Conveyor with driven slippable rollers

Claim 2

A conveyor for moving objects in multiple adjacent rows comprising: a frame; dividing means mounted on said frame defining a plurality of separate passageways each of which receives one of said rows of moving objects; a plurality of cylindrical drive shafts rotatably mounted on said frame and each having an outer surface with an outside diameter; a plurality of cylindrical rollers positioned in said passageways and mounted on each of said drive shafts in side-by-side relation, said rollers having cylindrical interior bearing surfaces of inside diameters enclosing said shafts, at least a portion of each of said interior surfaces contacting said outer surfaces whereby rotation of said shafts imparts rotation to said rollers, said inside diameters being greater than said outside diameters allowing said rollers in one of said passageways when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said shafts rotate and said rollers in other passageways rotate; all of the side-by-side rollers on each respective drive shaft being spaced apart from the side-by-side rollers on the other drive shafts, said spacing being accomplished by making the distance between the axes of adjacent drive shafts greater than the sum of the radius of any roller on one of said adjacent drive shafts and the radius of the roller opposite thereto on the other of said adjacent drive shafts; said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; a motor for causing said drive shafts to rotate; and, means connecting said drive shafts to an output of said motor.

Claim 3

The conveyor of claim 1 wherein: each shaft has a belt-receiving circumferential groove means at one end thereof; said motor has a rotatable output; and further comprising: a rotatably mounted first rod coupled to said output; and, a plurality of continuous drive belts engaged with said rod and at least some of said groove means to cause shaft and roller rotation when said rod rotates.

Claim 4

The conveyor of claim 2 wherein said groove means comprises: pulley wheels each having a circumferential groove therein and each mounted to said one end of each shaft.

Claim 5

The conveyor of claim 3 wherein: said discontinuous supporting surface area is horizontal.

Claim 6

The conveyor of claim 4 additionally comprising: a support beam mounted to said frame beneath but spaced from said rollers, said beam being spaced from said outer surface of at least one roller per drive shaft a distance not greater than 1/8 of an inch to support said roller as said drive shaft bows downwardly under a load, said beam being sufficiently narrow to support only a minor proportion of the rollers on each drive shaft whereby the major proportion of the rollers on each drive shaft are free to rotate when the drive shaft is bowed downwardly.

Claim 7

The conveyor of claim 1 wherein: each roller has an inner plastic sleeve fixedly mounted within an outer rubber cylinder.

Claim 8

A conveyor for moving objects in multiple adjacent rows comprising: a frame; dividing means mounted on said frame defining a plurality of separate passageways each of which receives one of said rows of moving objects; a plurality of cylindrical drive shafts rotatably mounted on said frame and each having an outer surface with an outside diameter; a plurality of cylindrical rollers positioned in said passageways and mounted on each of said drive shafts in side-by-side relation, said rollers having cylindrical interior bearing surfaces of inside diameters enclosing said shafts, at least a portion of each of said interior surfaces contacting said outer surfaces whereby rotation of said shafts imparts rotation to said rollers, said inside diameters being greater than said outside diameters allowing said rollers in one of said passageways when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said shafts rotate and said rollers in other passageways rotate; said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; a motor for causing said drive shafts to rotate; means connecting said drive shafts to an output of said motor; each shaft having a belt-receiving circumferential groove means at one end thereof; said motor having a rotatable output; a rotatably mounted first rod coupled to said output; a plurality of continuous drive belts engaged with said rod and at least some of said groove means to cause shaft and roller rotation when said rod rotates; a second rod rotatably mounted to said frame; a third rod rotatably mounted to said frame; a plurality of pulleys and belts connecting said first rod and said second rod to said third rod, said third rod and said motor and said second rod to some of said drive shafts, said pulleys being of different sizes so said first rod and said second rod rotate at different speeds.

Claim 9

A conveyor for moving objects in multiple adjacent rows comprising: a frame; dividing means mounted on said frame defining a plurality of separate passageways each of which receives one of said rows of moving objects; a plurality of cylindrical drive shafts rotatably mounted on said frame and each having an outer surface with an outside diameter; a plurality of cylindrical rollers positioned in said passageways and mounted on each of said drive shafts in side-by-side relation, said rollers having cylindrical interior bearing surfaces of inside diameters enclosing said shafts, at least a portion of each of said interior surfaces contacting said outer surfaces whereby rotation of said shafts imparts rotation to said rollers, said inside diameters being greater than said outside diameters allowing said rollers in one of said passageways when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said shafts rotate and said rollers in other passageways rotate; said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; a motor for causing said drive shafts to rotate; means connecting said drive shafts to an output of said motor; each shaft having a belt-receiving circumferential groove means at one end thereof; said motor having a rotatable output; a rotatably mounted first rod coupled to said output; a plurality of continuous drive belts engaged with said rod and at least some of said groove means to cause shaft and roller rotation when said rod rotates; a second rod rotatably mounted to said frame; a third rod rotatably mounted to said frame; a plurality of pulleys and belts connecting said first rod and said second rod to said third rod, said third rod and said motor and said second rod to some of said drive shafts, said pulleys being of different sizes so said first rod and said second rod rotate at different speeds.

