BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is common practice to fit endless conveyor mechanisms with various light duty art devices, such as guide rails serving to prevent undesired lateral displacements of articles relative to the path of travel of a conveyor element, or a suitable sensor, such as a photo cell serving to determine the presence or absence of articles transported by the conveyor element; and heavy duty art devices, such as a article ejector serving to eject overweight or underweight articles from continued movement with the conveyor element subsequent to an article weighing operation. These art devices are commonly mounted on support bars or brackets, which are permanently fixed to upstand from adjacent a conveyor element supporting framework of the conveyor mechanism at points spaced lengthwise thereof determined by the specific design of the conveyor mechanism.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention contemplates supporting art devices relative to a conveyor mechanism in a manner permitting adjustment of such art devices both horizontally lengthwise and vertically relative to the conveyor mechanism.

The invention comprises a clamping mechanism having a mounting rail arranged to extend lengthwise of a path of a path of travel of an article conveyor, a support bar arranged to depend from an art device, and a clamp adapted to releasably clampingly engage with the rail and support bar in order to permit selective and independent horizontal and vertical adjustments of the art device relative to the conveyor mechanism. More specifically, the clamp includes a clamp body defining first and second recesses for slidably receiving opposite edge portions of the rail whereby to support the clamp body for sliding movement lengthwise of the rail, and a mounting opening including proximality aligned first and second mounting opening portions for slidably receiving the support bar; first adjustment means operable for relatively tilting the recesses for releasably clamping the body against the rail; and second adjustment means operable for releasably clamping the support bar within one of the first and second mounting opening portions with the other of such opening portions being sized to permit free relative tilting thereof and the support bar incident to tilting of the recesses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The nature and mode of operation of the present invention will now be more fully described in the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of clamping mechanism of one form of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the mechanism, as viewed from the right of Fig. 1, but further showing the mechanism in association with an art device having a depending mounting bar;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the mechanism of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken generally along the line 4-4 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken generally along the line 5-5 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the area designated as "A" in Fig. 1; Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing an alternative form of the clamping mechanism;

Fig. 8 is an elevational view of the mechanism, as viewed from the right of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of the mechanism of Fig. 7;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken generally along the line 10-10 in Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken generally along the line 11-11 in Fig. 8; and Fig. 12 is an enlarged view of the area designated as "B" in Fig. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Reference is first made to Figs. 1-3, which show a clamping mechanism designated generally as 10 and particularly adapted for mounting a desired light duty art device, which is shown and designated as 12 only in Fig. 2 and intended to be arranged adjacent a conveyor mechanism having, as desired, a belt or chain type conveyor element, not shown, supported for movement relative to a suitable mounting framework, also not shown. Mechanism 10 is shown in Figs. 1-3 as including a horizontally elongated rail 16 connected to the framework of the conveyor by spacer members 18. The mode of attaching rail 16 to members 18 and such members to the conveyor framework are a matter of choice. Light duty art device 12 may for instance be a conventional guide rail, which extends lengthwise of the conveyor element path of travel for use in preventing undesired lateral displacements of articles from engagement with the conveyor element or a suitable sensor employed to determine the presence or absence of articles traveling with the conveyor element. Art device 12 would be provided with or attached to a suitable supporting device, such as a support bar 20.

It is contemplated that each rail 16 would have a length corresponding essentially to the horizontal lengthwise dimension of the conveyor mechanism with which it is to be associated, and opposite lengthwise extending first and second, or upper and lower, rounded edge portions 22 and 24, respectively. Rail 16 is shown as being in the form of a flattened hollow tube, but same could, if desired, be formed from flat bar stock where rigidity of the rail was not a critical factor. It is also contemplated that the rail could be a cylindrical rod or tube, but any such construction would suffer from the difficulty of maintaining constant the vertical orientation of support bar 20 relative to the rail, whenever the art

device is freed for adjustment lengthwise of the rail. In any event, it is preferable that spacer members 18 engage only with the central portion of rail 16 in spaced relationship to both of edge portions 22 and 24, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to permit desired adjustments of a clamp to be described to be throughout the whole length of the rail and, when desired, to permit such clamp to be slid onto or off of its ends without requiring disassembly of the clamp into its component parts. Now referring primarily to Figs. 1-5, it will be understood that clamping mechanism 10 additionally includes a clamp body 30 formed from a first part 32 and a second part 34; a first adjustment means 36 operable to releasably clamp the clamp body against rail 16; and a second adjustment means 38 operable to releasably clamp support bar 20 relative to the clamp body.

