Peristaltic tube overhead conveyor - has rails forming tracks for upper rollers of carriages and housing flexible tubes

摘要

An overhead system with wheeled carriages travelling on rails, suitable for e.g. sliding doors, has tubes housed in the rails so that the carriages can be moved by using the peristaltic principal. Each rail is of C section, with a concave face forming a seating for the flexible tube (1). The tube is supported by a casing (3) which incorporates stiffening rods (4). These fit into pockets (12) along the edges of the rails. The carriages (8, 10) are suspended from rollers (7) with horizontal spindles, travelling on the top of the rails. They also carry rollers (2) with convex faces, mounted on vertical spindles so that the faces of the rollers compress the flexible tubes against the concave seatings in the rails.