DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a system for fastening a line of supporting elements, anchorage elements, and the like to belts or conveyor belts in order to achieve guided transportation and handling of the objects conveyed.

In particular, but not exclusively, the invention finds useful employment in conveying lines, such as those frequently used for ceramic tiles, in all those parts of plants in which the conveyed objects, i.e. the tiles, must be diverted from the main conveying direction of the line and removed therefrom with a rapid transversal movement and without any reduction in the line travel speed.

There are commonly known conveying systems which consist of conveying tops for packages and parcels of various types which are constituted of solid fixed constructions featuring roller or ball tracks along which the objects are made to transit and from which they are also diverted and removed upon command to be guided towards other lines or deposited in unloading stations.

By virtue of the structural characteristics thereof, these conveyor tops also allow the objects to be transferred, easily and safely, transversally to the main conveying direction, which is useful in order to make selective lateral diversions or removals of the objects from the main transport line.

There is also a commonly known technique consisting of applying anchor elements to belts or conveyor belts by gluing or heat- sealing or using threaded metal inserts to create pushing elements to implement guided conveying of the objects conveyed along the line.

These applications have certain problems and disadvantages that severely limit the functionality thereof.

One disadvantage consists of the lack of flexibility of the fastening system since the elements on top of the belt are applied in a fixed position.

Moreover, even the simple conventional fastening of the anchorage elements involves the use of special equipment which is only available at specialist workshops, with consequent high costs.

These items of equipment have relatively complex frameworks and, in many cases precisely because of these characteristics they are not justifiable for use in those applications in which belt or belt conveyor systems are usually used, in which the conveyed object is conveyed by means of friction as a result of the movement of the said conveying member (belt , conveyor belt, or the like) supporting the said object. In these belt conveyor systems, it is not always possible to carry out, with the simplicity and speed required, transfer of the objects in a transversal direction to the main conveying direction, hence such transfers are made using suitable lifting means or members, which selectively pick up the objects and divert them transversally.

The main object of the present invention is to overcome the limitations and drawbacks set out above, and those deriving therefrom in order to offer a simple system which is rapidly modifiable by the user, as well as functionally effective and economical.

These objects and further advantages are achieved by means of the present invention as described hereinafter and as illustrated in the appended figures and claims.

The characteristics of the present invention will better emerge from the following description of some of the preferred embodiments thereof, illustrated by way of a non-limiting example, with the aid of the appended figures in which:

- Figure 1 ; Figure 1 shows a schematic top-down plan view of a first embodiment thereof;

- Figure 1a shows, on an enlarged scale, a part shown in Figure 1 ;

- Figure 2 shows a schematic sectional view taken according to plane line ll-ll in Figure 1 :

- Figure 2a shows, on an enlarged scale, part of a schematic sectional view taken according to plane line ll-ll in Figure 1 :

- Figure 3 shows a schematic sectional view taken according to plane line ll-ll in Figure 1 ;

- Figure 4 shows, on an enlarged scale, a part shown in Figure 1 concerning a second embodiment;

- Figure 5 shows a schematic sectional view taken according to plane line IV-IV in Figure 4;

- Figure 6 shows a schematic side view of an application of the invention relating to an example of fastening an anchorage element 30 in which a pin 4 is used for the fastening thereof, using a composite belt which is made by gluing the lower surface of a toothed facing belt 22 (whose toothing features intertooth spacing which is commensurate with the diameters of the pins 4) onto the upper flat surface of a trapezoidal belt 23;

- Figure 7 shows a schematic sectional view taken according to plane line VI-VI in Figure 6;

- Figure 8 shows a schematic side view of a further application of the invention relating to an example of fastening an anchorage element 30 in which a pin 4 is used for the fastening thereof, using a composite belt which is made by gluing the lower surface of a toothed facing belt 22 (whose toothing features intertooth spacing which is commensurate with the diameters of the pins 4) onto the upper flat surface of a trapezoidal belt 23;

- Figure 9 shows a schematic side view of a further application of the invention relating to an example of the fastening of anchorage elements 30 in which pins 4 are used, each one to fasten the relative anchorage element to a composite belt which is made by gluing the lower surface of a facing belt 32 (featuring a bored section wherein the holes are commensurate with the diameters of the pins 4) onto the upper flat surface of a toothed belt 33.

With reference to the appended figures, reference number 1 denotes a toothed conveyor belt which forms, together with another identical belt parallel thereto, a portion of the line for conveying objects 5 (in this case, ceramic tiles). Along this line, the objects 5 (in this case, the tiles to be conveyed) rest on special support members 2, each one of which comprises a support 3 which, in the first embodiment illustrated, is equipped with a rotating body 6 which is, in turn, pivoted to the support 3 with freedom to rotate around its own axis of rotation.

In particular, the portion of the conveying line shown is a conveying device featuring belts 1 (in this case, toothed) on top of which the support members 2 are arranged, the said members being designed to provide support for the objects 5 to be conveyed. The support members 2 are spaced along the belts 1 according to the dimensions of the objects 5 to allow the latter to rest safely in any position they may assume with respect to the belts.

