Patent ID: 7568571

Claim:
A conveyor having a plurality of steps having a step roller, a step chain linking said step rollers with a prescribed pitch, a rotary drive device that generates a drive force for moving said steps in a prescribed direction, and a driving sprocket wheel rotated by receiving said drive force of said rotary drive device, and that transmits said drive force to said step chain, said conveyor comprising: a step guide rail whereby, if a pitch circle speed of said driving sprocket wheel is defined as Vt, an average speed of said step roller that is moved, linked with said step chain is defined as Vo, and positions at which a speed of said step roller decreases from Vt to Vo are defined as reference positions, said step rollers are guided by providing a hill-shaped bent section between a reference position, of a plurality of said reference positions that exist, positioned in a vicinity of said driving sprocket wheel and another reference position adjacent to said reference position; and a restraining member provided so as to abut said step roller in a position facing a position upstream of a location where said hill-shaped bent section is provided; wherein said step rollers are formed having a resilient member about a shaft and said step guide rail is formed with a height of a central region of said hill-shaped bent section elevated by an amount corresponding to an amount of compression of said resilient member of said step roller in a radial direction.