Lockheed Martin Corporation

Transdigm, Inc.

Brian Sharkey

Shane F Mills

Michael E Caporali

Christopher Quang

Ky Nguyen

Thomas Arnold

John Rasile

A clamping method and apparatus including two halves of a clamp mated at a first end. The two halves are pivotally connected at a second end. The present invention is configured to permit the device to be repeatedly used without extended wear.

Clamping apparatus and method

A bidirectional article pusher for a conveying system, which includes a multiplicity of spaced rollers for moving articles along a longitudinal path. There is a push up stop arranged below the conveyor and movable between adjacent rollers to a position above the rollers to stop forward movement of an article which is on the rollers. There are lateral stations, one on each side of a section of the conveying system, and lateral diverters move articles which are on the rollers and stopped by the push up stop, to a position off of the rollers and out of the longitudinal path and at a right angle to the longitudinal path. A stop activator is controlled based upon information, such as that on a bar code sort label on an article and which has been previously provided to the control device upstream of the push up stop. There are three jam detection/correction devices provided to assure proper operation. One is a proximity sensor to detect the presence of the pusher fingers while in their home position. The other is a current overload sensor circuit which detects jams. The third is a number of software timers embedded in the control software for controlling the diverter arrangement. There is also an acceleration profiler which obtains weight information and uses it to control acceleration/deceleration of the articles being moved.

Bi-directional mail tray pusher

Growing community of inventors

Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Brian Sharkey