The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 10, 1995
Filed:
Nov. 17, 1994
John W Best, Jonesboro, AR (US);
Bobby K Flippo, Jonesboro, AR (US);
Paul W Irby, Jonesboro, AR (US);
Northstar Industries, Inc., Jonesboro, AR (US);
Abstract
Conveyors containing powered rollers arranged in zones, each of which zones may be independently controlled. Such conveyors are particularly useful in transitioning object flow from a constant speed conveyor such as in a plant or warehouse, to manual offloading operations which tends to be more intermittent in nature. The independently controlled zones automatically activate and deactivate in a manner that allows objects to accumulate in a compact fashion on the conveyor when offloading operations stop, but once again to space themselves apart from one another as offloading operations resume and flow once again reaches steady state. This increased spacing during steady state flow allows the conveyor to begin absorbing objects in the accumulation mode if and when offloading stops again. Among other beneficial effects is an ergonomic one: Workers are freed from the stress of knowing that objects flowing on the conveyor will simply be propelled off the end if they take a momentary break.