Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
- M. Scat~-58
,~ (Revision)
DEVICE FOR SORTING OBJECTS
Background of the Invention
The present invention relates to sorting devices in
general, and more particularly to sorting devices for use
in belt conveyor systems.
There is already known, from the Italian Patent
l,025,846 in the name of the same inventor, a sorting
module for a belt conveyor system, comprising a paralle-
lepiped-shaped fixed structure adapted to be coupled to
a switching or sorting point of a conveyor, this structure
supporting a plurality of belt members which are mounted
on rigid guides and are driven by a motor.
The fixed structure also supports a vertically movable
structure, which supports a plurality of sorting rollers
that are arranged in alteration with the belt members
and are independently driven by another motor. This system
operates as follows: as the movable ~structure cupporting
the rollers is lowered, the parcel, envelopel flat element,
or other object to be sorted is entrained b~ the belts
for movement in the advancement direction of the conveyor.
As the movable structure is raised, the object to be sort-
ed is caused to rest on the sorting rollers, thereby be-
coming disengaged from the conveyor belts or members.
Accordingly, depending on whether the rollers are stationary
or rotate in a direction or in the other, the object to
be sorted either remains stationary or is displaced or
removed by the sorting rollers in the respective direction
and discharged either to the right or to the left of the
module.
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M. Scata-58
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The kno~ sorting modules of this type have been
found to be satisfactorily and to give good performance.
However, if it is desired to increase the number
of outputs, then a system using the aforesaid known
sorting modules may be of high cost and size.
In fact, as a plurality of sorting modules ac~
cording to the aforesaid Italian Patent each of which
is provided with its own driving motor and two rollers
at the ends for driving the belts, are arranged adjacent
to one another in an attempt to increase the number of
outputs, high costs arise both with respect to the pro-
vision of the number of motors corresponding to the
number (that is, one for each pair of outputs), and with
respect to the operation, since each motor has to be sep- ¦
arately driven, thereby causing problems in coordination,
power loss and the like.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to
eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the know sorting
modules.
More particularly, it is an object of the invention
to provide a multiple out.put sorting or switching device
which is much less expensive than an arrangement including
a plurality o~ adjacent modules with the same total num-
her of outputs, both as to the ~ost of the module ilself
and as to the cost of operating said module.
Still another object of the invention is to so
design the multiple output sorting device as to be small
in size, its size being considerably smaller than the
overall size of the known devices having the same number
of outputs.
In pursuance of these objects and others which will
become apparent hereafter, one feature of the present
invention resides in a multiple output device fox sorting
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objects, particularly for use in belt conveyor systems,
which comprises a support; a plurality of conveyor belts
mounted on said support for movement in suhstantially
parallel mutually spaced paths and having upwardly facing
supporting surfaces for the objects, and means for com-
monly driving said conveyor belts. The sorting device
further includes a plurality of sorting assemblies each
including a plurality of sorting rollers mounted on said
support for rotation about respective axes substantially
parallel to said paths and for joint movement relative
to said conveyor belts between th~ir retracted positions
in which they are situated below said supporting surfaces
and their extended positions in which they at least par-
tially project in alternation with said conveyor belts
to above said supporting surfaces to engage the objects
from below. Means is provided for selectively rotating
all of said sorting rollers of the respective sorting
assembly independently of the movement of said conveyor
belts in a selected sense of rotation for displacing the
2~ objects engaged thereby in said e~tended positions to a
selected one or two transversely spaced output regions of
the respective sorting assembly. The sorting d~vice also
comprises means for defining an output at each of the
out~ut regions ~f each of the sorting assemblies. ~nen
the sorting device is construded in this manner, it is
capable of distributing the objects to a number of said
outputs amounting to twice the number of the sorting
assemblies.
- Advantageously, the plurality of conveyor belts
includes a plurality of sets of such conveyor belts, each
associated with at least one of the sorting assemblies.
Then~ the sorting assemblies can be arranged one above
the other, or in succession as considered in the advance-
ment direction of the objects resting on the conveyor belts.
When more than two of the sorting assemblies are provided,
some of them can be arranged insuccession,andothersat a different
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M. Scata-58
57 (p~evision)
elevation than and in vertical juxtaposition with the above-
mentioned sucessively arranyed sorting assemblies.
