Axially-engaged, abrasion-resistant split sprocket assembly

A sprocket wheel assembly for engaging a conveyor belt and mountable on a shaft, comprising:

• a sprocket wheel having first and second sides terminating at their periphery in an outer engagement surface for engaging a conveyor belt and forming a central axial opening therethrough from the first side to the second side to accommodate a shaft;
• said sprocket wheel being split into at least two sectorial sections along seams extending from the central opening to the outer engagement surface and straight through the thickness of the sprocket wheel, adjacent sectorial sections being interlocked radially and circumferentially by integral mating structure at edges of the sectorial sections defined by the seams between adjacent sectorial sections;
• and
• removable locking means for removably locking adjacent sectorial sections together, said removable locking means being an integral means spaced apart from the shaft at the integral mating structure and removably engaging said sprocket wheel primarily at the first and second sides, thereby removably retaining the sectorial sections in axial alignment.

A sprocket wheel assembly of the type having two or more sprocket wheels spaced from one another in coaxial alignment along a rotatable shaft by intermediate spacers, comprising an improved sprocket wheel comprising interfitted sectorial wheel sections, each of said sectorial wheel sections extending radially from an inner edge for engaging the surface of a rotatable shaft to an outer circumferential belt-driving edge, each of said sectorial wheel sections spanning a sector from a first end to a second end, each end including an integral tab portion for interfitting with an integral mating tab portion of an adjacent sectorial wheel section in abutting relationship, the sprocket wheel assembly further including means for removably securing adjacent interfitted sectorial wheel sections together to form a sprocket wheel, said means for removably securing being spaced apart from the shaft and spanning at least a part of the tab portion at the first end of a sectorial wheel section and at least part of the mating tab portion at the second end of the adjacent interfitted sectorial wheel section and retaining the adjacent sectorial wheel sections flush, said sprocket wheel assembly further comprising means for ganging corresponding sectorial wheel sections of individual sprocket wheels at preselected axial spacings, whereby, when said means for removably securing is removed, said sprocket wheel assembly separates into gangs of axially spaced sectorial sections retained at preselected axial spacings by said means for ganging.

A sprocket wheel assembly for engaging a conveyor belt and removably mountable on a rotatable shaft aligned along a shaft axis, comprising:

• a first set and a second set of sectorial sprocket wheel sections ganged together at preselected axial intervals by means of spacers attached between facing sides of consecutive sprocket wheel sections;
• each of said sectorial sprocket wheel sections extending radially from an inner edge forming part of an axial shaft bore to an outer circumferential belt-driving edge and spanning a sector from a first end to a second end such that the first set and the second set of sectorial sprocket wheel sections can be installed on and removed from the shaft in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft;
• each of said sectorial sprocket wheel sections of said first set having integral tabs at the first and second ends for interfitting with integral mating tabs at the first and second ends of corresponding sectorial sprocket wheel sections of the second set in abutting relationship such that the first and second sets can be put into and out of alignment on the drive shaft by relative axial displacement of the first and second sets;
• and
• securing means in spaced-apart relation to the shaft and engaging the sides of said sprocket wheel sections at the interfitted tabs for removably securing said first set to said second set of sectorial sprocket wheel sections when in alignment on the shaft.

A sprocket wheel assembly for engaging a conveyor belt and removably mountable on a rotatable shaft aligned along a shaft axis, comprising:

• a sprocket wheel forming a central axial opening extending therethrough from a first side to a second side and having an outer circumferential belt engagement edge;
• first and second side plates, each of said side plates having a peripheral edge and a central axial bore surface forming a central axial bore therethrough for engaging the shaft;
• said first side plate being attached to the first side of said sprocket wheel, and said second side plate being attached to the second side of said sprocket wheel, thereby to form a stack of said first side plate, said sprocket wheel, and said second side plate with the outer circumferential belt engagement edge extending radially beyond the peripheral edges of said side plates;
• said sprocket wheel being split into first and second interfitting sprocket wheel halves along seams extending from the central opening to the outer circumferential edge, each of the sprocket wheel halves spanning a sector from a first end to a second end and having mating structure at each end;
• each of said first and second side plates being split into a longer side plate portion and a shorter side plate portion along seams extending from the central axial bore to the peripheral edge;
• the longer side plate portion of the first side plate spanning a sector encompassing the first sprocket wheel half and the seams of said sprocket wheel, the longer side plate portion of the second side spanning a sector encompassing the second sprocket wheel half and the seams of the sprocket wheel;
• each of the longer side plate portions and the sprocket wheel halves admitting locking means, whereby the locking means can be unlocked and the sprocket wheel assembly separated into two sprocket wheel sub-assemblies by their relative axial displacement, each sub-assembly comprising one of the sprocket wheel halves with a longer side plate portion attached to one side and a shorter side plate portion attached to the other side.