Patent ID: 6843366

Claim:
A curved conveyor comprising: at least a pair of supports arranged such that axis lines thereof mutually intersect at a predetermined angle; an endless curved belt which has a flat fan shape matching the angle, and which is supported on the supports so as to be adapted to run; an endless drive chain which is bendable in a running direction and in a direction orthogonal to the running direction, and which runs along an outer circumference of the curved belt, wherein the endless drive chain is formed by connecting multiple unit members to each other; a drive member which engages with said drive chain to drive the drive chain in a predetermined direction; and connecting members for connecting the unit members of the drive chain to outer circumferential portions of the curved belt corresponding to said unit members; wherein a driving force of the drive chain which runs in a curved manner in the predetermined direction as a result of a drive of the driving member is applied to an outer circumferential side of the curved belt so as to run the curved belt in a curved manner at a predetermined angle; wherein each unit member of the drive chain comprises: a pair of axial supporting portions provided at one side of the unit member in the running direction in an opposed manner at a predetermined interval in the direction orthogonal to the running direction, wherein each axial supporting portion includes an axial supporting hole through which a fixing pin is inserted; and a bearing portion provided at the other side of the unit member in the running direction so as to be located between the axial supporting portions of an adjacent unit member, wherein the bearing portion includes a bearing hole which has an axis line in the direction perpendicular to the running direction and which has a smallest inside diameter in a direction perpendicular to the axis-line direction at a middle portion thereof and wherein the inside diameter gradually increases from the middle portion in the axis-line direction toward each side; wherein a fixing member is adapted to be inserted through the axial supporting holes of the axial supporting portions of the adjacent unit member and the bearing hole the bearing portion; and wherein the unit members of the drive chain are connected so as to be swingable with respect to each other at an angle determined by a difference in the inside diameter of the bearing hole from the middle portion in the axis-line direction to each side.