Conveyor assembly

A gripper conveyor assembly comprising a plurality of gripper means for engaging articles to be conveyed from a first location to a second location, a track extending from the first location to the second location, a conveyor chain connected with said gripper means and movable along said track, said conveyor chain being enclosed by said track and including a plurality of interconnected links anyone of which can be readily removed from said conveyor chain while the other links remain interconnected and are enclosed by said track, one of said links including a body section connected to one of said gripper means, roller means connected with said body section of said one link for engaging said track to guide movement of said body section along said track, socket means at a first end portion of said body section for receiving a plug of an adjacent link, and a plug at a second end portion of said body section for insertion into a socket means of an adjacent link, said socket means including surface means for defining an opening through which a plug of an adjacent link can be inserted into said socket means when said body section of said one link and the adjacent link are in a first orientation relative to each other and for blocking withdrawal of a plug of an adjacent link from said socket means when said body section of said one link and the adjacent link are in a second orientation relative to each other, said body section of said one link and said one gripper means being rotatable together relative to said track between the first and second orientations, said track including wall means for at least partially enclosing said conveyor chain and for defining a slot through which said one link and said one gripper means are interconnected, said slot including surface means for preventing rotation of said links from the second orientation to the first orientation during movement of said links along said track, said wall means including surface means at least partially defining an opening for enabling said body section of said one link and said one gripper means to be rotated together about the longitudinal axis of said track at the opening from the second orientation to the first orientation and longitudinally disconnected from the adjacent links and laterally moved through the opening while the adjacent links are enclosed by said track.