MXPA01004479A - Knuckle drive link conveyor belt systems - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention provides integrated knuckle drive link conveyor belt systems with improved long wear-high load bearing link coupling joints of a universal joint nature for permitting the belts to travel on straight or curvaceous paths which also feature expedited insertion of spindle rods extending through the knuckles, diverse sprocket drive capabilities and replaceable load conveying platform accessories of the plug-in or snap-in variety. A cylindrical knuckle, when the loaded belt is under tension, has a substantially semi-cylindrical high wear contact surface that handles heavy peak loads. That knuckle is installed expeditiously at a joint between end-to-end connected links constituting a special interfitted jig comprising a seat in the nose end of a link resting the knuckle in a registered operational position to receive the connecting spindle rod through trailing edge bifurcated arms of a leading modular link without a concurrent manual orientation of the knuckle. Diverse sprocket drive structure permits the belt to be driven from beneath or on either lateral side. The knuckle and surrounding seat provides three dimensional moving tolerances to provide the universal joint type operation at each link joint. Other features include side rollers to reduce friction on inner curve radii, and holddown flanges that keep the belt from fluttering off a base support surface. The rugged molded resulting plastic links are long wearing and resist catastrophic failure. The versatility and ruggedness of the system is significantly enhanced by the removable platform structure for heavy industrial use.

Description

CHARNELA IMPELLER LINK CONVEYOR BAND SYSTEMS BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to plastic link conveyor systems and more particularly relates to a narrow hinge drive type of link conveyor belts having removable load carrying platform members and associated link construction features. 2. General Background of the Invention The hinged link type of the link conveyor systems are well known in the art as exemplified by US Pat. Nos. 3,768,631, October 30, 1973, issued to EJR Wahrem for a Conveyor Belt Chain. , 4,597,497 of July 1, 1986 granted to Lachonius and others for a conveyor chain; and 5,402,880, April 4, 1995, issued to J. F. Murphy for an Article Conveyor Chain that has a Free Appendix.

A primary efficiency of linked hinge conveyor systems has not been satisfactory due to the lack of diversity. Each system has a tendency to be tailored and built for a particular installation, product line or path configuration.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide conveyor systems and versatile links of the hinged link type which are highly adapted for universal use over a wide range of applications, product lines and path configurations.

This type of prior art has been particularly unsatisfactory because it presents difficulties in the required manufacturing engineering, in the molding and in the assembly of such plastic conveyor systems in order to meet the demands of the new facilities and products.

Versatility has not been present for example to provide conveyor systems that require long tortuous paths that curl laterally along the path and pass up and down slopes. These installations, for example, must be adaptable to various types of driving configurations at different positions along the length of the band in order to provide adequate driving energy to carry loads, to navigate the curves, particularly in curves where stress and the load on the band are greater.

The characteristics of resistance, life, maintenance and repair access are more important when molded plastic links are used. In addition, the ability to mold link bodies that withstand the rigors of industrial use for various types of products is a continuing challenge in the art.

Some of the variations found that defy the operation of such belt systems is the ability to produce at will at the conveyor belt links the necessary slip to reduce the driving force in the movements around the bends, sprockets and in contact with the frictional surfaces of wear plates on the belt edges and on the inner parts of the belt that are placed at specific locations along the belt path. Uneven load on the bands as they pass through the work stations or move up the inclines may require auxiliary drive sprockets.

The improvements are necessary to drive the bands under various operating conditions. Conventional sprocket drive systems that engage the bottom of the belt are usually located in belt circuits that require a complex structure to transfer the products from one belt to another over long transport paths.

In addition, both the repair or maintenance of such bands in the service and initial band installation in the prior art systems are difficult and time-consuming. Access to the band at a circuit gearwheel location of an industrial facility, for example, may be limited, and repairs may remove the bands off-line for extended periods of time.

In the initial installations, the formation of the separate link hinge-type band provides a significant challenge. Therefore, the complex task of aligning and interconnecting the end-to-end band links requires that the hinge be kept in precise alignment with the shaft rods passing through the nose and flap joints. the bifurcated tail legs of a front link. It is desirable to decrease the complexity of this task, including avoiding the noise of the hinges that fall out of position and fall to the floor. ^^ ¡^ jM ^^^^^^ ggg? Éjfcggt ^ An additional problem is that these hitch-drive type conveyor chains have been limited to the types of sprocket drive configuration, without the flexibility to example interfere with several sprocket drive systems which can be found.

