Conveyor with troughed low friction, positive drive belt
AssigneeMol Belting Company
InventorsJames Honeycutt, Allen Hatfield
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A conveyor comprises an endless thermoplastic belt having a substantially flat surface on one side of the belt and a plurality of teeth on the other side of the belt. The teeth are adapted to be driven without tension around a drive sprocket and an idler. The conveyor further includes means to cause the belt to form a longitudinal trough between the drive sprocket and the idler to retain conveyed items on the belt. The means can comprise a discontinuity in the teeth, shortened teeth, and/or guides that apply a force to the edges of the belt.
Claims25
The improvement according to claim 22 wherein the troughing means comprises each tooth having at least one discontinuity located the same distance between the edges of the belt as the adjacent teeth, whereby a force acting on the belt will cause the belt to form a longitudinal trough aligned with the discontinuities.
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The improvement according to claim 22 wherein the troughing means comprises guides disposed at the edges of the belt to urge the edges to displace relative to the center of the belt to form the longitudinal trough.
In a conveyor comprising a toothed belt having a substantially flat surface on one side of the belt and a plurality of teeth on the other side of the belt, driven with little or no tension around a drive sprocket, the improvement comprising means to cause a longitudinal trough to be formed in the belt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.