US4227607A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
High volume method and system for dynamically storing articles for sorting and routing
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1979-04-16
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Granted: 1980-10-14
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Expires: 1999-04-16
Abstract
Abstract An integrated high volume method and system for transporting and dynamically storing articles, such as luggage, baggage, identified items of cargo, parcels, and the like, for sorting and routing them is provided. The method and system are completely integrated, synchronized, and controlled to facilitate sorting and routing and to permit stopping of the entire system without loss of position or timing of any of the designated articles in the system. The article handling system includes a series of individually operable intermediate conveyors arranged in a continuous path between an input station and a coding or routing station. These intermediate conveyors are individually operable and have article-sensing means and control means which activate and deactivate the individual conveyors. When the system is operating in the conventional operating mode, all the conveyors are activated to transport articles. The buffer conveyors near the coding station are selectively stopped as articles become stored thereon. When all of the buffer conveyors become full, the intermediate conveyors are all simultaneously stopped. At this time, the system goes into the dynamic storage mode of operation, which involves selectively operating upstream intermediate conveyors when an article is sensed on an input conveyor, until the article on the input conveyor is removed and deposited on the first intermediate conveyor. The next successive intermediate conveyors are selectively operated when the preceding intermediate conveyor is filled with stored articles thereby advantageously, cumulatively utilizing the entire length of all intermediate conveyors for dynamically storing articles throughout the system.
Inventors
- 👤 Peter P. Malavenda
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-23 04:22
CPC Classifications
B; B64; B64F; B64F1/00; B64F1/36; B64F1/368; B65; B65G; B65G43/00; B65G43/08; B65G43/10; B65G47/00; B65G47/34; B65G47/46; B65G47/50
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 26
Claim 1
Independent Claim
400 words
A method for automatically handling individually identified articles such as parcels, baggage, items of cargo and the like on a conveyor system comprising a series of individually operable conveyors arranged in a continuous path for the transport of the articles between a check-in station having input conveyor means and a coding station including a plurality of short buffer conveyors with a plurality of intermediate conveyors arranged end-to-end between said input conveyor means and said buffer conveyors comprising the steps of: (a) simultaneously activating all of said intermediate conveyors and all of said buffer conveyors for operating said conveyor system in a conventional transport mode; (b) placing checked-in articles on said input conveyor means to be transported via said intermediate conveyors to said buffer conveyors at said coding station; (c) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each of said short buffer conveyors at said coding station; (d) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each intermediate conveyor; (e) selectively stopping the downstream buffer conveyor and each preceeding buffer conveyor at said coding station when a stored article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the respective conveyor; (f) deactivating said intermediate conveyors when all of said buffer conveyors have articles sensed as being present thereon and have been stopped, thereby placing the system in a dynamic storage mode of operation, while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running; (g) sensing the presence of each checked-in article near the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (h) selectively briefly activating the first intermediate conveyor until each such checked-in article has been removed from the end of said input conveyor means and has been transferred onto the upstream end of the first intermediate conveyor; (i) selectively briefly activating each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the preceeding intermediate conveyor. thereby progressively filling all of the space on all the intermediate conveyors with articles slightly spaced one from another as checked-in articles are fed from the input conveyor means; (j) returning to the conventional transport mode of operation when the upstream buffer conveyor is cleared of the article temporarily stored thereon; and (k) deactivating the input conveyor means whenever it happens that all of the space on all of the intermediate conveyors has become full of temporarily stored articles.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
400 words
A method for automatically handling individually identified articles such as parcels, baggage, items of cargo and the like on a conveyor system comprising a series of individually operable conveyors arranged in a continuous path for the transport of the articles between a check-in station having input conveyor means and a coding station including a plurality of short buffer conveyors with a plurality of intermediate conveyors arranged end-to-end between said input conveyor means and said buffer conveyors comprising the steps of: (a) simultaneously activating all of said intermediate conveyors and all of said buffer conveyors for operating said conveyor system in a conventional transport mode; (b) placing checked-in articles on said input conveyor means to be transported via said intermediate conveyors to said buffer conveyors at said coding station; (c) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each of said short buffer conveyors at said coding station; (d) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each intermediate conveyor; (e) selectively stopping the downstream buffer conveyor and each preceeding buffer conveyor at said coding station when a stored article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the respective conveyor; (f) deactivating said intermediate conveyors when all of said buffer conveyors have articles sensed as being present thereon