Unloading mechanism for trucks and trailers

An unloading mechanism for a load carrying wheeled vehicle, such as a truck or trailer, which has a bed, a front wall, and a back opening through which the vehicle is to be unloaded, said mechanism including a flexible conveyor on the bed of the vehicle, a forward conveyor wind-up roll adjacent the front wall of the vehicle, a rear conveyor wind-up roll adjacent the back opening of the vehicle, a bulkhead structure attached to the conveyor for location adjacent the front wall of the vehicle when the conveyor is wound on said forward roll and for pushing a load out the back opening of the vehicle as the conveyor is wound on said rear roll, the bulkhead structure having a rear pusher element and a base extending forwardly of said pusher element, attachment means securing said base to the conveyor at a distance from the pusher element whereby the pusher element may be moved rearwardly beyond the back opening of the vehicle when pushing a load out the opening, and automatically extending and retracting elongate brace means slidably mounted on the bulkhead structure and in contact with the vehicle bed adjacent the conveyor forwardly of said pusher element for extending to a relatively inclined position and reacting against the bed of the vehicle to resist tipping of the bulkhead structure about said attachment means when the bulkhead structure pushes a load rearwardly beyond said opening, and for retracting to a relatively vertical position when the bulkhead structure is located adjacent the front wall of the vehicle to minimize the lengthwise space occupied thereby.