Apparatus for cycleless transportation

Claim 1

A conveyor, especially for the asynchronous transportation of workpieces along a transport path connecting a plurality of machines, said conveyor comprising: a support frame extending along said path and having a pair of walls defining a gap between them; a respective upwardly open upper channel and a respective laterally open lower channel fixed to each of said walls along the length of said path, each of said channels having a respective bottom; respective endless roller chains guided in the upper and lower channels on each of said walls, each of said roller chains comprising an array of central rollers and respective arrays of lateral rollers flanking said central rollers, at least one of said arrays supporting the respective chain along an upper stretch thereof on the bottom of the respective upper channels, another array of said rollers supporting the respective chains on the bottoms of the respective lower channels; a plurality of carriages spanning said gap and riding on the rollers of said other array along upper stretches of said chains while riding upon the rollers of said one of said arrays along a lower stretch of said chains, said carriages being entrained with said chains solely by friction whereby a stop engageable with a carriage on the upper stretch of said chains impedes further advance of the latter carriage while said chains are continuously displaced; and drive means on said support frame for driving said chains.