Abstract: A pallet elevator for a ship includes symmetrical carrier trays and symmetrical followers, each follower being pivotally mounted at its center on a tray-carrying chain. A pair of follower rollers are symmetrically mounted on each follower, one roller of the pair being mounted at each end thereof. The center line of each carrier tray is coincident with the center of each of its respective followers and the center plane of the tray is perpendicular to a line joining the centers of the follower rollers. The follower rollers are guided by a guide track which comprises a single race adjacent the load-carrying flight of the chain and a pair of parallel races adjacent the return flight of the chain. The track further comprises a pair of outer cam tracks for guiding the rollers adjacent the sprockets around which the chains pass. The outer cam tracks merge the single race and the parallel races along generally arcuate paths.

Abstract: A package elevator for a ship includes a plurality of slotted or tined trays carried by pairs of forked followers pivotally attached to a pair of chains driven in unison in parallel endless paths with upper driving sprockets and lower idler sprockets. Each follower is keyed to a shaft journaled in a link of one of the chains, and has an inner follower arm and an outer follower arm. The arms carry follower rollers projecting into cam tracks which guide the rollers so that the trays are in return positions lying along the chains in a return course, project outwardly from the chains in an elevating course and are moved from one of these positions to the other as the trays are moved around the sprockets. The cam tracks include cam blocks having cam grooves therein which turn the follower arms and trays only 90.degree. relative to the chains as the trays are traveling around the sprockets.