Claim 10

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a frame; a plurality of cylindrical drive shafts rotatably mounted on said frame and each having an outer surface with an outside diameter; a plurality of cylindrical rollers mounted on each of said drive shafts in side-by-side relation, said rollers having cylindrical interior bearing surfaces of inside diameters enclosing said shafts, at least a portion of each of said interior surfaces contacting said outer surfaces whereby rotation of said shafts imparts rotation to said rollers, said inside diameters being greater than said outside diameters allowing said rollers when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said shafts rotate; said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; a motor for causing said drive shafts to rotate; means connecting said drive shafts to an output of said motor; each shaft having a belt-receiving circumferential groove means at one end thereof; said motor having a rotatable output; a rotatably mounted first rod coupled to said output; a plurality of continuous drive belts engaged with said rod and at least some of said groove means to cause shaft and roller rotation when said rod rotates; pulley wheels each having a circumferential groove therein and each mounted to said one end of each shaft; said discontinuous supporting surface area being horizontal; a platform movably mounted on said frame; a second rod rotatably mounted on said platform, said first rod and said second rod being telescopically connected together with said second rod extendable from said first rod and horizontally movable on said frame, said first rod and said second rod being connected together to prevent relative rotational motion therebetween; and wherein: some of said drive shafts with some of said rollers being rotatably mounted on said platform and engaged by belts to said second rod.

Claim 11

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a frame; a plurality of cylindrical drive shafts rotatably mounted on said frame and each having an outer surface with an outside diameter; a plurality of cylindrical rollers mounted on each of said drive shafts in side-by-side relation, said rollers having cylindrical interior bearing surfaces of inside diameters enclosing said shafts, at least a portion of each of said interior surfaces contacting said outer surfaces whereby rotation of said shafts imparts rotation to said rollers, said inside diameters being greater than said outside diameters allowing said rollers when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said shafts rotate; said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; a motor for causing said drive shafts to rotate; means connecting said drive shafts to an output of said motor; each shaft having a belt-receiving circumferential groove means at one end thereof; said motor having a rotatable output; a rotatably mounted first rod coupled to said output; a plurality of continuous drive belts engaged with said rod and at least some of said groove means to cause shaft and roller rotation when said rod rotates; pulley wheels each having a circumferential groove therein and each mounted to said one end of each shaft; said discontinuous supporting surface area being horizontal; a platform movably mounted on said frame; a second rod rotatably mounted on said platform, said first rod and said second rod being telescopically connected together with said second rod extendable from said first rod and horizontally movable on said frame, said first rod and said second rod being connected together to prevent relative rotational motion therebetween; and wherein: some of said drive shafts with some of said rollers being rotatably mounted on said platform and engaged by belts to said second rod.

Claim 12

The conveyor of claim 8 wherein: said second rod is hollow and slidably receives said first rod, said first rod and said second rod including a key and a complementary sized keyway to prevent relative rotational movement therebetween.

Claim 13

The conveyor of claim 9 wherein: said rollers engaged with said first rod are parallel with and convey objects to said rollers on said platform; and further comprising: a box conveyor operable to carry boxes to a loading position beneath said platform; lifting means mounted on said frame above said platform operable to lift said objects off said platform and down into said boxes; and, means for moving said platform horizontally from a position adjacent said rollers connected to said first rod and a removed position where it is no longer under said lifting means.

Claim 14

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a. a plurality of parallel drive shafts; b. a plurality of side-by-side rollers with inside diameters loosely received on each of said drive shafts, all of the side-by-side rollers on each respective drive shaft being spaced apart from the side-by-side rollers on the other drive shafts, said spacing being accomplished by making the distance between the axes of adjacent drive shafts greater than the sum of the radius of any roller on one of the said adjacent drive shafts and the radius of the roller opposite thereto on the other of said adjacent drive shafts, said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; c. and means coupled to said drive shafts for rotating said drive shafts, said drive shafts having outside diameters smaller than said inside diameters allowing some of said rollers on one of said shafts when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said one shaft and remaining rollers on said one shaft rotate.

