Article handling

Claim 1

In combination with a plurality of conveyors aligned parallel with eAch other for conveying a multitude of elongate articles such as similar lengths of rod or tubing in a direction towards an article delivery station located at the article exit end of said conveyors and first motor means for driving said conveyors in such direction; an apparatus for receiving, handling and longitudinally orienting said articles with corresponding ends thereof substantially in alignment with each other and for delivering said articles in their oriented condition to a second station for operations to be performed thereon, such apparatus comprising; A. an open-topped article-receiving bin associated with each said conveyor, each such bin located at said article delivery station with the top thereof below the level of said article exit end of the respectively associated conveyor and each such bin having a length slightly longer than said articles; B. A plurality of declined plates located progressively lower and alternating from one side to the other in each said bin for checking the fall of and guiding the articles delivered thereto by the respectively associated conveyor, the lower edge of the lowermost plate in each respective bin generally coinciding with a line projected between selected similar points on the bottom edges of the ends of such bin to thereby close off a selected part of the width of the otherwise open bottom of the bin; C. A fenestrate longitudinal article-gating plate member disposed adjacent the bottoms of said bins for reciprocative longitudinal movement thereunder, the fenestrations in such plate member separated from each other a selected distance and having selected dimensions such that said longitudinal movement of the fenestrate plate member substantially closes and opens the remaining open parts of the widths of the bottoms of all of said bins simultaneously; D. second motor means connected to said gating member for imparting said reciprocative longitudinal movement to such member at selected times to open and close said remaining open parts of the widths of the bottoms of said bins: E. an endless conveyor belt supported for movement through a vertically looped path of travel, a first part of such path of travel extending beneath said gating member in general alignment with the path of said longitudinal movement of such member and a second part of such path of travel extending generally from the end of said first part of the path to said second station, such conveyor belt including on the outer periphery thereof a series of contiguous article-conveying pockets each having a width generally corresponding to the width of said fenestrations in said gating member; F. third motor means for driving said conveyor belt through its said path of travel at selected times; and G. a control system for controlling the energization of said motor means, such system including a counting means for counting the passage of said pockets past a selected point in the path of travel of said conveyor belt and timing means, and such system operating to sequentially, a. energize said first motor means until the expiration of a selected period of time for which said timing means is set and then deenergizing such motor means, b. energize said second motor means to impart said reciprocative longitudinal movement to said gating plate member and then deenergizing such motor means, c. energize said third motor means until said counting means counts the passage of a number of said pockets corresponding to the number of said bins and then deenergizing such motor means, and d. recurrently repeating said energization and deenergization cycles in said sequence.