Patents Assigned to Laitram, L.L.C.
  • TAPERED SCRAPER FOR A CONVEYOR BELT
    Publication number: 20140124333
    Abstract: A conveyor belt scraper includes a non-linear scraping edge for directing product towards the center of the scraper. The non-linear scraping edge comprises two obliquely extending portions that intersect at an obtuse angle to define a nadir of a channel. The non-linear scraping edge is formed at the top end of a curved inner surface that abuts a conveyor belt wrapped around a reversing element. Channeling surfaces are formed between the non-linear scraping edge and an outer surface of the scraper. The scraping edge and channeling surfaces direct product away from the conveyor belt and over the outer surface of the scraper.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2012
    Publication date: May 8, 2014
    Applicant: LAITRAM, L.L.C.
    Inventor: Clint T. Favre
  • POSITIVELY-DRIVEN, LOW TENSION TRANSFER CONVEYOR
    Publication number: 20140116856
    Abstract: Components of a conveyor system designed to facilitate tight transfer of products onto and off a positively-driven, low tension conveyor belt. The conveyor system includes a tension amplifier in a returnway of a conveyor belt circuit for selectively increasing tension in the conveyor belt prior to infeed without increasing the low tension in the returnway prior to the tension amplifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2013
    Publication date: May 1, 2014
    Applicant: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Michael Hendrik DeGroot, Daniel Robert Hendrickson, James R. Honeycutt, JR., Brian A. Trapani, Wayne A. Pertuit, JR., Paul E. St. Pierre
  • BELT CONVEYOR AND ELECTROMAGNETIC DRIVE
    Publication number: 20140110227
    Abstract: A belt conveyor having an electromagnetic drive comprising a rotor and a stator sealed in separate nonmagnetic and nonconductive housings. The rotor is mounted to a drive shaft. A drive drum or drive sprockets supported on the shaft have peripheral drive surfaces that engage a conveyor belt. The rotor is coaxial with the peripheral drive surface—either sealed within the drum or sprockets or housed on the shaft axially spaced from the drive surface. The rotor may include conductive rotor bars or permanent magnets. The stator is spaced apart from the rotor across a narrow gap and produces a traveling magnetic flux wave across the gap that causes the rotor and the peripheral drive surface to rotate and drive the conveyor belt.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2013
    Publication date: April 24, 2014
    Applicant: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Bryant G. Ragan, Kevin W. Guernsey, Wayne A. Pertuit, JR.
  • Conveyor with a gentle retractable stop
    Patent number: 8701867
    Abstract: A conveyor having a retractable stop providing a nonsliding contact surface to the leading faces of conveyed articles to prevent damage to the faces of the articles. One version of such a stop has a contact surface defined by the peripheries of rollers that rotate on the accumulated articles as the stop moves from a blocking position accumulating articles on the conveyor to a retracted position releasing accumulated articles to advance downstream along the conveyor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Mark Costanzo, Eric M. Pressler, Felix H. Lapeyre, III
  • Belt conveyor with snagless retractable flights
    Patent number: 8701871
    Abstract: A belt conveyor having snagless retractable flights. The flights rotate from a retracted position generally parallel to a top conveying surface on the conveyor belt to an extended position standing up and away from the top surface. In one version of the flight, a distal edge of the flight is bent downward into a cavity in the top surface of the belt when the flight is retracted. In another version, rollers at the distal end of the flight extend upstream of the distal edge of the flight. The flight rollers are rotated when the flight is retraced to lift and propel conveyed articles over the edges of the flight. Thus, both flights avoid snagging articles with discontinuous bottoms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventor: Matthew L. Fourney
  • Fastening system for a conveyor belt
    Patent number: 8695790
    Abstract: A fastening system for joining two ends of a conveyor belt segment includes an inhibiting surface for controlling movement of the ends relative to each other. The inhibiting surface is offset from an inner surface of a conveyor belt segment employing the fastening system and engages a surface of a corresponding conveyor belt segment to reduce tenting of the conveyor belt segment ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Terral A. Ridgell, Michael V. Piehler, Kevin W. Guernsey, John H. Kuchler, Jr.
