US3859923A

US3859923A - Transport systems

Info

Publication number: US3859923A
Application number: US184831A
Authority: US
Inventors: Norbert Hamy
Original assignee: Tebron Holdings Ltd
Current assignee: Tebron Holdings Ltd
Priority date: 1971-09-29
Filing date: 1971-09-29
Publication date: 1975-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-14

Abstract

A closed loop transport system comprises an articulated belt mounted on a support body and forming a closed loop around the body. An air bearing is disposed between the support body and the underside of the belt, the air bearing being fed with pressurized air from within the support body through apertures in the support body on the surface over which the belt passes. The air bearing has continuous sprung edge seals at each side of the belt that have one end attached to the belt and the other end bearing on a complementary contact strip on the support body thereby to provide a low friction continuous contact which reduces escape of air from the bearing.

Description

United States Patent Hamy [ Jan. 14, 1975 TRANSPORT SYSTEMS [75] Inventor: Norbert Hamy, Don Mills, Ontario,

Canada [73] Assignee: ljebi'on I-Io l 1ing s Limited, Don

Mills, Ontario, Canada [22] Filed: Sept. 29, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 184,831

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1904 Dodge 214/1 BE 7/1961 Kelly 214/1 BE Petersen 3,410,390 11/1968 198/129 3,513,934 5/1970 Crowley 104/23 FS 3,592,334 7/1971 Fleischaver 198/184 3,693,549 9/1972 Cuenoud 198/110 Primary Examiner-Lloyd L. King Assistant ExaminerD. W. Keen Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert J. Schaap [57] ABSTRACT A closed loop transport system comprises an articulated belt mounted on a support body and forming a closed loop around the body. An air bearing is disposed between the support body and the underside of the belt, the air bearing being fed with pressurized air from within the support body through apertures in the support body on the surface over which the belt P es- The a hear as9ntis 2usst runs eds; seals at each side of the belt that have one end at tached to the belt and the other end bearing on a com plementary contact strip on the support body thereby to provide a low friction continuous contact which reduces escape of air from the bearing.

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sum cs 0F 25 bwwl N m S w GI Qw PATENTED JAN 1 M975 SHEET lSUF 25 PATENTEB JAN] 4W5 sum 16 or 25 PATEHTEUJAN 1 mm sum 18UF 25 PATENTED JAN 1 4|975 sum 19 0F 25

Claims

1. A closed loop transport system comprising a support body having a duct formed therein, a rigid articulated belt disposed about said support body over said duct and forming a closed loop about said body, said belt comprising a plurality of individual load-supporting cooperatable segments which are relatively movable and which are constructed with a substantially air impervious material, each of said segments having an end margin which is opposed to an end margin of a next adjacent segment, connecting means interconnecting said segments for articulated movement relative to each other and in such manner that the end margin of one segment is opposed to the end margin of the next adjacent segment, said connecting means also providing a substantially air impervious construction between the end margins of each of two adjacent segments in the articulated belt, said belt being slightly spaced from said support body at least for portions of its length to form an air bearing space intermediate the underside of said belt and said support body, sealing means associated with said segments and which provides sealing contact along at least one side of the segments and the support body in the direction of movement thereof in such manner that the sealing contact and the air impervious construction of said connecting means provides a substantially air impervious seal to thereby maintain the air bearing space, and means forming a plurality of apertures in said support body on the surface over which said belt passes, said apertures being in communication with said air bearing space and the interior of support body for supplying pressurized air to the air bearing space from within the support body to generate an air bearing within the air bearing space, said belt being located on said support body and with respect to said duct so that the pressurized air which passes through said apertures into said air bearing generates the air bearing for supporting said belt about said support body during its movement about the support body.

2. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belt is driven by a plurality of linear induction motors depending from the underside of said belt between the ducts and cooperating with a rail mounted between said ducts.

3. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said loop is a horizontally disposed loop and said belt is in the form of a closed loop of interconnected container modules.

4. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said loop is a horizontally disposed loop and said belt is in the form of a closed loop of interconnected transport platforms on which container modules may be transported.

5. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belt travels at a constant speed around the loop.

6. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belt travels at a variable speed around said loop.

7. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein access stations are provided for access and egress to said closed loop, said access stations include a variable speed belt on which loads are accelerated from a low speed to the speed of said closed loops, said variable speed belt running parallel with said closed loop at the same speed as the closed loop over a suitable distance to allow loads to be transferred on to said closed loop.

8. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein two closed loops travelling in opposite directions are positioned side by side and access stations are positioned side by side said closed loops.

9. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein two closed loops travelling in opposite directions are stacked vertically one upon the other and access stations are also stacked vertically one upon the other.

10. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein smaller low speed loops are used to transfer loads on said smaller low speed loops to larger high speed loops.

11. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belt comprises a plurality of laterally spaced telescoping segments to allow said belt to travel at varying speeds over said closed loop.

12. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belt is a rubber tread which has a plurality of support webs projecting into said air bearing and at least part of said support body has a plurality of guide channels to accommodate said support webs and thereby buide said webs, a power wheel mounted on said body and engageable with said tread for driving said tread around said support body.

13. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belt is a rubber tread which has a plurality of guide runners projecting inwardly from the centre of said tread, which engage a semi-rigid guide channel mounted around at least part of said support body such that said tread is guided around said support body, a power wheel mounted on said support body and engageable with said tread for driving said tread about said support body.

