Drive/take-up assembly for accumulating live roller conveyor systems

摘要

An accumulating live roller conveyor is power-driven to effect rotation of a plurality of load-carrying rollers and transport loads from roller to roller without gravity assistance and includes apparatus which is specifically designed to permit loads to remain stationary on the load-carrying rollers without interferring with the operation of the conveyor's drive mechanism. The drive mechanism includes an endless conveying member having an upper frictional driving pass and a lower return pass for transporting the loads along the load-carrying rollers through friction contact therewith. A drive/take-up assembly section for an accumulating live conveyor system permits the loads to selectively remain stationary in conveyor zones located at the ends of the conveyor which typically include drive/take-up rollers and a drive motor without interferring with the operation of the drive/take-up rollers or the drive motor. The drive/take-up assembly section includes inner frame members for rotatably carrying the drive/take-up roller which are pivotally movable relative to the load-carrying rollers, and a pneumatically operable jack for raising and lowering the inner frame members, the drive/take-up roller, and at least the upper frictional driving pass of the conveying member to selectably and independently accumulate the loads in the conveyor zones adjacent the drive/take-up assemblies.