JPH04243718A - Roller conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cause a subject to be conveyed to be stopped at and restarted from a certain position on a roller conveyor. CONSTITUTION:Since a roller 1 makes contact at its outer peripheral face with the outer peripheral face of a driving wheel 4, the roller 1 is rotated by rotating a sprocket 8 by means of a chain 9. When a rotating tube 15 is rotated in the horizontal direction by a control lever 22 a bearing portion 6 is rotated accordingly and hence the driving wheel 4 is moved in its radial direction and disconnected from the outer peripheral face of the roller 1 and then no driving force is transmitted and articles are stopped. When the driving wheel 4 is returned to its initial position by means of the control lever 4 the roller 1 starts to rotate again and the articles are restarted.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roller conveyor that moves articles placed thereon by rotating rollers, and more particularly to a roller conveyor that can stop articles at any desired position.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In order to convey articles in factories and warehouses, roller conveyors are used in which a plurality of rollers are arranged side by side and each roller is rotated to move the articles placed thereon. The roller conveyor is equipped with a drive motor, and the rollers are rotated by transmitting driving force to each roller via a chain or the like.

0003

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In some cases, articles moved by such a roller conveyor must be stopped at a certain position along the conveyor. Various means for stopping are provided, and for example, there are methods that utilize a stopper that protrudes above the conveyance surface and a free roller that is not driven. According to this method, the article can be stopped at an arbitrary position by hitting the stopper, but restarting the article is not reliable, and the structure is complicated, such as tilting the conveying surface toward the conveying direction. It is also possible to temporarily stop the drive motor of the roller conveyor to cut off the transmission of drive force to all rollers, but it is difficult to stop the article in a fixed position, and it is difficult to stop and start the drive motor. Repetition is not efficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a roller conveyor that can accurately stop articles at any position and reliably restart the articles.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a roller that moves an article placed thereon by rotating around a substantially horizontal axis, and an axis that is parallel to the axis of the roller. a drive wheel that is rotated by a drive means around the roller and that comes into contact with the outer circumferential surface of the roller on its outer circumferential surface; a moving means that moves the drive wheel in a substantially radial direction; and an operating means for operating the moving means. A roller conveyor was constructed with the following.

[0006]

[Operations and Effects] Since the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, the following operations and effects are achieved.

[0007] In the roller conveyor according to the present invention,
The roller, which rotates to move the article placed thereon, is rotated by the driving force transmitted by the drive wheel. This is because the axes of the roller and the drive wheel are parallel, and their outer peripheral surfaces are in contact with each other. The drive wheel can be moved in a substantially radial direction by the moving means, and by moving the drive wheel, the transmission of the driving force is disconnected from the roller. The driving wheel is moved and returned by the moving means by operating the operating means.

Therefore, according to the roller conveyor according to the present invention, since the roller conveyor is constituted by or includes a roller whose driving force transmission can be disconnected, the operation can be performed at an appropriate time by operating the operating means. It is possible to stop and restart the article at any location.

[0009]

[Embodiment] The embodiment shown in the drawings will be explained below.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front view showing one roller and its surrounding area of an embodiment of the roller conveyor according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view showing the driving wheel portion of the same embodiment. It is a diagram.

In each figure, a roller 1 is rotatably supported by a frame 2 at both ends thereof. The upper side of the outer circumferential surface 3 of the roller 1, together with the upper side of the outer circumferential surfaces of other rollers, constitutes a conveyance surface on which the article W is placed and moves.

The uppermost part of the outer circumference of the drive wheel 4 is in contact with the lowermost side of the outer circumferential surface 3 of the roller 1, and the roller 1 rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the drive wheel 4. ing. A shaft 5 is fixed to the drive wheel 4. shaft 5
is supported by a bearing part 6, and one end of the shaft 5 extends through the left end of the bearing part 6 in FIG.
It is also supported by a ball bearing 7 provided in the. A sprocket 8 is fixed to a portion of the shaft 5 between the bearing portion 6 and the ball bearing 7. A chain 9 meshes with the sprocket 8. The chain 9 is driven by a drive motor (not shown). The chain 9 is guided by a guide 11 provided on a shelf 10 of the frame 2. The upper surface of the shelf section 10 is a flat surface.

A support roller 12 is provided at the lower end of the bearing section 6, which supports the bearing section 6 and presses the drive wheel 4 against the roller 1, and also rolls on the upper surface of the shelf section 10 to push the bearing section. 6 can move smoothly in the radial direction of the drive wheels 4. An arm 13 protrudes from the right end of the bearing portion 6 as viewed in FIG. 1, and is attached to the end of an arm 14 so as to be rotatable in the horizontal direction.

