Cart-type transporting device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10087007-B2
Application number	US-201715590557-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2017
Priority date	Nov 11, 2014
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A cart-type transporting device includes left and right auxiliary rotating bodies moving in conjunction with left and right turning-section toothed wheels that guide a first endless chain; and a turning pathway section that protrudes at a position between the auxiliary rotating bodies, and that is provided with a lower protruding cam over which a transporting cart can pass. Left and right front-side projection shafts of the transporting cart engage with an engagement section of the respective auxiliary rotating bodies. Left and right rear-side projection shafts engage with an engagement section of the first endless chain. When the projection shafts are picked up by the rotation of the turning-section toothed wheels and the auxiliary rotating bodies, the lower protruding cam supports and guides a cam-following roller at a bottom section of the transporting cart in accordance with the same rotating pathway as the engagement section.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cart-type transporting device comprising:
a traveling pathway which includes a turning pathway section in a vertical direction between a horizontal pathway section and a separate traveling pathway section connected thereto;
a transporting cart which travels the traveling pathway while keeping a horizontal upright posture; and
a drive means which makes the transporting cart travel in the traveling pathway,
wherein the transporting cart is supported via wheels such that the transporting cart travels on guide rails, and includes engaged sections which are provided at two front and rear places on each of both left and right sides so as to protrude horizontally and laterally and an auxiliary supported section which is provided at a bottom section,
the drive means includes a pair of left and right endless chains which rotate along the traveling pathway through a turning-section toothed wheel pivotally supported to the turning pathway section, a pair of left and right auxiliary rotating bodies which interlock with the pair of left and right endless chains, and an auxiliary guide member,
each of the pair of left and right endless chains includes engagement sections which are detachably fitted to a pair of the front and rear engaged sections of the transporting cart,
each of the pair of left and right auxiliary rotating bodies includes an engagement section which is pivotally supported in a position by only an interval between the pair of front and rear engaged sections apart from the turning-section toothed wheel in a horizontal direction and which engages with the engaged section removed from the engagement section of one of the pair of left and right endless chains,
the auxiliary guide member includes a lower protruding cam which is provided at such a height so as not to interfere with the transporting cart that enters and exits the turning pathway section at a lowest level and which supports and guides the auxiliary supported section of the transporting cart that turns and a pair of left and right engaged-section-guiding guide rails which are laid along an outer side of an engaged section rotating pathway on a side far from the horizontal pathway section, and
the lower protruding cam maintains, in a lower end side region of an engaged section rotating pathway on a side close to the horizontal pathway section, an engagement state of the engagement section of the pair of left and right endless chains or the auxiliary guide member and the engaged section of the transporting cart.

2. The cart-type transporting device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the engaged sections of the transporting cart are formed with wheels which are pivotally supported to the two front and rear places on each of both the left and right sides of the transporting cart and which include projection shafts that are provided so as to protrude outward and concentrically, and
the engagement sections of the pair of left and right endless chains are formed with members which include concave sections that fit in the up/down direction to the projection shafts in the horizontal pathway section.

3. The cart-type transporting device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the auxiliary supported sections are provided at two front and rear places in a center section of the bottom section of the transporting cart in a left/right width direction, and
the two front and rear auxiliary supported sections are displaced in the left/right width direction of the transporting cart so as not to overlap each other when the transporting cart is seen in a front view.

4. The cart-type transporting device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the transporting cart is formed such that
the wheels are pivotally supported to outer sides of both left and right side plates which are provided so as to protrude downward from both left and right sides of a top plate,
the two front and rear auxiliary supported sections are attached to a lower side of the top plate,
a space below the top plate from the auxiliary supported section on the front side to a rear end of the transporting cart is opened backward, and the auxiliary supported section on the front side is directly viewable from behind through the space below the top plate, and
a space below the top plate from the auxiliary supported section on the rear side to a front end of the transporting cart is opened forward, and the auxiliary supported section on the rear side is directly viewable from the front thereof through the space below the top plate.

5. The cart-type transporting device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the auxiliary supported section is formed with a cam-following roller which is pivotally supported with a horizontal support shaft in a left/right direction.

6. The cart-type transporting device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the separate traveling pathway section is connected downward from the horizontal pathway section through the turning pathway section,
in the horizontal pathway section, a transporting cart inclination prevention means is also provided which prevents the wheels of the transporting cart from dropping between the turning-section toothed wheel of the horizontal pathway section and the auxiliary rotating body, and
the transporting cart inclination prevention means is formed with an upper guide rail which is laid on an upper side of the horizontal pathway section so as to cover the wheels of the transporting cart from above and a support guide roller which is pivotally supported to a lower side of the horizontal pathway section so as to support the transporting cart.

7. The cart-type transporting device according to claim 6 ,
wherein in the transporting cart inclination prevention means, a lower guide rail is additionally provided which is laid between the turning-section toothed wheel and the auxiliary rotating body except a wheel rotating pathway on a side close to the horizontal pathway section among the front and rear wheels of the transporting cart and which supports the wheels of the transporting cart from below.

8. The cart-type transporting device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the separate traveling pathway section is a lifting/lowering pathway section which is connected upward from the horizontal pathway section through the turning pathway section,
in the lifting/lowering pathway section, a first endless chain which is continuous with the horizontal pathway section through the turning-section toothed wheel and a second endless chain which interlocks with the first endless chain so as to rotate along the lifting/lowering pathway section are provided,
the second endless chain is located closer to the horizontal pathway section than the first endless chain in the lifting/lowering pathway section,
a lower end guide toothed wheel thereof and the turning-section toothed wheel are pivotally supported at a same height higher than the first endless chain of the horizontal pathway section,
the first endless chain of the horizontal pathway section is inclined obliquely upward at a lower end of the lifting/lowering pathway section,
the auxiliary rotating body is provided so as to rotate concentrically and integrally with the lower end guide toothed wheel of the second endless chain,
the engagement section of the auxiliary rotating body is formed with a concave section to and from which the wheel where the projection shaft is fitted to the engagement section of the second endless chain is detachably fitted, and
the lower protruding cam of the auxiliary guide member allows the engaged section of the transporting cart to transfer between the engagement sections of the second endless chain rotating around the lower end guide toothed wheel and the auxiliary rotating body and an end part of the horizontal pathway

Assignees

• Daifuku Kk

Inventors

• Ishibashi Masahiro
• Muranaga Junichi
• Baba Shigeru
• Tamura Yukichi
• Kusuhara Shigeyuki

Classifications

• B65G17/123 Primary

  arranged to keep the load-carriers horizontally during at least a part of the conveyor run · CPC title

• B65G17/48

  Controlling attitudes of load-carriers during movement ({B65G17/18 takes precedence;} guides B65G21/20; inverting or tilting load carriers to discharge contents B65G47/38) · CPC title

• B65G17/42

  Attaching load carriers to traction elements · CPC title

• B65G17/38

  Chains or like traction elements (drive chains F16G13/00); Connections between traction elements and load-carriers · CPC title

• B65G17/12

  comprising a series of individual load-carriers fixed, or normally fixed, relative to traction element · CPC title