DIVERTING SWITCH MECHANISM FOR CONVEYORS

1,256,212. Delivering sheets; endless conveyers-transferring and diverting articles. BROOKHIRST IGRANIC Ltd. 27 Jan., 1970 [6 March, 1969], No. 3961/70. Headings B8A and B8R. A conveyer apparatus, e.g. for a stacking machine, for transporting articles in an overlapping stream 74 comprises spaced, longitudinally aligned first and second conveyers, e.g. endless wire belts 14, 14, and a third conveyer, e.g. endless wire belts 36, pivotally mounted within the space, means being operable to move stream interrupting means, e.g. fingers 68, into the stream path at the output end of the first conveyer, then pivot the input end of the third conveyer out of the path of said stream and then move the stream interrupting means out of the stream path, the stream thereafter being diverted through the space. The wire belts 14 of the first conveyer section 4 are extended to an end roller 26 in a stream diverter section 2 and the belts 14 of the second conveyer section 6 to an end roller 28 in section 2. Top wire cover belts 16 extend the length of the three conveyers. Roller 28 also locates the wire belts 36 of the third conveyer which are passed around pairs of rollers 34 pivoted via arm 32 to the roller 28. It is also drivingly connected, via a single revolution clutch (22) Fig. 1 (not shown) operated by a solenoid 70, to a sprocket 44 which in turn drives a sprocket 50. When the solenoid 70 is activated, e.g. by a switch or a faulty feed detector, the clutch is engaged for one revolution of sprocket 44 rotating sprocket 50 through a half revolution. Crank arm 56 on sprocket 44 thus urges fingers 68 into the stream path and crank arm 52 to pivot the belts 36 of the third conveyer out of the path thereby urging the articles against the cover belt 16 as in Fig. 3a (not shown), crank arm 56 then moving the fingers back out of the path, Fig. 3b (not shown), the stream thus being diverted through the space. A further activation of solenoid 70 restores the stream to its original path, Figs. 3c and 3d (not shown).