Patent GB-819088-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in conveyors for automobile vehicles
IPC: E04H6/32
Filed: 1957-01-15
Abstract: 819,088. Endless conveyers for carrying vehicles. SAINT-ANDRE, A. T., DE. Jan. 15, 1957 [Jan. 20, 1956; March 20, 1956], No. 1491/57. Classes 78 (1) and 78 (4). A conveyer for moving vehicles sideways comprises a pair of endless chains 1 carrying between them cross-bars 8 of tubular form, two adjacent ones of which support a front or rear wheel of a vehicle, the vehicle being arranged with one of its axles extending longitudinally of the conveyer, a pair of driving sprocket wheels 2 for the chains, fixation links 5 in which the tubes 8 are journalled, mounted on the chains at intervals equal to half the circumference of the sprockets, and a shaft 3 rigidly connecting the sprocket wheels and having a cross-section approximately conforming to the surface of the tubes 8 as the latter pass around the sprocket axis. A second pair of chains 1 carrying cross-bars 8 may be provided, the two pairs of chains respectively supporting the front and rear wheels of a vehicle. The shaft 3 may be formed by a single tube, Fig. 3, or by two parallel tubes secured between end plates (Fig. 4, not shown). In either form, the shaft behaves as a two-toothed sprocket bridging the gaps between the tubes 8 and at least partially filling the gap 11 which would otherwise be left between two such conveyers arranged in series. In the Fig. 1 form the tubes 8 include stub shafts 7 carrying supporting rollers 9 running on tracks 10. Stub shafts 7 are journalled in sleeves 6 on the links 5, the latter having an operative length equal to that of two adjacent chain links when passing around the sprocket, i.e. less than that of two chain links on a straight run. Where the tubes 8 require to be long to accommodate vehicles of different lengths, these are replaced by pairs of tubes 15, Fig. 5, mounted on shafts 14 in which case an extra supporting roller 17 is provided running on a track 18. In a modified construction, Fig. 6, the tubes are of square section journalled on fixed shafts 20, leaf springs 21 being provided to hold the tubes yieldably in the position shown to allow workmen to walk over them. In an alternative construction, Fig. 7, the axis of the tubes 8 is on the same level as that of the chains owing to a different form of fixation links 5<SP>1</SP>. As a result, sprockets 21 are used having two opposed interdental spaces 109 of larger than normal size to accommodate the sleeves 61. Fig. 7 also shows compensating links 110 used where links 5<SP>1</SP> are omitted. In order to avoid the use of such compensating links the sprockets may be further modified to provide an irregular spacing of the teeth so that the operative lengths of the fixation links can be exactly two chain pitches. In a further construction (Fig. 9, not shown) the fixation links are only one chain pitch long, the sleeves supporting the stub axles 7 being on the same axis as that of the sleeves forming the link pivots of the chain and requiring a still larger space between adjacent sprocket teeth at this point. Stop mechanism.-The drive to the chains may be stopped automatically at intervals through switches operated by control members on the chain each comprising a pair of plates 111 spaced by a sleeve 113 and connected in place by a bolt 115, each plate having an aperture arranged to embrace an outer link 112 of the chain.