Transfer conveyor

A conveyor for transferring and storing a number of works comprising a conveyor driving mechanism, a series of work supports, each having a length shorter than the length of the works, a conveyor track to support said series of work supports for travel in a transfer path, and a collision-preventing mechanism which prevents collision between the work on the leading work support of said series and the work on a trailing work support of said series, characterized in that said collision-preventing mechanism includes

• a sensing roller, operable to be displaced between an elevated contact position in said transfer path, where it is adapted to contact the work support of the leading work of said series on said conveyor track, and a deflected position into which the roller is deflected by said contact with the leading work support,
• a sensing bell crank lever rotatably mounting said sensing roller at one end, operable to pivot the roller between the contact and deflected positions,
• connecting rod means having one end connected to the other end of said sensing bell crank lever,
• a stopper bell crank lever connected to the other end of said connecting rod means and having a stopper operable upon deflection of said roller to be displaced into the path of said trailing work support of the series to limit travel of said trailing work support to maintain at least a predetermined conveying interval between said leading and trailing works,
• the weights of said bell crank levers, said connecting rod means and said stopper biasing said sensing roller towards its elevated position in said transfer path, said bias being overcome by the passage of the leading work support over the sensing roller in its elevated position.