Storage plant for objects, in particular for track links

Claim 1

A production line for producing objects comprising a plurality of consecutive processing centers interspersed with a plurality of storage means with each storage means positioned between a pair of consecutive processing centers, the production line further including a plurality of conventional roller conveyors interconnecting said processing centers and said storage means, each said storage means comprising a plurality of containers each accommodating said objects disposed in horizontal rows therein, each of said containers comprising a rectilinear surface upon which said objects rest, said rectilinear surface being defined by a pair of parallel greater borders and a perpendicular pair of parallel lesser borders, said surface being formed with a number of like rectilinear slots each parallel with the next and arrayed across substantially the total width of said surface so as to be disposed perpendicular with respect to said greater borders, said container comprising two parallel, symmetrically opposed and stationary lateral walls located at said greater borders and two symmetrically disposed and movable frontal walls located at said opposed lesser borders of said surface, said slots being adapted to receive at least a portion of the rollers of said conventional conveyors in such a way that said rollers protrude upwardly with respect to said rectilinear surface thereby creating an effectively movable surface upon which said objects may rest, said storage means comprising means to receive, hold and position each single full or empty container with respect to said conventional conveyors in order to allow both loading thereinto of objects withdrawn from a said conventional conveyor positioned upstream of said storage means and unloading and dispatching of objects contained therein on a further conventional conveyor downstream of said storage means, said storage means further comprising a roller conveyor connecting each said upstream conventional conveyor with each said downstream conventional conveyor, two short roller conveyors adjacent the ends of said roller conveyor and parallel thereto, the width of said two short conveyors being substantially equal to the interior width of one of said single containers, said short conveyors being disposed at substantially equal spaced distances slightly greater than that corresponding to the length of said rectilinear surface, a roller transfer conveyor having parallel rollers connecting the two short conveyors upon which a single container may be supported in such a way that said parallel rollers may enter corresponding single ones of said slots located in said rectilinear surface and protrude upwardly with respect thereto, said storage means further including at least one means for effecting lateral transfer of said objects from said roller conveyor to and from said short roller conveyors, thus disposing the objects into rows so as to form `parcels` of said objects on said short roller conveyors; at least one corresponding withdrawal device for effecting lateral transfer of the said objects, separated singly from a respective `parcel` lying on a said short conveyor, from said short conveyor back onto said roller conveyor, and said single empty or full containers being capable of being taken from and introduced into said storage means without any hindrance to the normal operation of said production line.