Patent ID: 6931996

Claim:
A conveyance system, comprising rail apparatuses and moving bodies which are supported and guided by the rail apparatuses so as to move freely on a fixed path, wherein each of said rail apparatuses comprises a lateral pair of rail members each having an upward wheel supporting surface and an inward roller guide surface formed thereon, the fixed path comprises one or more linear path portions and a branching-and-joining path portion, a guide member is located at a branching-and-joining section formed by said path portion the guide member comprising a linear-side guide member extending along the linear path portion and a branching-and-joining-side guide member extending along the branching-and-joining path portion, the linear-side guide member and the branching-and-joining-side guide member each comprising a sideward guide sections, each of the moving bodies is provided with wheels supported and guided on said wheel supporting surface, side guide rollers guided on said roller guide surface, and each of the moving bodies comprises a pair of uniformly constructed direction restricting members located in a front and rear relationship in a longitudinal direction; and lateral-movement means to move the direction restricting members in a lateral direction, whereby the direction restricting members are moved laterally upstream of the guide members by the lateral-movement means and guided to one of (a) the sideward guide sections of the linear-side guide member, and (b) the branching-and-joining-side guide member.