Although known links of the type described have proved satisfactory in many respects and are widely used, they do not offer the sort of fail-safe operation--at least not 100% fail-safe--that is desirable in the plant for which they are intended. Indeed it has been known, although such cases are very rare, for a pin and its associated rollers to work loose from a link, causing problems that may easily be imagined.
Great efforts have hitherto been made in an attempt to ensure that the pins and rollers cannot work loose, for example by securing the pins to the link body by means of modern fasteners such as snap rings and the like, spaced out along the pin spanning the side edges, or by riveting the ends of the pin. However, for various reasons which are not always clear, the said pins and rollers have nevertheless still managed to work loose.
The problem forming the basis of the present invention is one of devising a link of the type described, which has structural and functional characteristics capable of fulfilling the abovementioned purpose, while at the same time overcoming the drawbacks described with reference to the prior art.