Belt conveyors having cleaning rollers

Cleaning apparatus for assembly to a conveyor belt for cleaning a surface of the belt, said apparatus including

• i. a rotatable cleaning roller having an elongated body and spaced-apart ends and having multiple elongated cleaning ribs extending fixedly from said body, said ribs being distributed at arcuate intervals about the body and extending outward therefrom and arranged for scraping debris from the belt during rotation of the roller,
• ii. drive means for turning said roller rapidly and thereby causing said ribs, in succession, to perform belt-cleaning sweeps at high speed relative to the speed of the surface to be cleaned,
• iii. supporting means for supporting said cleaning roller so as to be movable toward and away from the surface to be cleaned,
• iv. means for biasing the roller in a first direction, being toward said surface to be cleaned, when the cleaning apparatus is assembled to the conveyor belt, and
• v. blocking means cooperating with said supporting means for arresting said roller against bias-induced movement toward said surface closer than a limiting position wherein said ribs sweep along paths at least close to said surface to be cleaned, said blocking means and said biasing means accommodating movement of the roller in a second direction, being opposite to said first direction.

The combination of

• A. a conveyor including a belt having a material-conveying stretch and a return stretch that has a surface to be cleaned, and
• B. a belt-cleaning assembly mounted opposite to said surface, said assembly including
• i. a rotatable cleaning roller having an elongated body and spaced-apart ends and having multiple elongated cleaning ribs extending fixedly from said body and outward therefrom, said ribs being distributed at arcuate intervals about the body and arranged for scraping debris from the belt during rotation of the roller,
• ii. drive means for turning said roller rapidly and thereby causing said ribs, in succession, to perform belt-cleaning sweeps at high speed relative to the speed of said surface to be cleaned,
• iii. supporting means for separately supporting each end of said cleaning roller so as to be movable toward and away from said surface to be cleaned,
• iv. means for biasing each end of the roller toward said surface to be cleaned, and
• v. dual blocking means cooperating with said supporting means of each end of the roller for arresting the respective ends of said roller against bias-induced movement of the ends of the roller toward said surface closer than limiting positions wherein said ribs sweep along paths at least close to said surface to be cleaned, said dual blocking means and said biasing means accommodating movement of the roller away from said limiting positions.