Patents Examined by David F. Hubbuch
  • Patent number: 4645885
    Abstract: In an endless conveyor with a plurality of load carriers, current collectors are associated with the load carriers and each exhibit an input part and a current collecting part. The current collecting part is mounted on the load carriers rotatably relative to the input part. Contact arms attached to the current collecting part are in contact with sliding contact rails. The current collected from the sliding contact rails passes via the contact arms, the current collecting part and sliding contacts connected to the current collecting part to the input part and from there to the respective load carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 1985
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1987
    Assignee: Bellheimer Metallwerk GmbH.
    Inventor: Hans R. Blesinger
  • Patent number: 4644869
    Abstract: A device for interrupting the movement of load carrying units, such as carts or pallets, moving with a conveyor system. The device includes a movable conveyor engagement mechanism associated with each of the carts which is movable between a conveyor system engagement position and disengagement position by a movable actuator disposed at a first preselected location along the conveyor path at which the movement of a cart is to be interrupted. The movable actuator is controlled by a trigger mechanism disposed at a second predetermined location upstream of the movable actuator. The trigger mechanism is activated in response to a following cart moving with the conveyor past the trigger mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1987
    Inventor: Arthur B. Rhodes
  • Patent number: 4644870
    Abstract: The present invention provides a conveying system for use for carrying the work, equipped with a conveying truck having a mover of a linear pulse motor fixed at its side bottom and main travelling rails having stators mounted thereon, there being provided openings for use in operation with specified areas about the central part of the aforementioned conveying truck, thereby permitting the operation to be performed from below on the work loaded on the conveying truck, and with the stators of the aforementioned linear pulse motor located at stations for the conveying truck, the aforementioned mover and the stators composing the linear pulse motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1987
    Assignee: Hitachi Kiden Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshiro Higuchi, Shigeki Kamei, Kojiro Kawaguchi
  • Patent number: 4644873
    Abstract: An electric overhead trolley conveyor is described whereby electric trolleys can drive automatically with reduced velocity in inclining, declining or vertical sections or in selected horizontal sections of the rail without a special control of the electric motor or the drive. For this purpose, chains or racks are provided in sections for reduced speed which mesh with sprocket wheels or gears of the electric trolleys. In the other areas of the rail the electric trolleys are driven by a drive wheel. The circumferential velocity of the drive wheel is greater than the circumferential velocity of the sprocket wheel or gear. In the slow movement sections the circumferential velocity difference is compensated by the drive wheel which has an outer ring, that may rotate relative to an inner hub which is fixedly connected with the drive shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 1985
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1987
    Inventor: Georg Uttscheid
  • Patent number: 4641583
    Abstract: A power and free conveyor system wherein a plurality of conveyor units or trolleys in the form of part suspension frames and the like may be moved by a continuously moving chain but the relationship of the chain to each conveyor is such that no latching or unlatching of the units is necessary to stop a particular unit at a station or when a stack-up of conveyor units occurs. Resumption of motion occurs automatically when intentional stopping or stack-up is relieved. The drive chain engages a plurality of freely rotating sprockets arranged on the trolley in a manner in which the chain forms a loop diverging from the general alignment of the chain. The acceleration and drive of the trolleys is thus controlled by a variable tension arrangement on one of the drive sprockets of the chain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1987
    Assignee: Overhead Conveyor Company
    Inventor: Earl J. Harrington
  • Patent number: 4641587
    Abstract: The invention relates to a suspended motorized vehicle traveling on a line consisting, in its straight sections, of rails placed on track cables held by suspender cables tied to main cables and comprising, for the curved sections, rigid shapes supported by brackets or crossbeams making it possible to change the direction of the vehicles. The invention proposes mounting of wheel sets supported independently of one another, comprising load equalizing bars, and independent motorizing of the wheels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1987
    Assignee: Ateliers de Constructions Mecaniques de Vevey S.A.