and have been stopped, thereby placing the system in a dynamic storage mode of operation, while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running; (g) sensing the presence of each checked-in article near the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (h) selectively briefly activating the first intermediate conveyor until each such checked-in article has been removed from the end of said input conveyor means and has been transferred onto the upstream end of the first intermediate conveyor; (i) selectively briefly activating each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the preceeding intermediate conveyor. thereby progressively filling all of the space on all the intermediate conveyors with articles slightly spaced one from another as checked-in articles are fed from the input conveyor means; (j) returning to the conventional transport mode of operation when the upstream buffer conveyor is cleared of the article temporarily stored thereon; and (k) deactivating the input conveyor means whenever it happens that all of the space on all of the intermediate conveyors has become full of temporarily stored articles.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
190 words
A method for automatically handling individually identified articles as claimed in claim 1, including steps for permitting a coding operator to split overlapped articles at the coding station comprising: providing said downstream buffer conveyor at the coding station sufficiently long for positioning two articles thereon spaced end-to-end; sensing for the presence of an article on said buffer conveyor at an intermediate location thereon; selectively deactivating the preceeding buffer conveyor whenever an article is sensed as being present on the downstream buffer conveyor either near its downstream end or at said intermediate location; allowing the downstream buffer conveyor to continue running until an article is sensed as being present at its downstream end; thereby always providing an open space on the upstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor at the time when an article is sensed as being present at the downstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor, whereby if the sensed article at said downstream end is actually two articles in overlapped relationship, the coding operator can manually slide one of the overlapped articles backward into the nearby available open space on the upstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
96 words
A method for automatically handling individually identified articles as claimed in claim 1, including the steps of: providing a plurality of sub-station conveyors for feeding in parallel relationship into said input conveyor means at spaced intersections along said input conveyor means; sensing for the presence of an article on said input conveyor means at a predetermined point upstream from each intersection with a sub-station conveyor; and inhibiting the dispatch of a newly tagged article from a sub-station conveyor onto said input conveyor means whenever an article is sensed as being upstream therefrom at the predetermined point.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
124 words
A method for automatically handling individually identified articles as claimed in claim 3, including the step of: starting a collision avoidance count at the instant when an article is sensed at the predetermined upstream point, said collision avoidance count having a sufficiently long time duration for permitting the sensed article to pass by the intersection before the newly tagged article is dispatched from the sub-station conveyor onto the input conveyor means; temporarily stopping said collision avoidance count whenever the input conveyor means is temporarily stopped; and resuming said collision avoidance count when the input conveyor means again starts running, thereby preserving the relationship between the travel of articles on the input conveyor means and the dispatch of newly tagged articles from the sub-station conveyor.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
136 words
A method for automatically handling individually identified articles as claimed in claim 3 or 4 including the step of: enabling a first group of sub-station conveyors which are located nearer the upstream end of the input conveyor means to dispatch newly tagged articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated brief time periods; inhibiting said first group of conveyors from dispatching newly tagged articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated longer time periods alternating in sequence with said brief time periods; and enabling a second group of sub-station conveyors which are located further from the upstream end of the input conveyor means to dispatch newly tagged articles onto the input conveyor means during said longer time periods, thereby preventing the first group of sub-station conveyors from "hogging" use of the input conveyor means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
367 words
An airline baggage handling system for transporting articles from a check-in station to a coding station where the articles are routed to specific destinations comprising: (a) a series of individually operable intermediate conveyors arranged in a continuous path between said check-in station having input conveyor means and said coding station having a plurality of short buffer conveyors; (b) sensing means for detecting the presence of an article at the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (c) sensing means for detecting the presence of articles at the downstream end of each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors; (d) means for simultaneously activating each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors for transporting articles from said input conveyor means at said check-in station to said coding station; (e) means for selectively stopping each of said buffer conveyors in progressive order from the downstream buffer conveyor to the upstream buffer conveyor as an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the respective buffer conveyor; (f) means for stopping said intermediate conveyors while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running for changing the system over into a dynamic storage mode of operation so long as the upstream buffer conveyor has an article stored thereon as a result