Beltline cleaner
AssigneeSaskatoon Material Handling Ltd.
InventorTroy Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clearing apparatus for removing bulk materials from an area with a low vertical clearance including an operator vehicle and an auger conveyor coupled to the operator vehicle. The auger conveyor is pivotable vertically in relation to the operator vehicle and rotatable substantially 90 degrees about a vertical axis of the auger conveyor, whereby the direction of rotation of the auger and the direction and pitch of the auger thread conveys material from the area with low vertical clearance toward the operator vehicle.
Claims14
A clearing apparatus for removing bulk materials from an area, the area having a low vertical clearance, the clearing apparatus comprising:
- an operator vehicle;
- horizontally-extending auger conveyor coupled to the operator vehicle, pivotable vertically in relation to the operator vehicle and rotatable substantially 90 degrees about a vertical axis of the auger conveyor;
- and
- a beam, the beam supporting the auger conveyor, the beam comprising a proximal end in front of the operator vehicle and a distal end,
- wherein the beam is configured to allow the auger conveyor to rotate and capture the materials from the area by confining the materials to a portion of the auger conveyor as the auger conveyor moves along a direction transverse to an axis of rotation of the auger conveyor.
A method of removing bulk materials from a surface area with a low vertical clearance comprising the steps of:
- providing a horizontally-extending auger conveyor;
- providing a beam configured to allow the auger conveyor to rotate and capture the materials from the area by confining the materials to a portion of the auger conveyor as the auger conveyor moves along a direction transverse to the axis of rotation of the auger conveyor;
- moving the horizontally-extending auger conveyor over the surface area by operating an operator vehicle;
- operating the auger conveyor flighting to cause movement of the materials from the surface area to an area in front of the operator vehicle;
- moving the auger conveyor along a direction transverse to an axis of rotation of the auger conveyor;
- and
- rotating the auger conveyor substantially 90 degrees about a vertical axis of the auger conveyor between positions substantially perpendicular and parallel to the operator vehicle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.