Offset assembly for a gravity conveyor chute

An offset assembly for a gravity-conveyor construction debris chute, said offset assembly receiving material falling along said gravity conveyor chute and causing said material to change direction, said offset assembly comprising:

• an offset upstream tube for a gravity-conveyor chute section of a type which can be engaged with other conveyor chute sections to form a gravity conveyor chute, the offset upstream tube comprising a sidewall having basically a tubular shape which guides items falling through a bore thereof, said offset upstream tube having an upstream end opening at an upstream end thereof for receiving items dropped into said offset upstream tube from above and a downstream end opening at a downstream end thereof for discharging said items passing through the bore of said offset upstream tube, said upstream end being engagable with an adjacent section to form said gravity conveyor chute to be longer than said offset upstream tube whereby items serially fall through the bores of said thusly engaged sections;
• an offset downstream tube comprising a sidewall having basically a tubular shape which guides items falling through a bore thereof, said offset downstream tube having an upstream end opening at an upstream end thereof for receiving items dropped into said offset downstream tube from above and a downstream end opening at a downstream end thereof for discharging said items passing through the bore of said offset downstream tube;
• a support means for engaging said upstream end of said offset downstream tube with the downstream end of said offset upstream tube to support said offset downstream tube from said offset upstream tube and to align the bores of these two tubes, with the bore of said offset downstream tube being oriented at a substantial angle, but less than 90.degree. relative to the bore of said offset upstream tube, whereby items serially fall through the bores of said thusly engaged offset upstream and downstream tubes with materials exiting from the bore of said offset upstream tube and entering the bore of said offset downstream tube contacting an impact panel of the sidewall of said offset downstream tube positioned below said offset upstream tube, said offset downstream tube being constructed of a plurality of metal plates joined at edges thereof to form substantially flat panels with said impact panel being made of an impact plate of metal having a thickness which is greater than the thickness of metal plate forming the other panels of the sidewall of said offset downstream tube to which said impact plate of metal is joined wherein said metal plate forming said impact panel of said offset downstream tube has a thickness which is at least 2 and 2/3 times as great as the general thickness of metal plate forming other panels of said offset downstream tube.

An offset assembly for a gravity-conveyor chute, said offset assembly receiving material falling along said gravity conveyor chute and causing said material to change direction, said offset assembly comprising:

• an offset upstream tube for a gravity-conveyor chute section of a type which can be engaged with other conveyor chute sections to form a gravity conveyor chute, the offset upstream tube comprising a sidewall having basically a tubular shape which guides items falling through a bore thereof, said offset upstream tube having an upstream end opening at an upstream end thereof for receiving items dropped into said offset upstream tube from above and a downstream end opening at a downstream end thereof for discharging said items passing through the bore of said offset upstream tube, said upstream end being engagable with an adjacent section to form said gravity conveyor chute to be longer than said offset upstream tube whereby items serially fall through the bores of said thusly engaged sections;
• an offset downstream tube comprising a sidewall having basically a tubular shape which guides items falling through a bore thereof, said offset downstream tube having an upstream end opening at an upstream end thereof for receiving items dropped into said offset downstream tube from above and a downstream end opening at a downstream end thereof for discharging said items passing through the bore of said offset downstream tube;
• a hinge means for engaging said upstream end of said offset downstream tube with the down-stream end of said offset upstream tube to align the bores of these two tubes whereby items serially fall through the bores of said thusly engaged upstream and downstream offset tubes while allowing the offset downstream tube to be pivoted relative to the offset upstream tube such that the lateral position of said downstream end opening of the offset downstream tube can be changed relative to the bore of the offset upstream tube, said hinge means being spaced laterally outside of the sidewalls of said offset upstream tube;
• wherein a portion of the upstream end of said offset downstream tube is substantially bigger in cross-section than a portion of the downstream end of said offset upstream tube so that the angular position of said offset downstream tube can be easily changed relative to said offset upstream tube while the downstream end of said offset upstream tube remains inside the upstream end of said offset downstream tube, with the sidewall of said offset upstream tube overlapping the sidewall of said offset downstream tube a different amount, depending on the angular position of the offset downstream tube;
• and wherein is further included an attachment means separate from said hinge means for attaching said overlapping sidewalls together at any of a plurality of positions to help support said offset downstream tube from said offset upstream tube with its bore at a selective angle thereto.