GB936457A - Improvements in or relating to the conveyance of rod-like articles - Google Patents

Abstract

936,457. Endless conveyers. SPOONER DRYER & ENGINEERING CO. Ltd. June 9, 1960 [June 19, 1959 ; Feb. 6, 1960], Nos. 21043/59 and 4276/60. Class 78 (1). In a conveying system for conveying rodlike articles, such as welding rods, through a heat treatment chamber 10, the articles are fed down a shoot 22 to a feeding conveyer 28 having compartments 30 and means for ejecting the excess articles if there are more than one article in any compartment, as disclosed in Specification 825,962. The articles are delivered from the conveyer 28, one at a time, into slots 46 in racks 12 which are suspended from supports 44 on endless chains 18 driven in synchronism with the conveyer 28 and which engage a ramp 48 at the loading station 16 to incline the racks. The racks are transferred from the chains 18 to endless chains 14, passing through the chamber 10 and driven at a slower speed than the chains 18, at a transfer wheel 20 and, having passed through the chamber, the racks are transferred to chains 62 travelling at substantially the same speed as the chains 18. As the racks are lowered on the chains 62, projections 74 on the racks engage a guide 72 which causes the rack to tip to discharge the articles, whereafter the racks are transferred to the chains 18. In a modification, Fig. 3 (not shown), the articles are transferred from the feeding conveyer to an inclined guide down which they slide on to the chamber conveyer by rotating arms. In a further modification, Figs. 1, 2 (not shown), of the second Provisional Specification, the articles are fed to the feeding conveyer by an endless belt conveyer and the feeding conveyer comprises a conveyer for separating the articles and a pair of endless chains for feeding the articles to the racks.