Patent ID: 6079553
Filing Date: 2000-06-27
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
A carrier chain assembly for conveying articles, comprising:a guide rail including a straight line portion and curved portion within a horizontal plane, the guide rail having a horizontal support surface and two opposed guide grooves at both left and right sides of the support surface;a plurality of chain units endlessly connected, each of said chain units having a top plate on which one or more of the articles are carried, and a base bed portion formed below said top plate, said base bed portion having a bottom surface slidably supported on the support surface of the guide rail; andpawls projecting from both left and right sides of said base bed portion and guidedly received in the grooves of the guide rail to prevent said chain units from being levitated, each of said pawls having a bottom surface inclined upwardly relative to the support surface of the guide rail such that a distance between said bottom surface and the support surface increases gradually from a proximal end toward an extreme end of said pawl, wherein when each of said plurality of chain units, as it is moving on the curved portion of the guide rail, is slightly inclined internally of the curved portion due to a tension applied from the adjacent chain units before and behind, said bottom surface of one of said pawls, which is internal of the curved portion, come in substantially face-to-face contact with the support surface of the guide rail to thereby prevent said chain unit as a whole from levitating.