Clamp body 30 is provided with facing first and second recesses 42 and 44, which are defined by first and second parts 32 and 34 and sized and shaped to slidably receive rail first and second edges 22 and 24, respectively, as best shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. Clamp body 30 also includes a vertically extending mounting opening for slidably receiving mounting support bar 20, which is best shown in Fig. 5 as being defined by proximately aligned first and second mounting opening portions 46 and 48 extending vertically through first and second parts 32 and 34, respectively. Preferably, first mounting opening portion 46 is sized to slidable received support bar 20 and second mounting opening portion 48 is larger in size such that it may loosely receive the support bar, as best shown in Fig. 5. First and second parts 32 and 34 are also provided with facing bearing surfaces 50 and 52, which engage to permit relative tilting of the first and second parts 32 and 34 under the control of first adjustment means 36 in the manner to be described. Preferably, one or the other of bearing surfaces 50 and 52,

such as surface 52, is formed with an elongated rib 58 which engages with surface 50, as best shown in Fig. 6 to define a pivot about which parts 32 and 34, and thus their respective recesses 42 and 44, are tilted as the bearing surfaces are moved towards one another. A rib 60 and slot 62 formed in bearing surfaces 50 and 52, respectively, serve to constrain rotational movement of second part 34 relative to first part 32 as well as relative sliding movement of the parts in a direction extending lengthwise of rail 16.

First adjustment means 36 is best shown in Fig. 4 as including a pair of adjustment openings 66 and 68 dispersed within first and second parts 32 and 34, respectively, with their adjacent ends being arranged in proximate alignment and to open through surfaces 50 and 52 and with their remote ends being arranged to open through outer vertically facing surfaces 72 and 74 of the first and second parts; a bolt 76 arranged to extend through the adjustment openings and having a head end portion 78 arranged for engagement with vertically facing surface 72 and a threaded end portion 80 arranged to extend outwardly of vertically facing surface 74; and a first adjustment or clamping knob 82 threadably engaged with end portion 80. Preferably, adjustment opening 66 is sized to slidably receive bolt 76 and adjustment opening 68 is sized to loosely, slidably receive bolt 76; the arrangement being such as to permit second part 34 to freely move relative to the bolt upon tightening of knob 82 against surface 74 to effect pivotal movement of the second part relative to first part 32 about the pivot axis defined by engagement of rib 58 with bearing surface 50 for purposes of releasably clamping rail 16 within first and second recesses 42 and 44.

First part is shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 5 as being formed with a slot 86, which extends lengthwise and radially of first mounting opening portion 46 and has facing surfaces 86a and 86b. It is contemplated that first

part 32 will be formed of a suitable plastic material, which is resiliently deformable sufficiently to permit movement of facing surfaces 86a and 86b towards and away from one another for varying the size of first mounting opening 46, whereby to releasably clamp support bar 20 therewithin upon manual operation of second adjustment means 38.

Second adjustment means 38 is best shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 as including a pair of adjustment openings 90 and 92 disposed for proximate alignment with adjacent ends thereof opening through facing surfaces 86a and 86b, respectively, and remote ends thereof opening through a pair of oppositely facing outer surfaces 94 and 96 of first part 32; a bolt 98 extending through adjustment openings 90 and 92 and having a head end portion 100 arranged for engagement with outer surface 96 and a threaded end portion 102 arranged to extend outwardly of outer surface 94; and a second adjustment or clamping knob 104 threadably engaged with threaded end portion 102 for releasably clamping against outer surface 94.

Preferably, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, openings 48 and 68 are both sized to loosely receive support bar 20 and bolt 76 therewithin in order to free the second part for tilting movement relative to such support bar and bolt and thus permit pivotal movement of the second part relative to first part 32 for rail clamping purposes.

