Safety device for push conveyor
AssigneeAmf Automation Technologies, LLC
InventorsMarc-Olivier Thibault, Hugues Roy, Simon Roy-Croteau, Jimmy Belval, Alain Lemieux, Christian Chatelois
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flight conveyor for conveying articles while preventing injuries to an operator, the flight conveyor comprising a frame defining a trough, a drive system defining a rotating pathway and at least one flight driven by the drive system along the rotating pathway for conveying the articles through the trough, wherein the at least one flight is detachably fastened to the drive system and configured to be detached when subjected to a resistive force capable of injuring an operator.
Claims21
A flight conveyor comprising:
- a frame;
- an endless drive system rotating about the frame;
- and
- at least one detachable flight driven by the endless drive system the at least one flight being configured to be detached when subjected to a lateral force exceeding a predetermined threshold force;
- and
- a flight detachment sensor.
A method of safely conveying articles, the method comprising the steps of:
- detachably fastening at least one detachable flight to an endless drive system of a flight conveyor;
- driving the at least one detachable flight to convey articles through the flight conveyor;
- and
- automatically detaching the at least one detachable flight from the endless drive system when the at least one detachable flight is subjected to a lateral force exceeding a predetermined threshold force;
- and
- detecting if one of the at least one detachable flight has been detached.
A detachable flight comprising:
- a body comprising a first and an opposite second detachable ends;
- each ofthe first and second oppositeends being attachable to side members ofan endless drive system;
- and
- the first and second ends being detachable from any one oftheside members of the endless drive system when subjected to a lateral force exceeding a predetermined threshold force.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.