Patents by Inventor Akira Morikiyo

Akira Morikiyo has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6415721
    Abstract: A storage conveyor for a hybrid carrying truck is disclosed wherein construction of a carrying line at a site can be achieved simply and at a low cost without precise construction and smooth carrying and easy transfer between adjacent carrying apparatus of different types from each other can be achieved. The storage conveyor for a hybrid carrying truck carries a hybrid carrying truck which includes a pair of left and right skid members and two pairs of traveling wheels disposed at front and rear positions on the left and right sides thereof, and includes a plurality of conveyor units connected to each other in a carrying direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2002
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Kenji Umezawa, Zento Tanaka, Masaru Goto
  • Patent number: 6324992
    Abstract: A hybrid carrying truck is disclosed which has merits of both of a skid carrier and a carrying truck such that it can successively and smoothly transfer between different carrying lines to carry a work whatever the carrying lines are and can secure a removing position from the carrying line to a refuge area freely and with safety. The hybrid carrying truck includes traveling wheels mounted at front and back positions on the left and right sides of a truck body for being rolled on a pair of rails to allow the truck body to travel along a carrying line, a pair of left and right skid members mounted on a bottom face of the truck body and elongated in a carrying direction of the hybrid carrying truck, and a truck hauling engaging member mounted at a central position of the bottom face of the truck body in a widthwise direction of the truck body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2001
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Susumu Kawano, Ichiro Ueno
  • Patent number: 6170650
    Abstract: A conveyor system includes a drive carrier and a driven carrier movably supported by guide rails via guide rollers rotatably mounted thereon. The drive carrier is connected in driven relation to a conveyor chain. A load-support member composed of a flatbed truck has front and rear engagement plugs removably received in a socket of the driven carrier and a socket of the drive carrier, respectively. The flatbed truck is conveyed in the same direction as the movable carrier while the overall weight of the flatbed truck is supported by the drive and driven carriers. At a curved portion of the conveyance path, the driven carrier is caused to move relative to the drive carrier to cancel out a difference between the length of a part of the curved conveyance path portion between the engagement plugs and the distance of a straight-line between the engagement plugs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2001
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Mitsuo Anzai
  • Patent number: 5819908
    Abstract: A swinging hook apparatus, rotatably mounted on a pivotal shaft on a conveyor chain, comprising a swinging hook having an abutting surface for detachably engaging with conveyor goods and formed above the pivotal shaft of the swinging hook and having an external force action surface formed below the pivotal shaft with a bearing of the pivotal shaft mounted, through a shock absorber, on the swinging hook support in a longitudinal direction of the conveyor chain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Yoshifumi Sueishi, Yusuke Omura, Kenji Umezawa
  • Patent number: 5695044
    Abstract: A retainer dog is pivotally mounted on a pusher dog at the front end portion thereof and normally urged to a standing position. The distance between a retainer surface of the retainer dog and a thrust surface of the pusher dog is predetermined such that a space large enough for the retainer dog to rotate with a tilting radius can be obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 9, 1997
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Koichi Mizuguchi, Susumu Kawano, Kenji Umezawa, Isao Takatori
  • Patent number: 5647474
    Abstract: The present invention provides a traverser, which includes a support member driven by a chain and movable between a carry-in rail and carry-out rail which are disposed parallel with each other. The support member transfers a truck from said carry-in rail to said carry-out rail. A groove for receiving a flange of a wheel of the truck is formed in an upper surface of the support member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 15, 1997
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Koichi Mizuguchi, Susumu Kawano, Kenji Umezawa, Koji Kato
  • Patent number: 5526753
    Abstract: The present invention provides a pusher dog, which is mounted on a driving conveyor chain and normally urged to a standing position, and which is detachably hooked on a truck. The pusher dog tilt operation plate is mounted on a storage conveyor. An upward urging member pushes up the pusher dog tilt operation plate to abut a lower end portion of the pusher dog in such a direction that the pusher dog is made to tilt and is released from engagement with the truck. A press down member presses down the pusher dog tilt operation plate against the upward urging force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 18, 1996
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Yoshifumi Sueishi, Susumu Kawano
  • Patent number: 5314078
    Abstract: An article storage rack apparatus for storing and dispensing articles in first-in, first-out order comprises side-by-side columns of slant racks, in which alternate slant racks in each column are inclined downwardly in opposite direction. Articles are introduced onto the topmost slant rack and slide downward by gravity to successively lower slant racks. The articles are transferred from a slant rack to the next lower slant rack by a transfer mechanism comprising tables which are movable vertically and tiltable. The articles are maintained in the same orientation as they slide down the array of slant racks. At the lower end of the bottom slant rack, the articles are dispensed, by a tilting table dispenser, in the same order in which they were introduced onto the top slant rack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 24, 1994
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Toshio Kanbe, Shuichi Shinbo, Shigeru Yoshikawa, Yoshikazu Shimodaira, Kazuya Ohminami, Hitoshi Komuro
  • Patent number: 5096047
    Abstract: A basket for a basket conveyor comprising a plurality of bottom-opening baskets is disclosed. The basket is characterized in that side plates thereof spread upwardly so as to enlarge the article receiving opening sidewardly. The internal walls of the basket may be provided with projections so as to enable smooth discharging of the articles when the bottom cover is opened. Moreover, complimentary projections and channels may be provided to the edge of the article discharging port and the upper surface of the bottom cover respectively in the direction of opening and closing of the bottom cover to prevent jamming of the sorted articles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 1990
    Date of Patent: March 17, 1992
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Hitoshi Komuro, Ryosuke Shiibashi
  • Patent number: 4964499
    Abstract: A sorting conveyor system useful for sorting relatively small articles, such as, books is disclosed. The system comprises a take-in conveyor having a plurality of take-in vessels for receiving articles at random; a sorting conveyor having a plurality of sorting vessels disposed in a plurality of rows crossing beneath the take-in conveyor; and a timing basket table including a plurality of timing baskets disposed between the take-in conveyor and the sorting conveyor. The timing basket table receives articles from the take-in conveyor and discharges the articles to the sorting conveyor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1989
    Date of Patent: October 23, 1990
    Assignee: Tsubakimoto Chain Co.
    Inventors: Akira Morikiyo, Ryuji Morimoto, Misao Yamahata