The Cambridge Wire Cloth Company

Cambridge, Inc.

Christopher D Esterson

Peter K Bailey

John D Carduff

John Kucharski

Conroy R Marth

A wire conveyor belt includes a plurality of spaced, tractive rods disposed in succession and transversely with respect to a direction of travel of the belt, each rod having two ends. A plurality of rows of wickets are transversely disposed with respect to the direction of travel, and interconnect the succession of rods, each row of wickets including a plurality of links, each link connecting a rod with a following rod in the succession. The belt has a transport course including at least one course turn deviating in a direction selected from the group consisting of a left course turn and a right course turn. The belt in the course turn has an outside edge and an inside edge, and the belt has a straight transport course downstream of the course turn. The belt in the straight transport course has an outside edge corresponding to the outside edge of the belt in the course turn, and the belt in the straight transport course has an inside edge corresponding to the inside edge of the belt in the course turn. At least one sprocket engages the rod in the straight transport course downstream of the course turn at a sprocket-engagement location on the belt inward of the outside edge. Tension in the belt is transferred so as to alleviate wicket fatigue failure. The tension is transferred by either: a) a split between adjacent links in each row of wickets, the split in each row being located between links of each row immediately adjacent the sprocket-engagement location on the belt; b) a tension-transferring combination of sprockets made up of a pair of sprockets including the sprocket described above, engaging the rods at immediately adjacent sprocket-engagement locations; c) at least one tension-transferring generally U-shaped tension link adjacent each row of wickets and connecting one rod in the succession with a following rod in the succession, the tension link being positioned between the outside edge and an outside end of a respective wicket row, wherein a base portion of the U-shaped tension link engages one rod in the succession and two leg portions of the U-shaped tension link engage an adjacent rod in the succession and d) a combination thereof. The present invention also relates to a process for transferring tension in a wire conveyor belt utilizing the features set forth above.

Wire conveyor belt with tension transfer

Wire stock for connecting rods is run through the nip of a pair of obliquely toothed rolls having teeth which taper from one face of the roll towards the other, and have a larger radius at the tip than along the portions flanking the tip. The angle of obliqueness matches the angle that a turn of a spiral wire will traverse the connecting rod. Round wire stock for the single-faceted spiral wires is run through the nip of a pair of rolls one of which has a cylindrical surface (i.e., a flat longitudinal profile), and the other of which has a circumferential groove with a slightly larger diameter than the round wire stock. As the wire is flattened on one side, its curved side is broadened. As the resultingly single-faceted round wire is wound into flattened spiral form, it is spatially orientationally guided, so that the facet becomes located facing outwards. The rods and flat spirals are conventionally assembled with one another and secured to one another at respective ends, to provide a balanced flat spiral woven wire conveyor belt with rounds of turns nested in concave oblique crimp notches on the connecting rods.

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Seaford, DE, United States of America

Christopher D Esterson