Patent attributes
A conveyor and associated method for diverting closely spaced articles conveyed along the conveyor. The conveyor includes a conveyor belt with belt rollers oriented to rotate on axes oblique to the direction of belt travel. A series of arrays of bearing surface elements are arranged end to end along the length of the conveyor. The bearing surfaces may be static or rotational. Each array defines a roller-control zone in which the array is selectively activated with its bearing surface elements in contract with the belt rollers or deactivated with its bearing surface elements out of contact with the belt rollers. As the belt advances through an activated roller-control zone, the belt rollers rotate to propel a conveyed article toward a side of the belt. The contiguous roller-control zones are sequentially activated and deactivated to direct articles to the side and off the belt or to let them pass straight through. The length of the entire series of roller-control zones determines the lateral extent of the sidewise diversion. The length of each roller-control zone determines the minimum gap between consecutively conveyed articles. The serial cascade of these roller-control zones permits the tight sortation of closely spaced articles for high throughput.
