Automated machinery to clean debris from roadside ditches, collect it and then transport the debris to a major collecting area for disposing

A truck having a ditch cleaning mechanism mounted on its frame between its front cab and a rear pivotal debris collecting chamber, comprising in addition to the conventional truck equipment, the ditch cleaning mechanism comprising, in turn:

• a base secured to the frame of the truck behind the front cab and in front of the rear pivotal debris collecting chamber, said base having a guideway extending transversely to the truck at an angle, whereby one of the ends of the guideway, to be nearer a roadside during ditch cleaning, is a lower end, and the other end of the guideway, to be nearer the center of a road during ditch cleaning, is a higher end;
• a slide frame structure slidably and controllably positioned on said guideway, and thereby also having a lower end and a higher end;
• said slide frame structure having an upstanding portion adjacent its higher end;
• a cleaning conveyor substantially fully covered to avoid any spillage of debris and pivotally mounted at one of its ends to the lower end of the slide frame structure for movement from an upright position for legal width highway travel to a selectable, variable downwardly extended position of its other end to approach and match the contour of a roadside ditch edge;
• an auger rotatably mounted on the downwardly extended end of the cleaning conveyor and driven with the conveyor;
• a bucket conveyor substantially fully covered to avoid any spillage of debris and angularly mounted on the upstanding frame portion of the slide frame structure, and positioned during ditch cleaning operations to receive and to further raise the debris being raised by the cleaning conveyor, following the loosening of the debris upon the rotation of the auger along a bottom of a roadside ditch;
• and an essentially longitudinal belt conveyor pivotally mounted on the slide frame structure and positioned during ditch cleaning operations to receive and to distribute the debris being first raised and then dropped by the bucket conveyor onto this longitudinal belt conveyor, which thereafter discharges the collected debris into said debris collecting chamber.