The fastening of the supports 3 for the support members 2 to each of the conveyor belts 1 comprises for each support 3, at least one pin 4, which is envisaged to be housed, with a perfect fit, in a transverse throughhole 11 made transversely in a belt 1 and to be coupled, with a perfect fit, at the two ends thereof, in two hollow seats 31 made in the sides opposite the support 3. The hollow seats 31 are arranged so as to be co-aligned with said throughhole 11 .

The transversal throughhole 11 is, indeed, made transversally in the belt 1 , with the axis arranged parallel to the surface of the said belt itself for the entire width of the belt and the length thereof is therefore shorter than the length of the pin 4.

In particular, the overall length of the pin 4 is equal to the sum of the length of the transversal throughhole 9 and the lengths of the two opposite seats 31 of the support 3.

The conveying line formed of the belts 1 determines a "main" conveying direction, shown by the arrow 10, which is the conveying direction in which the support members 2 are moved through the movement of the belts.

The objects 5 rest entirely on the support members 2, whose special task is to allow - in addition to the longitudinal conveying shown by the arrow 10 - transversal diverting of the said objects using, for example, external means 7, which can be operated on command to generate displacement of the selected objects 5 in the transversal direction shown by the arrow 8, or by making a transversal diversion or removal on command during conveying.

This is made possible by the fact that the objects 5 to be conveyed rest on rotating bodies 20 which are free to rotate about axes that are perpendicular to the main conveying direction shown by the arrow 10.

In the embodiment illustrated, the rotating bodies 20 have axisymmetric barrel-shaped forms. This allows the objects 5, when suitably stressed, to slide easily in the transversal direction shown by the arrow 8, as they simply rest on the relative rotating bodies 20 which are free to rotate around axes that are parallel to the main direction of transport shown by the arrow 10.

In the main direction of transport shown by the arrow 10, the objects 5 are, instead, constrained by sliding friction contact with the belts 1 , which is achieved by arranging the rotation axes of the rotating bodies 20 parallel to the main conveying direction of the belts 1 .

It should be noted that in the first embodiment illustrated, the transverse throughholes 11 are made transversally in the belt on top of which the supports 3 are mounted, which are mutually spaced along the said belt appropriately according to the dimensions of the objects 5.

In a second embodiment, shown in Figures 4 and 5, the transverse throughholes 11 are made using a composite belt which is made by gluing the lower surface of a toothed facing belt 12 (whose toothing features intertooth spacing which is commensurate with the diameters of the pins 4) onto the upper flat surface of a toothed belt 13, which is the operative belt. The coupling thus achieved results in pre-formed transverse throughholes 11 constituted of the spaces between the teeth on the facing belt 12.

The invention offers the advantage of making a solid connection between the support members 2 and in particular between the relative supports 3 and the belt without the presence of the connection influencing the flexibility of the belt in any way.

The system for fastening the supports 3 to the flexible members, belts, to each of the conveyor belts 1 , comprises, for each support 3, at least one pin 4 which is arranged to be housed, with a perfect fit, in the pre-selected hole 11 .

The connection made is purely mechanical and can be undone by simply extracting the pin from the hole 11 in the belt and from the holes 31 in the support 3 into which the said pin has been inserted. This allows the arrangement of the said supports 3 along the belt to be modified rapidly and simply without involving any more or less complex manoeuvres, which could lead to damage to the said belt and could compromise the integrity thereof in some way.

The system for fastening the supports 3 just described is obviously also suitable for fastening support members that are not equipped with mobile parts (such as, for example, anchorage elements for making what are known as 'top shims') to belts such as those described.

Indeed, further forms of application of the invention are envisaged, such as those illustrated in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9

Figure 6 shows a schematic side view of an application of the invention relating to an example of fastening an anchorage element 30 in which a pin 4 is used for the fastening thereof using a composite belt. In this case, the anchorage element 30 forms a whole with the support which allows the said anchorage element to be fastened to the belt. The latter is of a composite kind, as it is made by gluing the lower surface of a toothed facing belt 22 (whose toothing features intertooth spacing which is commensurate with the diameters of the pins 4) onto the flat upper surface of a simple trapezoidal belt 23.

Figure 8 shows a schematic side view of a further application of the invention relating to an example of fastening an anchorage element 30 in which a pin 4 is used for the fastening thereof which, as in the embodiment shown in Figures 4 and 5, is obtained using a composite belt which is made by gluing the lower surface of a toothed facing belt 22 (whose toothing features intertooth spacing which is commensurate with the diameters of the pins 4) onto the upper flat surface of a toothed belt 33.

The coupling made in this way to create the composite belts results in pre-formed transverse throughholes 11 constituted of the spaces between the teeth on the facing belts 12, 22, and 32.

Figure 9 shows a schematic side view of a further variant of the invention relating to an example of the fastening of anchorage elements 30 in which pins 4 are used, each one to fasten the relative anchorage element to a composite belt which is made by gluing the lower surface of a toothed belt 32 (featuring a bored section wherein the holes are commensurate with the diameters of the pins 4) onto the upper flat surface of a toothed belt 33.

The embodiments shown in Figures 8 and 9 demonstrate the possibility of creating conveyor belts with a partial facing, which are used in the ceramics industry on machines designed for the preparation of batches of tiles.

Furthermore, the application of anchorage elements as pushing elements operating in the line conveying direction is also advantageously envisaged.