Crushing apparatus

A crushing apparatus having:

• oppositely disposed first and second endless loops of crushing belts carried on respective support means and disposed so that an inner run of the first belt is spaced closely to an adjacent inner run of the second belt to define a throat therebetween, wherein each belt has a slat bed having a plurality of closely spaced slats connected together and extending transversely thereacross to provide an essentially continuous working surface when the slats are coplanar, the apparatus also including means to power at least one belt and converging intake means communicating with the throat to admit a forward end of material to be crushed between the belts, the apparatus being further characterized by:
• (a) each slat having particular roller means journalled thereon, the roller means being disposed adjacent an inner surface of the slat remote from the working surface and extending substantially along the length of the slat to follow movement of the particular slat and to support the slat along the length thereof, each roller means having means associated theewith defining a longitudinal guiding means,
• (b) rail means carried on the respective support means and extending adjacent and along the two opposed inner runs of the belts that define the throat, the rail means extending between outer portions of each respective endless loop of belt and adjacent the inner surfaces of the slats of the inner runs, the rail means cooperating with the roller means to support against crushing forces the runs of the belts adjacent to and defining the throat and also cooperating with the longitudinal guiding means of the roller means to restrain the roller means and slats against lateral shifting to ensure essentially longitudinal movement of the crushing belts.