GB887560A - Improvements in or relating to conveyors - Google Patents

Abstract

887,560. Endless overhead conveyers. GILL & CO. Ltd., STEWART. Aug. 24, 1960 [July 29, 1959], No. 26083/59. Class 78 (1). An endless overhead conveyer comprises a tubular, sectional, track 11 and trolleys 15 from which load carriers 52 are suspended by chains 53, the trolleys being interconnected by an endless round-link chain 16 and each comprising a pair of members 41 extending upwardly on opposite sides of the tube, rollers 43 being mounted on the upper ends of the members 41 for engagement with the upper surface of the track so as to pass on either side of hangers 13 by which the track is suspended from a roof or wall. The hangers 13 are secured to connector pieces 12 arranged between the track sections, each piece 12 being formed by an upper member 31 and a lower member 32 forced away from each other by screws 35 threaded in the lower member so that their end portions 34 grip the inner surfaces of adjacent track elements. The members 41 forming each trolley are of semicircular cross-section and are provided with pads 38 and are secured together on opposite sides of a vertical chain link by bolts 39, recesses being provided in the members 41 to receive the ends of adjacent horizontal links of the chain. The load carriers 52 are suspended from the trolleys by short lengths of chain 53 interconnected at their lower ends by a chain 54. The chain 16 is driven by a sprocketwheel 17 which has a groove 86, Fig. 9, to receive the horizontal chain links and also grooves to receive the ends of the vertical links, the latter grooves being formed in the sides of larger recesses adapted to receive the adjacent member 41 of each trolley. The drive may include a number of such sprocket-wheels spaced along the length of the conveyer and driven separately through fluid couplings. Tensioning of the chain 16 is effected by members 21, 22 which carry pulleys 19, 20 for the chain 16 and are secured to a movable U-shaped section of the track 11. The members 21, 22 are acted on by springs 24 and the assembly is suspended by upstanding members carrying rollers (Figs. 6 and 7, not shown) from a U-frame 23 in the longitudinal portions of which the rollers run. The movable track section is connected telescopically to the rest of the track 11. Guides 29 are provided adjacent the ends of a depressed section 25 of the track 11 to prevent the trolleys being lifted off the track by the chain tension.