Algodoo

Back in the mid 1980's I worked for a company that makes packaging machinery for other companies and I recall seeing this type of indexing conveyor used for depositing added ingredients on top of the end-users product. One of the companies that we made machines for was McKee Baking which is the company that makes the Little Debbie brand of products. At the time I was amazed by how well that indexer worked. The only negative, which the engineer at McKee Baking complained about was the fact that the pitch of the indexer cannot be varied on-the-fly, so we had to design a different indexing conveyor which was electronically variable. That worked very well too, but it was not based on the Geneva Mechanism.

Sorry for my rambling. I just like to chat about this kind of stuff.

Thanks for the response. That's an interesting story. Maybe somebody can make a mechanically variable indexing mechanism.

The one I mentioned above was done using servomotors, which made the task relatively easy. To do it mechanically, I believe, would be very challenging if not impractical. If you decide to do it with Algodoo, that would be awesome, and would certainly impress me way beyond being amazed!

This looks interesting. Check it out.... PIV Chain

I wonder if that would work with "flights" attached to the chain? The flights would keep each product separated from each other and the PIV chain would allow variable pitch (maybe?).

I think those chains are used on car Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT). If you sharpened the flights you could make a CVPCS (continuously variable pitch chain saw) that could change the chain force depending on load while maintaining a near constant torque on the motor.

I think you are right about their use in CVT's. But I do like your idea about a CVPCS! Go ahead and patent it. If practical and not too costly you could become very wealthy with that design!