Conveyor and control therefor
AssigneeAmerican Bottlers Equipment Co., Inc.
InventorFrederick E. Fauth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A conveyor using rollers as the conveying surface and driven by a drive unit composed of a drive gear mounted on a drive shaft and driving a number of pinion gears each of which is connected to a roller through a flexible shaft. A sprocket wheel is mounted for free rotation on the drive shaft and pair of thrust washers is fixed to the drive shaft on either side of the sprocket wheel. The thrust washers are biased against the sprocket wheel by a spring which provides an adjustable torque. A number of modules containing rollers and a drive unit as just described are mounted together to form a conveyor system.
Claims27
A transfer mechanism for transporting articles, comprising:
- (a) a plurality of parallel rollers disposed in a planar array and forming a conveyor;
- (b) means for supporting said rollers for rotation;
- and
- (c) means for driving said rollers, said drive means comprising:
- (d) an input drive means having a drive transmitting surface;
- (e) a plurality of drive takeoff members disposed in a circular array around the periphery of, and driven by, said drive means;
- (f) a flexible coupling connecting each of said rollers with one of said takeoff members, whereby rotation of said takeoff members causes rotation of said rollers;
- and
- (g) means for driving said input drive means,
- (h) adjustable torque clutch means operatively interposed between said last mentioned driving means and said input drive means.
Drive means for a transfer mechanism for transporting containers which comprises a plurality of parallel rollers disposed in a planar array and forming a conveyor system, said drive means comprising:
- (a) an input drive means having a drive transmitting surface;
- (b) a plurality of drive takeoff members disposed in a circular array around the periphery of, and driven by, said drive means;
- (c) a flexible coupling connecting each of said rollers with one of said takeoff members, whereby rotation of said takeoff members causes rotation of said rollers;
- and
- (d) means for driving said input drive means,
- (e) adjustable torque clutch means operatively interposed between said last mentioned driving means and said input drive means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.