Advantayeously, the driving means for the conveyor belts
of the sorting assemblies includes a common motor, an~ trans-
mission means between the common motor and the conveyor belts
of the sorting assemblies. When the driving means of each
of the successive sorting assemblies includes an input and an
output reversing roller about which the conveyor belts of the
respective sorting assembly are trained, it is advantageous
when transition conveyor belts are trained about the output
reversing roller of the preceding sorting assembly and the
input roller of the succeeding sorting assembly, to bridge the
gap between such sorting assemblies. In this construction, it
is further advantageous when the transition conveyor belts
double as a part of the transmission means between the com-
mon motor and one of the immediately succeeding sorting as-
semblies, in that the transmission means then only has to
additionally include at least one endless transmission element
between the common motor and the other of the immediately suc-
ceeding sorting assemblies. A particularly simple and other-
wise advantageous construction-is obtained when the endless
element is trained about one of the input and output reversing
rollers of the other sorting assembly. It is further advan-
tageous when the rotating means is operative for rotating the
sorting rollers of each of the sorting assemblies independently
of the remaining sorting rollers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
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~bove-mentioned and other features and objects of this
invention will become more apparent by reference to the fol-
lowing description ta~en in conjunction with the accompanying
drawing, in which:
Fig. 1 is a simplified perspective view of a sorting de-
vice according to the invention which has established outputs;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the sorting de-
vice of ~ig. 1 illustrating one sorting assembly of the sorting
device.
Fig. 3 is a diagramatic end view of the sorting assembly
of Fig. 2;
. Scata-58
(Revision)
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Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a part of the sorting
device of Fig. l;
~ig. 5 is a side elevational vie~7 of the portion of
the sorting device illustra-ted in Fig. 2; and
Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1 but showing
a multilevel sorting device.
DESCP~IPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to Figures 1 to 3, a sorting device
1 comprises four sorting roller assemblies 5, each of
which is provided with two outputs 10. Thus, the sorting
device 1 has a total number of eight outputs 10. At two
longitudinal ends of the sorting module 1 there are pro-
vided two reversing ~ollers 8a, 8b. Thereversing roller
8a is driven by a motor 6 through a transmission 7~ ~sthe
output aft of the motor 6 rotates, the transmission 7 causes
the reversing roller 8a to rotate, which entrains con-
veyor belts 2 and accordingly the other roller 8b. The
obiects 9 or flat articles to be sorted are caused to
advance on the conveyor belts 2, due to the motion of the
latter. The conveyor belts2 are supported in such a way asto
prevent them from bending due to the weight of the objects
9 being conveyed. Each roller assembly 5 comprises a
vertically movable basket 23. Vertical sides 20 of the
basket 23, which extend perpendicularly to the paths
of movement of the conveyor belts 2 support the sorting
rollers 3. The sorting rollers 3 extend parallel to
the belts 2. The sorting rollers3 àltern~te with
the conveyor belts 2 and can rotate about respective
ax~es which are perpendicular to the axes of the reversing
rollers 8a, 8b. As shown in Fig. 3 the sorting rollers
3 are operated or driven by a motor 14 which is rigidly
mounted on the basket 23, via a transmission belt 16
trained about idler rollers 18 and a pulley 16.
M . Scata- 5 8
(R~vision)
In Fig. 5, there is illustrated a mechanism for
rising and lowering the basket 23, which comprises a
pneumatic cylinder il which, by means of a lever 12
rotating about 9 pivot pin 211drives the basket 23 in
such a way as to cause the rollers 3 to project beyond
the conveyor belts 2 and, by rotating, to transversely
displace the objects or article to be sorted. In this
connection it should be noted that the sorting rollers
3 project only for a few millimeters in order to dis-
place the basket ~3 in a reduced time.
In Fig. 4, there is illustrated the coupling
between two adjacent assemblies, which coupling is ob-
tained by means of transmission belts 13 trained about
the rollers gb of the first assembly 5 and 8a of the
second assembly 5. It should be noted that, while the
- conveyor belts 2 of the two assemblies 5 may be inde-
pendently driven, by means of the transmission belts
13lit is possible to provide such a coupling as to transmit
motion ketween the conveyor belts 2 of the adjo~ng assemblies 5.
Fig. 6 illustrates a further arrangement for the
sorting line, which extends vertically in a plurality
o~ superimposed planes wherein the conveyor belts 2 of
each plane are all driven by a single motor.
In this case the ob]ects 9 or articles, as sorted
or switched out from _he several superimposed "cross-
points" can be collected, for example, in common baskets.
It should be apparent that, with such a structure,
it is possible to provide a sorting device which is
more compact and economical than the known ones. In
fact~the sorting device 1 according to the present in-
vention requires a single motor 6 for eight outputs,
instead of the four motors which are necessary in the
known structures. A further improvement can be obtained
in the case of a multiple level system, with a single
driving motor. Moreover the sorting device according to
the invention provides a conveying system of lesser size
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M. Scata-58
(Revision)
as eompared to that o~ a conveying system having the
same number of outputs hut constructed according to the :
prior art. Moreover, in the illustratedfor e~a~ple in Fig-
1, there are required only two end rollers 8, instead
of the eight rollers of the prio.r art, thereby saving
space.
It should also be Pointed out that each sorting -
deviee ean be divided in any number of assemblies 5.
While I have deseribed above the principles of my ~.
invention in eonneetion with speeific apparatus, it is
to be elearly understood that this description is made t-
only by way of example and not as a limitation to the
scope of my invention as set forth in the accompanying .
elaims~
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