Means for protecting the supply cables of mining machines

Claim 1

MEANS FOR PROTECTING A FLEXIBLE SUPPLY CABLE ARRANGED TO CONNECT A SOURCE OF SUPPLY TO A UNIT MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID SOURCE OF SUPPLY, COMPRISING A CHAIN ADAPTED TO RECEIVE AND CARRY SAID FLEXIBLE SUPPLY CABLE, SAID CHAIN COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF LINKS EACH HAVING A LOWER HORIZONTAL LIMB, AN UPPER HORIZONTAL LIMB SPACED ABOVE SAID LOWER HORIZONTAL LIMB AND AN UPSTANDING PORTION INTERCONNECTING SAID UPPER AND LOWER LIMBS TO FORM A GENERALLY U-SECTIONED LINK, SAID LINKS BEING ARRANGED WITH THEIR LIMBS DIRECTION ALL IN THE SAME DIRECTION TOWARDS ONE SIDE OF THE CHAIN TO DEFINE AN OPENING LONGITUDINALLY OF THE CHAIN, INTO WHICH OPENING SAID FLEXIBLE SUPPLY CABLE CAN BE FULLY INSERTED, AND MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING ADJACENT LINKS TO EACH OTHER FOR RELATIVE MOVEMENT ABOUT PARALLEL AND HORIZONTAL AXES DISPOSED TRANSVERSE TO THE LENGTH OF THE CHAIN, EACH HORIZONTAL LIMB OF A LINK HAVING A LENGTH IN THE DIRECTION OF THE CHAIN, GREATER THAN THE DISTANCE SEPARATING IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT LIMBS ON ADJACENT LINKS AND FURTHER HAVING OPPOSED LATERAL EDGE PORTIONS DISPOSED TRANSVERSE TO THE LENGTH OF THE CHAIN, WHICH EDGE PORTIONS ARE INWARDLY TURNED TOWARDS THE CENTRAL AXIS OF THE CHAIN WHEREBY WHEN THE CHAIN IS FOLDED BACK ON ITSELF, AN UPPER LENGTH OF THE SAID CHAIN CAN SLIDE FREELY ON A LOWER LENGTH OF THE SAID CHAIN.