Moreover, these systems have the limitation of the integrally placed conveyor surfaces formed by the band links, so that the different basic links have to be designed and stored to provide the different kinds of conveyor surfaces suitable for different products being transported, and different band configurations such as those which can travel on inclined paths for example.

Other types of link conveyor belts have been adaptable to replace the drive pads or modular overlays as shown in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,004,097 issued April 2, 1991 to G.C. Roinestad, and others for a "A Replaceable Automatic Locking Modular Overlap and Link Curve Turn Conveyor Belts"; and (Figure 8) 5,528,287 of December 10, 1996 for an "Impulse Chain for Accumulation Conveyor". Such replaceable drive surfaces, however, present several problems such as , 4 *? 3¡ * Z¡? * W? A¡É¿fc¿? . ^ ¡¡¡¿¿A *? ¡? * A formation of a substantially continuous surface between the links, without lateral spaces or cracks that could cause problems in the transport of products that could pass over or rest on such spaces and cracks.

In the hinge-drive type link strips, it has not been possible so far to integrate such removable drive surfaces and overlaps with the configuration restrictions of the webs having arched and inclined paths to carry several product lines.

It is therefore an object of this invention to overcome such problems and deficiencies of the prior art and to provide improved versatile hinge joint chain links and the corresponding belt conveyor systems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention allows the improved and versatile hinge-type links to easily form the corresponding conveyor systems to process a variety of products over complex conveyor belt paths in industrial environments.

The plastic link body allowed by this invention is characterized by a rectangular perforation located between a cylindrical hinge opening in the link nose and the tail nose that receives the crotch from which the forked legs extend to receive a rod. shaft to secure the links together end to end in a band configuration.

This rectangular opening has a bottom gear that receives a surface for conventional belt drive systems. In an embodiment of the invention the opening extends through the link body to provide on the upper link surface a self-locking detent gear receiving a platform member removable that can be carried on the upper surface of the link. The upper part of this quadrilateral opening has retainer edges for attaching an accessory or upper surface conveyor platform section in the location adjacent to the upper link surface. The platform section has projecting from the same spring automatically elastic and matching spring arms that extend down to the quadrilateral opening on the opposite sides of the link to match and fix the platform in place.

The plastic link body is further characterized by the presentation of indentations of cogwheel teeth on opposite sides of the link to allow a cog to rotate about a vertical axis to drive a constructed band of such links. This is particularly useful for the arcuate conveyor transport paths to distribute the belt drive units along the belt paths at convenient locations near the curves and inclinations where the load voltages are higher.

In a typical link body, a forward-facing nose section that surrounds a vertical cylindrical hole through the link body comprises an essentially cylindrical link connecting the hinge to serve as a box for a universal hinge joint connecting the links together end to end in the conveyor belt chain. The nose section integrally defines a set of bifurcated legs of tail with a crotch between them formed to loosely surround the nose section of a tail link.

A drive interconnection configuration for the gear-driven link conveyor belts employ the coupling hinge between the successive end-to-end coupled links on a semi-cylindrical drive surface essentially as the links are coupled together, when loaded and when in tension. The semi-cylindrical wear contact surface essentially handles heavy maximum loads. Therefore the cylindrical nose of the link body surrounds the hinge essentially cylindrical, which is held in place by a shaft rod screwed through the hinge and legs on each side of the crotch defined by the forked legs of glue integrally positioned and sized to receive loosely there the nose of the tail link connected end to end in a band configuration.

The hinge is dimensioned to fit loosely in the cylindrical box to provide a degree of three-dimensional movement thus to effect a universal action joint to allow the conveyor belt to take an arcuate path around the up and down curves of inclined surfaces. In this aspect the nose defines the lateral side horizontal slots of the link to pass the shaft rod through and up to the opening that receives the cylindrical hinge in a configuration that allows the nose and hinge to pivot together while retained inside. of the crotch.