of the fact that all of said buffer conveyors have articles stored thereon; (g) means for selectively briefly operating the first intermediate conveyor when an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of said input conveyor means for transferring the article from said input conveyor means to the upstream end of said first intermediate conveyor; (h) means for selectively briefly operating in sequence each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the preceeding intermediate conveyor for transferring the detected article from the preceeding intermediate conveyor to the upstream end of the succeeding intermediate conveyor, thereby progressively filling the entire lengths of all immediate conveyors to dynamically store articles throughout the system; and means for activating all of said intermediate conveyors for changing the system over into the normal conveyor mode of operation when an article is no longer detected as being present on the upstream buffer conveyor.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
367 words
An airline baggage handling system for transporting articles from a check-in station to a coding station where the articles are routed to specific destinations comprising: (a) a series of individually operable intermediate conveyors arranged in a continuous path between said check-in station having input conveyor means and said coding station having a plurality of short buffer conveyors; (b) sensing means for detecting the presence of an article at the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (c) sensing means for detecting the presence of articles at the downstream end of each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors; (d) means for simultaneously activating each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors for transporting articles from said input conveyor means at said check-in station to said coding station; (e) means for selectively stopping each of said buffer conveyors in progressive order from the downstream buffer conveyor to the upstream buffer conveyor as an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the respective buffer conveyor; (f) means for stopping said intermediate conveyors while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running for changing the system over into a dynamic storage mode of operation so long as the upstream buffer conveyor has an article stored thereon as a result of the fact that all of said buffer conveyors have articles stored thereon; (g) means for selectively briefly operating the first intermediate conveyor when an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of said input conveyor means for transferring the article from said input conveyor means to the upstream end of said first intermediate conveyor; (h) means for selectively briefly operating in sequence each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the preceeding intermediate conveyor for transferring the detected article from the preceeding intermediate conveyor to the upstream end of the succeeding intermediate conveyor, thereby progressively filling the entire lengths of all immediate conveyors to dynamically store articles throughout the system; and means for activating all of said intermediate conveyors for changing the system over into the normal conveyor mode of operation when an article is no longer detected as being present on the upstream buffer conveyor.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
34 words
An airline baggage handling system as claimed in claim 6, including: means for stopping the input conveyor means when the entire lengths of all intermediate conveyors have become filled with dynamically stored articles thereon.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
182 words
An airline baggage handling system as claimed in claim 6 or 7 in which: said downstream buffer conveyor at the coding station is sufficiently long for positioning two articles thereon spaced end-to-end; sensing means for detecting the presence of an article on said downstream buffer conveyor at an intermediate location thereon; means for selectively deactivating the preceeding buffer conveyor whenever an article is detected as being present on the downstream buffer conveyor either near its downstream end or at said intermediate location; means for allowing the downstream buffer conveyor to continue running until an article is sensed as being present at its downstream end; thereby always providing an open space on the upstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor at the time when an article is sensed as being present at the downstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor, whereby if the sensed article at said downstream end is actually two articles in overlapped relationship, the coding operator can manually slide one of the overlapped articles backward into the nearby available open space on the upstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
108 words
An airline baggage handling system as claimed in claim 6 or 7 in which: a plurality of sub-station conveyors are located in spaced parallel relationship at said check-in station for feeding in parallel relationship into said input conveyor means at spaced intersections along said input conveyor means; sensing means for detecting the presence of an article on said input conveyor means at a predetermined point upstream from each intersection with a sub-station conveyor; and inhibiting means for inhibiting the dispatch of a newly tagged article from a sub-station conveyor onto said input conveyor means whenever an article is sensed as being upstream therefrom at such a predetermined point.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
141 words
An airline baggage handling system as claimed in claim 9 in which: means are provided for enabling a first group of sub-station conveyors which are located nearer the upstream end of the input conveyor means to dispatch newly tagged articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated brief time periods; means are provided for inhibiting said first group of conveyors from dispatching newly tagged articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated longer time periods alternating in sequence with said brief time periods; and means are provided for enabling a second group of sub-station conveyors which are located further from the upstream end of the input conveyor means to dispatch newly tagged articles onto the input conveyor means during said longer time periods, thereby preventing the first group of sub-station conveyors from "hogging" use of the input conveyor means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
