A CONVEYING APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING HOP VINES TO A STRIPPING MACHINE

1,217,876. Conveyer systems. AGROSTROJ PROSTEJOV NARODNI PODNIK 13 Sept., 1968 [19 Sept., 1967], No. 43575/68. Heading B7L. Hop vines 7 are conveyed from a truck 2 to a stripping machine 11 by means of a conveyer system comprising a pair of parallel tracks 5 supporting carriers 4 which are clamped by hand on to vines 7 at a stop mechanism 19 and moved by hand or power to a switch 8 which automatically drives carriers alternately from the tracks 5 to a single inclined track 6 where each carrier 4 is engaged by a pusher 3 of a first conveyer chain 10 and driven nearly to 22 where the carrier 4 moves down an incline under gravity to a stop mechanism 9 where the pushers 3 of a second conveyer chain 18 release the carrier 4 and drive it through the stripping machine 11, between rails 12 to release the stripped vine and through a roller device 13 to remove the stripped vine (which is then chopped and conveyed to a truck), the carriers 4 then being switched alternately by a distributer switch 17 to the pair of tracks 5 where they move under gravity to the stop mechanism 19. Safety contactors 22, 23 prevent track crowding by switching off the drive of the chains 10 and 1, and of the chain 18 and the machine 11 when the tracks are full. Stop mechanism 19.-A spring-loaded parallelogram linkage 24, 26 (Fig. 9) carries a stop cam 25, and two stop buffers 30 which engage a cam track 29 and which are pivoted at 39 such that when a carrier 4 abutting the cam 25 has been loaded, it is pushed by hand in the direction A past the cam 25 thus swinging the linkage and moving the buffers upwards clear of the next carrier 4 which moves into the loading position. Switch 8.-Pushers 3 of conveyer chains 1 propel the carriers 4 through the switch 8 and are arranged to travel alternately through the switch 8 to avoid collisions between carriers. The switch 8 is switched by the carriers 4. Stop mechanism 9.-Each carrier 4 is halted by two pivoted spring-loaded two-armed levers mounted one on each side, or both on one side, of the carrier track. The pushers 3 of the chain 18 propel the carriers through the stop mechanism 9 against the spring-loading. Distributer switch 17.-Route-setting stops on the carriers 4 or on the chain 18 engage bars on the switch member to rotate it, one or more successive stops being directed first to one side and then the other.