To provide the accelerated insertion of the shaft rods through the hinges, the cylindrical box is notched outwardly into the cylindrical walls to produce a key eye and the lowermost accompanying edges at a depth to accept a key flange that makes play that extends from the outer surface of the hinge cylinder. This provides a nested retention of the hinge in position to match the shaft rod between the bifurcated legs to extend through the nose walls and hinge screw opening. The hinge is thus installed expeditiously to form a pivot joint between the connected end-to-end links without using the hands in a current manual positioning and retention of the hinge.

In addition, the links are provided with various cog-wheel drive capacities comprising a rectangular opening accessible from the bottom of the link, and tooth-cog receptacles on opposite sides of the link. This sprocket drive structure allows the belt to be driven from below on any side to thereby exhibit the universal characteristics for use with various types of drive systems.

The links have three primary plastic parts, a main link body, a removable load carrying platform member and a hinge joint.

The side rollers can also be installed to reduce the section at the places of inner bend radii that have a wear surface or sidewall flange.

The main link body retains flanges laterally extending from opposite sides near the bottom surface of the link to run in an associated wear surface channel work at selected positions along the web path. This prevents the band from vibrating vertically and supports it when inverted in the return.

Other characteristics, objectives and advantages of the invention will be found through the following drawings, the description and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings, wherein the reference characters represent similar characteristics through the various views: Figure 1 is a top plan view without removable transport platform members installed carried by each link of the nozzle type conveyor system provided by this invention, which system shows two conveyor belts driven in the opposite direction by gear wheels laterally positioned impellers having a vertical axis of rotation, wherein the bands are spaced at a predetermined distance apart to run in parallel paths by an intermediate spider wheel.

Figure 2 is an end view, partially in section, of the conveyor belts moving through a wear strip channel in a configuration that allows access of the sprocket extending laterally to the wheel slots Toothed that matches the other side of the band in a position under the outer wings of the upper transport surface.

Figure 2A is a fragmented end view of a built-in platform with a V-shaped profile.

Figure 3 is a top perspective view looking at the conveyor belt segment permitted by this invention having carrier platforms for replaceable objects in place on each link.

Figure 4 is a top perspective view of a segment of the conveyor belt without the removable conveyor surfaces in place looking at the rollers ¿J ^^^^^^^^^^^ - ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ a ^^^ 4 ^^^^ arranged on one side of the link for contact with a shore railing in the manner shown in Figure 2 .

Figure 5 is a schematic perspective view of a band link, facing the roller side, with the roller and the coupling hinge displaced.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of a segment of a conveyor belt incorporation without removable conveyor platform members in place.

Figures 7 and 8 are top and bottom perspective views respectively of a link in a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 9 is a bottom perspective view of a removable and automatic adjustment platform member provided by the invention.

Figure 10 is a top plan fragment of an additional conveyor belt incorporation having a platform member placed in place, and Figure 11 is a bottom plane view of the platform member shown in Figure 10.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Figure 1, looking at the upper side of the two narrow and hinge-type conveyor belts having replaceable removable platform members, it can be seen that the left band 15 moves upward as it is driven by the laterally extending sprocket 16 that rotates around a vertical axis, while the right band 17 moves down when being driven by the sprocket 18. The bands are positioned and spaced a predetermined distance by the spider wheel 19 for a tangentially parallel movement to the spider wheel 19. As later discussed in greater detail, the band links have a driving structure for engaging the gearwheel members 16 and 18 on opposite sides, and the toothedwheel wheel 19 also coincides in that driving structure.

In Figure 2 the band rests and moves through a section 20 of a wear strip of suitable low strength characteristics, so that the grooves 21 serve to hold the flanges 22 of the belts down to run in a movement without agitation. The roller 23 is preferably provided on at least one side of the link 25 in this embodiment abuts the protrusion of the right side 24 to reduce friction and reduce the upper band tension and the driving load found in the inner curvatures of the band curving along its trajectory of displacement.