144 words
An airline baggage handling system as claimed in claim 9 in which: collision avoidance count means are provided at the check-in station, said count means being started at the instant when an article is sensed at the predetermined upstream point, said collision avoidance count having a sufficiently long time duration for permitting the sensed article to pass by the intersection before the newly tagged article is dispatched from the sub-station conveyor onto the input conveyor means; means are provided for temporarily stopping said collision avoidance count whenever the input conveyor means is temporarily stopped and for resuming said collision avoidance count when the input conveyor means again starts running, thereby preserving the relationship between the travel of articles on the input conveyor means and the dispatch of newly tagged articles from the sub-station conveyor in spite of temporary stopping of said input conveyor means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
109 words
The airline baggage handling system as claimed in claim 6 or 7 in which: a plurality of sub-station conveyors are positioned at said check-in station; said sub-station conveyors each merging with said input conveyor means at an individual intersection therewith; and means for selectively activating and controlling said sub-station conveyors so that an article on the input conveyor passes the intersection with a sub-station conveyor before a newly tagged article can be dispatched from the sub-station conveyor onto the input conveyor means, thereby avoiding collisions between the newly tagged articles being dispatched from the respective sub-station conveyors and articles which are already being conveyed by said input conveyor means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
378 words
Dynamic storage method for automatically storing individual articles on a conveyor system comprising a series of individually operable conveyors arranged in a continuous path for the transport of the articles between input conveyor means and a downstream station including a plurality of short buffer conveyors with a plurality of intermediate conveyors arranged end-to-end between said input conveyor means and said buffer conveyors comprising the steps of: (a) simultaneously activating all of said intermediate conveyors and all of said buffer conveyors for operating said conveyor system in a conventional transport mode; (b) placing incoming articles on said input conveyor means to be transported via said intermediate conveyors to said buffer conveyors near said downstream station; (c) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each of said short buffer conveyors; (d) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each intermediate conveyor; (e) selectively stopping the downstream buffer conveyor and each preceding buffer conveyor when a stored article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the respective buffer conveyor; (f) deactivating said intermediate conveyors when all of said buffer conveyors have articles sensed as being present thereon and have been stopped, thereby placing the system in a dynamic storage mode of operation, while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running; (g) sensing the presence of each incoming article near the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (h) selectively briefly activating the first intermediate conveyor until each such sensed incoming article has been removed from the downstream end of said input conveyor means and has been transferred onto the upstream end of the first intermediate conveyor; (i) selectively briefly activating each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the preceding intermediate conveyor, thereby progressively filling available space on the respective intermediate conveyors with articles slightly spaced one from another as incoming articles are fed from the input conveyor means; (j) returning to the conventional transport mode of operation when the upstream buffer conveyor is cleared of the article temporarily stored thereon; and (k) deactivating the input conveyor means whenever it happens that the available space on all of the intermediate conveyors has become full of temporarily stored articles.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
378 words
Dynamic storage method for automatically storing individual articles on a conveyor system comprising a series of individually operable conveyors arranged in a continuous path for the transport of the articles between input conveyor means and a downstream station including a plurality of short buffer conveyors with a plurality of intermediate conveyors arranged end-to-end between said input conveyor means and said buffer conveyors comprising the steps of: (a) simultaneously activating all of said intermediate conveyors and all of said buffer conveyors for operating said conveyor system in a conventional transport mode; (b) placing incoming articles on said input conveyor means to be transported via said intermediate conveyors to said buffer conveyors near said downstream station; (c) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each of said short buffer conveyors; (d) sensing for the presence of an article near the downstream end of each intermediate conveyor; (e) selectively stopping the downstream buffer conveyor and each preceding buffer conveyor when a stored article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the respective buffer conveyor; (f) deactivating said intermediate conveyors when all of said buffer conveyors have articles sensed as being present thereon and have been stopped, thereby placing the system in a dynamic storage mode of operation, while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running; (g) sensing the presence of each incoming article near the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (h) selectively briefly activating the first intermediate conveyor until each such sensed incoming article has been removed from the downstream end of said input conveyor means and has been transferred onto the upstream end of the first intermediate conveyor; (i) selectively briefly activating each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is sensed as being present near the downstream end of the preceding intermediate conveyor, thereby progressively filling available space on the respective intermediate conveyors with articles slightly spaced one from another as incoming articles are fed from the input conveyor means; (j) returning to the conventional transport mode of operation when the upstream buffer conveyor is cleared of the article temporarily stored thereon; and (k) deactivating the input conveyor means whenever it happens that the available space on all of the intermediate conveyors has become full of temporarily stored articles.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
