BigPatents India

Energy guiding chain (1) for guiding hoses, cables and the like between two connection points relatively movable with respect to each other, said chain comprising a straight lower strand followed by a curved section and a self-supporting upper strand, with several chain straps (2) which are connected to one another via upper and lower crossmembers in detachable fashion and assembled into two parallel strands, and which overlap one another and can be angled around axes of rotation, where chain straps (2) designed as inner straps (3) with inner overlapl areas and as outer straps (4) with outer overlqp areas alternate with one another in each chain strand, and where the inner and outer straps (3, 4) are respectively opposite to one another in the parallel chain strands, and where stops each having first stop surfaces (9) and (13), respectively, for restricting the bending of the curved section and second stop surfaces (8, 12) for restricting the bending of the self-supporting section of the upper strand are provided in the overlap areas (5) of adjacent chain strands, and where the stop surfaces (8, 9) of the inner straps (3) are positioned asymmetrically with respect to mirroring at the center plane (S2), containing the axes of rotation, characterized in that the stop surfaces (12,13) of the outer straps (4) are positioned asymmetrically with respect to mirroring at the centre plane (S2) such that in case of a change of the orientation of 1800 either of the inner straps (3) or of the outer straps (4) around the centre axis (S3) running in the middle between the two axes of rotation and parallely thereto the self-supporting section of the upper strand and/or the curved section of the chain obtains a different curvature.