US 12,378,081 B2
Apparatus for moving and sorting articles
Enrico Maria Santicchi, Perugia (IT)
Assigned to IMMOBILIARE METALPROGETTI S.R.L., Perugia (IT)
Appl. No. 17/999,438
Filed by IMMOBILIARE METALPROGETTI S.R.L., Perugia (IT)
PCT Filed May 20, 2021, PCT No. PCT/IT2021/050153
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 21, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/234753, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 25, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 102020000011812 (IT), filed on May 21, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0202763 A1, Jun. 29, 2023
Int. Cl. B65G 19/02 (2006.01); B65G 9/00 (2006.01); B65G 47/48 (2006.01)
CPC B65G 19/025 (2013.01) [B65G 9/008 (2013.01); B65G 47/48 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for moving and sorting articles between a plurality of destination stations, comprising:
(i) a hooking member configured to accommodate hanging, or hooking, the articles to be sorted, and on which there are defined a plurality of hooking sectors, which follow each other in succession on said hooking member, wherein one destination station comprised in said plurality of destination stations is associated with each hooking sector, so that the articles hanging in a specific hooking sector are sorted in a specific destination station associated with the respective hooking sector;
(ii) a movement member, configured to move said hanging, or hooked, articles in said plurality of hooking sectors defined on said hooking member, wherein said movement member comprises a guide configured to allow sliding of a chain internal to said movement member, said chain moved by a motor; and
(iii) a sorting device, configured to selectively and autonomously assume at least two operating configurations, wherein transition from a first operating configuration to a subsequent operating configuration is repeated and advances in coordination with the succession of the hooking sectors along the hooking member;
wherein said apparatus comprises a plurality of markers, each associated with a respective hooking sector, configured to visually communicate to an operator the destination station associated with that hooking sector, and
wherein said markers are disposed integral with, or rigidly connected to, the chain arranged in the movement member and wherein said markers are arranged between at least one transporter element which define the hooking sector with which said markers are associated.