1252results about "Chutes" patented technology

An apparatus for accepting return of unused medical items is part of a system (10) used for automated dispensing and tracking of medical items within a medical facility. The apparatus includes a return drawer (52, 156) and a retrieve drawer (54, 158) which are opened responsive to signals received from a display terminal (26) which is networked with a computer (12) which includes a database (14). The return drawer includes a pocket (74, 160) therein. The pocket is accessible from outside of a housing (56) when the return drawer is moved to an open position. The pocket includes an opening (76, 156). The pocket is closed by a trap door (78, 170) when the return drawer is in the open position. Medical items to be returned (132, 184, 186) are placed in the pocket and the return drawer is closed. Upon the closing of the return drawer the trap door is moved to an open position by an actuator. The returned medical item passes from the pocket to a retrieve area (84, 188) in the retrieve drawer. Medical items are stored in the retrieve area until the retrieve drawer is opened by a user authorized to retrieve items from said retrieve area. The opening of the return and retrieve drawers is controlled responsive to the input of data at the display terminal corresponding to information in records (16) in the database.

The invention relates to a universal delivery and collection box unit (UDCBU). In one implementation, a UDCBU includes a mail compartment (110/120) accessible by one door (210) and a storage compartment (130) accessible by a second door (220). The mail compartment allows the postal service to deliver and pickup mail. The storage compartment allows both the postal service and authorized delivery services to deliver larger parcels. In this implementation, information would be recorded regarding access to this storage compartment and transmitted electronically to a consumer.

A display rack for rounded articles generally includes a product track with a pusher block slidably mounted thereon. The pusher block is biased toward a front portion of the display rack, and the side walls of the display rack are configured to support a circular or elliptical product. Additionally, the display rack can be provided with front and/or rear removable panel carriers configured to removably receive front and rear panels.

A weight-driven pusher for product on a gravity-fed display shelf includes a weighted frame. A front plate is mounted on the frame and manually adjustable in upper reach relative to the frame to accommodate product of varying height and preclude product from tipping rearwardly over the pusher. A leg assembly is retractably mounted on the frame adjacent the bottom thereof and biased to project rearwardly from the frame to preclude product from tipping the pusher over backwards.

A material storage and delivery system includes an individual container storage and delivery system (ICSDS). A palletizer is provided for placing containers from the ICSDS on a pallet. A layer storage and delivery system (LSDS) places full layers of containers on a pallet. A robotic container delivery system (RCDS) places individual containers on a pallet. A conveyor system conveys containers and pallets between at least two of the ICSDS, the palletizer, the LSDS and the RCDS. A method for storing and delivering containers is also disclosed.

What is disclosed is a secure mailbox having at least an upper compartment with a plurality of sides, a front mailbox door hinge-ably coupled to a front edge of a side of the upper compartment, a locking and unlocking mechanism being adapted to lock the front mailbox door to the upper compartment and an unlocking activation mechanism coupled to the locking and unlocking mechanism; an upper rear mailbox door hinge-ably coupled to a rear edge of a side of the upper compartment, a locking and unlocking mechanism being adapted to lock the rear mailbox door to the upper compartment and an unlocking activation mechanism coupled to the locking and unlocking mechanism and a lower compartment having a lower, rear mailbox door hinge-ably coupled to a rear edge of a side of the lower compartment, at least one trap door being located between the upper compartment and lower compartment.

A spring-driven pusher assembly of a merchandise dispenser in which the spring is carried entirely on the pusher assembly behind the articles being dispensed to thereby eliminate any interference problems with RF signals or the like used for purposes of determining inventories and the like. Preferably, the spring is a spiral spring that rotates a drive wheel when the spring uncoils. The drive wheel cooperatively engages a guide track on the base of the dispenser, and the rotation of the drive wheel causes the pusher assembly to advance along the guide track toward the dispensing end of the dispenser. A method of dispensing merchandise is also provided.

