Roller conveyor

Claim 2

In a roller conveyor, in combination, elongated support means; a plurality of rolling elements mounted in said support means spaced longitudinally thereof and being turnable about axes extending transversely to the elongation of said support means, said rolling elements together defining an upwardly directed support surface on which loads are adapted to advance in a predetermined direction; drive means including at least one continuously driven first gear; normally engaged coupling means, comprising at least one second gear meshing with said first gear and having an endface, and at least one rotatable and axially shiftable worm having a thread and an axial endface, said endfaces comprising axially interengageable coupling portions; mechanical sensing means normally projecting upwardly beyond the general plane of said support surface and being deflectable downwardly in response to contact with an advancing load; and disengaging means associated with said sensing means and responsive to deflection of the same for effecting axial shifting of said worm and concomitant disengagement of said coupling portions.

Claim 3

In a roller conveyor, in combination, elongated support means; a plurality of rolling elements mounted in said support means spaced longitudinally thereof and being turnable about axes extending transversely to the elongation of said support means, said rolling elements together defining an upwardly directed support surface on which loads are adapted to advance in a predetermined direction; drive means including at least one continuously driven first gear; normally engaged coupling means, comprising at least one second gear meshing with said first gear and having an endface, and at least one rotatable worm having a thread and an axial endface, said endfaces comprising interengageable coupling portions including at least some axial projections adapted to engage with said coupling projections and being axially movable into and out of such engagement; mechanical sensing means normally projecting upwardly beyond the general plane of said support surface and being deflectable downwardly in response to contact with an advancing load; and disengaging means associated with said sensing means and responsive to deflection of the same for effecting disengagement of said coupling means, said disengaging means comprising at least one element movable from a normal retracted position to an operative position engaging said thread of said worm in response to deflection of said sensing means, whereby continued rotation of said worm results in axial movement of the latter until said projections and coupling projections become disengaged.

Claim 4

In a roller conveyor, in combination, elongated support means; a plurality of rolling elements mounted in said support means spaced longitudinally thereof and being turnable about axes extending transversely to the elongation of said support means, said rolling elements together defining an upwardly directed support surface on which loads are adapted to advance in a predetermined direction; drive means including at least one continuously driven first gear; normally engaged coupling means, comprising at least one second gear meshing with said first gear and having an endface, and at least one rotatable worm having a thread and an axial endface, said endfaces comprising interengageable coupling portions including at least some axial projections adapted to engage with said coupling projections and being axially movable into and out of such engagement; mechanical sensing means normally projecting upwardly beyond the general plane of said support surface and being deflectable downwardly in response to contact with an advancing load; and disengaging means associated with said sensing means and responsive to deflection of the same for effecting disengagement of said coupling means, said disengaging means comprising at least one element movable from a normal retracted position to an operative position engaging said thread of said worm in response to deflection of said sensing means, whereby continued rotation of said worm results in axial movement of the latter until said projections and coupling projections become disengaged.

Claim 5

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 2; further comprising first biasing means urging said worm toward a position of engagement of said projection with said coupling projection; and second biasing means urging said element to said normal retracted position.

Claim 6

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 3, each of said rolling elements having a shaft mounting the respective rolling element for rotation about its axis; and wherein said worm is mounted on one of said shafts axially outwardly of the associated rolling element.

Claim 7

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 4, said first biasing means comprising at least one biasing spring bearing upon said worm and said associated rolling element and urging the former toward said position of engagement.

Claim 8

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 4, said second gear being a double-bevel gear having two axially spaced annuli of gear teeth; said first gear meshing with one of said annuli; and wherein said drive means comprises an additional first gear meshing with the other of said annuli, a pair of sprocket wheels each coaxial and rotatable with one of said first gears, and a continuously movable drive chain engaging both of said sprocket wheels for driving the same and thereby, via said first gears, said second gear.

Claim 9

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 4, said second gear being a belt pulley having radially directed flanges which are provided with respective annuli of gear teeth; said first gear also being a belt pulley similar to said second gear and having radially directed flanges provided with annuli of gear teeth which mesh with said annuli of gear teeth of said second gear, and a drive belt engaging and driving at least said first gear.

Claim 10

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 15, said plurality of rolling elements comprising at least two sets of rolling elements one of which cooperates with the first-mentioned drive means, coupling means and disengaging means; and further comprising additional drive means, coupling means and disengaging means similar to the respective first-mentioned means but cooperating with the other of said sets of rolling elements.

Claim 11

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 8, said drive means comprising a pair of first gears and a driven shaft fast with and mounting both of said first gears and extending longitudinally of said support means; further comprising at least two rotatable shaft sections each extending along one of said sets of rolling elements and composed of two portions one of which carries at least the respective second gear meshing with one of said first gears and the other of which carries at least the respective worm with the latter having limited freedom of axial sliding movement.

Claim 12

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 9; further comprising motion-receiving gears meshing with the respective worms and each fast with one rolling element of a respective one of said sets.

Claim 13

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 10; further comprising additional motion-receiving gears each fast with one of the remaining rolling elements of the respective sets, and further worms mounted on the respective shaft sections without freedom of axial movement and each meshing with one of said additional motion-receiving gears.

Claim 14

In a roller conveyor as defined in claim 2, said coupling portions being arranged circumferentially of the axis of rotation of said worm, and being bounded by circumferentially spaced lateral edge faces one of which is inclined to and the other of which extends in parallelism with said axis of rotation of said worm.