Conveyor with angularly adjustable transition section

Claim 1

In a drag conveyor, substantially straight infeed and outfeed conveyor sections forming spaced upper and lower flat supporting surfaces for an endless conveyor, the confronting ends of said sections being spaced from one another, an angularly adjustable transition section interconnecting said infeed and outfeed sections forming therewith a first continuous conveyor surface extending between said upper supporting surfaces and a second conveyor surface extending between said lower supporting surfaces, said transition section including a. an intermediate sheet-like drag pan extending between and connected to the confronting ends of said upper infeed and outfeed support surfaces and forming with said surfaces a substantially continuous conveyor supporting drag pan extending through said transition section, said intermediate drag pan having parallel side edges and being flexible whereby to permit bending to different curvatures to accommodate varying of the angle between the infeed and the outfeed sections, b. a flexible bottom pan disposed below said intermediate drag pan and defining a space between said pans, one end of said bottom pan being connected to one of said lower supporting surfaces of said sections, and the other end being in overlapping relationship with the lower supporting surface of the other of said sections whereby to slide with respect to said lower supporting surface of said other section when the angle between the infeed and outfeed sections are varied, c. side walls connected with side edges of said intermediate drag pan, each side wall comprising i. a plurality of plate-like side members partially overlapping in series in the lengthwise direction of the intermediate drag pan with the side members extending above and below the intermediate drag pan, and ii. means connecting adjoining side members to each other and said intermediate drag pan for adjustment of the area overlap of said side members for different curvatures of said intermediate drag pan, and d. bottom pan support members extending between oppositely aligned side members below said bottom pan and connected to said side members.