Article carrier for a grading apparatus

An article carrier including:

• a) means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor;
• b) a carrier frame located over said mounting means and freely movable about a pivot so as to be locatable in a carriage position, in which articles may be supported on the carrier frame, and an ejection position, in which articles are ejected from the carrier frame;
• and
• c) a movable locking member;
• wherein when the carrier frame is located in the carriage position, the vertical component of the weight of an article located on the carrier frame is borne by the carrier frame and means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor, to the exclusion of the locking member and the locking member is locatable in a first position, in which movement of the carrier frame about said pivot is prevented and is locatable, by a direct force applied to the locking member, in a second position, in which the carrier frame can move about the pivot;
• and
• wherein in use, when the article carrier is in the carriage position, the locking member tends to move into the first position due to gravity and is movable upwards to enter the second position.

An article carrier including:

• a) a base portion one of engaged and engageable with a conveyor;
• b) a carrier portion removably pivotally engageable with the base portion;
• c) a latch extending between the base portion and carrier portion that is at least one of pivotally and slidably engaged at a first end to the carrier portion and operable to interlock the carrier portion and base portion when in a first position and release the carrier portion and base portion when moved away from the first position;
• wherein the latch is secured to the carrier portion and includes at least one downwardly extending projection that engages with a stop provided on said base portion and wherein the at least one downwardly extending projection moves over the top of said stop when the latch is moved to the second position;
• and
• wherein in use, the latch includes a catch that, when the carrier portion is not pivotally engaged with the base portion, maintains the carrier portion over the base portion.

An article carrier comprising:

• a) means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor;
• b) a carrier frame associated with said means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor and freely movable about a pivot so as to be locatable in a carriage position, in which articles may be supported on the carrier frame, and an ejection position, in which articles are ejected from the carrier frame, wherein the carrier frame is shaped and positioned relative to the means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor so that when the carrier frame is in the carriage position, articles are located thereon substantially centered vertically of the pivot when the carrier frame is in the carriage position;
• and
• c) a locking member;
• wherein when the carrier frame is located in the carriage position, the locking member is locatable in a first position that prevents movement of the carrier frame about said pivot and is movable into a second position that releases the carrier frame, allowing the carrier frame to move about the pivot and
• wherein the carrier frame includes at least one support surface allowing the carrier frame to rest on a means for weighing when it is disassociated from the means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor, thereby allowing the means for weighing to weigh the carrier frame with an item located thereon.

An article carrier comprising:

• a) means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor;
• b) a first carrier frame located to one side of said means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor and a second carrier frame located to the opposing side of said means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor, wherein both the first and second carrier frames are freely movable about a pivot so as to be locatable in a carriage position, in which articles may be supported on the carrier frame, and an ejection position, in which articles are ejected from the carrier frame in a direction away from the means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor;
• and
• c) first and second locking members for the first carrier frame and second carrier frame respectively;
• wherein when the first and second carrier frames are located in the carriage position, the first and second locking members are each locatable in a first position that prevents movement of the carrier frame about said pivot and is movable into a second position that releases the carrier frame, whereby the carrier frame moves under the force of gravity about the pivot to the ejection position.

An article carrier including:

• a) means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor;
• b) a carrier frame associated with said means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor and movable about a pivot so as to be locatable in a carriage position, in which articles maybe supported on the carrier frame, and an ejection position, in which articles are ejected from the carrier frame;
• and
• c) a movable control member that selectively prevents or allows movement of the carrier frame about said pivot;
• wherein the carrier frame is dissociable from the means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor by conveying the article carrier past one or more upwardly facing surfaces of a means for weighing, located to abut one or more downwardly facing surfaces on the carrier frame.

A conveyor system, comprising:

• an endless conveyor;
• a plurality of article carriers mounted to said conveyor, each of said article carriers including:
• a) means for mounting the article carrier to said conveyor;
• b) a carrier frame associated with said means for mounting the article carrier to said conveyor and freely movable about a pivot so as to be locatable in a carriage position, in which articles may be supported on the carrier frame, and an ejection position, in which articles are ejected from the carrier frame;
• c) a locking member, wherein when the carrier frame is located in the carriage position, the locking member is locatable in a first position that prevents movement of the carrier frame about said pivot and is movable relative to both the carrier frame and the mounting means into a second position that releases the carrier frame, allowing the carrier frame to move about the pivot, and wherein when the locking member is located in the first position to prevent movement of the carrier frame, the locking member is not under load;
• and
• an ejection station disposed at a location along said conveyor for receiving articles from the article carriers;
• and
• an actuator operable at the ejection station under the control of a controller to move the locking member from the first position to release the carrier frame from the means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor.

A grading apparatus for articles, comprising:

• an endless conveyor;
• a plurality of article carriers mounted to said conveyor, each of said article carriers including:
• a) means for mounting the article carrier to said conveyor;
• b) a carrier frame associated with said means for mounting the article carrier to said conveyor and freely movable about a pivot so as to be locatable in a carriage position, in which articles may be supported on the carrier frame, and an ejection position, in which articles are ejected from the carrier frame;
• c) a locking member, wherein when the carrier frame is located in the carriage position, the locking member is locatable in a first position that prevents movement of the carrier frame about said pivot and is movable relative to both the carrier frame and the mounting means into a second position that releases the carrier frame, allowing the carrier frame to move about the pivot, and wherein when the locking member is located in the first position to prevent movement of the carrier frame, the locking member is not under load;
• and
• an ejection station disposed at a location along said conveyor for receiving articles from the article carriers;
• an actuator operable at the station under the control of a controller to move the locking member from the first position to release the carrier frame from the means for mounting the article carrier to a conveyor;
• and
• means located along said conveyor for grading an article carried on one of said plurality of article carriers.