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US 4,540,083 AGranted
Unlatch assembly for a conveyor system
AssigneeSantrade Ltd.
InventorsJames R. Cowdery, David B. Park, Rouzas R. Khoylian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The unlatch assembly employs a reciprocating carriage to engage and pull a product-carrying mat entering into the ascending elevator away from the main conveyor. The carriage is reciprocated in a path under the elevator and disengages when the mat is fully within the elevator. The carriage drive employs a single chain to avoid skewing of the carriage.
Claims15
In combination with a conveyor system having a plurality of carriers, each said carrier having a rod at a forward end thereof and at least one depending hook on said rod;
- a main conveyor for moving a sequential series of said carriers along a horizontal path, said conveyor having a plurality of longitudinally spaced hooks for respectively engaging said rod of each respective carrier and an endless chain for moving said hooks of said conveyor along said horizontal path;
- and a second conveyor having pairs of opposed tracks disposed in vertically stacked relation for sequentially receiving and conveying said carriers in a vertical plane;
- an unlatch assembly for sequentially unlatching and moving each carrier from said main conveyor onto a respective pair of tracks of said second conveyor, said unlatch assembly comprising
- an upwardly inclined trackway below said horizontal path,
- a carriage movably mounted on said trackway and having a horizontally disposed bar thereon to engage said hook in said rod of said carrier in said horizontal path, and
- means for reciprocating said carriage on said trackway with said bar moving from below said horizontal path into and through said path to engage a carrier therein while moving at a speed greater than said hook of said main conveyor in said path.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.