    Inventor: Fernand Dalliard
  • Patent number: 4641586
    Abstract: A magnetic suspension for a railway vehicle with electromagnetic carrying, guiding and driving gear, wherein the forces of the exciter and transverse flux magnets support, guide, drive and brake together with an active motor section by regulating the gap distance from a track-side reaction rail measured by gap, measured by gap sensors, and wherein the vehicle includes hover frames and the magnets are resiliently mounted to the hover frames in such a way that both supporting and guiding magnets as well as the carrying magnets of the two longsides of the vehicles are separated from each other as to action and the hover frames are coupled to the vehicle superstructure through spring means is disclosed. Each magnet includes at least four coils and the transvers flux magnets have adjacent coils with coil lengths selected so that within the magnet coil peripheries of the adjacent coils, lying side by side, do not coincide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1987
    Assignee: Thyssen Industrie AG
    Inventors: Luitpold Miller, Hans-Georg Raschbichler
  • Patent number: 4641582
    Abstract: A lower chord electric trolley conveyor comprising a rail with an upper flange which is directly connected to a support structure. The electric trolley receives its current from a bus bar attached to the rail. The drive wheels of the trolley engage the upper side of the lower flange of the rail. Upper flanges extend from a vertical web of the rail toward both sides while a lower flange extends only toward one side. The electric trollery wraps around the lower part of the rail. It comprises counter pressure rolls in front of and behind the drive wheel. The counter pressure rolls engage the surface of the upper flange which faces the lower flange. Several support rolls engage both sides of the vertical web of the rail. The bus bar is connected to the side of the vertical web of the rail facing away from the drive wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 1985
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1987
    Inventor: Georg Uttscheid
  • Patent number: 4641584
    Abstract: A detachable chair or gondola lift is disclosed wherein an alternator is driven by a rope bull-wheel. The alternator supplies a synchronous motor for driving friction wheels or other mechanisms for driving the cars in an end station of the chair or gondola lift. The electrical connection between the alternator and the synchronous motor ensures synchronous rotation of the motor. The alternator can be connected to the bull-wheel by a multiplier gear, the bull-wheel being either a tension bull-wheel or a driving bull-wheel. In the case of a tension bull-wheel, the alternator is mounted on the bull-wheel support carriage to avoid a flexible mechanical transmission. The alternator can be coupled to the high speed shaft of a driving bull-wheel reducer gear, for example, by a trapizoidal belt transmission. At low speed, the excitation of the alternator is increased to preserve the synchronism of the movements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1985
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1987
    Assignee: Pomagalski, S.A.
    Inventor: Jean-Jacques Bertrand
  • Patent number: 4640198
    Abstract: Axle control mechanism for rail vehicles having two or more axles. The two journal boxes of one wheel set are interconnected with the respectively opposed journal boxes of the other wheel set by a hydraulic system. A movement of one of the wheel sets brings about a movement of the other wheel set. Each journal box housing of the two wheel sets is connected by a hydraulic cylinder, which has a double acting piston and is disposed in the longitudinal direction of the truck or undercarriage frame, to this truck or undercarriage frame. Of the two hydraulic cylinders located on the same longitudinal side of the truck or undercarriage frame, one working chamber of one of these hydraulic cylinders is interconnected with the opposed working chamber of the other hydraulic cylinder, and vice versa, via hydraulic lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 3, 1987
    Assignee: Thyssen Industrie Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Otmar Haupl
  • Patent number: 4640422
    Abstract: A knuckle for a railway coupler in which an annular knuckle pin support wall is located between upper and lower knuckle pin holes. The knuckle pin support wall in one embodiment is an annular rib and in another embodiment, a continuous wall is formed between knuckle pin holes to prevent fatigue fracture of the pin due to bending fatigue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 1985
    Date of Patent: February 3, 1987
    Assignee: McConway & Torley Corporation
    Inventor: William O. Elliott
  • Patent number: 4638742
    Abstract: A vertically adjustable emergency support for the bodies of, for example, rail vehicles. Due to wear of the wheel tires, the bogie frame and the car body supported on it tend to descend. In the case of emergency supports in the region of the center pivot, where access is difficult, it is proposed, in order to compensate for this drop, to connect the striker plate which faces an emergency spring at a distance "w" to a box underneath which as vertically guided via guide elements on sliding-contact liners of a cut-out in the bogie frame. If the distance "w" increases due to wear of the wheel tires, an adjustment has to be made by raising the box via a plate connected to the center pivot. Plates of a thickness which compensates for the wear are inserted between the box and abutments which are connected to the bogie frame. After securing the plates via bolts, the car body is lowered again, whereupon the distance "w" is restored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1987
    Assignee: MAN Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nurnberg Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Gerd Potel, Karl-Heinz Buchholz
  • Patent number: 4638740
