Apparatus for organizing articles traveling on a conveyor
US7210568B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 28, 2005 |
| Grant date | May 1, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 28, 2025 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB65G2201/0244
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
In laner apparatus for automatically arranging articles into lanes on a conveyor, for example for packaging or further processing, the articles are fed onto a conveyor upstream of a fence that extends at an acute angle to the direction of travel of the conveyor. The fence has gateways at intervals along its length and gates that control passage of the articles through the gateways and into lanes downstream of the fence. These downstream lanes may feed the articles onto slides for packaging or further processing. Articles that do not pass through a gateway move to the downstream end of the fence by the reaction forces resulting from motion of the conveyor and the angle of the fence. A control unit reads signals from sensors which are placed downstream of the fence, and preferably downstream of the laner apparatus, to determine whether each downstream lane is full and sends signals to selectively open and close the gates.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.