Conveyor for use in tobacco shredding apparatus

Claim 1

(REPLACES THE CLAIMS 10 AND 11) In a conveyor for compacting tobacco and for advancing compacted tobacco into the range of a comminuting device, an endless flexible element arranged to travel in a predetermined direction and comprising a plurality of interengaging neighboring links, each of said links having a leading end and a trailing end, as considered in said direction, a tobacco-contacting outer side, an inner side, a substantially cylindrical male coupling portion provided in said outer side at one of said ends and a complementary socket provided in said inner side at the other of said ends, the socket of each link receiving the coupling portion of the neighboring link and each coupling portion substantially filling and being turnable in the corresponding socket, each link further comprising a first protuberance adjacent to said socket and having a cylindrical first surface and each link also having a complementary second surface adjacent to said coupling portion, said first surface being in permanent sliding engagement with the second surface of the neighboring link to shield the coupling portion in the corresponding socket against entry of foreign matter and said coupling portion and first protuberance of each link extending transversely of said direction, each of said links further comprising a second protuberance and said socket being disposed between said first and second protuberance of the respective link, said first and second protuberance being disposed at said inner side and said inner side further having a tooth space between said second protuberance and said coupling portion of the respective link.