An interlocking door seam provides a stronger seam for double doors, making them less subject to attack by prybars and the like. Particularly for central mail stations (CMS) and central box units CBU, double doors present there are subject to attack by prybars and the like that force the locks and allow thieves to rifle the contents of the enclosed mail boxes. Attachment of interlocking door seam to the first edge of the first double doors protects that first edge from prybar attacks. The adjoining edge of the second double door then releasably fits into a convex strip that protects the adjoining edge of the second double door, thereby protecting it from prybar attack. The interlocking door seam allows normal operation of the double doors while decreasing the risk to the central mail station of prybar attack at the seam between the double doors. Flanges present along the free edge of the convex strip provide easy engagement of that free edge. Gaps between such flanges accommodate shelving inside the central mail station. Construction of the interlocking door seam by tempered steel or hard and durable materials provides enhanced protection from prybar attack. Additionally, a main access door bolt bracket may serve to better secure and close the double doors, thwarting forced entry therethrough. The individual mailbox slot doors may have hooked cams to provide fail-safe closure.

A shelving system includes an elongated mounting member operationally securable to an associated shelf. The mounting member includes an approximately vertically oriented wall and an approximately horizontally oriented wall. A track is received on the mounting member in a non-sliding manner. The track extends transversely to a longitudinal axis of the associated shelf. An elongated rail extends longitudinally along the track. A spring urged pusher is slidably mounted in relation to the rail. A slot extends transversely along a bottom face of the track. A first smooth contact surface is located on the mounting member approximately a horizontally oriented wall. A second smooth contact surface is located on the track adjacent the slot. The second contact surface engages the first contact surface to retard a sideward sliding motion of the track in relation to the mounting member.

Preferred nose cones 100 associatable with a tail spout 120 of a sand handler and a vacuum hose 130 of a vacuum system are described herein. A method for containing respirable and/or inhalable particles 140 created in an industrial process is also disclosed herein.

The invention is related to a coin chute for transporting coins in a coin processing machine. The coin chute includes a first surface, a second surface, and a rolling surface. The rolling surface connects the first surface and the second surface to form generally a V-shape cross-section to the coin chute. The V-shape has an angle θ between the first and second surface surfaces, and is inclined at an angle α relative to the horizontal. The angles θ and α are selected to be values that cause the coins to move under a gravitational force and slidably roll across the rolling surface.

A control device and corresponding method for controlling a transfer device on a harvesting machine are disclosed. The transfer device is arranged at a distance adjacent to a housing part so as to be rotatable about a vertical axis and, to alter the height setting, elevatable about a horizontal axis. The control device includes a rotation range limiting means that limits the maximum permitted pivot range of the transfer device as a function of the height setting of the transfer device.

A device to transfer printed products out of the transport channel of a gathering and collating machine in which the printed products are transported in a clocked flow comprises an arrangement for transferring the printed products in a downward direction out of the transport channel. The printed products are preferably removed through an opening in a bottom part of the transport channel, wherein the opening is provided with a flap that can be pivoted downward and away from a product guide wall of the transport channel for the transfer out of a printed product.

The invention disclosed herein provides an apparatus and method for securely collecting, storing, and disposing of documents by attaching a reusable, secure, lockable closure to a cardboard receptacle box. The lockable closure has a slot in the top to allow documents to be deposited in the box. Two opposing side surfaces of the lockable closure have an interior lip that engages the box flap in such a way as to prevent the unwanted removal of the closure. The closure can be secured to the box with a locking seal such as a cable tie through locking holes located on the top surface and two opposing sides of the lockable closure as well as the box flaps and box sides. A hole allows removal of the lockable closure by exerting pressure on the flap. The disclosed method provides the steps of providing a single lockable closure, a plurality of receptacle boxes, and a number of locking seals capable of fitting through the holes. The single, reusable, locking closure is placed on a receptacle box, which is sealed, documents are placed into the box through the slot. When the box is full, the locking seals are removed and the box is closed secured with its internal flaps and shipped for destruction or recycling. The same lockable closure is then placed on a different box bottom to repeat the process.

A dual position chute for parcel handling. In one embodiment, the device comprises a conveying track, an unloading station and a transition zone dual-position chute that is adapted to divert a package from an adjacent conveying track and between at least two substantially vertical discharge positions. In some examples, the chute includes an inlet, a positionable diverter door and at least one spatially-separated stationary diverter door that is downstream from the positionable diverter door. The system and chute provides for discharge of small parcels from an adjacent packing sorting conveyor.

What is disclosed is a secure mailbox having at least a main compartment with a plurality of sides forming the enclosed main compartment, a front mailbox door hinge-ably coupled to the remainder of the main compartment, a locking and unlocking mechanism being adapted to lock the front mailbox door to the main compartment and an unlocking activation mechanism coupled to the locking and unlocking mechanism comprised of either a card key system, a FOB system or an RFID system.

