Leslie A Carpenter, 6217 Trotwood Dr, West Hartford, CT 06117

3931883, Jan 13, 1976

Jun 21, 1974

5/481762

Edwin J. Willard - East Longmeadow MA
Leslie E. Carpenter - Southwick MA

Longview Fibre Company - Longview WA

B65G 2504

198218

A device for driving loads on a horizontal roller conveyor support between pick-up and delivery stations including a carriage mounted to travel back and forth below the conveyor level. The lower end of an upstanding lever arm is pivoted on the carriage and at the upper end of the arm a load engaging cylinder or roll is mounted with its axis forwardly (i. e. in a downstream direction) adjacent the vertical center line of the arm which is yieldably urged to remain at right angles to the plane of conveyor support. In the latter position the top of the roll is slightly elevated by a fraction of an inch above said load support plane. In operation at the pick-up station near the upstream end of carriage travel the roll can freely rotate under a load and the lever is thereby angularly set at an acute angle in the load driving direction. In the driving direction the roll is locked against rotation, and by the angularity of the lever arm as disclosed will exert the forces needed for efficiently overcoming load inertia and moving a wide range of load sizes under various conditions. While the roll is drivingly engaged and the carriage advances the pivoted lower end of the lever arm, the arm may, if necessary, be swung to a perpendicular relation to the support plane and beyond so as to increase horizontally applied force so that depending on load conditions the axis of the arm may either be trailing or leading the roll axis.