Reduced length vehicle conveyor

A compact conveyor for moving a vehicle by sequentially engaging one each of the front and rear wheels of the vehicle and moving them along a path, comprising:

• an active track for supporting the wheels of the vehicle and having a roller drop slot intermediate its ends,
• an inactive track paralleling said active track and lying therebelow,
• a plurality of spaced rollers positionable along said inactive track and also along said active track for engaging the wheels of the vehicle on said active track, said rollers being spaced apart less then the length of said active track,
• drive means having a roller driving run for moving the rollers along said inactive track or active track,
• means for selectively moving the rollers into said active track for propelling a wheel or for moving the rollers along said inactive track for by-passing the wheels,
• roller removing means for selectively removing a roller in engagement with a front wheel of the vehicle from the active track to the inactive track through said roller drop slot to disengage the roller prior to the termination of said roller driving run so that the roller no longer propels the front wheel still resting on the active track, said roller removing means including a roller drop guide, an over-center linkage for holding the roller drop guide in a raised wheel-passing position covering said roller drop slot for supporting the weight of a vehicle wheel, and power means operatively connected to said linkage for selectively positioning the roller drop guide between said raised wheel-passing position and a lowered roller-dropping position exposing the roller drop slot, and
• control means for actuating said power means to remove a roller and actuating said means for moving a roller into the active track for bringing a subsequent roller into engagement with a rear wheel of the vehicle in a sequence to first move the vehicle by pushing against the front wheel and then moving the vehicle through the remainder of said driving run by pushing against the rear wheel.