Improvements in or relating to a conveyor device for conveying plates bearing colour print, chromotype, lacquer or the like for drying in a drying oven or the like

摘要

790,046. Sheet delivery apparatus. JONSSON, G. L., and ANDERSSON, K. G. July 9, 1954 [July 11, 1953], No. 20127/54. Class 100(1) [Also in Groups XIII and XXX] A device for conveying plates bearing colour print, lacquer or the like through a drying oven comprising two parallel endless chains having supports for the plates extending between them, each support comprising a lower element for co-operating with the lower edge of a plate and other means extending upwardly from the chains for co-operating with the rear face of a plate, said supports being so arranged that the plates during their transport through the oven are held in a substantially upright position, is characterized in that before such plates reach the end of the conveying run their supports are adjusted or means are provided to remove them from their supports so as to allow them to fall by gravity between the chains to a discharge point. In Figs. 1. 2, 3, 5 plates 1 are fed from a colour printing apparatus 2 by a conveyer 3 to a conveyer 7 which feeds them through a drying oven 4, 5 and a cooler 6. The conveyer 7 comprises a pair of endless chains 8 provided with bearing members 13, each corresponding pair of members 13 on the two chains supporting a shaft 12 to which is secured a platform 10 and a U-shaped support member 11. Along the operative run of the conveyer, each printed plate rests on a platform 10 against the associated support member 11 in a position inclined slightly from the vertical. At a point 15 adjacent the feeding end of the conveyer, an arm 17 on each shaft 12 engages a bar 14 which extends around the conveyer track to a point 16 on the operative run in front of the cooler 6 whereby the shaft is held in a position so that the platform 10 lies substantially parallel to the adjacent part of the conveyer chains. When the arms become disengaged from the bar 14, the platform 10 falls so as to allow the plate to fall between the chains and be directed by a shoot 35 to a pile 36. A bar 18 assists in the control of the platforms 10 where the plates are fed to the conveyer. In the embodiment, Fig. 6, the lower edges of the plates rest on arms 19 projecting from the shafts 12, the length of the arms being such that they extend under the next rearward shaft to support the plate on this shaft. In a further modification, Fig. 7, the arm 17 retained in its operative and inoperative positions by a spring 20, is provided with a projection 24 which, when adjacent the conveyer discharge position, engages a shoulder 23 at the side of the conveyer track whereby it is pivoted anticlockwise and swung by the spring 20 against a stop 22, and the platform 10 is tilted to allow to plate to fall. The platform is returned to its supporting position when another shoulder along the track engages an arm projecting from the other end of the shaft 12 In another embodiment, Fig. 9, the plates are supported on fixed platforms 27 and are dislodged on engaging a roller or wheel 32 between the chains which may be intermittently rotated from the chains. In a modification (Fig. 10, not shown) the roller is replaced by a ramp.