Method and apparatus for accumulating and gating articles

Claim 2

Apparatus for the controlled feeding of a stream of articles from an input line to an output line comprising conveyor means for receiving articles from said input line and for conveying said articles downstream toward said output line, means for driving said conveyor means, a gate for receiving articles from said conveyor means and gating said articles onto said output line, article restrictor means between said conveyor means and said gate, means for sensing the presence of an article at the entrance to said gate, means for sensing the presence of an article at said restrictor means, means for producing a control signal in response to the presence of articles at both said gate and said restrictor means, means responsive to said control signal for initiating the gating of an article to said output line and for causing said restrictor means to prevent the passage of succeeding articles to said gate during said gating operation, said conveyor means comprising a series of conveyor sections, said conveyor driving means comprising means for driving each of said sections independently, means associated with each of said conveyor sections for sensing an accumulation of articles on the adjacent downstream conveyor section and control means responsive to said accumulation sensing means for interrupting the driving of said adjacent conveyor section, each of said conveyor sections including a plurality of driven rollers upon which said articles are conveyed, each of said rollers comprising a shaft and a roller sleeve frictonally coupled to said shaft for rotation therewith, said sleeve being uncoupled from said shaft by a load of stalled articles, and said accumulation sensing means comprising a photodetector relay mounted below one of said rollers and a reflective strip carried by said roller sleeve, said relay sensing rotation or nonrotation of said strip.

Claim 3

Apparatus for the controlled feeding of a stream of articles from an input line to an output line comprising a series of conveyor sections for receiving articles from said input line and conveying said articles downstream toward said output line, means for driving each of said conveyor sections independently of the remaining sections, a gate for receiving articles from the end conveyor section of said series and for gating said articles to said output line, means associated with each of said conveyor sections for sensing a predetermined accumulation of articles on the adjacent downstream conveyor section, control means responsive to said sensing means for interrupting the driving of said downstream adjacent conveyor section, said gating means including a conveyor, a first pair of movable gating pins mounted along opposite sides of said conveyor at the entrance thereof for blocking movement of an article on said conveyor, a second pair of movable gating pins mounted on opposite sides of said conveyor for movement behind said first pair of gating pins, means for moving said conveyor, means for moving said gating pins at a speed faster than said conveyor whereby said first pair of gating pins release said article and said second pair of gating pins overtake and push said article from said conveyor line onto said output line, said conveyor sections including a plurality of driven rollers upon which said articles are conveyed, each of said rollers comprising a shaft and a roller sleeve frictionally coupled to said shaft for rotation therewith, said sleeve being uncoupled from said shaft by a load of stalled articles, and said accumulation sensing means comprising a photodetector relay mounted below one of said rollers and a reflective strip carried by said roller sleeve, said photodetector sensing rotation or nonrotation of said strip.

Claim 4

Apparatus for the controlled feeding of a stream of articles from an input line to an output line comprising a series of conveyor sections for receiving articles from said input line and conveying said articles downstream toward said output line, means for driving each of said conveyor sections independently of the remaining sections, a gate for receiving articles from the end conveyor section of said series and for gating said articles to said output line, means associated with each of said conveyor sections for sensing a predetermined accumulation of articles on the adjacent downstream conveyor section, control means responsive to said sensing means for interrupting the driving of said downstream adjacent conveyor section, said gating means including a conveyor, a first pair of movable gating pins mounted along opposite sides of said conveyor at the entrance thereof for blocking movement of an article on said conveyor, a second pair of movable gating pins mounted on opposite sides of said conveyor for movement behind said first pair of gating pins, means for moving said conveyor, means for moving said gating pins at a speed faster than said conveyor whereby said first pair of gating pins release said article and said second pair of gating pins overtake and push said article from said conveyor line onto said output line, said conveyor sections including a plurality of driven rollers upon which said articles are conveyed, each of said rollers comprising a shaft and a roller sleeve frictionally coupled to said shaft for rotation therewith, said sleeve being uncoupled from said shaft by a load of stalled articles, and said accumulation sensing means comprising a photodetector relay mounted below one of said rollers and a reflective strip carried by said roller sleeve, said photodetector sensing rotation or nonrotation of said strip.

Claim 5

Apparatus for controlled feeding of a stream of articles from an input line to an output line comprising a flow director for receiving articles from said input line and directing said articles into a plurality of generally parallel streams of articles, a plurality of conveyors for receiving and conveying said articles in generally parallel streams downstream toward said output line, gating means at the downstream end of said conveyors for gating the leading article of each of said streams onto said output line, sensing means associated with each of said conveyors for sensing an accumulation of articles on said conveyors in excess of a predetermined allowable accumulation, means for comparing the accumulation of articles on the respective conveyors and for providing a signal to said flow director when less than all of said conveyors have an excessive accumulation of articles thereon to cause said flow director to direct articles only to conveyors not having an excessive accumulation of articles thereon, each of said plurality of conveyors including a series of independently movable conveyor sections, said sensing means for sensing an excessive accumulation of articles includes sensing means associated with each of said conveyor sections for sensing a backup of articles from the adjacent downstream conveyor section, said comparing means including means for comparing the accumulation of articles on corresponding sections of the respective conveyors, each of said conveyor sections including a plurality of driven rollers upon which said articles are conveyed, each of said rollers comprising a shaft and a roller sleeve frictionally coupled to said shaft for rotation therewith, said sleeve being uncoupled from said shaft by a load of stalled articles, and said accumulation sensing means comprises a photodetector relay mounted below one of said rollers and a relective strip carried by said roller sleeve, said photodetector sensing rotation or nonrotation of said strip.

Claim 6

Apparatus for controlled feeding of a stream of articles from an input line to an output line comprising a flow director for receiving articles from said input line and directing said articles into a plurality of generally parallel streams of articles, a plurality of conveyors for receiving and conveying said articles in generally parallel streams downstream toward said output line, gating means at the downstream end of said conveyors for gating the leading article of each of said streams onto said output line, sensing means associated with each of said conveyors for sensing an accumulation of articles on said conveyors in excess of a predetermined allowable accumulation, means for comparing the accumulation of articles on the respective conveyors and for providing a signal to said flow director when less than all of said conveyors have an excessive accumulation of articles thereon to cause said flow director to direct articles only to conveyors not having an excessive accumulation of articles thereon, each of said plurality of conveyors including a series of independently movable conveyor sections, said sensing means for sensing an excessive accumulation of articles includes sensing means associated with each of said conveyor sections for sensing a backup of articles from the adjacent downstream conveyor section, said comparing means including means for comparing the accumulation of articles on corresponding sections of the respective conveyors, each of said conveyor sections including a plurality of driven rollers upon which said articles are conveyed, each of said rollers comprising a shaft and a roller sleeve frictionally coupled to said shaft for rotation therewith, said sleeve being uncoupled from said shaft by a load of stalled articles, and said accumulation sensing means comprises a photodetector relay mounted below one of said rollers and a relective strip carried by said roller sleeve, said photodetector sensing rotation or nonrotation of said strip.