Apparatus for displacing profiled steel rods of a roll conveyor

Claim 1

A roller conveyor for rod and bar stock which comprises: an elongated frame structure having a pair of horizontally spaced members; a multiplicity of rollers disposed between said members and journaled thereon to form a conveyor track along which said stock can be displaced; a plurality of cross pieces each disposed between two such rollers and having ends lying laterally outwardly of said track and having an inoperative position wherein said cross pieces are disposed below the surface of a plane tangent to said rollers; a respective longitudinal beam disposed on each side of said track and rigidly connected to undersides of all of the ends of the plurality of cross pieces projecting at the respective side of said track, said beams extending parallel to said members; respective supports on each side of said frame structure for receiving from above the respective beam in said inoperative position of said cross pieces and shaped to permit rotation of the respective beam relative to the respective support upon elevation of the beam on the opposite side of said frame structure; and at least one fluid-operated cylinder pivotally connected to said structure on each of said opposite sides thereon and having a piston rod pivotally connected to the respective beam, the cylinder being selectively operable on opposite sides of said track for selectively raising one of said beams from a position in which it is held and from the respective support so as to pivot the beams and the cross pieces connected thereto about an axis defined by the beam on the opposite side of said structure and its said support.