190 words
The dynamic storage method for automatically storing individual articles as claimed in claim 13, including steps for permitting an operator to split overlapped articles at the downstream station comprising: providing said downstream buffer conveyor at the downstream station sufficiently long for positioning two articles thereon spaced end-to-end; sensing for the presence of an article on said downstream buffer conveyor at an intermediate location thereon; selectively deactivating the preceding buffer conveyor whenever an article is sensed as being present on the downstream buffer conveyor either near its downstream end or at said intermediate location; allowing the downstream buffer conveyor to continue running until an article is sensed as being present at its downstream end; thereby always providing an open space on the upstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor at the time when an article is sensed as being present at the downstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor, whereby if the sensed article at said downstream end is actually two articles in overlapped relationship, the operator can manually slide one of the overlapped articles backward into the nearby available open space on the upstream end of said downstream buffer conveyor.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
96 words
The dynamic storage for automatically storing individual articles as claimed in claim 13, including the steps of: providing a plurality of injection conveyors for feeding in parallel relationship onto said input conveyor means at spaced intersections along said input conveyor means; sensing for the presence of an article on said input conveyor means at a predetermined point upstream from each intersection with an injection conveyor; and inhibiting the dispatch of an incoming article from a respective injection conveyor onto said input conveyor means whenever an article is sensed as being upstream therefrom at the predetermined point.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
124 words
The dynamic storage method for automatically storing individual articles as claimed in claim 15, including the step of: starting a collision avoidance count at the instant when an article is sensed at the predetermined upstream point, said collision avoidance count having a sufficiently long time duration for permitting the sensed article to pass by the intersection before the incoming article is dispatched from the injection conveyor onto the input conveyor means; temporarily stopping said collision avoidance count whenever the input conveyor means is temporarily stopped; and resuming said collision avoidance count when the input conveyor means again starts running, thereby preserving the relationship between the travel of articles on the input conveyor means and the dispatch of newly tagged articles from the sub-station conveyor.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
135 words
The dynamic storage method for automatically storing individual articles as claimed in claim 15 or 16 including the step of: enabling a first group of injection conveyors which are located nearer the upstream end of the input conveyor means to dispatch incoming articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated brief time periods; inhibiting said first group of injection conveyors from dispatching incoming articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated longer time periods alternating in sequence with said brief time periods; and enabling a second group of injection conveyors which are located further from the upstream end of the input conveyor means to dispatch incoming articles onto the input conveyor means during said longer time periods, thereby preventing the first group of injection conveyors from "hogging" use of the input conveyor means.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
379 words
A dynamic storage system for conveying articles from an input location to a downstream station and for temporarily storing the articles comprising: (a) input conveyor means at said input location; (b) a plurality of short buffer conveyors arranged in sequence near said downstream station; (c) a series of individually operable intermediate conveyors arranged in a continuous path between said input conveyor means and said plurality of short buffer conveyors; (d) sensing means for detecting the presence of an article at the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (e) sensing means for detecting the presence of articles at the downstream end of each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors; (f) means for simultaneously activating each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors for transporting articles from said input conveyor means to the first of said buffer conveyors; (g) means for selectively stopping each of said buffer conveyors in progressive order from the downstream buffer conveyor to the first buffer conveyor whenever an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the respective buffer conveyor; (h) means for stopping said intermediate conveyors while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running for changing the system over into a dynamic storage mode of operation so long as the first buffer conveyor has an article stored thereon as a result of the fact that all of said buffer conveyors temporarily have articles stored thereon; (i) means for selectively briefly operating the first intermediate conveyor when an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of said input conveyor means for transferring the article from said input conveyor means to the upstream end of said first intermediate conveyor; (j) means for selectively briefly operating in sequence each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the preceding intermediate conveyor for transferring the detected article from the preceding intermediate conveyor to the upstream end of the succeeding intermediate conveyor, thereby progressively filling the lengths of the respective immediate conveyors to dynamically store articles throughout the system; and means for activating all of said intermediate conveyors for changing the system over into the normal conveyor mode of operation when an article is no longer detected as being present on the first buffer conveyor.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
