Sortation into volume-adjustable containers
AssigneeLaitram, L.L.C.
InventorsMark Costanzo, Bryant G. Ragan, Christopher Alan Brupbacher, Destin Jacob Bailey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sorting conveyor system sorting parcels into volume-adjustable containers with movable floors and an associated method for adjusting the depth of the container's interior volume. The containers are mounted on carts and have movable floors that are raised and lowered to decrease and increase the depth of the container's interior volume below an upper rim as a function of the load of parcels in the container.
Claims23
A cart for receiving parcels, comprising:
- a base;
- a frame upstanding from the base;
- a bag supported by the frame and having flexible sides attached at a bottom to a rigid lower floor and having a top rim bounding a mouth opening into an interior volume between the top rim and the lower floor;
- a mover attached to the rigid lower floor to move the entire rigid lower floor vertically toward and away from the top rim to adjust the depth of the interior volume of the bag.
A cart for receiving parcels, comprising:
- a base;
- a frame upstanding from the base;
- a bag supported by the frame and having flexible sides attached at a bottom to a rigid lower floor and having a top rim bounding a mouth opening into an interior volume between the top rim and the lower floor;
- a mover comprising springs attached to the rigid lower floor and to the frame proximate the top rim to move the entire rigid lower floor vertically toward the top rim to adjust the depth of the interior volume of the bag.
A cart for receiving parcels, comprising:
- a base;
- a frame upstanding from the base;
- a bag supported by the frame and having flexible sides attached at a bottom to a rigid lower floor and having a top rim bounding a mouth opening into an interior volume between the top rim and the lower floor;
- a mover attached to the rigid lower floor to move the rigid lower floor toward or away from the top rim to adjust the depth of the interior volume of the bag;
- wherein the bag is made of a material resilient enough to be stretched by the mover from an unstretched state as it moves the rigid lower floor away from the top rim;
- wherein the mover comprises a winch including a motor, a pulley driven by the motor, and a cable wound on the pulley and extending to the rigid lower floor of the bag to move the rigid lower floor away from the top rim by stretching the bag to the increase the depth of the interior volume;
- wherein, as the weight of parcels in the interior volume decreases, the bag returns toward its unstretched state allowing the rigid lower floor to move toward the top rim and decrease the depth of the interior volume.
A conveyor system for sorting parcels, comprising:
- a diverting conveyor conveying parcels along its length;
- a plurality of discharges having entrance and exit ends and disposed along one or both sides of the diverting conveyor at spaced apart discharge locations along the length of the diverting conveyor to receive parcels diverted from the diverting conveyor over the entrance end and discharge the parcels off the exit end;
- a plurality of carts positioned proximate the exit ends of the discharges to receive parcels discharged from the discharges over the exit ends, wherein the carts each include a bag having a top rim and flexible sides attached at a bottom to a rigid lower floor that is entirely movable vertically toward and away from the top rim to adjust the depth of an interior volume of the bag as a function of the volume of parcels in the bag.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.