Patent ID: 6345715
Filing Date: 2002-02-12
Classification: B65G,Y10T

Abstract:
In a modular plastic conveyor belt having a top and a bottom and of the type made up of a series of connected elongated molded plastic belt module rows each including one or more belt modules in the row such that belts of varying selected widths can be made up from the modules in a staggered, brick-laid pattern, with the belt module rows connected by rods extending transversely to the width of the conveyor belt, each row having a series of first spaced projections generally regularly spaced and extending in one direction from the row and a series of second spaced projections generally regularly spaced and extending in an opposite direction from the row, the first and second projections of serially adjacent module rows being longitudinally overlapping and juxtaposed when the modules are connected serially in the conveyor belt by the connecting rods extending through transverse openings in the projections, a system of retaining the connecting rods in the belt and preventing lateral movement of the rods out of the belt, comprising:the connecting rods being capable of bending without damage, to the extent that the rod end can be pulled outside the plane of the belt bottom while being between the edges of the belt, the belt having a blocking structure at each module row, at each of two opposed edges of the belt, the blocking structure being positioned to prevent lateral movement of the rod out of the module row and having a height similar to the height of the regularly spaced projections such that a bottom of the blocking structure is essentially even with bottoms of the regularly spaced projections providing full blocking of the rod at the belt edges, and including a space inboard of the blocking structure at least at one side of the module row, wherein the rod is unconfined from the bottom of the belt so as to allow the rod to be pulled downward from its end in a bending configuration to extend below the blocking structure and below the plane of the bottom of the belt, so that the rod end is clear of the bottom of the blocking structure to remove the rod with a tool or to insert the rod, said space being wide enough to allow the rod to bend sufficiently to be inserted into and removed from the module row without damage to the rod, whereby the rod may be removed or inserted by access to only one side of the belt.