Conveyor systems

Abstract

A conveyor system, comprising: a track containing an endless chain (2); and a plurality of buckets (4) each bucket (4) comprising a bucket body defining a void in which contents can be contained, an arm (51) pivotally mounted on the bucket body through a mounting for rotation relative to the bucket body about a bucket pivot axis (50) through the mounting, the arm (51) extending perpendicular to the bucket pivot axis (50) and having an arm head (16) at point distant from the axis; each arm head being fixed to the chain through an arm mounting, the arm mountings being spaced apart along the endless chain by a chain pitch, whereas the endless chain follows a first path, and the mountings of the buckets follow a second path; and in which variation of the radius of curvature of the first path relative to the second path causes a separation of the buckets to vary.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.