Spherical sorting rollers are arranged in rows transversely of an article conveyance path, and line shafts, which are connected to a drive source and are rotated thereby, are disposed sideways in parallel with the rows of the sorting rollers. The spherical outer peripheral surfaces of the spherical sorting rollers and the line shafts are brought into abutment with each other to drive the sorting rollers simultaneously. The spherical sorting rollers are each supported individually by a roller sup...

A duplex chain conveyor system for conveying articles along a conveyance path is provided. The duplex chain conveyor system includes a trolley device which is detachably engageable with a driven engagement member attached to a driving chain which moves within a power rail. When the trolley device is coupled with the driven engagement member, the trolley device is pulled forward on the free rail disposed along a predetermined conveyance path. An article carrier, such as a truck or hanger, is conn...

A pallet conveying system comprising pallet guide rails supported on a frame, a driving shaft extending along the guide rails, motors for driving the driving shaft, a turntable mechanism disposed at the end of the pallet guide rails and having changeover rails alignable with the guide rails and a changeover driving shaft connectable to the driving shaft, a driven roller pivotally attached to the underside of a pallet and pressed against the circumference of the driving shaft with the axis of rot...

A truck conveyor for conveying an article along a selected conveyance path is provided. The truck conveyor includes a series of trolleys which are guided along a trolley rail. An article carrier for receiving articles is connected with the series of trolleys for conveying an article along the rail. A drive mechanism engageable with the trolleys is provided for conveying the trolleys and the article carrier along the rail. A device is provided at the rear of a stopped carrier to automatically dis...

An article diverging sorting apparatus includes a multiplicity of spherical sorting rollers arranged in plural rows both in a conveyance direction aligned with an article conveyance path or line and in a crosswise direction transverse to the conveyance direction over a plurality of consecutive conveyance areas along the article conveyance line. The spherical sorting rollers contained in every conveyance area are simultaneously turned about respective vertical axes to move between a first positio...