Storage arrangement for truck conveyor trolleys
AssigneeTsubakimoto Chain Co.
InventorsMasasumi Murai, Hirokazu Kondo, Shigekatzu Takino
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Storage arrangement for truck conveyor trolleys is provided wherein trolley units are designed to run within a conveyance path defined by a trolley rail. The trolley units are engageable with a truck for receiving articles to be carried and can be attached and detached from the truck by positioning the trolley units on segmented rail portions integrally formed as part of the trolley running rail. By raising or lowering the scissioned rail segments with the trolley units positioned thereon, the trolley units will automatically engage with and disengage from the truck. Once disconnected from the truck, the trolley units can be stored in large numbers in a storage place, either on the rail segments or on separate storage rails.
Claims12
A storage arrangement for conveyor trolleys, comprising:
- (a) a front trolley unit;
- (b) a rear trolley unit;
- (c) an article carrier for receiving an article for conveyance having trolley-engagement means detachably engageable with said front and rear trolley units;
- (d) a running rail means for guiding said front and rear trolley units along a selected conveyance path, said front and rear trolley units having rail-engagement means for engaging said rail means;
- (e) storage rail means at a selected storage location along said conveyance path for storing said front and rear trolley units;
- (f) transfer rail means at said storage location, said transfer rail means in a first position cooperating with said running rail means to enable transfer of said front and rear trolley units between said running and said transfer rail means, and in a second position cooperating with said storage rail means to enable transfer of said front and rear trolley units between said transfer and said storage rail means;
- (g) transfer-rail displacement means for displacing said transfer rail means between said first and second positions;
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- (h) transfer drive means at said storage location for transferring said front and rear trolley units between said storage rails and said transfer rails.
A storage arrangement for conveyor trolleys, comprising:
- (a) a front trolley unit;
- (b) a rear trolley unit;
- (c) an article carrier for receiving an article for conveyance having trolley-engagement means detachably engageable with said front and rear trolley units at the respective front and rear of said article carrier;
- (d) a running rail for guiding said front and rear trolley units along a selected conveyance path, said front and rear trolley units having rail-engagement means for engaging said running rail;
- (e) a plurality of storage rails provided at a selected storage location along said conveyance path for storing said front and rear trolley units, each trolley-storage rail having an operative position in operable communication with said running rail to enable transfer of said front and rear trolley units between said running and storage rails, and an inoperative position out of communication with said running rail, said trolley-engagement means of said article carrier being engageable with said front and rear trolley units in said operative position and disengaged in said inoperative position to enable storage of said front and rear trolley units independently of said article carrier;
- and
- (f) rail displacement means for displacing each of said storage rails between said operative position and inoperative positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.