Lift and carry accumulating conveyor
This invention relates to an accumulating conveyor of the lift and carry type. 
     Accumulating conveyors are used extensively in industry for maintaining a steady supply of workpieces for feeding automated machine tools. Such conveyors normally include a plurality of successive stations and are designed to advance workpieces cyclically to the next successive downstream station so long as any downstream station is empty; that is, not occupied by a workpiece. 
     Many types of workpieces cannot be conveyed by sliding them along support rails. Such workpieces are normally conveyed by lifting them from the support rails, advancing them, and then depositing them on the support rails at the next downstream stations. Conveyors of this type are frequently referred to as &#34;lift and carry&#34; conveyors. 
     Although several types of accumulating conveyors of the lift and carry type are presently used in industry, each normally has some characteristic disadvantage. Some are of very complicated and costly construction; others are not reliable for continuous operation over prolonged periods of time; still others require an unduly long time cycle of operation since a portion of the operating cycle is utilized merely for programming the transfer devices at each station to engage or bypass a workpiece. 
     The primary object of this invention is to provide an accumulating conveyor of the lift and carry type of relatively simple design which is reliable in operation and the time cycle of which is relatively short. 
     More specifically, the present invention contemplates an accumulating conveyor of the type referred to which includes a transfer bar reciprocated both vertically and horizontally to advance workpieces along a pair of stationary rails. Workpiece carriers on the transfer bar are programmed in a simple manner at each station to advance or bypass a workpiece whenever the transfer bar is raised to lift workpieces from the support rails. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, the programming of the carriers at each station is performed during the elevating motion of the transfer bar rather than by the actuation of other elements, such as a program bar, as an independent operation forming part of the total operating cycle of the machine. 
    
    
     Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the conveyor, partly diagrammatic and with portions broken away; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken generally along the lines 2--2 in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a view illustrating the action of the part sensing mechanism when each station of the conveyor is occupied by a workpiece; 
     FIG. 4 is a view illustrating the action of the part sensing mechanism when at least one station is empty and the elevating motion of the transfer bar is initiated; and 
     FIG. 5 shows all of the workpiece carriers in the elevated position with the transfer bar lowered and about to be retracted. 
    
    
     Referring first to FIG. 2, the accumulating conveyor of the present invention includes a supporting frame 10 having laterally spaced upright legs 12 on which a pair of horizontally extending and laterally spaced support rails 14,16 are supported. At regularly spaced intervals along the upper edges of rails 14,16 there are located transversely aligned workpiece nests 18. The nests 18 form a plurality of successive stations which are designated A, B, C and D in FIG. 1. In the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 1 the workpieces are adapted to be conveyed in a direction toward the right (downstream) as indicated by arrow 20. Thus, the endmost downstream station illustrated is designated A and the endmost upstream station illustrated is designated D. 
     Between the support rails 14,16 there is arranged a transfer bar assembly 22 which includes a pair of longitudinally extending transfer bars 24,26 interconnected in fixed laterally spaced parallel relation by tubular spacers 28. Transfer bar assembly 22 is supported for both horizontal and vertical movement. A cylinder 30 diagrammatically illustrates a means for reciprocating the transfer bar assembly horizontally through a stroke S (FIG. 3) which corresponds to the spacing between the successive stations. The means for raising and lowering the transfer bar assembly through a vertical stroke V (FIG. 3) are shown diagrammatically by rollers 32 and cylinders 34. 
     Transfer bar assembly 22 supports a plurality of pairs of workpiece carriers 36. The carriers 36 in each pair are aligned transversely and supported one on each of the transfer bars in laterally spaced relation. Each carrier 36 is fixedly mounted on a spacer 38, the spacers 38 being aligned vertically in the planes of the two transfer bars 24,26. A rotatable shaft 40 extends transversely through the forward (downstream) end of each spacer 38. One end of each shaft 40 is connected to the upper end of a bell crank 42 and the opposite end of each shaft 40 is connected to the upper end of a link 44. A plurality of shafts 46 extend transversely through and are journalled in the spaced transfer bars 24,26 at regularly spaced intervals. Bell cranks 42 are fixedly connected intermediate their ends to one end of each shaft 46 and the lower ends of links 44 are fixedly connected to the opposite end of each shaft 46. The lower end of each bell crank 42 has a laterally outwardly extending cam follower roller 48 journalled thereon. As shown in FIG. 1, at the position corresponding to station A on the conveyor, bell crank 42 is mounted on the right side of transfer bar assembly 22 and link 44 is mounted on the left side thereof. At the next successive upstream station bell crank 42 is mounted at the left side and link 44 is mounted at the right side of transfer bar assembly 22. 
     The upstream end of each spacer 38 is supported on its associated transfer bar by a link 50. The upper ends of links 50 in each pair are connected to the opposite ends of a shaft 52 which extends transversely through the rear (upstream) ends of the spacer bars in each pair. The lower end of each link 50 is pivotally supported on its respective transfer bar by a pin 54. The successive pairs of spacers 38 are connected together by bars 56. The rear end of each bar 56 is pivotally connected to shaft 40 and the forward end of each bar 56 is formed with a longitudinally elongated slot 58 through which the shaft 52 extends. 