A replaceable upper conveyor platform member 26 is in place. Such platform members may be chosen for variable web loading requirements, for example, to provide low friction or high friction surfaces or to present surfaces or bags for particular containers to be transported. The material of these conveyor member members 26 may have a high strength or superior stiffness as may be required, and may be textured or grooved for several advantages. In some applications a directional texture can direct the product to slide towards the center line of the belt and discourage the product from vibrating towards the outer edge of the belt. If desired, platform members 26 may have clamps, edge guides or other platform members that are advantageous with different types of loads. It is therefore significant that the removable platform in combination with the hinge band coupling configuration presents a highly advantageous universal feature for the belt drive systems, whereas the prior art typically with the integral platforms required tailored bandwidth required for different products and band conditions. Note that the platforms are tapered inwardly 27 on the outer edges and the bottom of the links 25 are tapered upwardly 28 on the outer edges to provide clearance for the sprockets. In the embodiment of Figure 2A, the V-shaped upper platform configuration pushes the products to move toward the center of the band.

In Figure 3, wherein the removable platform members 26 are installed in place on each articulation 25, the band curvature is accommodated by the loosely fitting nose 32 and the crotch portions 33 of the platform members, and the matching matching front fingers 30 near the outer edges of the platform which play loosely in the tail grooves 31. Thus, an essentially continuous transport surface is maintained along the length of the belt. . Due to the specific shape of these platforms for running on the upper surface of the links, the bifurcated nose and crotch structure is advantageous. Therefore, there is no dividing line sharpened laterally through the links that can serve as a major impediment to the movement of the articles longitudinally on the conveyor belt surface, as is required in several industrial work stations that load and unload articles. of moving conveyor belts. This crack or gradual or distributed spacing between the links is therefore better suited for conveyor belt transport services, particularly for carrying objects that take up a considerable part of the bandwidth.

As seen from the fragmentary band portion of Figures 4 and 7, the aforementioned platform noses 32 are superimposed on the essentially cylindrical interconnecting hinges 35. These hinges 35 are screwed loosely enough in the surrounding cylindrical holes 36 to allow the links to pivot generally about an arcuate path and to provide a longitudinal loosening along the band. The driving notches 37 and 38 alternately sandwich the opposite sides of the links that receive the teeth of the gear in the manner shown in Figure 1. To match different drive wheels, such as the spider wheel 19 and the force driving wheels 16, and 18, the notches 37 and 38 on the opposite sides can be shaped differently and extend to different depths.

As seen by comparison with the exploded view of Figure 5, the roller wheels 25 are housed in the slots 40, as retained by the bolts through the holes 41, which are held frictionally or retained by the platform, to extend into the lower end slots 42. Therefore, the assembly and replacement in the roller field is accelerated.

A tool for example can be inserted into the slot 42 to force the retaining bolt upward for removal and replacement of a roller. The alternate embodiments may also be of wheels 23 with integral bolts or bolts held by gravity to rest on the platform of the lower slot 42.

It has been a tedious and delicate task in the prior art to mount the hinges 35 to couple together the band links. Thus, a rod 45 retained in the openings 46 and 47 of the tail legs 48 and 49 of the links 25 extends through the hinge screw opening 44 to rotate freely thereon. This provides a vertical pivoting action of the band and thus essentially a cooperating action of the longitudinally oriented slots 71 extending through the opposite nose walls makes the hinge joint a universal joint with both vertical pivot shafts and side. Thus, the flap opening 44 requires being aligned with the extending openings 46 and 47 in the bifurcated legs both vertically and rotationally and retained in that position as the rod 45 is driven frictionally into place. One end of the rod may be splined to hold it in place.

To solve this problem, a key 50 projects vertically downward in the upper region of the hinge 35. The key 50 is positioned to match in the blind slot 51 that extends downward to form the edge 69 at its localized blind end at the upper end of the cylindrical case 36. The key and the slot can alternatively be located respectively on the link 25 and the hinge pin 35. This mechanism is arranged to retain the hinge 35 both vertically preventing it from falling out of the bottom of the band and rotationally coincides to receive the screwdriver rod 45, thereby leaving both hands free for attention to drive the screwdriver rod 45 into the receptacle holes 46 and 47. In addition, once the platform member 26 is instead, it prevents the hinge from falling out of the top of the band when working on it.

