Curved conveyor section

A curved conveyor section comprising:

• a generally flat substantially horizontally disposed curved belt-supporting bed having first and second opposite ends and first and second direction reversing members disposed at said first and second opposite ends, respectively;
• a continuous loop curved conveyor belt having arcuate inner and outer edges with a common substantially vertical center axis, said continuous loop curved conveyor belt being mounted on said belt-supporting bed in looped relation around said direction reversing members so as to have an article portion disposed above said belt-supporting bed and a return portion disposed below said belt-supporting bed, thus defining a looped path for said conveyor belt and presenting a substantially horizontal article carrying top surface;
• a guide rail mounted on said belt-supporting bed and extending substantially along the length thereof, and having a convex arcuate tracking surface with a center axis substantially coaxial with said center axis of said inner and outer edges of said conveyor belt;
• a continuous loop drive means oriented in a substantially horizontal plane and having a plurality of driving members disposed along its looped length;
• motor means drivably engaging said continuous loop drive means;
• and
• a plurality of driven receptors securely mounted on said curved conveyor belt along its looped path, wherein said driven receptors comprise teeth and said driving members comprise co-operating void portions for receiving said teeth;
• wherein each of said driven receptors is securely retained by means of a respective mounting assembly secured to said curved conveyor belt;
• wherein each of said teeth is mounted by means of an elastomeric member securely retained by the respective mounting assembly, so as to pet minor longitudinal displacement of said teeth with respect to said conveyor belt when engaging said drive chain;
• and
• wherein said plurality of driving members drivably engage a consecutive subset of said plurality of co-operating receptors, which consecutive subset is disposed at one of said article carrying portion and said return portion of said curved conveyor belt, so as to thereby impart a driving force to said co-operating receptors, thus causing selective movement of said continuous loop curved conveyor belt along its looped path.