Patent ID: 7600627

Claim:
A conveyor apparatus comprising: a step guide rail; a plurality of steps that move along the step guide rail; a step chain for connecting the steps; and a chain driving mechanism for driving the step chain; wherein the step chain has a plurality of step links and step rollers between the adjacent step links, and the chain driving mechanism includes: a rotating and driving unit; a driving sprocket connected to the rotating and driving unit to be rotated by a driving force given by the rotating and driving unit; and a circulating chain disposed between the driving sprocket and the step chain to be circulated in accordance with a rotational movement of the driving sprocket to give a thrust to the step chain; the circulating chain has chain links and hinges to be connected to the adjacent chain links, a pitch length of the chain link being equal to or a multiple of a pitch length of the step link; and the chain link has a placing surface on which the step roller is placed, and pressing surfaces that are in contact with the step rollers on front and rear sides of the step roller placed on the placing surface.