Coupling arrangement for self-aligning conveyor belt cover
AssigneeHandstand Innovations, LLC
InventorsSusan J. Vanderploeg, Eric D. Erikson, Edward T. Mol
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A conveyor has a belt arranged to be urged around conveyor rollers, and a belt cover formed of an endless loop of fabric material and is in frictional communication over the belt. The belt cover is formed of two plies that are arranged to be adhered to one another in an edge region of the belt cover. The communication between the belt cover and the belt has a coefficient of friction of ˜0.50. A message is printed on the outer ply of the belt cover. In addition, an antimicrobial material is disposed on the belt cover, and is formed of silver nanoparticles embedded in a polyurethane film having a thickness of ˜0.5 mil.
Claims26
A method of installing a conveyor belt cover over an existing base conveyor belt on a conveyor arrangement of the type having a plurality of conveyor rollers, the base conveyor belt being arranged to be urged endlessly around the plurality of conveyor rollers, the method comprising:
- placing a two-ply conveyor belt cover formed of a fabric carcass having inner and outer plies on said existing base conveyor belt, the conveyor belt cover having first and second ends on the existing based conveyor belt;
- forming a temporary attachment of the first end of the conveyor belt cover to a top surface of said base conveyor belt;
- urging said base conveyor belt and attached conveyor belt cover around the plurality of conveyor rollers in a forward direction of travel until the first end of the conveyor belt cover approaches the second end of the conveyor belt cover;
- attaching the first and second ends of the conveyor belt cover to form an endless loop;
- and
- removing the temporary attachment to said base conveyor belt so that the conveyor belt cover is in frictional communication with said base conveyor belt.
A conveyor arrangement of the type having a plurality of conveyor rollers and a base conveyor belt arranged to be urged endlessly around the plurality of conveyor rollers, the conveyor arrangement comprising:
- a conveyor belt cover formed of inner and outer plies, the conveyor belt cover being arranged to overlie the base conveyor belt and to be urged endlessly around said plurality of conveyor rollers,
- the inner ply having first and second inner ply termination edges and being arranged to directly overlie, and to be in frictional communication with, and multidirectionally displaceable over, the base conveyor belt, the first and second inner ply termination edges being arranged in proximity to one another to form a closed loop that overlies the base conveyor belt;
- and
- the outer ply being arranged to overlie the inner ply and having first and second outer ply termination edges, the first outer ply termination edge extending beyond the first inner ply termination edge, and the second outer ply termination edge being disposed to leave a portion of the second inner ply termination edge exposed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.