Handling apparatus

Claim 1

HANDLING APPARATUS COMPRISING (A) A PROBLE STRUCTURE, SAID PROBE STRUCTURE COMPRISING (A1) A PAIR OF CHAINS, EACH OF SAID CHAINS CONSISTING OF (A2) A PLURALITY OF CHANNEL-SECTION LINKS PIVOTED TOGETHER END TO END, EACH CHANNEL-SECTION LINK HAVING (A3) A BASE WEB, WHICH HAS LONGITUDINALLY SPACED END SURFACES, AND (A4) A PAIR OF SIDE FLANGES EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF THE CHAIN ALONG THE BASE WEB, (A5) SAID SIDE FLANGES HAVING PIVOT PIN HOLES IN THEM ADJACENT EACH END, (A6) PIVOT PINS ENGAGING THE HOLES AND INTERCONNECTING THE LINKS END TO END, (A7) EACH END SURFACE OF THE BASE WEB OF EACH LINK BEING CONTAINED IN A PLANE WHICH ALSO CONTAINS THE AXIS OF THE PIVOT PIN ENGAGING THE PIVOT PIN HOLES IN THE ADJACENT ENDS OF THE SIDE FLANGES AND WHICH IS AT RIGHT ANGLES TO A PLANE CONTAINING THE AXES OF THE PIVOT PINS CONNECTING THE LINK TO THE NEXT ADJACENT LINKS, AND SAID END SURFACES BEING OFFSET FROM THE PIVOT PINS, STRAIGHTENING OF THE CHAIN CAUSING RELATIVE ROTATION OF THE LINKS IN A SENSE TO BRING THE ADJACENT END SURFACES OF THE BASE WEBS INTO FIRM ABUTMENT TO PREVENT FURTHER RELATIVE ROTATION OF THE LINKS IN SAID SENSE BEYOND A POSITION IN WHICH THE BASE WEBS ARE ALIGNED, SAID ABUTTING END SURFACES BEING SEPARATED BY RELATIVE ROTATION OF THE LINKS IN THE OPPOSITE SENSE, (B) A DRIVE FEEDING SAID CHAINS SIDE BY SIDE INTO A STRAIGHT LINE PATH WITH THE BASE WEBS OF EACH CHAIN ALIGNED AND WITH THE CHANNELS OF THE LINKS OF ONE CHAIN FACING TRANSVERSELY OF THIS PATH OPPOSITELY TO THE CHANNELS OF THE OTHER CHAIN, THE PORTIONS OF EACH CHAIN IN THE PATH RESTRAINING EACH OTHER AGAINST DEFLECTION FROM THE PATH, AND (C) MEANS PIVOTED TO ADJACENT ENDS OF THE CHAINS AND MOVABLE ALONG SAID PATH BY FEEDING THE CHAINS INTO AND OUT FROM SAID PATH, SAID MEANS ENGAGING AN ARTICLE TO BE HANDLED BY THE APPARATUS.