| 摘要 |
A conveyor line moves palleted workpieces past a plurality of work stations arranged at intervals along the line. The pallets to which the workpieces are clamped are frictionally supported for travel at a designated linear rate of speed. A portion of the conveyor line adjacent one or more work stations includes a conveyor for spaced apart pallet control elements, which are driven at a reduced rate of speed. The traveling pallet control elements on the second conveyor prevent the pallets from moving at the faster rate of the first conveyor. A stop element, which is normally maintained in the path of pallets on the first conveyor but moves out of the plane of movement of the pallets to release the pallets individually is operated when a pallet control element on the second conveyor reaches a predetermined position. The relative speed of these conveyors, the position of the stop element, and the spacing of the pallet control elements, is such that there is time before the release of a subsequent pallet for an assembler or operator to grasp and temporarily halt travel of a pallet to complete an operation before permitting it to resume its travel. When the second conveyor control elements finally release the pallets to travel at the speed of the first conveyor, they are in a predetermined, spaced apart relationship.
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