Conveyor assembly incorporating a pop-up swivel wheel diverter

Abstract

A diverter is capable of selectively and alternatively operating in an in-line mode in which it conveys articles along a primary conveyor and in a diverting mode in which it swivels and pops-up to smoothly ramp articles vertically from the primary conveyor and to divert the articles at an angle from the primary conveyor and onto a secondary conveyor or the like. In addition to popping-up and swiveling, the diverter helps to turn the diverted article onto the secondary conveyor by conveying one side of the article faster than the other side. The diverter includes a plurality of laterally spaced diverter wheel assemblies each of which can be swiveled from an in-line orientation to a skewed orientation. The outer peripheral surfaces of the diverter wheels run at the primary conveyor's in-line speed when the diverter wheels are in their in-line orientation and change speeds when the diverter wheels swivel to their skewed orientation so that their speeds increase progressively from wheel-to-wheel as one moves laterally across the diverter to create a speed differential across the primary conveyor. Speed changeover is effected via a multi-grooved spool coupled to the diverter wheel by an O-ring belt. Diverter wheel swiveling causes the belt to twist and to traverse a generally helical or flattened-S-shaped crossover groove forward in a flange separating the adjacent pulley grooves of the spool. The spools and diverter wheel assemblies move together during a pop-up operation to reduce belt stretching.