    Abstract: A device for selectively coupling a movable load bearing unit, such as a pallet, to a link chain conveyor flight so that the pallet will selectively be moved with the conveyor flight along a path defined by the conveyor flight. The coupling device includes a stem mounted to the pallet for longitudinal movement in a vertical direction and a flight engagement pin longitudinally aligned with and depending from the stem. The stem is sized and configured for insertion into one of the openings of the link chain. The pin is generally rectangular in transverse cross-section. In addition, the coupling device also has a generally planar plate extending generally perpendicularly from the pin in a direction upstream therefrom, relative to the direction of movement of the conveyor flight, and in a direction downstream therefrom, relative to the direction of movement of the conveyor flight.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1987
    Inventor: Arthur B. Rhodes
  • Patent number: 4635558
    Abstract: A reinforced track section for a power and free conveyor system utilizes a conventional power rail with a free trolley track suspended therefrom. A uniform rail cap is superiorly attached to the power rail so as to provide a continuous, uninterrupted reinforcement thereto. The rail cap includes a continuous mounting flange in cooperation with hanger clamps which suspend the rail cap and underlying power and free tracks from overhead support structure at user-selectable points along the flange.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1983
    Date of Patent: January 13, 1987
    Inventor: Robert A. Hoehn
  • Patent number: 4634817
    Abstract: A trolley pole is supported on a vertical shaft so as to be rotatable from side to side while in its elevated, operating position. The shaft is supported on a support structure which is tiltably mounted on a base plate on a vehicle. The base plate can be tilted by extending the arm of a linear actuator. When the base plate is tilted, the pole is lowered and centered and a gravity operated latch structure comes into effect to maintain the pole centered whenever it is not in its operating position. A control circuit coupled to the actuator extends and retracts the actuator arm to pivot the support structure between an upright and a stowed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 6, 1987
    Assignee: Harvey Hubbell Incorporated
    Inventors: Thomas W. Griffiths, Vladimir Suris
  • Patent number: 4633786
    Abstract: A transom, shaped in the form of an "I" beam, is welded between two side frames of a railway car. The web plate permits a small amount of twisting and relative weaving movements between the side frames in vertical directions to provide equalization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 6, 1987
    Assignee: The Budd Company
    Inventor: Michael J. Pavlick
  • Patent number: 4632038
    Abstract: A monorail vehicular system is provided, which uses an elevated track of multipiece construction, with a central electrically insulated panel having a supporting lower metal rail, which acts as one side of an electrical supply system, and with an upper metal rail on top of the central panel for support, and to provide the other side of the electrical system. The lower rail is supported at intervals by clips, carried on spaced vertical poles which rest on bases on the ground or other supporting surface. A car used in the system rides on wide roller type wheels on top of the upper metal rail, has a resiliently urged collector in contact with the upper rail, and a pair of contacts which engage the lower metal rail, with a pair of horizontal stabilizing wheels extending downwardly from the car on each side of the central panel and in contact with it, and which wheels are unequally spaced from the upper rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1984
    Date of Patent: December 30, 1986
    Inventor: David L. Lawrence
  • Patent number: 4632308
    Abstract: A rail fastener assembly includes a rail seat laterally shiftable incrementally to properly position a supported rail. Anchoring of the seat to an underlying foundation is achieved by a clamp ring surrounding the periphery of the seat and including a plurality of fastener-receiving openings having their centers variably spaced from the seat. Rotation of the clamp ring presents at least two fastener-receiving openings in overlying registry with hold-down elements in the foundation to enable the application of fasteners through the clamp ring to secure the seat to the foundation. A pair of symmetrical spring clips engage shoulders on the seat and include a medial hold-down portion biased against the rail flanges and fixed, distal shoulder engaging portions overlying each rail flange but normally spaced thereabove to limit deflection of the clips during vertical movement of the rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1985
    Date of Patent: December 30, 1986
    Assignee: Portec, Inc.
    Inventor: Richard L. Fischer
  • Patent number: 4630982
    Abstract: A receptacle (10) is incorporated into the floor (2) of an aircraft cargo compartment. Receptacle (10) has a socket (12) that receives a head (30) of a stud (24). Shaft (26) of stud (24) extends through panel (6). Nut (70) is threadedly tightened onto shaft (26) to secure panel (6) thereto. Nut (70) has a socket (80) isolated from threaded hole (72) that engages shaft (26). Socket (80) is substantially identical to socket (12). A second stud (48) is engaged in socket (80) and in turn engages cargo restraining means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 1985
    Date of Patent: December 23, 1986
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventor: James A. Fenner
  • Patent number: 4627361
    Abstract: Gondola lift or chairlift with carriages supporting a gondola or a chair and having a grip for coupling on a continuously moving cable. In the terminals the carriages uncoupled from the cable run without stopping on a transfer rail. The carriages are regularly spaced and the transfer rail comprises a rail section equipped with a rhythm device which controls the release of the carriages at regular time intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 1984
    Date of Patent: December 9, 1986
    Assignee: Pomagalski, S.A.
    Inventor: Serge Tarassoff