379 words
A dynamic storage system for conveying articles from an input location to a downstream station and for temporarily storing the articles comprising: (a) input conveyor means at said input location; (b) a plurality of short buffer conveyors arranged in sequence near said downstream station; (c) a series of individually operable intermediate conveyors arranged in a continuous path between said input conveyor means and said plurality of short buffer conveyors; (d) sensing means for detecting the presence of an article at the downstream end of said input conveyor means; (e) sensing means for detecting the presence of articles at the downstream end of each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors; (f) means for simultaneously activating each of said intermediate and buffer conveyors for transporting articles from said input conveyor means to the first of said buffer conveyors; (g) means for selectively stopping each of said buffer conveyors in progressive order from the downstream buffer conveyor to the first buffer conveyor whenever an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the respective buffer conveyor; (h) means for stopping said intermediate conveyors while allowing said input conveyor means to continue running for changing the system over into a dynamic storage mode of operation so long as the first buffer conveyor has an article stored thereon as a result of the fact that all of said buffer conveyors temporarily have articles stored thereon; (i) means for selectively briefly operating the first intermediate conveyor when an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of said input conveyor means for transferring the article from said input conveyor means to the upstream end of said first intermediate conveyor; (j) means for selectively briefly operating in sequence each succeeding intermediate conveyor whenever an article is detected as being present at the downstream end of the preceding intermediate conveyor for transferring the detected article from the preceding intermediate conveyor to the upstream end of the succeeding intermediate conveyor, thereby progressively filling the lengths of the respective immediate conveyors to dynamically store articles throughout the system; and means for activating all of said intermediate conveyors for changing the system over into the normal conveyor mode of operation when an article is no longer detected as being present on the first buffer conveyor.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
38 words
The dynamic storage system for temporarily storing articles as claimed in claim 18, including: (k) means for stopping the input conveyor means when the lengths of the respective intermediate conveyors have become filled with articles temporarily stored thereon.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
120 words
The dynamic storage system for temporarily storing articles as claimed in claim 18 or 19, in which: a plurality of infeed conveyors are located in spaced parallel relationship at said input location for feeding in parallel relationship onto said input conveyor means at spaced intersections along said input conveyor means; sensing means are provided for detecting the presence of an article on said input conveyor means at a predetermined point upstream from each intersection with a respective infeed conveyor; and inhibiting means are provided for inhibiting the infeeding of an article from an infeed conveyor onto said input conveyor means at such an intersection whenever an article is sensed as being upstream from said intersection at the respective predetermined point.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
138 words
The dynamic storage system for temporarily storing articles as claimed in claim 20, in which: means are provided for enabling a first group of infeed conveyors which are located nearer the upstream end of the input conveyor means to feed articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated brief time periods; means are provided for inhibiting said first group of conveyors from feeding articles onto the input conveyor means during cyclically repeated longer time periods alternating in sequence with said brief time periods; and means are provided for enabling a second group of infeed conveyors which are located further from the upstream end of the input conveyor means to feed articles onto the input conveyor means during said longer time periods, thereby preventing the first group of infeed conveyors from "hogging" use of the input conveyor means.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
108 words
The dynamic storage system for temporarily storing articles as claimed in claim 18 or 19, in which: a plurality of infeed conveyors are positioned at said input location, said infeed conveyors each merging with said input conveyor means at an individual intersection therewith; and means for selectively activating and controlling said infeed conveyors so that an article on the input conveyor passes the intersection with an infeed conveyor before an article can be fed from the infeed conveyor onto the input conveyor means, thereby avoiding collisions between the articles being fed from the respective infeed conveyors and articles which are already being conveyed by said input conveyor means.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US3187878A
Cited
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1983-10-14 | 1984-04-14 | 1984-10-14 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1987-10-14 | 1988-04-14 | 1988-10-14 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1991-10-14 | 1992-04-14 | 1992-10-14 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |