Sealing belt conveyors against product leakage

摘要

A belt conveyor has an upward sloping tube and a hopper extending outward from the lower intake end of the tube. A belt has an upper run passing along a hopper floor of the hopper then over a top S-roller of an S-roller assembly, under a bottom S-roller thereof, and up through the tube. Resilient bottom seal strips each extend along each side of the hopper with lower edges thereof bearing against the belt adjacent to side edges of the belt and resilient top seal strips are fastened on top of the corresponding bottom seal strips such that a lower edge of each top seal strip bears against the belt beside the lower edge of the corresponding bottom seal strip. Roller seals seal edges of the S-rollers and the belt passing therethrough, and a support surface supports the belt between the bottom S-roller and the intake end of the tube.

主权项

1. A belt conveyor apparatus comprising:
a tube mounted on a frame supported on wheels for travel on a ground surface, the tube sloping upward from a lower intake end to an upper discharge end; a hopper extending outward along the ground surface from the lower intake end of the tube; a belt with an upper run passing along a hopper floor of the hopper then over a top S-roller of an S-roller assembly and under a bottom S-roller of the S-roller assembly, and up through the tube to the discharge end of the tube, and with a return run extending under the tube and hopper; wherein right and left sidewalls of the hopper extend upward and outward from side edges of the hopper floor; resilient right and left bottom seal strips, each bottom seal strip extending from a front end of the hopper to a rear portion of the hopper over the top S-roller and fastened along an upper edge thereof to a corresponding sidewall such that a lower edge of each bottom seal strip bears against a top surface of the belt adjacent to a side edge of the belt; resilient right and left top seal strips, each top seal strip extending from the front end of the hopper to the rear portion of the hopper over the top S-roller and fastened along an upper edge thereof to a corresponding sidewall on top of the corresponding bottom seal strip such that a lower edge of each top seal strip bears against a top surface of the belt beside the lower edge of the corresponding bottom seal strip.