Patent ID: 8887896

Claim:
A liquid-tight sub-deck of a reciprocating slat conveyor positioned in a load-holding compartment, said liquid-tight sub-deck comprising: (a) a plurality of longitudinal sub-deck sections, each longitudinal sub-deck section having a first longitudinal side edge and a second longitudinal side edge, each longitudinal sub-deck section comprising at least one longitudinal guide beam and at least one longitudinal valley, at least one longitudinal guide beam having at least one longitudinal sidewall supporting a slat-supporting upper surface in a raised position, an internal surface of said at least one longitudinal sidewall being positioned below said slat-supporting upper surface; (b) a first longitudinal side edge of one longitudinal sub-deck section being in a mating relationship with an adjacent second longitudinal side edge of another longitudinal sub-deck section; (c) internal sealing structure positioned between adjacent first and second longitudinal side edges to form a longitudinal liquid-tight sub-deck joint therebetween; and (d) said first longitudinal side edge having a longitudinal groove along an internal surface of a longitudinal sidewall of a longitudinal guide beam and said second longitudinal side edge having a longitudinal protrusion structure, said longitudinal groove being matable with a longitudinal protrusion of an adjacent longitudinal sub-deck section.