Conveyor roller nip point automatic protection device

Abstract

In industrial belted conveying systems, it is common to have a pull chord extending longitudinally along the conveyor, sometimes one chord on each side of the conveyor, said chord being attached to a trip mechanism, or safety switch. A number of serious accidents have occurred in the industry due to unprotected nip points at the return idlers under these conveyors. Accidents were the result of these pull chords not being easily accessible for manual activation of the safety features. In this invention, a primary pull chord is placed near the nip point, inserted through guides, and linked to one or more secondary longitudinal pull chord(s). The primary pull chord may be sleeved with a semi-rigid, pliable rod as additional support between the guides. Further, this semi-rigid rod may be encapsulated in a lightweight foamy tube to give it bulkiness. In the event of an inadvertent incident, the primary pull chord is entrained into the nip point, pulling the secondary longitudinal pull chord which then trips the safety switch, automatically disabling the conveyor drive.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.