Conveyor apparatus

Claim 1

Apparatus for use in receiving materials such as sand from a truck and for transporting the materials onto a stack within a storage building having an entrance at ground level, the apparatus comprising: a feeder including: a chassis frame extending gener-ally longitudinally and having a towing hitch at one end and an inclined portion extending upwardly towards the other end; a hopper intermediate the inclined portion and the towing hitch and having an open bottom; conveyor means extending longitud-inally under the hoppper and over said inclined portion; drive means coupled to the conveyor means and adapted to drive the conveyor means whereby materials from the hopper are moved longitudinally to said other end of the chassis frame and per-mitted to fall off this end of the chassis frame; a stacker for collecting the materials falling from said other end of the feeder, the stacker including: a sub-frame extending longitudinally, and having a second towing hitch at one end and a supporting cradle at the other end; an elongated boom extending longitudinally and having a length larger than the distance between the cradle and the second tow-ing hitch; pivotal means coupling the boom to the sub-frame near the second towing hitch; elevating means coupled to the boom and to the sub-frame adjacent the cradle, the elevating means being operable to move the boom angularly about said pivotal means between the rest position in which the boom is supported by the cradle and an elevated position in which the boom is inclined and above the cradle; a second conveyor means extending longitudinally along substantially the full length of the boom from a first end of the boom near the second towing hitch to a second end of the boom; a second drive means coupled to the second conveyor means and adapted to drive the second conveyor means whereby said materials falling from said other end of the feeder can be collected on said second conveyor means adjacent said first end of the second conveyor means and trans-ported by the second conveyor means to the second end of this conveyor means where the materials are then elevated and per-mitted to fall onto a stack inside the storage building; and a pair of adjustable wheel assemblies attached to the sub-frame below the cradle, each of the assemblies including a road wheel and means coupling the road wheel to the sub-frame, said coupling means being adjustable relative to the sub-frame for positioning the road wheel in either one of a first position in which the road wheel is aligned for moving the stacker longitudinally and a second position in which the road wheel is aligned for moving the stacker transversely at the wheels so that with the wheels in this second position the stacker can be moved such that the boom swings in a horizontal arc generally about the first end of the boom.