The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Clips secured in two rows straddling the ends of a conveyor belt that is to be connected, with overhanging of their curved front portion, or nose, have been known for a long time. Transverse
French patent 2 701 300 shows such clips from the prior art. In the case of clips according to this prior patent, two particularities are described. The first resides in the fact that a ring is secured in the concave portion of the front curved portion of the clips. A hinge link rod is inserted into a ring belonging to a clip of a row of clips secured to one of the ends of the conveyor belt, then into a ring belonging to a clip of the other row of clips secured to the other end of the conveyor belt, and so on.
The second particularity of this patent resides in the fact that a sealing blade can be secured to the rear of the rings.
One of the issues arising with this type of clip, addressed in the document of prior art, consisted in that the rings are aligned parallel to the transverse edge of the end of the conveyor belt, at a distance from the edge of the ends of the conveyor belt equal for all of the clips so as to allow for the easy threading of the hinge link rod, it was necessary to ensure proper adjustment of the clips during the installation of the clips.
In the clips according to this document, this adjusting was obtained by the fact that the ring came to bear via its rear portion against the edge of the end of the conveyor belt in question, either directly, or indirectly by the intermediary of a sealing blade secured to the rear of the ring.
It was shown that this bearing on the rear of the rings did not isolate the rings from deformations due to the fact that the conveyor belts undergo during their operation traction forces and compression forces in the longitudinal direction. The jolts received by the conveyor belt were also passed onto the rear of the rings.
These deformations of the rings were unfavorable as they resulted in abnormal wear and tear of the hinge link rods. In addition, the clips secured to the ends of the conveyor belt were subjected because of this to tractions or thrusts that were transmitted by the means of securing with stem used for the securing of the clips and by this to the reinforcements of the ends of the conveyor belt wherein means for securing with a stem passed through.
This resulted in the pulling off of clips requiring repairs and because of this stoppage of the conveyor belts, which is detrimental to the output of the installations and expensive in terms of manpower.
Another disadvantage of known clips consisted in that the ends of the branches of fastening of the clips being aligned in the transverse direction (i.e. the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction defined hereinabove) these ends of the securing branches of the clips caused aligned bites that were very close to one another. These bites managed to join each other and to cause the appearance of lines of weakness. These lines of weakness caused serious deteriorations in the ends of the conveyor belt. These serious deteriorations could in turn even lead to causing breakdowns and stoppages of the conveyor belts.