Conveyor mechanism

Claim 1

An endless conveyor system comprising: a chute having a pair of longitudinally extending, transversely opposed channels; and an endless train of cradles for movement along said chute, each cradle having as a one-piece, integral structure all of the following: a load-supporting platform, a rigid leading arm fixed to said platform and projecting longitudinally therefrom, a rigid trailing arm fixed to said platform and projecting longitudinally therefrom, a pair of transversely spaced apart feet means fixed to said platform and projecting transversely therefrom and respectively disposed in and transversely constrained by said channels, one of said arms terminating in a male sphere, said male sphere being truncated by a pair of mutually spaced apart and parallel surfaces define a beam of a first thickness, the other of said arms terminating in a clevis having a pair of subarms mutually spaced apart to define a slot of a second thickness greater than said first thickness, whereby when adjacent cradles are angularly displaced by 90°, the beam of one cradle may be passed into the slot of the adjacent cradle, the inner faces of said subarms which define said slot each having a respective concavity, said pair of concavities mutually defining a slotted female sphere, the planar orientation of said slot being perpendicular to the planar orientation of said truncated male sphere, and immediately adjacent cradles having the male sphere of one cradle disposed within the female sphere of the other cradle.