Claim 15

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a. a plurality of parallel drive shafts; b. a plurality of side-by-side rollers with inside diameters loosely received on each of said drive shafts, all of the side-by-side rollers on each respective drive shaft being spaced apart from the side-by-side rollers on the other drive shafts, said spacing being accomplished by making the distance between the axes of adjacent drive shafts greater than the sum of the radius of any roller on one of the said adjacent drive shafts and the radius of the roller opposite thereto on the other of said adjacent drive shafts, said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; c. and means coupled to said drive shafts for rotating said drive shafts, said drive shafts having outside diameters smaller than said inside diameters allowing some of said rollers on one of said shafts when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said one shaft and remaining rollers on said one shaft rotate.

Claim 16

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein said means is coupled to said drive shafts by means arranged to drive at least one of said drive shafts at a speed different than the speed of at least one other of said drive shafts.

Claim 17

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein said means is coupled to said drive shafts by means arranged to drive some of said drive shafts at a speed different than the speed of others of said drive shafts.

Claim 18

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein said discontinuous supporting surface area is horizontal.

Claim 19

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein each roller has an inner sleeve fixedly mounted within an outer sleeve of different material than said inner sleeve.

Claim 20

The conveyor of claim 11 additionally comprising a support beam fixedly mounted beneath but spaced from said rollers; each of said drive shafts being flexible; said beam being closely spaced to the outer surface of at least one roller per drive shaft to support said roller as said flexible drive shaft bows downwardly under a load, said beam being sufficiently narrow to support only a minor proportion of the rollers on each drive shaft whereby the major proportion of the rollers on each drive shaft are free to rotate when the drive shaft is bowed downwardly.

Claim 21

The conveyor of claim 11 additionally comprising: a support beam to rotatably support said shafts, said beam including a plurality of grooves into which said drive shafts are snap-fitted with each drive shaft freely rotatable in one of said grooves.

Claim 22

The conveyor of claim 17 wherein: said drive shafts and said rollers are arranged in a plurality of groups with all of said drive shafts and said rollers in each group being parallel relative to the other rollers in that group but at an angle relative to the rollers in other groups.

Claim 23

The conveyor of claim 18 wherein: said plurality of groups includes a first group of parallel drive shafts and rollers perpendicularly arranged with respect to a second group of parallel drive shafts and rollers and with a third group of parallel drive shafts and rollers disposed therebetween at an angle of 45° with respect to said first group and said second group to convey objects from said first group to said second group.

Claim 24

The conveyor of claim 19 and further comprising: a pair of spaced apart walls positioned at opposite ends of said drive shaft to prevent movement of said objects off of said rollers.

Claim 25

The conveyor of claim 20 and further comprising: a pair of converging guide walls aligned with said spaced apart walls forming an entrance through which said objects pass to said group of rollers.

Claim 26

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein: at least some of said rollers each include an outside diameter, an inside diameter and a hub thereon of diameter larger than said inside diameter and smaller than said outside diameter, said hub projecting laterally outwardly spacing said rollers apart.

Claim 27

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein: said drive shafts and said rollers are arranged to move said objects around a corner.

Claim 28

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein: each shaft has a belt-receiving circumferential groove means at one end thereof, said groove means including a pulley wheel having a plurality of circumferential grooves therein; said means for rotating comprising a motor, said motor having a rotatable output; a rotatably mounted first rod coupled to said output, and a plurality of continuous drive belts engaged with said rod and with said grooves to cause shaft and roller rotation when said rod rotates.

Claim 29

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein: said rollers have concave outer surfaces.

Claim 30

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein: each of the side-by-side rollers on each respective drive shaft are closely spaced to adjacent side-by-side rollers on the respective drive shaft.

Claim 31

The conveyor of claim 11 wherein: the outside diameters of said drive shafts are only slightly smaller than the inside diameters of said rollers received thereon.

Claim 32

The conveyor of claim 27 wherein: each of the side-by-side rollers on each respective drive shaft are closely spaced to adjacent side-by-side rollers on the respective drive shaft.

