Improvements in and relatingto Conveying AssembllesThe present invention relates to a conveying assembly, particularly but not exclusively, for conveying fragile articles such as biscuits.
According to the present invention there is provided a conveyor assembly for receiving articles from a plurality of input conveyors and conveying them to at least one output conveyor, the assembly comprising conveying means providing a surface movable in a first direction and having an input end for receiving articles from the input conveyors in sideby-side lines extending in the first direction, positioning means for engaging articles in the lines of articles on the conveying surface and for pushing the articles laterally of the first direction across the conveying surface into at least one output line.
The or each output line may be formed on the conveying means, at least one output conveyor receiving the articles from the conveying surface, or the or each output line may be formed directly on one or more output conveyors.
The positioning means preferably comprises a plurality of article engaging means for engaging, in one cycle, at least one article from each of the plurality of lines and moving those articles into at least one output line. The engaging means may be mounted for movement in the first direction at the same speed as the conveying means and for simultaneous movement laterally thereof. The engaging means may be arranged to move the articles into a single output line or into two or more side-by-side output lines. Preferably the positioning means are mounted above the conveying surface and the engaging means are moved independently of the conveying surface.The engaging means may be mounted on endless drive means having an operative run positioned above the conveying surface with the engaging means mounted thereon so as to be positioned to engage articles on the conveying surface, the operative run extending in a direction inclined to the first direction of movement of the conveying surface and to the direction of the lateral movement of the articles relative thereto.
Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Figure 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of conveying assembly in accordance with the present invention;Figure 2 is a diagrammatic section on the line II-II of Figure 1; andFigure 3 is an enlarged section on the line III-III of Figure 2.
As shown in the drawings, the conveying assembly comprises conveying means 1 providing a generally planar surface 2 on which articles are supported, the surface 2 being movable in the direction of the arrow 3. The conveying surface 2 is provided by the upper run of an endless conveyor 4, and is in this embodiment, defined by a plurality of transversely extending slats 5 mounted on endless drive means, e.g chains. The surface 2 is separated into transversely extending longitudinally spaced segments 2a by transverse ribs 7 which act to pick up articles 8, e.g.
biscuits, which are fed to the input end 9 of the conveying surface 2 by a plurality of input conveyors 10. The outlet ends of the input conveyors 10 are spaced apart across the width of the input end of the surface 2 and deposit the articles in side-by-side lines 11 on the surface 2. The input conveyors may, for example, be as described in GB 2170164 or EP 0255261.
In this embodiment, the input conveyors 10 are arranged to feed one article to each transversely extending segment so that, in any one cycle, at least one article from each of the input conveyors is deposited on the surface 2.
The articles thus appear on surface 2 in lines extending diagonally across the surface 2.
Extending along one longitudinal edge of the surface 2 is an output conveyor 12 for removing the articles in a single line from conveying means 1. The output conveyor has a generally planar surface 13 coplanar with surface 2 and moving at the same speed as surface 2. Surface 13 is formed by the upper run of an endless conveyor and is defined, as is surface 2, by a plurality of transversely extending slats 14 and is provided with ribs 15 separating surface 13 into longitudinally spaced segments 13a corresponding to and aligned with segments 2a so that each segment 13a can receive an article from a segment 2a.
As the articles are moved along on surface 2, they are moved transversely relative to and across surface 2 into a corresponding segment 13a of surface 13 by positioning means 16 which are arranged to engage in one cycle at least one article from each of the input conveyors, and progressively move those articles across surface 2 into the corresponding segments of conveyor 12. The positioning means 16 comprise a plurality of engaging means 17 each of which is arranged to engage an article on surface 2 and move it onto surface 13.
As shown, the engaging means 17 are mounted on an endless drive means 18, e.g. a belt, which extends diagonally across surface 2 towards the output conveyor 12. The lower run of the belt 18 is arranged relative to surface 2 to bring the engaging means 17 on the lower run into positions to engage articles on surface 2.
Each engaging means 17 may, as shown, comprise a plurality of, e.g. three, fingers 20 which engage the article rearwardly and laterally in the direction of transverse movement so that the article is positively engaged and pushed by the engaging means to thereby avoid any risk of an article being jammed by the engaging means against a rib 7 on surface 2. The rearward finger 20a may have a portion 20b extending over the article to prevent the article riding up the finger 20b and resisting movement across the surface 2. It will be appreciated that the engaging means may take a variety of different forms to achieve sufficient positive engagement of an article. For example, in a modification, each engaging means may be generally U-shaped.
