A conveyor belt system for intermittently controllably transporting and arresting workpieces. The belt band of a conveyor belt runs between two upward facing shanks of an H-profile track. The conveyor belt is either actively or passively lowered in the area of the appropriate work station so that a workpiece carrier comes to rest on the U-shaped ends of a base support with positional exactness. During working on the workpiece, the belt band runs through underneath the workpiece carrier. The forces resulting from working on the piece are taken up by the two U-shaped ends of the base support. For the further transport of the workpiece carrier the belt band of the conveyor belt is again raised to contact the work piece carrier.

There is disclosed conveyor apparatus which provides for the interruption and subsequent re-establishment of driving engagement between the conveyor drive means and the conveyed articles. The conveyor employs a stationary frame having support surfaces adapted to have the conveyed articles supported thereon. In conjunction with the frame, there is disclosed drive means support structure which is movable relative to said frame. Accordingly, the drive means may be positioned above the frame support surfaces to provide driving engagement, or said drive means may be lowered to level which results in the conveyed articles resting upon the frame, with an interruption in said driving engagement. The preferred form of mounting means disclosed for said drive means support structure, includes a pressurized element, such that the relative movement of said support structure may be achieved in response to the weight of conveyed articles resting upon said support structure.

A conveyor primarily useful for handling palletized loads comprising in combination a walking beam conveyor and a non-powered roller conveyor. The palletized load is normally supported on a static support and the roller conveyor, but when it is desired to shift the load longitudinally, the walking beam conveyor lifts the load only a distance sufficient to lift a portion of the load resting on the static support by taking advantage of the inherent flexibility in the pallet while the pallet still rests on the roller conveyor. The walking beam conveyor then shifts the load longitudinally along the roller conveyor.

Mechanical handling apparatus for moving a load over a support surface comprises an endless powered conveyor device which extends substantially over at least part of the length of the support and is trained round guides or pulleys rotatable about substantially horizontal axes. The endless conveyor device comprises a chain having a working run and a return run the working run of which comprises at least two working parts, which are movable vertically independently or in unison. In a preferred embodiment, each conveyor device comprises two side-by-side chains. The endless chains run in a guide for the working run and a guide for the return run. The guides are mounted one on top of the other, the lower guide being of inverted channel section and the upper guide being of upwardly open channel section which rises and falls within an outer channel on a support plate which is in contact with an inflatable device such as an air bag in order to provide a smooth and uniform raising and lowering. Guides in the form of angles are secured to outer flanges of the outer channel limbs of the angles guiding the inner channel as it rises and falls when the air bag is inflated and deflated. Between the base or web of the inner channel and the two chains a plastic slide block provides for slippage of the chains in the desired direction. The return run of the chains is supported on a runner plate secured to the vehicle floor within the lower channel, which is itself secured to the vehicle floor. The outer channel and the lower channel are secured together by welding, and the guide angles are secured to the limbs as by screws, to provide a rigid structure which is compact and houses the working and return runs of the chains.

A storage facility preferably for palletized loads includes an elongate aisle along which a pallet-carrying vehicle is adapted to move. A plurality of multi-level pallet storage bays are located side-by-side along the aisle and extend laterally from the aisle for use in storing palletized loads. The levels of each storage bay are vertically aligned and are separated from each other by pallet-supporting floor sections; each bay being separated from its adjacent bay by a set of laterally spaced-apart vertically extending support members. Floor sections located between adjacent sets of vertically extending support members are removable for creating at least one laterally extending sub-aisle in communication with the elongate aisle, and the lateral spacing between at least two of the support members in a set of support members adjacent a sub-aisle provides an opening into the subaisle sufficiently large to permit removal of a pallet therethrough. In a preferred embodiment of this invention floor sections of the storage facility can be rotated to position either of the opposed sides in an upwardly facing orientation for supporting a palletized load thereon.