Ocs Intellitrak, Inc.

Thomas E Beall, Jr

With respect to an overhead conveyor of the type wherein a carriage travels along a rotatable generally horizontal drive shaft by being supported on the top periphery of the drive shaft through skewed driven rollers, carriage construction is minimized by forming a portion or all of the carriage from a uniform cross sectional shaped elongated member extending through skewed apertures within the hub of one or all of the driven rollers.

Overhead conveyor system

A load of an overhead conveyor is connected to a carriage, that has elastomeric material biasing a plurality of pivotally mounted driven wheels against a rotatable drive shaft extending along the transporting direction. The driven wheels are canted with respect to the drive shaft so that when the drive shaft is rotated, a helical loci of engagement between the drive shaft and driven wheels provides sufficient traction through the engagement force of the bias to propel the hanger along the transporting path. A first portion of weight of the load is carried through the bias member and through the driven wheels to the drive shaft, and thereafter a next portion of weight of the load is carried through a support wheel to a load support structure independently of the drive shaft. Preferably, the drive shaft is composed of a number of drivingly discontinuous sections that are aligned or alignable for diverting transporting paths so as to each be driven by a separate set of a drive motor, mechanical transmission and drive belt. The drive shaft may include curved sections so that the transporting path may take on any desired shape. The drive shaft is mounted by a plurality of bearings within a channel.

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Wye Mills, MD, United States of America

Thomas E Beall, Jr