Beet harvesting machine

In a beet harvesting machine of the type in which beets are dug, freed of dirt, and elevated to a truck or a holding tank, in which the holding tank has a backwardly and downwardly sloping front wall which terminates above a horizontal conveyor which, when actuated, functions to remove beets from said holding tank, the combination therewith in which the bottom portion of the front wall is hinged on a horizontal axis lying substantially in the plane of said front wall to provide a gate adapted to swing forward and backward from its normal position in the plane of said front wall to a forward position where it forms an acute angle with the vertical plane through said axis, and in which means is provided for moving said gate from one extreme position to the other and holding it in either position or in any intermediate position whereby, when said gate is moved to a vertical position, the clearance between the bottom of said gate and the top of said horizontal conveyor is reduced to a minimum and, when it is moved from that position to the extreme forward position, the clearance is maximized, in which the means for moving said gate and the means for holding said gate are comprised in a hydraulic means, in which said hydraulic means comprises a double-acting piston, and in which said front wall has extended portions extending down along each end of said gate when it is in the normal position, said extended portions having on the rearward side thereof plates fastened thereto which slope downwardly and inwardly from the sidewalls of said tank to a position over said horizontal conveyor, whereby the beets in said holding tank are directed onto said conveyor.