Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemapower transmission & bearings

Roller Chain Attributes

Roller chain transmits power between sprockets on drives and moves product on conveyors. It is bought by MRO buyers replacing a worn drive, by OEM purchasing against a print, and by plant engineers specifying a new line. All three arrive with a number — 60, 08B, C2040 — and expect the catalog to resolve it.

The data is hard for two reasons. Two standards families collide: ANSI #40 (ASME B29.1) and 08B (ISO 606) are both 1/2 in pitch, but the roller is 7.92 mm on one and 8.51 mm on the other, and they will not share a sprocket. And the chain number encodes pitch and nothing else — strands, series, pin type, and attachment get stuffed into the part string (40RB, 60-2CB, C2060H-K1) where no facet can reach them.

Then tensile strength. ASME B29.1 sets a minimum ultimate tensile strength of roughly 12,500 × (pitch in inches)²: 7,030 lbf for #60. Tsubaki publishes 9,920 lbf average tensile for the same RS60. Both arrive on supplier sheets labelled "tensile strength."

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Chain Number (Trade Size)
enum
60

The primary key of the category. Pitch, roller, and plate dimensions all derive from it, and every buyer starts here.

Standard Series
enum
ASME B29.1 (ANSI A-series)

08B and #40 share a 1/2 in pitch but different rollers. Without series, pitch alone cannot pick a mating sprocket.

Pitch
number · in
0.750

Distance between pin centers. Must match sprocket pitch exactly. Buyers holding a print filter on this first.

Number of Strands
enum
2 (duplex)

Multiplies width and published strength linearly: #40-2 doubles ANSI minimum UTS from 3,125 to 6,250 lbf. Also sets the sprocket.

Roller Diameter
number · in
0.469

What actually seats in the sprocket tooth pocket. The field that separates #40 from 08B when pitch cannot.

Inner Width Between Roller Link Plates
number · in
0.500

Must clear the sprocket tooth. Wrong width binds or rattles even when pitch and roller diameter match.

Chain Series (Standard vs Heavy)
enum
Heavy (H)

H series carries the link plate thickness of the next larger pitch. A print calling 60H will not accept plain 60.

Material
enum
304 stainless steel

Sets corrosion behaviour and derates strength — stainless carries markedly lower tensile than carbon steel of the same chain number.

Package Length
number · ft
10 ft box

Chain sells by the box, coil, or reel. Buyer needs to know whether a 10 ft box covers the centre distance.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
RS60-1-RP

The string the buyer cross-references against the OEM print or their last PO. Often the only thing on the requisition.

GTIN / UPC
identifier
00012345678905

Required for marketplace listing and for scanning at the will-call counter and in the warehouse.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Minimum Ultimate Tensile Strength (ANSI)
number · lbf
7,030 (RS60-1)

The ASME B29.1 floor, ~12,500 x pitch². Identical for every conforming brand — the only tensile figure that compares apples to apples.

Average Tensile Strength (Manufacturer)
number · lbf
9,920 (RS60-1)

The maker's tested mean, always above the ANSI floor. Needs its own field or brands rank by which number marketing published.

Weight per Foot
number · lb/ft
0.41 (#40-1)

Feeds catenary and centrifugal load in drive sizing, and sets freight on 100 ft reels.

Pin End Treatment
enum
Riveted

Riveted for permanent drives, cottered where chain gets broken down. Tsubaki hides it in the item number: 40RB vs 40CB.

Sealing / Lubrication Construction
enum
Lube-free sintered bushing

Open, O-ring sealed, or lube-free sintered bushing. Decides whether the line needs a lube route at all.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

Factory Lubricant NSF Registration
enum
NSF H1

Food and beverage lines require H1-registered lube for incidental contact. Chain shipped with standard oil gets rejected at the plant.

Country of Origin
identifier
Japan

Drives duty classification, and many MRO contracts and government end-users carry origin clauses.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most roller chain catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Supplier signal
+ Maximum Allowable Load

Manufacturer catalogs publish a maximum allowable load column — derived from the fatigue limit — beside tensile strength. Distributor product pages carry tensile only, if anything.

Buyer sizes off a breaking figure, guesses a service factor, and either over-buys or fits a chain that elongates past the 3% wear limit within months.

Supplier signal
+ Attachment Style & Spacing

Tsubaki's attachment chain guide codes A1/A2/K1/K2/SA1/SK1/D1/D3 plus the pitch interval. Most catalogs put 'with attachments' in the title and expose no code at all.

The whole attachment segment drops out of self-serve and back into RFQ. Wrong tab orientation ships and the entire coil is scrap for that conveyor.

Search signal
+ Connecting Link Type & Inclusion

Spring clip (R) is standard through C2060H and cotter (C) above C2080H, and 10 ft boxes normally ship with a link. Buyers search '60 chain with connecting link' and get nothing back.

Line stays down because the box arrived with no master link, or a spring clip goes onto a high-speed drive that specified cottered and throws it.

Supplier signal
+ Operating Temperature Range

Lube-free and coated chains carry published ceilings — Tsubaki rates Lambda -10 to 150 °C, with a heat-resistant version to 230 °C. Catalogs carry no temperature field to filter on.

Chain sold into a bakery oven or blast freezer fails early. That comes back as a chain failure claim and an application argument, not a restock.

