Dispatcher for conveyor system

A dispatching apparatus for a conveyor system having a plurality of cars displaceable along a track and each having a side provided with a plurality of parallel guides each in turn receiving a respective code marker slidable along the respective guide and arrestable therein at any of a plurality of predetermined index positions, whereby the pattern defined by said markers in said positions determines the path of travel of the respective car on said track, said apparatus comprising:

• a support fixed adjacent said track;
• a plurality of rows of encoders on said support, each row being alignable with a respective guide on a one of said cars and each encoder being alignable with a respective position on the respective guide, each encoder having a remotely operable abutment member projectable from said support into the respective guide, whereby displacement of a car past a support having one such member of each such row projecting from said support automatically displaces the respective markers along the respective guides;
• and
• means for displacing said abutment members and said side apart to disengage same when the guides of the car align with the rows of the support, said means for displacing including means for withdrawing said abutment members into said support on alignment of said rows with said guides on said car.