Fertilizer conveyor

A conveyor for transferring loose-bulk material, such as fertilizer and the like, in a manner which minimizes the creation of airborne dust, the conveyor comprising:

• means for movably supporting the material to be transferred,
• means for automatically cleaning the means for movably supporting the material to be transferred,
• means for causing the means for movably supporting the material to be transferred to move, and further comprising a housing substantially enclosing the means for movably supporting the material to be transferred, and wherein the means for movably supporting the material to be transferred is an endless conveyor belt movably mounted within the housing, wherein the housing includes a bottom pan above which the endless conveyor belt moves continuously during operation of the conveyor to thereby reduce waste of material being transferred by catching any material being transferred which escapes from the sides of the endless belt during operation of the conveyor, having a loading end and an unloading end, and further wherein the bottom pan is formed of a plurality of elongated metal sheets disposed longitudinally in end-to-end overlapping relationship, each sheet having a first end and a second end, the first end of each sheet being positioned toward the unloading end of the conveyor and the second end of each sheet being positioned toward the loading end of the conveyor, the first end of any one sheet of the plurality of metal sheets being positioned on the outside of and connected to the second end of the next adjacent sheet which is closer to the unloading end of the conveyor, so as to facilitate rearward, downwardly sliding movement, toward the loading end of the conveyor, of material which has escaped from the endless conveyor belt into the bottom pan during operation of the conveyor, to thereby recover the escaped material.