Flat chain is a form of chain used chiefly in agricultural machinery. Early machinery made extensive use of flat chain. It has been gradually replaced in most applications by roller chain, which is quieter, lasts longer, and requires less frequent retensioning.
Modern flat chain is made from stamped steel. Individual links can be put together or taken apart using simple tools, unlike roller chain which requires a master link or special splicing equipment.
Today, flat chain is used most often for conveyor belts, because it lends itself well to the attachment of slats, flights, buckets, and prongs used to move material. Such attachments can be welded on in the field, or can be purchased ready-made on a single link (or pair of links where the conveyor uses two chains) and then spliced into a loop of chain.
Older forms of flat chain were made of iron. Though the sprockets are compatible with modern chain, the two types cannot be spliced together.
Famous quotes containing the words flat and/or chain:
“Ask a toad what beauty is, the supreme beauty, the to kalon. He will tell you it is his lady toad with her two big round eyes coming out of her little head, her large flat snout, yellow belly, brown back.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“We are all bound to the throne of the Supreme Being by a flexible chain which restrains without enslaving us. The most wonderful aspect of the universal scheme of things is the action of free beings under divine guidance.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)