CONVEYING SYSTEM FOR SUSPENDED OBJECTS

The known conveying systems do not provide any means for the controlled active changing of the drive connections to the objects (6), and this limits the range of application of the known conveying systems. The new conveying system should be suitable for as broad a field as possible. A multifunctional transport system for suspended objects (6) has a transport rail (1), in which a drive chain (4) is mounted in a mount (2), which drive chain has, on its bottom (24), upper coupling parts (12). The mount (2) is designed such that the mount can be moved vertically (16) along the lateral mount guides (10, 20) by means of switchable drives (3). Retaining elements (5) for the objects (6) are mounted below the drive chain (4). The retaining elements have lower coupling parts (13) at their upper ends. When the mount (2) is moved downward, the coupling parts (12, 13) form a drive connection for conveying the retaining elements (5). When the mount is moved upward, the contact is released. This results in the possibilities for the active and automatically controlled continuously-variable changing of the drive connections to the objects (6) to be transported. Because of the multifunctional characteristics, the conveying system is suitable for sorting, conveying, accumulating and storing different suspended items.