     It will be observed that links 50, links 44 and bell cranks 42 form a series of parallelogram linkages between the work carriers 36 and transfer bar assembly 22. It will also be observed that, in response to clockwise movement of one of the parallelogram linkages, the parallelogram linkages upstream thereof will likewise be rotated clockwise through the action of connecting bars 56. Thus, when one pair of carriers are elevated relative to the transfer bar assembly, all the carriers upstream thereof will also be elevated. However, because of slots 58 in bars 56, clockwise rotation of one parallelogram linkage will not elevate the carriers downstream thereof. 
     At each station there is pivotally supported, as by a pin 60, a workpiece sensing lever 62. The successive sensing levers 62 are arranged on alternate sides of the conveyor. Thus, sensor lever 62 at station A is pivotally supported on the inner side of support rail 14 and sensing lever 62 at station B is pivotally supported on the inner side of support rail 16. The lower end of each sensing lever 62 is normally supported on a stop block 64 fixed on the adjacent support rail and the upper end of each sensing lever normally projects upwardly beyond the nest 18 at the adjacent station. Adjacent each stop block 64 there is pivotally supported on the respective support rails 14,16, as at 66, a sear 68. Each sear 68 is provided at its lower end with a laterally inwardly extending cam 70. When all of the stations of the conveyor are empty and the transfer bar assembly 22 is in the lower retracted position, each cam follower roller 48 underlies a cam 70 on the sear 68 associated therewith and all the sears 68 are oriented vertically and abut against the rear faces of stop blocks 64. The lower faces 72 of cams 70 preferably incline slightly downwardly in a downstream direction. 
     One complete cycle of the conveyor comprises the sequential actuation of cylinders 34 and 30 so that with the transfer bar assembly in the retracted position shown in FIG. 1 it is first elevated through the distance V by energizing cylinders 34, then advanced through the stroke S by actuation of cylinder 30, then lowered by actuating cylinders 34 in the opposite direction and finally retracted to the starting position by actuating cylinder 30 in the opposite direction. The alternate location on the opposite sides of the conveyor of the sensing levers 62, sears 68 and bell cranks 42 prevents interference between cam follower rollers 48 and the next successive cam 70 as would be the case if all of the bell cranks 42 and sears 68 were located on the same side of the conveyor. 
     The accumulating feature of the present conveyor is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. In FIG. 3 a workpiece W is shown occupying each of the nests 18. When all of the nests are so occupied there is no need to advance any of the workpieces. When a nest is occupied by a workpiece W, the sensing lever 62 is rotated clockwise by the workpiece so that its lower end engages and swings sear 68 to the inclined position shown in FIG. 3. This displaces cam 70 out of the vertical path of travel of cam follower 48. Thus, when the transfer bar assembly 22 is raised by actuation of cylinders 34, the cam follower 48 progresses along the vertical path shown in phantom in FIG. 3 and the bell cranks 42 are not pivoted. If the bell cranks are not pivoted, then, when the transfer bar assembly is fully elevated, the carriers 36 have not been raised sufficiently to engage the workpieces at the next upstream stations and, therefore, all of the workpieces remain seated in their nests. 
     If the nest at station A (or any other station) is empty, the sensing lever 62 at that station pivots under the influence of gravity to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. Then, when the transfer bar assembly is elevated, the cam follower 48 at the next upstream station engages the inclined lower face 72 of overlying cam 70 and is thereby displaced to the left as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 4 to rotate its associated bell crank 42 clockwise until the parallelogram linkage is in an over-center position and is rendered stable by means of a pin 74 against which the bell crank abuts. 
     As pointed out previously, the successive spacers 38 are interconnected by bars 56. Thus, when the carrier at station B is elevated by clockwise rotation of its parallelogram linkage, each of the successive upstream carriers will be swung upwardly and forwardly to the erected position shown in FIG. 4. Thus, when the transfer bar assembly is fully raised through the vertical distance V, the carriers at the stations upstream from station A will engage and lift all of the workpieces W from nests 18 at all stations upstream from an empty station. The workpieces so elevated are then advanced to the next successive downstream station when cylinder 30 is actuated to shift the transfer bar assembly to the right through the stroke S. Thereafter, when cylinders 34 are actuated in the opposite direction, the transfer bar assembly is lowered and the workpieces are deposited in the nests of the next downstream station. Then, when the lowered transfer bar assembly approaches its fully retracted position (FIG. 5), the endmost upstream cam follower 48 will contact a stop block 76 that is mounted on the adjacent support rail and thereby pivot all of the parallelogram linkages counterclockwise to the reset position illustrated in FIG. 1. All of the carriers which have been previously erected are thereby rocked to their lowered position resting on the two transfer bars through the action of the interconnecting bars 56.