Appeal No. 2002-1792 Page 5
Application No. 09/467,577
19. The air conveyor guide rails of Claim 10, wherein:
the top and bottom edges of the pair of plates are parallel to each other
and the upstream and downstream edges of the pair of plates are parallel to
each other.
The invention of Lenhart '423 relates to an air conveyor apparatus for use with
generally cylindrical lightweight containers and more particularly to a damperless
conveyor which controls the conveying speed of the containers whether en masse or in
a sparse or individual flow of containers. As shown in Figures 1-5, a conveyor C is
provided which has a conveying surface in the form of a deck 12 with a plurality of
louvers L therein for conveying lightweight containers 16 from an upstream location to a
downstream location. A plenum 18 is attached to the bottom side of deck 12 and is
supplied by air from a common air supply, such as a blower (not shown) through an
inlet 20. Open guide rails 22 are provided along the outboard edges of deck 12 to hold
the containers on the conveying surface. As shown most clearly in Figures 1-2, one
open guide rail 22 is provided on one side of the conveyor C and another open guide
rail 22 is provided on the other side of the conveyor C. As best shown in Figure 1, each
open rail 22 includes an upper horizontal bar and a lower horizontal bar spaced apart
by vertical bars so as to create openings therebetween.
As seen in Figure 3, the air passes through the louvers and, due to the Coanda
Effect, travels along the surface of the deck in the direction of arrows D. The flow of air
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