As seen from the top view of the web in Figure 6, the enlarged slot 51 allows the hinge to pivot when the web is navigated sideways of the arched paths. In this aspect it is seen that the link noses 32 match sufficiently loosely in the crotches 33 to accommodate a degree of lateral band pivoting, within the limits imposed by the tail shoulders 55 and 56. Also the tolerances of the Hinges 35 in the cylindrical screw holes 36 is sufficient to provide a degree of longitudinal loosening in the band under the load carrying conditions.

The indentations 60 and 61, the blind groove 51 and the rectangular continuous hole 62 with the internally directed side flanges 63 and 64 provide a seat for securing the platform members 26 to each of the links 25 as best seen by reference to the Figure 7-9. The three point mount 60, 61 and 62 on the links 25 will receive the matching members 74-77 on the platforms 26 to prevent movement between the links 25 and the assembled platforms 26 matching in any lateral direction. The two flexible plastic spring panels 76 and 77 constitute an automatic closing structure wherein the hooks 78 on the platform member 26 annul and grip the lower flanges 64 within the rectangular reception openings 62 of the links, holding the platforms in place without vertical movement.

In Figures 7 and 8, the slots are shown 70 and 71 that extend through the opposite nose walls. This allows the hinge rod, which is frictionally adjusted in the openings 46 and 47 to oscillate when the belt is curved.

Rectangular opening 62, nose opening - »- * • * * intermediate 36 and crotch 33 additionally serve from the bottom as shown in Figure 8 to serve as a bottom drive sprocket hole for the conveyor belt. With the two side sprocket receptacle indentations 37 and 38 this provides a novel versatile three-way drive link.

In Figures 10 and 11 a different mounting embodiment is shown for the removable platform member 26 ', which constitutes a member wedged and frictionally retained in place by the 80/83 tines rather than an automatic closing member which is retained in a closed low condition. In this embodiment, the four plugs 80-83 of the platform member 26 'marry on the four receptacle indentations 85-88 of the modiflink body 25'. The indentations 87 and 88 see the underlying rectangular opening which can serve as a lower surface cog tooth drive receptacle.

It is clear from the aforementioned link construction that it can be molded from suitable plastic materials into a strong element for use in industrial applications which strongly resist catastrophic failures in highly stressed places and is devoid of close and similar integral joints which they are subject to failure.

It is thus seen that this invention provides removable platform hinge-type conveyor links that have a novel structure and that produce interacting functional advantages over the conveyor systems of the prior art, which are set forth with particularity in the following claims as representative of the spirit and nature of the present invention.

Claims (30)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S

1. A link conveyor belt comprising a combination: an interconnected series of plastic link bodies defining a tail yoke having a crotch and two forked legs and a front nose part for wedging into a crotch of an attached end link adjacent end, said nose part has a vertically and cylindrically oriented opening through the link body with grooves through the cylindrical walls positioned on the opposite and lateral sides, said yoke has the bifurcated tail legs sized to encompass in loose form said nose portion of a tail link thus allowing said conveyor belt to move along an arcuate path, wherein the links are coupled together in an energy driving relationship by a generally cylindrical hinge with a vertical axis fitting in loose form in said cylindrical opening and retained there by a rod of screw shaft fixed between said bifurcated legs for production in cooperation with said grooves on the lateral sides a degree of loosening in the longitudinal transport direction of the conveyor and a degree of pivoting around the arcuate paths, said screw shaft shaft being passed loosely through the side opening through said hinge thus extending rotationally between the bifurcated legs to wedge in the hinge opening, said hinge therefore has an essentially married cylindrical driving surface engaged with said cylindrical opening as the band moves. under tension under load.

2. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 1, characterized in that it also comprises a load carrying platform member removably fitting on said plastic links for a quick installation.

3. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 2, characterized in that the surface platform member comprises a laterally extending panel with a plurality of substantially cylindrical prongs extending from a lower surface and marrying into the cylindrical cavities on the links for frictionally retaining said platform member on a corresponding yoke link.

4. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 2, characterized in that the platform member comprises a load carrying panel with a pair of essentially rectangular integral plastic spring panels protruding normally from a bottom surface, each spring panel defining a detent latch member, and wherein said articulation defines receptacle cavity means with the retainer members that match to receive said spring panels in an automatic latch adjustment latch to thereby retain the fixed platform panel in the place on a corresponding link.

5. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 4, characterized in that the receptacle cavity means further comprises an essentially rectangular aperture extending vertically through the link to present a gear wheel driving aperture on a lower link surface.

6. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 1, further characterized in that it comprises an upper surface of each link, a load carrying platform member extending laterally outwardly from the yoke and removably fixed thereto.

7. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 6, characterized in that said platform member has a nose edge that houses on the link nose and a crotch edge marriable with the forked legs marrying on the forked legs of the link, and which further comprises the interlocking fingers on each side of said nose placed to marry in the corresponding indentations in each of the bifurcated legs.

8. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 1, further characterized in that it comprises the toothed wheel indentations in each link on at least one of the two opposite sides thereof.

9. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 1, characterized in that it also comprises flanges that extend laterally from the opposite sides of each link to run in a channel member defining a web path.

10. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 1, characterized in that it also comprises at least one side of each link, a roller placed to make contact with a rail along the belt to reduce friction when navigating in a place of inner curvature in a band path.

11. A plastic link body for a link conveyor belt, which comprises in combination: a nose section pointed forward with a cylindrical vertical hole for accommodating an essentially cylindrical hinge connector member that serves to connect the links from end to end in a conveyor belt, said nose section integrally defines the bifurcated legs of tail having a crotch therebetween shaped to match said nose section of a tail link, and further an opening extending through the link body in the middle of the cylindrical and crotch hole adapted to receive the gearwheel driving teeth located on a lower side of the conveyor belt.

12. The link body as claimed in clause 11, further characterized in that it comprises receptacle means for removably positioning and retaining a conveyor platform member.

13. The link body as claimed in clause 12, characterized in that the receptacle means further comprises automatic adjusting detent means within said additional aperture for receiving and fixing in place a set of spring retainer members. flexible automatic located on said removable conveyor platform member.

14. The link body as claimed in clause 11, further characterized in that it comprises grooves placed horizontally through the nose section in the cylindrical bore on the opposite sides of the link to pass a secured connecting shaft in said forked legs to Through the cylindrical hole and a hinge connector member internally positioned in said cylindrical hole, said slots thus introduce a degree of longitudinal loosening in the conveyor belt and a degree of pivoting of the connected link members to allow the conveyor belt to navigate by an arched path.

15. The link body as claimed in clause 11, further characterized in that it comprises toothed wheel teeth receiving indentations on opposite sides of the link body.

16. The link body as claimed in clause 11, characterized in that said cylindrical vertical hole has a wedge pocket vertically oriented and indented in a cylindrical wall of the hole for receiving, locating and retaining an essentially cylindrical hinge with a key that makes outstanding play in a position in said pocket for receiving a pivot rod shaft through said bifurcated legs of a front link body to thereby pivotally connect the link bodies from end to end in a band configuration.

17. The link body as claimed in clause 11, further characterized in that it comprises three sets of sprocket drive receptacle means located respectively on two side sides of the link body and a lower side of said link body.

18. The link body as claimed in clause 11, further characterized in that it comprises a pair of upwardly inclined flanges extending laterally from a lower part of the link body adapted to be confined in a channel of wear surface placed at along a part of a band path to maintain the band links without vibrating.

19. The conveyor belt as claimed in clause 11, further characterized in that it comprises a cavity that matches on a lateral side of the link body to receive a roller with means for securing the roller in place with an axle for adjusting the roller in a top opening and extending down to the lower side slot accessible from one side of the link body.

20. A seat configuration in a hinge-style conveyor link to receive an essentially matching cylindrical hinge to connect the link bodies together in a link conveyor, comprising combination, an interengangable structure that matches said configuration of seat and said hinge to stably retain the hinge and seat in a matching relationship prior to the installation of a pivot shaft rod through the hinge to interconnect the links end to end in a band configuration.

21. The seat configuration as claimed in clause 20, further characterized in that it comprises an essentially cylindrical hinge with a flange wrench extending from the outer surface and an essentially cylindrical hinge which receives a cylindrical hole in the conveyor link that has an indentation of wedge pocket in a cylindrical bore surface to receive said flange key to prevent rotation of the hinge and leg to align the hinge to receive said pivot shaft rod.

