Tubular conveyor with cleated belt
AssigneeAG Growth International Inc.
InventorsArthur Stenson, Ronald Klassen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A conveyor comprising a support frame, an inclined tube mounted to the support frame, a hopper at a lower end of the tube for receiving material, a spout at an upper end of the tube for discharging the material, a running plate extending inside the tube, and a cleated belt, supported by the running plate, that conveys the material from the hopper to the spout through the tube. The cleated belt comprises a plurality of spaced-apart cleats and wherein each cleat has a base extending transversely to a direction of travel of the belt and curved sides that curve upwardly and outwardly from the base.
Claims16
A conveyor comprising:
- a support frame;
- an inclined tube mounted to the support frame;
- a hopper at a lower end of the tube for receiving material;
- a spout at an upper end of the tube for discharging the material;
- a running plate extending inside the tube;
- and
- a cleated belt, supported by the running plate, that conveys the material from the hopper to the spout through the tube, wherein the cleated belt comprises a plurality of spaced-apart cleats and wherein each cleat has a base extending transversely to a direction of travel of the belt and curved sides that continuously curve upwardly and outwardly from the base to a top of the cleat that is wider than the base,
- wherein the running plate supports a portion of the belt moving up the inclined tube such that the belt runs upwardly over an upper surface of the running plate, and wherein the running plate has a width less than a diameter of the inclined tube.
A method of conveying material, the method comprising:
- loading the material into a hopper;
- conveying the material up a tubular conveyor having an inclined tube and a cleated belt running over a running plate in the tube, wherein the cleated belt comprises a plurality of spaced-apart cleats and wherein each cleat has a base extending transversely to a direction of travel of the belt and curved sides that continuously curve upwardly and outwardly from the base to a top of the cleat that is wider than the base, wherein the running plate supports a portion of the belt moving up the inclined tube such that the belt runs upwardly over an upper surface of the running plate and wherein the running plate has a width less than a diameter of the inclined tube;
- and
- discharging the material from a spout at an upper end of the inclined tube.
A cleated belt for a conveyor, the belt comprising:
- a canvas belt;
- and
- a plurality of spaced-apart cleats integrally formed with the canvas belt;
- wherein each cleat has a base extending transversely to a direction of travel of the belt and curved sides that continuously curve upwardly and outwardly from the base to a top of the cleat that is wider than the base,
- wherein a spacing between adjacent cleats is three to five times a height of each cleat;
- wherein each of the curved sides has a first radius of curvature curving from the base to a curvature-transition point and a second radius of curvature curving from the curvature-transition point to the top of the cleat, wherein the second radius of curvature is greater than the first radius of curvature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.