Modular belt with tapered oblong hinge pins

A modular conveyor belt suitable for conveying product in a direction of travel that may include a curved path, comprising:

• a plurality of successive rows of belt modules, each row extending in the direction of travel from a first end to a second end and extending across the width of the belt from a first side edge to a second side edge, each row including hinge elements at the first end and the second end of the row, the hinge elements at the first end of one row being interleaved with the hinge elements at the second end of a successive row and forming openings axially aligned to provide a passageway for a hinge pin through the hinge elements across the width of the rows to form a hinge between successive rows, wherein at each hinge the hinge elements of one of the rows circumscribe slots therethrough elongated in the direction of belt travel and the interleaved hinge elements of the successive row form fan-shaped apertures extending from a vertex at the distal ends of the hinge elements to a proximal surface at the proximal ends of the hinge elements;
• and
• a plurality of oblong hinge pins extending through the aligned slots and fan-shaped apertures of interleaved hinge elements at each hinge to hingedly line successive rows into a conveyor belt;
• wherein each oblong hinge pin comprises a first region and a second region and has an oblong cross section with a long axis in the direction of belt travel, the first region extending from the first end toward the second end and characterized by a generally constant oblong cross section, the second region extending from the second end toward the first end and characterized by a tapered oblong cross section, the long axis of the cross section of the tapered second region in the direction of belt travel increasing with distance from the second end of the pin toward the first region to share belt tension among hinge elements encompassing the second region of the hinge pin near the second side edge of the belt at the outside of a turn and among hinge elements encompassing the first region of the hinge pin at the first side edge of the belt in straight conveyor paths.