Infeed conveyor

An infeed conveyor system for transferring products such as paper rolls from a supply of products for arrival in synchronism with a moving product receiver, comprising:

• a squeezer conveyor including belts arranged to define a passage having inlet and outlet ends, translation of said belts causing product engaged between them to translate from said inlet end to said outlet end for discharge into a path of travel,
• drive means for translating said belts between low and high speeds below and above the average speed required to obtain said synchronism,
• means for detecting the position, within a predetermined time period, of products discharged into said path, and
• control means responsive to said detecting means by controlling said drive means to set the speed of said belt means depending on the position in which said product is detected.

An infeed conveyor system for transferring products, such as paper rolls, from first and second supplies of products for successive arrival in synchronism with a moving product receiver, comprising:

• squeezer conveyors adjacent each other in individual lanes and each having a pair of belts arranged to define a passage having inlet and outlet ends, translation of said belts of each squeezer conveyor means causing product engaged between them to translate from said inlet to said outlet ends,
• individual drive means for translating said squeezer conveyor belts respectively between low and high speeds below and above the nominal speed required to obtain said synchronism,
• speedup conveyor means for receiving products alternately discharged from the squeezer belts in each of said lanes and for advancing said products toward said receiver means in series,
• means associated with each lane for detecting the position, within predetermined time periods, of products on said speedup conveyor means which products are discharged from each lane,
• individual control means responsive to the respective detecting means by controlling said drive means to set the speed of said squeezer belt means depending on the position in which said products are detected,
• said drive means controlling said squeezer conveyor belt speeds, respectively, for advancing said products in each of them at a nominal speed which corresponds with their being advanced alternately about one-half of a product length for each machine cycle.

An infeed conveyor system comprising:

• a supply conveyor having a translating belt with a low friction surface on which a supply of products, such as paper rolls, are delivered,
• a receiver conveyor spaced from said supply conveyor and having constantly movable means for receiving products provided from said supply,
• a squeezer conveyor having translatable relatively higher friction belts, said belts defining a passage between them having an input end adjacent said supply conveyor and an output end, translation of said belts causing product engaged between them to translate from said inlet to outlet end for release from said squeezer conveyor,
• a speedup conveyor constructed and arranged to receive product released from said squeezer conveyor and to advance said product toward said receiver conveyor,
• a common source of power for driving said receiver, squeezer and speedup conveyors,
• drive means operatively coupling said common source of power to the speedup and receiver conveyors, respectively, to drive them at a substantially constant speed,
• squeezer conveyor drive means operatively coupling said common power souce to said squeezer conveyor for translating said belts and including means which are switchable between states to cause said squeezer conveyor to run at low and high speeds, respectively, below and above the average speed required for products released from said conveyor to arrive in synchronism with said receiver conveyor means,
• said drive means also including clutch means operable to couple and decouple said squeezer conveyor means and said power source,
• first and second cams controlled to rotate at a constant angular speed and to be in an identical angular position at the same time in each cycle of the system, said cams each having switch operating means with a fixed angle between them,
• first and second switches each of which is closed and opened successively by said rotating switch operating means,
• means for projecting a beam of light across the path along which said product travels after release from said squeezer conveyor,
• detector means for detecting said light beam,
• means for controlling said switchable means to change states,
• said means for controlling responding to said detector not sensing light due to product interrupting said beam concurrently with closure of said first switch by maintaining said switchable means in a state that will cause said squeezer conveyor to run at low speed corresponding with said product not being too late,
• said means for controlling responding to said detector not sensing light due to product interrupting said beam concurrently with closure of said second switch by switching said switchable means to a state that will cause said squeezer conveyor to run at high speed corresponding with said product being too late, and
• said means for controlling responding to said detector not sensing light due to product interrupting said beam concurrently with closure of said first switch by switching said switchable means to a state that will cause said squeezer conveyor to run at low speed since said product would be too early.