Live roller conveyor

A roller conveyor comprising:

• a plurality of spaced apart and generally parallel article supporting rollers forming an article conveying path;
• drive means in said conveyor beneath said plurality of rollers and normally engaged therewith to drive said rollers collectively and thereby move articles along the conveying path;
• expansible chamber brake means in said conveyor spaced from a predetermined group of said rollers, said predetermined group of rollers occupying a length of the conveying path sufficient to support articles spanning a distance substantially equal in length to said expansible chamber brake means;
• a source of fluid pressure;
• article sensing means in said conveying path in position for sensing article movement along said conveying path down stream from the location of said expansible chamber brake means;
• and timing means operated by said article sensing means and connected to said source of fluid pressure and to said expansible chamber brake means, said timing means being operable following the passage of a predetermined time period in the determination by said sensing means of an interruption in the article movement therebeyond for applying fluid pressure to said expansible chamber brake means to raise said predetermined group of rollers away from said drive means and thereby interrupt the article conveying drive imparted to said predetermined group of rollers after said predetermined time period has passed for stopping article movement beyond said predetermined group of rollers, said fluid pressure applying means being inoperable to supply the fluid pressure to said expansible chamber brake means to raise said rollers away from engagement with said drive means upon article movement out of position in which the presence thereof is determined by said sensing means prior to the expiration of said predetermined time period.