  • CONVEYOR BELT HAVING BIDIRECTIONAL STACKED ROLLERS
    Publication number: 20140090961
    Abstract: A conveyor belt and a belt module having multiple roller sets, each roller set including a bottom roller in contact with an axially elongated top roller. Driving the bottom roller in a first direction causes rotation of the top roller in an opposite angular direction. The bottom rollers in first longitudinal lanes are arranged to rotate obliquely toward one side of the belt, and the bottom rollers in second lanes are arranged to rotate toward the other side of the belt. Either the first lanes of roller sets or the second lanes can be selectively actuated to direct articles conveyed atop the top rollers rearward and toward one side of the belt or the other or to receive articles fed onto the belt from either side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Publication date: April 3, 2014
    Applicant: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Mark Costanzo, Dennis K. Scates, David H. Myers, Glenn R. McCall, Jr., Matthew L. Fourney
  • SHRIMP DEHEADING APPARATUS AND METHODS
    Publication number: 20140087641
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods for deheading shrimp using the Venturi Effect. A shrimp-laden fluid is pumped through a conduit system and lined with one or more venturi tubes. The acceleration of the fluid through the venturis detaches the heads from the shrimp. The cross-sectional areas of the venturis each have a major axis and a shorter minor axis. The major axis is long enough to receive the majority of or all the length of a shrimp and minimize hard collisions with the entrance to the venturi that could damage the shrimp.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2013
    Publication date: March 27, 2014
    Applicant: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Lars Vedsted, Brent A. Ledet
  • Modular conveyor belt with extended raised ribs
    Patent number: 8678180
    Abstract: A modular conveyor belt having extended raised ribs that overlap to prevent the top conveying surface of the belt from opening up as the belt articulates forward around a sprocket at a hinge joint. Protrusions extend from the raised ribs past the ends of the belt modules. When rows of belt modules are connected together at hinge joints, the interleaved protrusions overlap laterally over a range of articulation angles. The modules may include cavities for roller assemblies, such as engaged stacked rollers in which a bottom roller is allowed to float vertically to maintain good contact with the top roller as they wear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Angela Longo Marshall, Stephen T. Ferrell
  • Checkpoint system with wheeled bins
    Patent number: 8678169
    Abstract: A checkpoint system, wheeled bins for a checkpoint system, and methods for conveying articles in wheeled bins through a checkpoint system. Each bin has four wheels that do not extend below the bin's flat bottom. In this way, the bin can be slid on its bottom along a shallow, troughed divesting table while it is being filled and conveyed on its bottom through a checkpoint and rolled on its wheels along a deeper troughed discharge lane. A bin return beneath the discharge lane returns bins to a bin storage queue beneath the divesting table. A sorter at the output of the checkpoint selectively diverts bins to one or more discharge lanes, such as individual lanes for cleared and for suspect bin contents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Andrew N. Baker, Matthew L. Fourney
  • BELT CONVEYOR SYSTEM, ROLLER-ENGAGEMENT MECHANISM, AND RELATED METHOD
    Publication number: 20140069776
    Abstract: A conveyor system having a roller-engagement mechanism and a method for conveying articles. The conveyor system includes an infeed conveyor feeding articles to a conveyor belt advancing in a direction of belt travel. The conveyor belt comprises obliquely rotatable rollers—single rollers or stacked sets of rollers—selectively activated by the roller-engagement mechanism. The roller-engagement mechanism has a rack supporting a plurality of flat belts. The flat belts advance in the direction of travel of the conveyor belt. The rack is movable between a first position in which the flat belts advancing with the conveyor belt contact the belt rollers to inhibit their rotation and carry articles atop the belt in the direction of belt travel and a second position in which the flat belts are out of contact with the belt rollers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Publication date: March 13, 2014
    Applicant: LAITRAM, L.L.C.
    Inventor: Matthew L. Fourney
  • LOW BACK-PRESSURE ACCUMULATION SYSTEM
    Publication number: 20140054137
    Abstract: A belt conveyor having upper article-supporting belt rollers that are rotated rearward by rotating lower belt rollers only when the articles are slowed or stopped from advancing with the belt. As the belt advances in a direction of travel, the lower rollers rotate by contact with a bearing surface underlying the belt. The upper rollers have axles whose ends are retained in slots that slope downward in the belt's direction of travel. The slots provide the upper rollers a range of positions between a forward position out of contact with the rotating lower roller and a rearward position contacting the lower roller, which rotates the upper roller rearward relieving back line pressure on accumulated articles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Publication date: February 27, 2014
    Applicant: LAITRAM, L.L.C.
