Conveyor belt scraping apparatus

Apparatus for providing secondary cleaning of a conveyor belt by shaving debris therefrom, said apparatus being adapted to be positioned downstream in close proximity to a primary conveyor belt scraper, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of elastomeric scraper blades positioned in abutting co-planar side by side relation so as to form a continuous shaving edge for transverse engagement with a conveyor belt, each blade being inclined at an angle directed against the direction of movement of the conveyor belt,
• each blade having sufficient dimensional thickness over its side edges where it abuts an adjacent blade to mutually support itself and an adjacent blade against twisting, and
• blade support means for each blade comprising:
• an elongated trailing arm, a housing and a resilient tensioning element mounted in said housing and resiliently supporting said arm for pivoting movement only toward and away from said conveyor belt, said housing including means to limit the degree of movement of the arm in the direction toward the conveyor belt,
• each trailing arm being fixed at one end to a blade and at the other end to one of said resilient tensioning elements,
• said support means including means to adjustably position the edge of each of said blades in transverse engagement with a conveyor belt,
• the dimensional thickness of the side edges of each individual blade where it contacts an adjacent blade providing lateral support to prevent the blade from twisting out of its co-planar abutting relationship with adjacent blades in response to irregularities in the belt structure or the debris carried by the belt.

Apparatus for cleaning a conveyor belt by scraping the debris therefrom, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of elastomeric scraper blades positioned in side by side relation in a common plane with side edges abutting one another along their length, each of said blades having a shaving edge extending from one of its side edges to the other, said shaving edges being normally aligned so as to form a continuous shaving edge for transverse engagement with a moving conveyor belt, each blade having sufficient length and thickness along its side edges to mutually support itself and an adjacent blade against twisting their shaving edges out of said alignment,
• individual blade support means for each blade comprising a resilient support element and an elongated arm mounting said blade at one end and fixed in said resilient support element at the other end,
• a common supporting member carrying said resilient support elements for adjustably positioning the resilient support element to bias the shaving edge of each blade into engagement with the conveyor belt,
• each of said resilient support elements enabling the shaving edge of its associated blade to move toward and away from the conveyor belt in parallel relationship to said normal alignment of said shaving edges, the length and thickness of the side edges providing lateral support so that the blade and arm does not twist in said resilient support element in response to irregularities in the belt and debris carried by the conveyor belt and
• a stop lip for each said resilient support element cooperable with said common supporting member for limiting the movement of its associated blade toward the conveyor belt.