Patent ID: 7191894

Claim:
A conveyor comprising: one or more conveyor belts forming a continuous conveying surface extending longitudinally in a direction of belt travel and laterally in width from a first side to a second side and further forming an underside opposite the conveying surface; a plurality of rollers arranged in the one or more conveyor belts with salient portions of the rollers protruding beyond the continuous conveying surface and the underside; a bearing surface underlying the one or more conveyor belts with the salient portions of the rollers protruding beyond the underside in rolling contact with the bearing surface as the one or more conveyor belts advance longitudinally in the direction of belt travel; wherein the one or more conveyor belts are divided laterally into one or more longitudinal lanes in which all the rollers in a longitudinal lane are arranged to rotate on oblique axes forming at least two different acute angles measured in the same direction from the direction of belt travel.