Apparatus for collecting material which becomes dislodged from the underside of a continuous belt conveyor

Apparatus for collecting material which becomes dislodged from the underside of the return run of a continuous belt conveyor having an upper carrying run and a lower return run, which apparatus comprises:

• an elevator for surrounding a section of the conveyor in the region of a support roller for the return run of the conveyor, which elevator has a channel section in which material dislodged by the influence of the support roller during the return run of the conveyor can be collected and transported to a depositing position above the carrying run of the conveyor;
• a chute at the depositing position to guide material onto the carrying run;
• wherein the channel section of the elevator is formed of a circumferential base wall and side walls extending radially inwardly therefrom and is divided into troughs by lifting walls extending transversely across the channels at discrete spaced locations therealong, which lifting walls are inclined to the base wall of the channel, and the inclination of the lifting walls is geometrically matched to the inclination and disposition of the chute so that the bulk of the material in each trough is retained until its lifting wall is above the chute, and
• returning means for returning material dislodged from the troughs during their upward journey to said chute, said returning means comprising material-return channels depending downwardly from opposite sides of said chute, each said material-return channel including a bottom wall and side walls which overlap outer surfaces of said side walls of said elevator, said bottom wall spaced radially inwardly from radially inner ends of said lifting walls and said side walls of said elevator to define a gap between said bottom wall of said material-return channel and said lifting walls of said elevator through which material may fall and be guided to a lower trough by said bottom wall.