Endless maceration conveyor assembly with juice deflector

Abstract

A maceration conveyor assembly feeding into a first mill of a milling tandem, where output from the mill is delivered onto another conveyor and carried to the next mill in the tandem. Low pol maceration liquid is returned to the conveyor via return lines to respective distribution weirs. Weirs include overflows which extend across the conveyor. The conveyor assembly includes an inlet end and an outlet end all supported on a supporting framework so that the assembly is inclined from the inlet end to the outlet end. The frame supports respective side walls of a conveyor trough between which travels an endless plate conveyor. The endless plate conveyor comprises interconnected perforated plates adapted to pivot relative to each other in chain like fashion so that the endless plate conveyor effectively functions as a belt conveyor having rigid plates interconnected in pivotal fashion.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.