Slip conveyor assembly

摘要

A slip conveyor assembly 10 is disclosed. The assembly 10 includes six slip conveyors 11 to 16 being arranged in series. Each of the conveyors 11 to 16 includes a tray 18 of “U” transverse cross-section. Each tray 18 is operated by a drive assembly 19 that horizontally reciprocates (oscillates) the associated tray 18 to cause product to advance along the assembly 10. Adjacent trays 18 may be displaced so that there is a gap between adjacent trays through which product may be delivered.

主权项

1. A slip conveyor assembly including:
at least two slip conveyors arranged in series so that product delivered to an upstream one of the conveyors can be delivered to each downstream one of the conveyors, each conveyor having: a longitudinally extending conveyor tray with a longitudinally extending conveyor surface along which product is conveyed by longitudinal reciprocation of the tray and therefore the surface thereof, with at least one of the trays being locatable in a first longitudinal position and a second longitudinal position, and a drive assembly attached to each tray to cause the longitudinal reciprocation thereof, the drive assembly attached to said one of the trays being operable to displace said at least one of the trays between the first and second positions, said conveyor assembly further including: a control assembly operatively associated with each drive assembly, the control assembly controlling the drive assemblies to provide for selective operation of the conveyors so that the at least one of the trays is selectively movable between the first and second positions thereof, and to cause the reciprocation of the trays, with the displacement between an adjacent pair of trays when the at least one of the trays is displaced to the second position thereof being such that there is a gap between the trays of the pair through which gap product is delivered from the conveyor assembly; and wherein the control assembly is configured to cause the tray immediately upstream of the gap to reciprocate with a first amplitude while the tray immediately downstream of the gap reciprocates at a reduced amplitude relative to the first amplitude.