22. A drive interconnection configuration for driving a gear wheel of link conveyor belts of the type having a coupling hinge between successive links with end-to-end links coupled together in tension, comprising in combination, a link body comprising a nose with a essentially cylindrical hinge that receives an opening extending vertically through the link body and integrally positioned bifurcated tail legs defining a crotch to loosely receive the nose of the tail link connected end-to-end in a band configuration said crotch has opening means for receiving a shaft rod extending between the bifurcated legs to connect end-to-end links in a band configuration, said coupling hinge is dimensioned to fit loosely in said cylindrical hinge receiving opening. and that has a a slot for receiving said shaft rod comfortably through the hinge in a rotating support relationship, and said nose defining the opposite side horizontal side slots for passing the shaft rod through and to the hinge receiving opening cylindrical in a configuration that allows a three-dimensional degree of movement so that the conveyor belts can move over the arcuate transport paths.

23. A conveyor belt system, which comprises in combination, a conveyor belt formed by a set of interconnected joints adapted to follow an arcuate path, said links comprise a plastic body with a front nose part and a set of integral tail of forked legs with a removable pivotable hinge mounted on the nose portion as pivotal coupling means between the end-to-end band links, and the driving and receiving indentations of the sprocket positioned on the opposite lateral sides of the link for engagement with the wheels toothed laterally positioned to move said conveyor belt.

24. The conveyor belt system as claimed in clause 23, characterized in that the links further comprise mounted platform members removably adapted to carry articles along the web path.

25. The conveyor belt system as claimed in clause 23, characterized in that it is placed in said system in combination with a similar conveyor belt with driving gears to move the two belts side by side in essentially parallel paths in opposite directions.

26. The conveyor system as claimed in clause 25, characterized in that it comprises a toothed spider wheel separating the respective strips by a predetermined distance and laterally engaging said sprocket indentations on the respective strips.

27. In a plastic modular link conveyor, the combination comprising: the plastic modular links each having a link body with an integral pivot rod screw structure thereon for connecting the modular links pivotally together to form said link conveyor belt being configured to present a mobile load-bearing transport platform, a removable top load-bearing surface member for frictional contact with a load-bearing to detachably adjust said transport platform in a load-bearing configuration, and interconnecting means for releasably adjusting the links and the upper surface member stably together as a transport unit for transporting loads along a conveyor belt transport path comprising matching and retention elements interacting between the silver Link body transport form and removable top surface member.

28. The combination as claimed in clause 27, characterized in that said interconnection means further comprise the catch latch means formed by the flexible plastic members carried by the upper surface member for manual movement in and out of a state of latch latch.

29. The combination as claimed in clause 27, characterized in that said link body transport platform and said upper surface member are of an essentially similar configuration capable of following arcuate web transport paths.

30. The combination as claimed in clause 27, characterized in that said interconnection means comprise a set of interengaging male and female elements placed in at least three receptacle sites spaced on said transport platform. SUMMARY The invention provides integrated hinge drive link conveyor systems with high wear and improved load bearing linkage joints of a universal joint nature to allow the webs to travel on straight or arched paths which are also refer to the accelerated insertion of shaft rods extending through the hinges, various cogwheel driving capacities and replaceable load carrying platform accessories of the introduction or automatic closing variety. The cylindrical hinge when the belt is loaded is under tension, has semi-cylindrical high wear contact surfaces that essentially handle the maximum heavy loads. The hinge is expediently installed in a joint between the end-to-end connected links constituting a special interfitted conductor comprising a seat at the nose end of a link rested on the hinge in a registered operating position for receiving the rod connecting shaft through the bifurcated tail end arms of a front modular link without a concurrent manual orientation of the hinge. The diverse sprocket drive structure allows the band to be driven from below or on either side. The hinge and the surrounding seat provide three dimensional movement tolerances to provide the universal joint type operation at each link joint. Other features include the side rollers to reduce friction on the inside radii of curvature and retain the flanges downwards that keep the band from moving away from a base support surface. The resulting molded plastic links are long-lasting and resist catastrophic failure. The versatility and roughness of the system is significantly enhanced by the removable platform structure for heavy industrial use.