| 摘要 |
<p>A compact article singulation and accumulation conveyor includes a receiving portion (infeed conveyor 16, chute 18) which receives articles in random order including clusters of side-by-side articles and a discharge portion (take-away conveyor 22,22a,22c) from which articles are discharged in a single file singulated stream. A first conveying surface transports (alignment bed 24,24a,24b) articles longitudinally from the receiving portion to the discharge portion. A recirculating bed (34) removes side-by-side articles from a downstream portion of the first conveying surface to an upstream portion of the first conveying surface. The recirculating bed (34) is made up of at least one peel-away conveyor (36) having a second conveying surface adapted to move side-by-side articles laterally off the first conveying surface, at least one coupling conveyor (40) having a third conveying surface adapted to move articles from the second conveying surface upstream and at least one return conveyor (38) having a fourth conveying surface adapted to move articles from the third conveying surface to the first conveying surface. Each of the conveying surfaces may be defined by the upper surfaces of a plurality of powered rollers or traveling belts. Clusters of articles tend to recirculate around the recirculation bed (34) and the first conveying surface and provide contact accumulation thereon as individual articles of the cluster are pulled away along the first conveying surface. An output section diverts packages having a width transverse the direction of conveyor travel which is greater than a particular dimension, rotates diverted packages, and returns the rotated packages to the conveyor. <IMAGE></p> |