Competitor signal
+ Roller Type (Standard vs Oversized)

Double-pitch conveyor chain to ASME B29.4 ships with standard or oversized (S) rollers that ride the rail rather than the tooth. Competitor rails expose it; most catalogs bury it in the MPN suffix.

C2040 and C2042 look like the same product on the page. Buyer orders standard roller for a rail-supported conveyor and it will not carry.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way power transmission & bearings suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Chain Number (Trade Size)
#6060-1RS60ANSI 60No. 6060R
60

Strand count and pin type ride along in supplier part strings. Parse them into their own fields or the chain number facet fractures.

Standard Series
ANSIASAAmerican StandardANSI B29.1A-seriesASME B29.1
ASME B29.1 (ANSI A-series)

B-series (ISO 606 / DIN 8187) 08B shares 1/2 in pitch with #40 but runs an 8.51 mm roller against 7.92 mm. One value, two chains.

Tensile Strength
Tensile 9,920 lbAvg. tensile 44.1 kNMin. ultimate 7,030 lbBreaking load 7030UTS 9920
Split: ANSI Min UTS + Mfr Average Tensile

RS60 is 7,030 lbf ANSI minimum and 9,920 lbf maker's average. Collapsed to one field, the same chain reads 41% stronger.

Pin End Treatment
RBRRivet TypeRivettedriv.Riveted
Riveted

Tsubaki ships it inside the item number (40RB vs 40CB). Parsed out it becomes a filter; left in the MPN it is invisible to search.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Is 08B the same as #40? They're both half-inch pitch.
  • Is that tensile figure the ANSI minimum or the manufacturer's average?
  • Does the 10 ft box come with a connecting link, and is it spring clip or cotter?
  • My print says 60H — will standard 60 run on the same sprocket?
  • Is this riveted or cottered? I need to break it down for maintenance.
  • Can this run on a washdown line without us adding lube?
  • What attachment style is it, and on every pitch or every second pitch?
  • How many pitches are in a 10 ft box of #50?

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Distributor's own faceted catalog
Chain Number (Trade Size)Standard SeriesPitchNumber of StrandsMaterialPackage Length
Amazon Business
GTIN / UPCManufacturer Part NumberBrandChain Number (Trade Size)PitchCountry of Origin
AD eContent (Bearings & Power Transmission)
Manufacturer Part NumberGTIN / UPCChain Number (Trade Size)Standard SeriesMaterialCountry of Origin
OEM / MRO punchout and cXML catalogs
Manufacturer Part NumberChain Number (Trade Size)Standard SeriesNumber of StrandsPin End TreatmentCountry of Origin

Roller Chain data, in practice

Is #40 the same as 08B? Both are 1/2 inch pitch.

No. ANSI #40 (ASME B29.1) and 08B (ISO 606, B-series) share a 12.7 mm pitch, but the roller diameters differ — 7.92 mm on #40 against 8.51 mm on 08B — and the inner widths differ too. They will not run correctly on each other's sprockets. This is exactly why Pitch alone is not a sufficient facet: the record needs Standard Series and Roller Diameter beside it. The numbering systems are the root of the confusion — ANSI counts pitch in eighths of an inch (40 = 4/8 in), B-series counts in sixteenths (08B = 8/16 in) — so the two families keep producing near-identical numbers for chain that does not interchange.

Which tensile number should the catalog carry?

Both, in separate fields. ASME B29.1 defines a minimum ultimate tensile strength of roughly 12,500 × (pitch in inches)². That gives 3,125 lbf for #40 and 7,030 lbf for #60, and it is the same floor for every conforming brand — it is the number that makes brands comparable. Manufacturers separately publish an average tensile strength from their own testing: Tsubaki lists 4,290 lbf for RS40 and 9,920 lbf for RS60. Neither figure is a working load. Chain should not see more than about one sixth of ultimate tensile in service, and for fatigue life you want the maker's maximum allowable load, which is a third number again.

Do strands multiply tensile strength?

In the published tables, yes, linearly. Tsubaki lists RS40 single at 3,125 lbf ANSI minimum, RS40-2 at 6,250 lbf, RS40-3 at 9,375 lbf, with average tensile scaling the same way (4,290 / 8,580 / 12,870 lbf). Real load sharing across strands is not perfect, which is why multi-strand horsepower ratings apply a strand factor rather than a straight multiple. For the catalog record the consequence is concrete: Number of Strands must be its own field rather than a suffix inside the part number, or the tensile value will silently disagree with the chain number shown next to it.

What is Heavy (H) series, and why won't standard chain substitute?

H-series chain uses link plates as thick as the next larger pitch size — #60H carries #80 plate thickness on a 3/4 in pitch. It is specified where loads are high and speeds are low, or where shock loading is present. A print calling out 60H will not accept plain 60, and the two carry different published strengths, so Chain Series (Standard vs Heavy) needs to be a filterable field rather than a letter hanging off the chain number. Worth noting for the sprocket question: H changes plate thickness only, not pitch or roller diameter, so 60H runs on the same sprocket as 60.

More power transmission & bearings schemas

Ball BearingsGearboxes & Speed ReducersLinear BearingsShaft CouplingsSprocketsV-Belts

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