Thomas Robins

Robins turned the conveyor belt into a reliable industrial product, the ancestor of the belt conveyors that carry cartons through fulfillment centers. His troughed belt carried heavy bulk material continuously over long distances, and it won the grand prize at the Paris Exposition of 1900. Conveyors later spread into factories and then warehouses, where belt and roller lines link receiving, picking, packing, and shipping. When a fulfillment center decides between conveyor and mobile robots, it is choosing between Robins' fixed continuous flow and more flexible modern alternatives.

• Conveyor SystemBelts and rollers that move totes and cartons
• Sortation SystemEquipment that sends each item to its lane
• ThroughputWork completed per hour or per day

• Richard Sutcliffe1849–1930 · Inventor of the underground conveyor
• Oliver Evans1755–1819 · Builder of the first automated mill

1. Thomas Robins (inventor) (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org
2. US810510A Belt conveyer (Google Patents) patents.google.com