In this embodiment, the conveying means 1 receives articles from two input conveyors 10 which form two lines 11 on the conveying surface 2. The positioning means 16 comprise a plurality of engaging means mounted on the belt 18, of which four are at any one time arranged on the lower run of the belt to engage and position four articles, two from each line 11, in a single line on the output conveyor 13.
It will be appreciated that the number of input conveyors 10 and therefore the number of lines 11 may be greater than two.
The number of engaging means 17 arranged at any one time on the lower run can be varied but must be a multiple (n) of the number of lines 11, where n may be any whole number including 1. However, the speed at which an article is moved laterally across surface 2 reduces as n increases so that for fragile articles it is preferred that n is 2 or more. The angle that the belt 18 makes with the direction of movement of the surface 2 (arrow 3) will depend on n, the angle reducing as n increases. Thus the upper limit on n may be determined by the space available for the conveying means 1.
The output conveyor 12 is arranged to be co-extensive with conveying means 1 to the extent necessary to bring its segments 13a into coincidence with segments 2a in the region of the forward end of positioning means 16. Its overall extent beyond conveying means 2 will depend on the arrangement of other equipment which receives articles from the output conveyor 12. In a modification, the output line of articles may be formed on the surface 2 and then removed from the output end of surface 2 by an output conveyor extending therefrom. Additionally, the conveying means 2 may itself be formed by a plurality of side by side conveying means 22 which need not be co-extensive but may, as shown, terminate beyond the positioning means as is appropriate.Additionally the ribs 7 may, as shown, be provided only in so far as they are required to define the parts of the segments in which articles are received.
The positioning means 16 is advantageously mounted relative to conveyor 1 so that it can be swung upwardly away from surface 2, e.g. about the axis of one end roller 21 around which the belt 18 is entrained, to facilitate cleaning of its lower run and the part of the surface 2 above which it extends.
In the foregoing, the segments 2a of surface 2 which are occupied by the articles from the input conveyors 10 are spaced apart by unused segments 2b and correspondingly there are segments 13b of the output conveyor which are not occupied by articles from conveying means 1. This is because, in this embodiment, a second conveying means 101, corresponding in all respects to conveying means 1 except that it is a mirror image of conveying means 1, is arranged on the other side of the output conveyor 12 to receive articles from a second plurality of input conveyors 110 and with a second positioning means 116, corresponding similarly with positioning means 16, for moving articles from the second conveying means 101 onto the segments 13b of the output conveyor 12.Thus, taking the two conveying means 1, 101 together, only one article is provided in each segment of the combined conveying means 1, 101, so that conveying means 101 has segments 102a which are occupied by articles and segments 102b which are unused, segments 102a being aligned with segments 2b and segments 102b being aligned with segments 2a.
If conveying means 101 is omitted, then segments 2b will be omitted or, in other words, all of the segments of conveying means 1 will be occupied by articles from the input conveyors of conveying means 1.
In the foregoing, a single output line of single articles is formed on output conveyor 12. If it is required to create a double layer of articles in the output line, the surfaces of conveying means 101 and output conveyor 12 can be arranged lower, by the thickness of the articles, than the surface of conveying means 1. The positioning means 116 provides a first layer of articles on the conveyor 12. A second layer of articles is then deposited on the articles on the conveyor 12 by the positioning means 16. In this modification, all segments of both conveying means 1, 101 are provided with articles by the input conveyors. The output conveyor may then pass to other conveying assemblies to have further articles deposited on it.
Alternatively, in the absence of conveying means 101, the output conveyor 12 may be arranged to collect articles from a plurality of sequentially arranged conveying means 1, the level of the surface 13 dropping by one article thickness between successive conveying means 1.
In a further modification, the engaging means of the or each positioning means may be positioned on the respective belt to position the articles in two or more output lines on one or a plurality of output conveyors (or parts of the conveying means). This can be achieved by relatively displacing adjacent engaging means on the belt of the positioning means so that the engaging means disengage from the respective article at different locations to deposit the articles in different lines. With this arrangement, the input conveyors may be arranged to deposit two or more articles in each segment of the conveying means which is to be used.
It will be appreciated that the overall arrangement of the conveying assembly will depend on the articles being conveyed together with the relative speeds of the equipment upstream and downstream of the conveying assembly.