Abstract: An accumulator conveyor having a load support frame defined by side rails each having a series of idler wheels, the load support frame defining a load support plane adapted to support a series of loads along its length. A shuttle frame is reciprocable relative to, and preferably supported by, the load support frame. The shuttle frame carries a series of pusher bars spaced one from the other to define a series of load stations along the conveyor's length. A novel drive mechanism reciprocates the shuttle frame, and therefor the pusher bar assemblies, relative to the stationary load support frame, for indexing any load on the load support frame from an upstream station to an adjacent downstream station. The conveyor also includes a novel station lock out system which causes the pusher bar of a station to be latched down beneath the support plane of the load in that station when loads are parked in all stations downstream therefrom.

Abstract: A storage and retrieval system has a plurality of conveyor sections mounted one above the other on a frame. Each conveyor section can move a tray with a box of articles thereon between a loading station and a picking station automatically according to a keyboard entry control. Each conveyor section has a plurality of the trays secured together by a driven chain in an endless loop, with the trays being supported on an endless array of horizontal undriven rollers.