The arm 14 protrudes from the side surface of a rotating cylinder 15 that is arranged on the upper surface of the shelf 10 so as to be rotatable about its axis. A shaft 16 that shares an axis with the rotating barrel 15 is protruded from the lower end of the rotating barrel 15. By passing the shaft 16 through a hole 17 formed in the shelf 10, the rotating barrel 15 can be aligned with the axis. It can be rotated around the center.

A sprocket 18 is attached to the tip of the shaft 16.
is fixed, and a chain 19 is attached to the sprocket 18.
is wound. Chain 19 is operating sprocket 2
By operating a lever 22 fixed to the shaft 21 of the operating sprocket 20 from the outside of the frame 2, the operating sprocket 20 is rotated, and the sprocket 18 and rotating cylinder 15 are rotated in conjunction. It can be rotated.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. In the state shown in FIG. 2, the sprocket 8 is connected to the chain 9
and rotates to drive the drive wheels 4. The axis of the drive wheel 4 and the axis of the roller 1 overlap in the vertical direction, and their outer peripheries are in contact with each other.
The roller 1 rotates in accordance with the rotation of the roller 1, and the article placed on the roller 1 is moved.

When the rotary cylinder 15 is rotated as shown in FIG. 3 by operating the lever 22, the arms 14 and 13 are rotated.
The bearing portion 6 moves in the radial direction of the drive wheel 4 via the drive wheel 4, and the drive wheel 4 also moves. More precisely, the shaft 5 rotates in the horizontal direction approximately around the holding portion of the ball bearing 7.

In this state, the sprocket 8 is still engaged with the chain 9 and the drive wheel 4 is rotating, but due to the movement of the drive wheel 4, the contact between the outer circumference of the drive wheel 4 and the outer circumference of the roller 1 is reduced. Since it is cut off, the driving force is not transmitted to the roller 1, and the roller 1 becomes a free roller. Therefore, the article placed thereon cannot be moved, and the article stops at this position.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the roller conveyor of this embodiment, with the middle part omitted.

The roller conveyor is operated by the drive motor 23 driving the chain 9. The chain 9 meshes with the sprocket 8 and also meshes with the sprocket 24. The sprocket 24 is fixed to the shaft of a normal roller 25, and the roller 25 is constantly rotated by the drive of the drive motor 23 to convey the article W.

Six rollers 1 having the structure shown in FIG. 1 are successively provided near the right end of the roller conveyor as viewed in FIG. Each drive wheel 4 is moved by rotating each sprocket 18, and each sprocket 18 is wrapped around a single chain 19, so each roller 1 is driven by operating one operating lever 22. Connection and disconnection of transmission of driving force from the motor 23 can be operated all at once.

[0022] If the respective outer peripheral surfaces of each driving wheel 4 and each roller 1 are brought into contact with each other and each roller 1 is rotated, the article W is conveyed as it is. Operation lever 22
If the transmission of the driving force is disconnected by operating the rollers 1 as shown in FIG. 3, the transported article W will stop on the six rollers 1. If necessary, use the operating lever 22.
When each driving wheel 4 is returned to its original position by the operation and the outer peripheries of each driving wheel 4 and each roller 1 are brought into contact with each other, the roller 1 rotates and the article W is restarted. In this case, by gradually rotating the operating lever 22, the force with which the outer periphery of the drive wheel 4 is pressed against the outer periphery of the roller 1 can be adjusted, thereby increasing the degree of acceleration when restarting the article W. can be adjusted.

As described above, according to the roller conveyor as shown in FIG. 4, the transported articles W can be stopped at a fixed place and can be restarted easily. Furthermore, it is also possible to continue conveying the object without stopping it.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above,
It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the roller conveyor shown in FIG. 4, the stopping point is provided only near the right end, but the roller 1 having the driving force transmission mechanism shown in FIG. 1 can be placed at any location. By providing this, it is possible to determine the stopping point, and it is also possible to control the overall stopping and starting by using all the rollers of the roller conveyor as rollers as shown in FIG.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front view showing one roller and its surroundings of an embodiment of a roller conveyor according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing only a driving force transmission mechanism for one roller shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram similar to FIG. 2 showing a state in which the driving force is disconnected.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view, with some parts omitted, showing the whole of one embodiment of the roller conveyor according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Roller 3 Outer peripheral surface 4 Driving wheels 5 Shaft 6 Bearing part 7 Ball bearing 8 Sprocket 9 Chain 10 Shelf section 12 Support roller 13 Arm 14 Arm 15 Rotating tube 16 Shaft 17 Hole 18 Sprocket 19 Chain 20 Operation sprocket 22 Operation lever

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A roller that rotates around a substantially horizontal axis to move an article placed thereon, and a roller that rotates around an axis parallel to the axis of the roller by a driving means, and that rotates on an outer circumferential surface of the roller. 1. A roller conveyor comprising: a drive wheel that comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roller conveyor, a moving means for moving the drive wheel in a substantially radial direction, and an operating means for operating the moving means.