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:
Feb. 04, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 29, 2000
James T. Shearer, Jr., Ada, MI (US);
William W. Viet, Ada, MI (US);
Rapistan Systems Advertising Corp., Grand Rapids, MI (US);
Abstract
A conveyor system having an endless conveying surface, a plurality of diverters, and diverting shoes transversely movable across the conveying surface, includes a diverting track network in operational connection with a controller. The controller measures the length of each package, while the diverting track network includes a plurality of upstream diverting tracks and at least one downstream diverting track. The controller selectively actuates a diverter associated with downstream diverting track and at least one diverter along a particular upstream diverting track to engage the package proximate to its leading and trailing end. The diverting track network is configured to initially move the package in a direction generally parallel to the direction of movement of the main conveyor, and out of alignment with the articles traveling therealong, and subsequently rotate the article so that when discharged to a branch conveyor, the leading end of the article is more nearly orthogonal to the direction of motion of the branch conveyor.