Troughed belt conveyors

A troughed belt conveyor comprising an endless travelling belt supported in its load carrying stretch upon a skid base which is curved in cross-section to cause the belt to assume an upwardly concave cross-sectional shape, the belt being arranged to travel along and in sliding contact with said base, waisted rollers located at least adjacent the infeed and outfeed ends of the said base, said waisted rollers having their concave surfaces projecting sufficiently above the skid base to support the belt at those locations slightly clear of said skid base, said skid base being provided along its length with a first series of spaced apart cut-outs through which project horizontally disposed rollers, and a second series of cut-outs through which project inclined rollers, said second series of cut-outs and their inclined rollers alternating with said first series of cut-outs along the length of the skid base and said second series comprising pairs of opposed cut-outs located on opposite sides of the skid base, said horizontally disposed rollers and said inclined rollers supporting the endless belt clear of the skid base at selected points and being carried by means secured to said skid base.