Reciprocating floor conveyor for conveying palletized loads or the like

A reciprocating floor conveyor for conveying articles having fixed-form wide bases, comprising:

• a support frame including a plurality of laterally spaced, longitudinally extending support beams;
• a plurality of slide bearings on said support beams;
• a plurality of laterally spaced-apart conveyor slats mounted on said beams and slidably supported by said bearings for longitudinal reciprocation between a start position and an advanced position, the conveyor slats having upper surface portions with a constant vertical height that defines a horizontal conveying plane;
• a plurality of laterally spaced-apart holding slats mounted on the frame for vertical movement between an up position in which the upper surfaces of the holding slats are above the conveying plane defined by the conveyor slats and the articles are supported by the holding slats, and a down position in which the upper surfaces of the holding slats are below the conveying plane and the articles are supported by the conveyor slats;
• the conveyor slats and the holding slats being distributed across the conveyor in a pattern resulting in both conveyor slats and holding slats being below each article on the conveyor;
• and
• means for raising the holding slats from their down position to their up position to lift any articles on the conveyor up off the conveyor slats to permit the conveyor slats to be retracted from their advanced position to their start position while the conveyor slats are out of contact with the articles.