Claim 33

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a. a plurality of parallel drive shafts; b. a plurality of side-by-side rollers with inside diameters loosely received on each of said drive shafts, said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; c. means coupled to said drive shafts for rotating said drive shafts, said drive shafts having outside diameters smaller than said inside diameters allowing some of said rollers on one of said shafts when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said one shaft and remaining rollers on said one shaft rotate; d. a support beam to rotatably support said shafts, said beam including a plurality of grooves into which said drive shafts are snap-fitted with each drive shaft freely rotatable in one of said grooves; e. said beam being elongated and having a pair of faces, each of said plurality of grooves opening into one of said faces, said beam also having expansion grooves which extend through almost the entire thickness of said bearing strip and are located between respective pairs of said plurality of grooves.

Claim 34

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a. a plurality of parallel drive shafts; b. a plurality of side-by-side rollers with inside diameters loosely received on each of said drive shafts, said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; c. means coupled to said drive shafts for rotating said drive shafts, said drive shafts having outside diameters smaller than said inside diameters allowing some of said rollers on one of said shafts when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said one shaft and remaining rollers on said one shaft rotate; d. a support beam to rotatably support said shafts, said beam including a plurality of grooves into which said drive shafts are snap-fitted with each drive shaft freely rotatable in one of said grooves; e. said beam being elongated and having a pair of faces, each of said plurality of grooves opening into one of said faces, said beam also having expansion grooves which extend through almost the entire thickness of said bearing strip and are located between respective pairs of said plurality of grooves.

Claim 35

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a. a plurality of parallel drive shafts; b. a plurality of side-by-side rollers with inside diameters loosely received on each of said drive shafts, said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; c. means coupled to said drive shafts for rotating said drive shafts, said drive shafts having outside diameters smaller than said inside diameters allowing some of said rollers on one of said shafts when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said one shaft and remaining rollers on said one shaft rotate; d. and a sleeve mounted on at least one of said shafts between two of said rollers having an outside diameter less than the diameter of said rollers.

Claim 36

A conveyor for moving objects comprising: a. a plurality of parallel drive shafts; b. a plurality of side-by-side rollers with inside diameters loosely received on each of said drive shafts, said rollers projecting upwardly and being unobstructed to define a discontinuous supporting surface area for the moving objects, said discontinuous surface area extending other than vertically whereby gravity can hold the objects against said discontinuous surface area; c. means coupled to said drive shafts for rotating said drive shafts, said drive shafts having outside diameters smaller than said inside diameters allowing some of said rollers on one of said shafts when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said one shaft and remaining rollers on said one shaft rotate; d. and a sleeve mounted on at least one of said shafts between two of said rollers having an outside diameter less than the diameter of said rollers.

Claim 37

A telescopic conveyor for moving objects comprising: a frame; a first conveyor mounted on said frame; a platform conveyor movably mounted on said frame; a plurality of drive shafts each having an outer surface with an outside diameter, some of said shafts being rotatably mounted on said first conveyor and some of said shafts being rotatably mounted on said platform conveyor; a plurality of rollers mounted on each of said shafts in side-by-side relation, said rollers having cylindrical interior bearing surfaces of inside diameters enclosing said shafts, at least a portion of each of said interior surfaces contacting said outer surfaces whereby rotation of said shafts imparts rotation to said rollers, said inside diameters being greater than said outside diameters allowing said rollers when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said shafts rotate; a first rod rotatably mounted to said first conveyor; a second rod telescopically connected to said first rod and rotatably mounted to said platform conveyor, said first rod and said second rod being respectively engaged with said shafts on said first conveyor and said shafts on said platform conveyor; and, means engaged with second rod operable to rotate said second rod resulting in rotation of said shafts.

Claim 38

A telescopic conveyor for moving objects comprising: a frame; a first conveyor mounted on said frame; a platform conveyor movably mounted on said frame; a plurality of drive shafts each having an outer surface with an outside diameter, some of said shafts being rotatably mounted on said first conveyor and some of said shafts being rotatably mounted on said platform conveyor; a plurality of rollers mounted on each of said shafts in side-by-side relation, said rollers having cylindrical interior bearing surfaces of inside diameters enclosing said shafts, at least a portion of each of said interior surfaces contacting said outer surfaces whereby rotation of said shafts imparts rotation to said rollers, said inside diameters being greater than said outside diameters allowing said rollers when exteriorly stopped to be stationary while said shafts rotate; a first rod rotatably mounted to said first conveyor; a second rod telescopically connected to said first rod and rotatably mounted to said platform conveyor, said first rod and said second rod being respectively engaged with said shafts on said first conveyor and said shafts on said platform conveyor; and, means engaged with second rod operable to rotate said second rod resulting in rotation of said shafts.