In operation of the first form of the present invention shown in Figs. 1-6, first adjustment means 36 is operable for allowing sliding adjustment of body 30 relative to rail 16, while second adjustment means 38 is operable to clamp the body against support bar 20, and the second adjustment means is operable for allowing sliding adjustment of the body relative to the support bar, while the first adjustment means is operable to clamp the body against the rail. Thus, relative adjustment movements of body 30 relative to rail 10 or bar 20 may be effected

without changing the position of the clamp relative to the other of the rail and bar.

Reference is now made to Figs. 7-12, which show a clamping mechanism 10' particularly adapted for mounting a relatively heavy duty art device, such as an improper weight article ejector, not shown, adjacent a conveyor mechanism, which includes a horizontally elongated rail 16' formed with first and second rounded edge portions 22' and 24'. As with the embodiment of Figs. 1-6, clamping mechanism 10' additionally includes a clamp body 30'; a first adjustment means 36' operable for releasable clamping the body against rail 16'; and a second adjustment means 38* operable for releasably clamping the body relative to a support bar 20' which depends from a desired art device. Further in this construction, first and second parts 32' and 34' continue to define facing first and second recesses 42• and 44' sized and shaped to slidably receive rail first and second edges 22' and 24', respectively, for purposes of releasably clamping body 30' relative to rail 16' upon manual operation of first adjustment means 36' to effect relative tilting of such recesses.

Still further in this construction, clamp body 30' defines a mounting opening for receiving support bar 20', which includes proximately aligned first and second mounting opening portions 46' and 48' shown generally in Fig. 11.

Clamp body 30' differs from clamp body 30 in that it additionally includes a third part 110, and in that first and second parts 32" and 34' define first and second mounting surfaces 112 and 114 arranged to face in a direction away from rail 16' when it's edge portions 22' and 24 ' are slidably received by recesses 42 ' and 44 ' and third part 110 is formed with a third mounting surface 116 arranged in a facing relationship with both of the first and second mounting surfaces. Mounting surfaces 112, 114 and 116 are formed with recesses 112a, 114a and 116a,

respectively, wherein recesses 112a and 116a cooperate to define a mounting opening portion 46' and recesses 114a and 116a cooperate to define mounting opening portion 48'. As will be apparent from viewing Fig. 11, mounting opening portions 46' and 48' cooperate to define a mounting opening in which support bar 20' is received for clamping adjustment. Mounting opening portion 48' is required to be of larger size than mounting opening portion 46', so as to permit pivotal movement of second part 34 • relative to first part 32' when support bar 20' is clamped within mounting opening portion 46'.

The mounting surfaces 114 and 116 of second and third parts 34' and 110 also define bearing surfaces, which engage so as to permit tilting of second part 32 ' relative to first part 32 ' for purposes of effecting relative tilting of recesses 42' and 44', as required to releasably clamp body 30' against rail 16'. Preferably, one or the other of these surfaces, such as surface 114, is formed with a rib 58' engaged with surface 116 remotely of first mounting surface 112 to define a pivot axis for second part 34', as shown generally in Figs. 7, 10 and 12.

First adjustment means 36' is best shown in Figs. 8, 10 and 11 as including one and preferably a pair of first treaded bolts 120a and 120b, a pair of first threaded openings 122a and 122b defined by second part 34' and a pair of first bore openings 124a and 124b extending through third part 110. Thus, bolts 120a and 120b freely extend through bore openings 124a and 124b for threaded receipt within openings 122a and 122b, whereby the tightening of such bolts against outer surface 126 of third part 110 effects tilting of second part 34' about the pivot axis defined by rib 58 ' .

Second adjustment means 38' is also bent shown in Figs. 8, 10 and 11 as including one and preferably a pair of second threaded bolts 130a 130b, a pair of second threaded openings 132a and 132b defined by first part 32'

and a pair of second bore openings 134a and 134b extending through third part 110. Thus, bolts 130a and 130b freely extend through bore openings 134a and 134b for threaded receipt within openings 132a and 132b, whereby the tightening of such bolts against outer surface 126 of third part 110 effects clamping of support bar 20' within mounting opening portion 46'.

The loose fitting of support bar 20' within mounting opening portion 48', while allowing for the releasably clamping of the support bar within mounting opening portion 46' allows for adjustment of clamp body 30' lengthwise of rail 16' without effecting the positioning of the support bar relative to the clamp body, as well as adjustment of the clamp body relative to the support bar without effecting the positioning of the clamp body lengthwise of the rail.