Padded chain for a conveyor
AssigneeStevens Design & Fabrication, Inc.
InventorDavid Stevens
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A conveyor chain formed of parallel links with pins extending laterally therefrom has pads mounted to the pins. Each pad has an elongated planar upper surface extending further than the distance between adjacent pins on the links. A notch on each end of the pad enables adjacent pads to overlap each other, and the shape of a notch and location of apertures in the pad enables the upper surfaces to define a substantially continuous contact surface when adjacent chain links are not wrapped, and enable the chain to engage a drive sprocket regardless of the direction of wrap.
Claims21
A propelling member comprising an endless chain of links with pins extending laterally therefrom and a plurality of friction pads secured to the pins, each pad having an elongated upper surface extending between a leading end and trailing end, each leading end and trailing end having a cutout portion, each cutout portion defining a side face that overlaps a side face of an adjacent pad wherein the cutouts permit reverse wrapping of the endless chain and the elongated upper surfaces appear to define a straight line to an observer looking at the endless chain from the side thereof when the endless chain is not wrapped whereby the endless chain can propel a roller conveyor with minimal noise and propel articles with stability.
A pad for a propelling member of the type comprising an endless chain of links with pins extending laterally therefrom, said pad comprising an elongated upper surface extending between a leading end and trailing end, each leading end and trailing end having a cutout portion, each cutout portion defining a side face adapted to overlap a side face of an adjacent pad whereby when two pads are mounted adjacent each other on adjacent links of an endless chain, the cutout portions permit reverse wrapping of the endless chain and the elongated upper surfaces appear to define a straight line above the links of the chain to an observer looking at the endless chain from the side thereof when the endless chain is not wrapped whereby the endless chain can propel a roller conveyor with minimal noise and propel articles with stability.
A propelling member for propelling one of an article or a roller conveyor, said member comprising a chain of links with pins extending laterally therefrom and a plurality of pads secured to the pins laterally of the chain, each pad having an elongated planar upper surface extending further than the distance between adjacent pins, and a notch at each end thereof, each notch defining a side face that overlaps a side face of an adjacent pad wherein the lateral position of the pads permit the chain to engage a drive sprocket regardless of the direction of wrap of the chain, and the overlapping side faces enable the upper surfaces to define a planar contact surface when adjacent chain links are not wrapped.
A pad for a propelling member of the type comprising an endless chain of links with pins extending laterally therefrom, said pad comprising:
- an elongated upper surface longer than the distance between adjacent pins on the chain to which the pad is to be mounted, a lower surface opposite the upper surface, and opposing end surfaces extending between the upper and lower surfaces;
- a notch extending between each end surface and the upper surface, each notch defining a side face;
- and
- a pair of apertures between the notches and closer to the lower surface than the upper surface and spaced from each other the same distance as the distance between adjacent pins on the chain to which the pad is to be mounted;
- so that when the pads are mounted adjacent each other on adjacent pairs of pins of a chain with side faces of adjacent notches overlapping each other, the chain can engage a drive sprocket regardless of the direction of wrap of the chain, the upper surfaces will define a substantially continuous contact surface when adjacent chain links are not wrapped, and the notches will permit reverse wrapping of the chain.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.