Pressure device for conveyor

Claim 1

For use in a high angle conveying apparatus having a conveyor belt and a cover belt supported on framing members trained for movement in endless configurations through a lifting zone whereat said belts are moved into operative association with each other so that material on said conveyor belt will be held in contact therewith by said cover belt, improved pressure means for applying essentially fully equalized pressure to the back surface of said cover belt including: (a) a module of rollers, (b) at least one row of rollers mounted within said module, each row of rollers positioned to contact the back surface of the cover belt along a line transverse to the direction of movement of the cover belt, each said row of rollers comprising a plurality of freely rotatable individual rollers contacting the cover belt across the major extent of the line across the cover belt, with each roller being on an individually moveable axis of rotation to permit conformance of each roller to the cover belt independent of its adjacent roller, (c) support means pivotally coupled at a first end to one of said framing members and at a second end to said module of rollers for movement of the module as a whole relative to said framing members. (d) link means coupled at a first end to one of said framing members of the conveying apparatus at a position adjacent said module of rollers and coupled at a second end to said support means, and a pivotable joint between said first and second ends; and (e) a torsion spring means coupling said joint to spring bias said link means to urge each said row of rollers into contact with the back surface of the cover belt for applying essentially fully equalized pressure thereto.