Low tension plastic conveyor belt system

Claim 1

A low tension conveyor belt system with a plastic conveyor belt, comprising, a driving tower or drum on a substantially vertical axis, with a wearstrip belt support platform arranged in a helical path around the driving tower, an endless plastic conveyor belt positioned on a wearstrip belt support and extending tangentially off the wearstrip belt support and away from the driving tower, with means separate from the driving tower for engaging the belt and feeding it in a return path back to the driving tower and onto the wearstrip belt support at an opposite axial end of the driving tower from the position at which the belt exited the driving tower, and said plastic conveyor belt being assembled from a series of plastic belt modules each having end members at its ends, and the adjacent belt modules being interconnected by rods passing through openings in the modules in interdigited projections of the adjacent modules, said end members having substantially smooth surface structure which engages frictionally against the exterior surfaces of the driving tower, said surface structure being substantially uninterrupted along its line of contact with the driving tower surfaces so that the exterior surfaces of the driving tower frictionally drive the conveyor belt along said helical path, whereby the plastic conveyor belt operates smoothly around the driving tower and is efficiently driven, without snagging and without excessive wear of exposed components on the edge of the belt engaged by the driving tower.