14. A closed loop transport system characterized by a rigid articulated belt mounted on a support body and forming a closed loop around said body wherein said belt is supported on said body by an air bearing intermediate the underside of said belt and said support body, said bearing being supplied with pressurised air from within said support body through apertures in said support body on the surface over which the belt passes, said air bearing having continuous sprung edge seals at each side of said belt with one end attached to said belt and the other end bearing upon a complementary contact strip on said support body thereby to produce a low friction continuous contact which reduces the escape of air from said air bearing.

15. A closed loop transport system according to claim 14, wherein said loop is a horizontally disposed loop.

16. A closed loop transport system according to claim 15, wherein said support body comprises two parallel spaced ducts, said ducts having upper surfaces which are inclined to each other and the lower surface of said belt is V-shaped such that said belt is centred between said ducts and supported thereon by two continuous air bearings formed by air bearing spaces intermediate the belt and the ducts, and which air bearings are supplied with pressurised air from within said ducts through a plurality of apertures on the upper surfaces of said ducts.

17. A closed loop transport system according to claim 15, wherein said support body comprises two rectangular parallel spaced ducts and said belt is supported on said ducts by air bearings formed by air bearing spaced intermediate the lower surface of the belt and the upper surfaces of the ducts, said belt also being guided along said ducts by further air bearings intermediate the opposing sides of said ducts, and guide members depending from the underside of said belt between said ducts, said air bearings being supplied with pressurised air from within said ducts through a plurality of apertures in said ducts.

18. A closed loop transport system according to claim 15, wherein said belt travels at a variable speed around said loop.

19. A closed loop transport system according to claim 18, wherein said belt comprises a plurality of laterally spaced telescoPing segments to allow said belt to travel at varying speeds over said closed loop.

20. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said loop is a vertically disposed loop.

21. A closed loop transport system according to claim 20, wherein said belt is a rubber tread which has a plurality of support webs projecting into said air bearing and at least part of said support body has a plurality of guide channels to accommodate said support webs and thereby guide said webs, and therefore the treat along said guide channels by means of further air bearings intermediate the walls of said channels and the sides of said webs, a power wheel mounted on said support body, and engageable with said tread for driving said tread around said support body.

22. A closed loop transport system according to claim 20, wherein said belt is a rubber tread which has a plurality of guide runners projecting inwardly from the centre of said tread, which engage a semi-rigid guide channel mounted around at least part of said support body such that said tread is guided around said support body, a power wheel mounted on said support body and engageable with said tread for driving said tread around said support body.

23. A closed loop transport system comprising a support body, a rigid articulated belt disposed about said support body and forming a closed loop about said body, said belt being slightly spaced from said support body at least for portions of its length to form an air bearing space intermediate the underside of said belt and said support body, means forming a plurality of apertures in said support body on the surface over which said belt passes and which apertures are in communication with said air bearing space so that pressurised air introduced with respect to said support body passes through said apertures into said air bearing space to form an air bearing support for said belt, a sprung edge seal operatively associated with each of the opposite longitudinal ends of said belt and said support body and each said seal bearing against a complementary contact strip in sliding continuous contact therewith to produce a low friction continuous contact which reduces escape of air from said air bearing space.

24. A closed loop transport system according to claim 23, wherein a sprung edge seal is operatively attached to each of the opposite longitudinal ends of said belt, and said complementary contact strips are located on the opposite sides of said support body so that the free ends of the respective ones of said seals are in sliding continuous contact with said contact strips.

25. A closed loop transport system comprising a support body having a centrally located V-shaped duct formed by a pair of upper surfaces which are inclined to each other, a rigid articulated V-shaped belt disposed about said support body and forming a closed loop about said body, said belt comprising a plurality of individual load-supporting cooperatable segments which are relatively movable, means interconnecting said segments for articulated movement relative to each other, said belt being slightly spaced from said support body at least for portions of its length to form an air bearing space intermediate the underside of said belt and said support body, said segments being connected in such manner as to be substantially air impervious to thereby maintain the air bearing space between said belt and V-shaped duct, and means forming a plurality of apertures in said duct on the surface over which said belt passes, said apertures being in communication with said air bearing space and the interior of said support body for supplying pressurized air to the air bearing space from within the support body to generate an air bearing within the air bearing space, said belt being substantially centered within the upper surface of said V-shaped duct so that the pressurized air which passes through said apertures into said air bearing space generates the air bearing for supporting said belt during its moveMent about the support body.

26. A closed loop transport system comprising a support body including at least two parallel spaced ducts and each of said ducts having upper surfaces, a rigid articulated belt disposed about said support body and forming a closed loop about said body, said belt comprising a plurality of individual load-supporting cooperatable segments which are relatively movable, means interconnecting said segments for articulated movement relative to each other, said belt being slightly spaced from said support body at least for portions of its length to form air bearing spaces intermediate the underside of said belt and the upper surfaces of the spaced ducts in said support body, said segments being connected in such manner as to be substantially air impervious to thereby maintain the air bearing spaces between said belt and said spaced ducts, means forming a plurality of apertures in each of said ducts on the surface over which said belt passes, said apertures being in communication with said air bearing spaces and the interior of said support body for supplying pressurized air to each of the air bearing spaces from within the support body to generate air bearings within each of the air bearing spaces, said belt also being guided along said ducts by further air bearings intermediate the opposing sides of said ducts, and guide members depending from the underside of said belt between said ducts so that the pressurized air which passes through said apertures into said air bearing spaces generates the air bearings for supporting said belt during its movement about the support body.