The invention relates to the field of rotor press mounting bearings, and provides an automatic bearing charging device. The automatic bearing charging device comprises a support table, a material guide device, a guiding device, a material blocking device and a bearing press connection seat; the material guide device is arranged on the support table; the guiding device is arranged on one side, located at the material guide device, of the support table; the material blocking device is arranged between the material guide device and the guiding device; the bearing press connection seat is connected with the lower end of the guiding device; the material guide device consists of a material stacking rack, a material pushing baffle, a lifting air cylinder, a material pushing air cylinder and a material pushing block; an included angle is formed between the material stacking rack and the horizontal plane; the material pushing baffle is arranged at the bottom end of the material stacking rack and is L-shaped; the lifting air cylinder is arranged at the bottom of the material pushing baffle; the material pushing air cylinder is arranged at one end of the material pushing baffle; and the material pushing block is fixedly connected with the free end of a piston rod of the material pushing air cylinder and is located above the material pushing baffle. The automatic bearing charging device can realize the effect of automatically charging bearings in batches, is convenient to use and operate and high in efficiency, and is suitable for large-scale popularization.

A game animal lift assembly for all terrain vehicles (ATVs) that is used to lift the carcass of a dead game animal from the ground up onto the carrying rack of an ATV. The game animal lift assembly includes a winch assembly having a flexible winch tether, a receiver hitch connecting assembly, a lifting mechanism horizontal support rod, two height adjustable vertical ground support bar assemblies, an adjustable length chassis support bar assembly, and a pivoting game animal lifting mechanism pivotally attached to the lifting mechanism horizontal support rod.

A curbside mailbox wherein the outgoing mail compartment is located under the incoming mail compartment behind a single carrier service door. The incoming mail, when inserted, drops behind the outgoing mail compartment and falls into a deep mail storage area, to be retrieved by the owner through a locking rear access door. The rear access door retains a mechanical key lock and acts like a hasp fitting over a flange that is built into a upper rear wall. This feature allows the owner to double lock for added security or single lock placing a combination lock on the flange if the owner desires not to carry a key or give access to key for someone authorized to remove mail. The locking mailbox further includes a channel on top for a highly visible address display, a mounting channel on lower front to allow for quick and easy engagement, and a post cover assembly for safe and attractive installation.

An apparatus for producing an absorbent article includes a holding tool, a female tool disposed along a machine axis, and a male tool disposed along the machine axis. The holding tool has an aperture aligned along the machine axis and means for holding a flexible sheet across the aperture. The female tool has at least one folding element extending in a direction radially away from the machine axis, and the male tool has means for holding a fluid storage element and at least one pleating blade extending in a direction radially away from the machine axis. At least two of the holding tool, female tool, and male tool are capable of relative motion along the machine axis. Further the at least one pleating blade and of the male tool and the at least one folding element of the female tool are aligned to permit manipulation of the flexible sheet about the fluid storage element.

An apparatus for loading bikes and motorcycles from the ground to a higher elevation such as into a transport vehicle without lifting. The apparatus permits the user to walk the bike or motorcycle into up a vehicle on a foldable, for easy storage, arcuate ramp. The user holds onto the bike or motorcycle and walks up the ramp from behind the cycle in a first embodiment; or adjacent to the vehicle into the van or truck in a second embodiment. The second embodiment includes a series of spaced steps or U-rungs on one or both sides of the ramp. Both versions fold for easy storage and portability and both embodiments can be separated into two parts for easy linear storage if needed.

The invention relates to the production field of carrier rollers, in particular to a carrier roller flow production line frame which solves the problems that defects exist in the production process of an existing carrier roller. The carrier roller flow production line frame comprises an inclined-type carrier roller discharging box which is formed by splicing an upper L-type steel plate frame body and a lower L-type steel plate frame body in a vertically staggered mode. Movable frame supporting legs are fixed to the two sides of the lower portion of the upper L-type steel plate frame body and the two sides of the lower portion of the lower L-type steel plate frame body at intervals. A material storage box is arranged below the inclined-type carrier roller discharging box, the front end face of the material storage box is an inclined face, the lower portion of the lower L-type steel plate frame body is fixedly provided with a positioning block with a screw hole, a screw rod matched with the screw hole in a threaded mode is arranged in the screw hole, and the tail end of the screw rod is provided with a rotary handle. The device is low in manufacturing cost and easy to use and maintain, can obviously bring various advantages when carrier rollers are produced in a large scale and has the advantages that production efficiency is high and the qualified rate of products is high. All in all, the carrier roller flow production line frame is simple in structure, reasonable in design, easy and convenient to operate and low in cost, and has certain popularization and application value.

