pair of chains parallel to the inclined portion of the
rails and carrying hooks to pull the bars 11 for example.