Abstract: A system for conveying ceramic workpieces through a roller hearth furnace, composed of: a plurality of conveying rollers rotatably mounted one behind the other in the workpiece conveying direction with their axes of rotation parallel to one another and perpendicular to the conveying direction, and defining a common support plane for the workpieces; a plurality of drive gears each associated, and mounted coaxially, with a respective roller and provided with an axial bore having a diameter larger than that of its respective roller, with one axial end of each roller extending into the bore of its associated drive gear and being disconnectably but securely connected to its associated drive gear; and a plurality of transmission gears each mounted for rotation about an axis parallel to the axes of rotation of the rollers and each engaging an associated pair of adjacent drive gears to form a gear train in which the drive gears alternate with the transmission gears and the application of power to the gear train cause