A mailbox comprising side and back walls, a top and a bottom secured together to form an enclosure, a front access door mounted to the front wall, a rear access door connected to the rear access door, and a tray accessible through the front access door and vertically adjustable.

A concrete chute apparatus for preventing the accidental discharge of cement residue from the chute of a cement truck while the truck is moving is disclosed. To attain this, an abutment plate obstructs the opening of a cement truck caused by the folding of an articulated chute. In an embodiment, an abutment plate is rigidly affixed to an over-chute section of the articulated chute such that the plate obscures the concrete path when the over-chute section is rotated to the up position.

Moisture resistant barrier mailbox apparatus, device and methods for inhibiting water intrusion into mailboxes where the doors can be positioned into open ends of the mailbox and/or when the doors have outer edges which wrap about open ends of the mailbox. Channel grooves and inwardly bent edges block and control water intrusion when the doors are in closed positions. The mailboxes can include drainage holes in the mailbox floors to allow for water to drain out of and not puddle inside of the mailboxes.

An inflatable evacuation slide includes a flexible slide surface that is supported by longitudinal main support members. Illumination of the slide surface is provided by a plurality of illumination sources that are supported above the upper surface of the main support members on inflatable stanchions that extend upward from the upper surface of the main support members. The plurality of illumination sources may be high efficiency light emitting diodes or other high efficiency light sources. By providing an illumination source that is elevated above the upper surface of the main support members, a greater portion of the slide surface can be illuminated without shadows.

A device for transporting articles is disclosed. In the illustrated and described embodiment of the invention, the articles are fruit such as apples, and the articles can be transported from a picking location on a fruit tree to a collection bin or other site. The device includes a tube member adapted to receive and transport the articles, and a plurality of deformable baffles at spaced-apart locations within the tube. Each baffle defines an aperture which permits the article to engage and deform the baffle and aperture so as to move through the aperture and down the tube. The article is urged through the tube by a pressure differential created across the article. In the described and illustrated embodiment of the invention, this pressure differential is a pneumatic pressure differential.

A fastener system for fixing hardened plates includes a fastener element having a frusto-conical head and a threaded shaft portion, wherein a smallest outer diameter of the frusto-conical head is adjacent the threaded shaft, and a largest outer width of the shaft is smaller than a smallest diameter of the head.

A trash container having a base disposed on a support surface. The base has an aperture adjacent the support surface. A receptacle is disposed above the base. The receptacle contains debris received from an opening in an upper end of the receptacle. A vacuum draws debris through the aperture into a channel adjacent to the base and toward the receptacle. A collection chamber is associated with the receptacle and is configured to receive and collect debris from the vacuum and direct debris into the receptacle. The trash container can also include a lid disposed on an upper end of the receptacle. A method of collecting debris for depositing in a trash container includes providing suction to an aperture in a base of the trash container to draw debris from a surface adjacent the container. The method also includes capturing the debris drawn through the aperture in a collection chamber.

The invention provides an automobile seat transporting and conveying system which is used for packaging, transporting, storing and delivering after a seat product line is finished. The automobile seat transporting and conveying system comprises a conveying rail, a steering mechanism, a storing and delivering cargo rail, a seat tray and a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) control system, wherein the front end of the conveying rail is connected with a seat production line; the tail end of the storing and delivering cargo rail is connected with a physical distribution channel; the quantity of the steering mechanism and the storing and delivering cargo rail is matched with the type of the seat; the steering mechanism is arranged at the combined part of the conveying rail and the storing and delivering cargo rail; the seat tray can slide on the conveying rail and can enter the storing and delivering cargo rail through the steering mechanism; and a seat product is placed above the seat tray. The automobile seat transporting and conveying system has the advantages of stable performance, strong practical applicability and low manufacturing cost, solves the problem that the labor intensity is great as the seat product is remotely transported after the production line is finished, and avoids secondary transportation and package work of the seat; and therefore, the collision scratches and bottom corner deformation in a transportation and turnover process of the seat are reduced, and the quality of the seat product is effectively guaranteed.