    Inventor: Matthew L. Fourney
  • Cooking method and cooker for cooking foodstuffs in stackable trays
    Patent number: 8652556
    Abstract: A cooking system and a method for cooking food products. The cooking system comprises a forced-convection cooker having a conveyor continuously conveying stacks of product-laden trays through a cooking chamber. Fans in the cooking chamber establish a generally vertical convection path traversed by the conveyor. Foraminous bottoms in the trays allow cooking fluid in the convection path to be forced through the trays and products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Joseph F. Kovacs, Brent A. Ledet
  • Snap-on conveyor belt rollers
    Patent number: 8646595
    Abstract: Snap-on rollers for a conveyor belt. The snap-on roller may be snapped onto an axle or into a cavity of a conveyor belt module. Multi-piece snap-on rollers can be installed radially onto an axle on a conveyor belt and joined together in a puzzle pattern to form a complete roller that can rotate on the axle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Abraham L. Miller, Gibert J. MacLachlan, David C. Weiser
  • Tilt roller grader with plurality of jacks
    Patent number: 8640878
    Abstract: A tilt roller grader for grading solid objects, such as shrimp. The grader has grading rollers obliquely arranged across a tilted grading bed. Jacks in cross members supporting the bed are used to jack up the grading bed across its width to adjust the flatness of the bed for uniform grading gaps between the grading rollers and the bed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Christopher G. Greve, Robert S. Lapeyre
  • MODULAR CONVEYOR BELT WITH EXTENDED RAISED RIBS
    Publication number: 20140027250
    Abstract: A modular conveyor belt having extended raised ribs that overlap to prevent the top conveying surface of the belt from opening up as the belt articulates forward around a sprocket at a hinge joint. Protrusions extend from the raised ribs past the ends of the belt modules. When rows of belt modules are connected together at hinge joints, the interleaved protrusions overlap laterally over a range of articulation angles. The modules may include cavities for roller assemblies, such as engaged stacked rollers in which a bottom roller is allowed to float vertically to maintain good contact with the top roller as they wear.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2012
    Publication date: January 30, 2014
    Applicant: LAITRAM, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Angela Longo Marshall, Stephen T. Ferrell
  • PLASTIC CHAIN CONVEYOR WITH MAGNET CONNECTING PINS
    Publication number: 20140021022
    Abstract: Front and back ends (2a, 2b) of plastic chain modules (2) made of a plastic material are rotatably linked by multiple plastic connecting pins (3a) and metal connecting pins (3b) to form an endless plastic chain conveyor (1). In the plastic chain modules (2) of the plastic chain conveyor (1), carrier surfaces (4a) (top surfaces) of module bodies (4) are smooth. Offset engaging parts (5a, 5b) that can be attached to and detached from each other in the width direction of the plastic chain conveyor (1) are formed on linking end pieces (4X) of the module bodies (4). Circular through-holes (6) receiving the bar-shaped connecting pins (3a, 3b) that rotatably link the offset engaging parts (5a, 5b) of the chain modules (2) are formed at the centers of the sides of the offset engaging parts (5a, 5b).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2012
    Publication date: January 23, 2014
    Applicant: LAITRAM, L.L.C.
    Inventor: Michitaka Miyashita
  • CONVEYOR SYSTEMS AND METHODS
    Publication number: 20140008274
    Abstract: A conveyor system and methods for conveying and unstacking flat and non-flat packages. The conveyor system includes an inclined conveyor belt delivering packages to a tilted conveyor belt that conveys flat packages along its length while non-flat packages tumble off its lower side edge to initially cull flat packages from a bulk flow of packages. Retention means, such as a high-friction outer conveying surface or a raised barrier along the length of the outer conveying surface of the tilted conveyor belt, holds flat packages on the tilted conveyor belt. The inclined conveyor belt has stop elements spaced apart along the belt's length and is advanced in stop-and-go fashion to help unstack piggy-backed packages as they are conveyed up the incline.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2013
    Publication date: January 9, 2014
    Applicant: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Matthew L. Fourney, Stephen G. Wargo
  • CLEANABLE DIVERTER
    Publication number: 20140008178
    Abstract: A cleanable shoe-type diverter belt having narrow translatable pushers forming article-diverting shoes covering little or none of the belt's conveying surface. Cam followers on the shoes below the pushers follow selectively actuated or fixed guides under the belt to translate the shoes along a transverse track across the width of the belt. Cam followers of different lengths are programmed to follow different paths by multi-level guides.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Publication date: January 9, 2014
    Applicant: LAITRAM, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Kevin W. Guernsey, Brian R. Lee, Jorge E. Nagel
  • Apparatus and method for selectively actuating moving conveyor rollers
    Patent number: 8622202
    Abstract: A conveyor having selectively actuated rollers whose only external contact is with conveyed articles and a method for rotating such rollers. In one version, the rollers are driven by motors that are selectively energized by a wireless signal or a sensed conveyor position. In another version, the rollers are geared to a drive wheel that engages a bearing surface underlying the conveyor along the conveying path. The rollers are selectively actuated to push conveyed articles along the conveyor as it advances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Laitram, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Brien G. Rau, Jason M. Lagneaux