US PATENT SUBCLASS 198 / 523
CONVEYOR SYSTEM HAVING A GRAVITY CONVEYOR SECTION

Current as of: June, 1999
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198 /   HD   CONVEYORS: POWER-DRIVEN

523CONVEYOR SYSTEM HAVING A GRAVITY CONVEYOR SECTION {11}
524  DF  .~> Condition responsive
525  DF  .~> With means to affect flow {7}
537  DF  .~> With means to handle portion of load which becomes separated from main flow path
538  DF  .~> Conveyor section(s) adjustable for nonoperative purpose (e.g., storage, transport, etc.)
539  DF  .~> Including a load-supporting bridging element (e.g., horizontal surface) between conveyor sections
540  DF  .~> Gravity discharge material holder is source of supply, discharging by gravity to power-driven section {6}
550.01  DF  .~> Bin having a power-driven conveyor section for discharging or feeding discharge to a gravity or power-driven section {8}
560  DF  .~> Power-driven conveyor section feeding to gravity section (i.e., gravity discharge material holder, or gravity flow path) feeding in turn to another power-driven section {1}
562  DF  .~> Gravity conveyor section is gravity flow path feeding to power-driven section {4}
568  DF  .~> Plural power-driven conveyor sections feeding to gravity section (i.e., gravity discharge material holder, or gravity flow path)
569  DF  .~> Power-driven conveyor section feeding to plural gravity sections (i.e., gravity discharge material holder, or gravity flow path)

DEFINITION

Classification: 198/523

(under the class definition) Apparatus comprising a conveyor system consisting of at least one gravity conveyor section

and at least one power-driven conveyor section in any sequence. Devices (e.g., gates, etc.) appurtenant to either section, or otherwise forming a part of the system, are included.

(1) Note. "Gravity conveyor section" is a term embracing structures which support, or guide, or otherwise define a flow path for material which is moving from one elevation to another under the influence of gravity. Art terms such as "hopper", "chute", etc., frequently are indicative of a gravity aspect, but their usage is sufficiently inconsistent as to be nondefinitive thereof.

(2) Note. Gravity conveyor sections are of two principal kinds: (1) gravity discharge material holders (the art term "hopper" occasionally corresponds), and (2) gravity flow paths (the art term "chute" frequently corresponds).

A gravity discharge material holder is primarily a storage device having a vertically (or predominantly so) downward discharge path. No specific "bottom" structure need be claimed as long as it is apparent that material may be supported therein for an interval somewhat longer than that required for mere passage therethrough, i.e., that the device is something more than a funnel. If the device is a holder by these criteria, the claiming of flow-inducing internal structure (e.g., "downwardly and inwardly sloping sidewalls", etc.) is irrelevant.

A gravity flow path is an inclined structure which supports and/or guides material moving therealong or therethrough under the influence of gravity. The inclination may vary from just above the horizontal to vertical, and the structure, often of a trough-like nature, may be anything from a surface (supporting, but not guiding the material) to a conduit (which, if vertical, guides, but does not support). (While the term "gravity flow path" is not specifically set forth in a subclass title until subclass 560, structure of this nature appears throughout this and the indented subclasses.)

(3) Note. When a gravity discharge material holder serves as a source of supply for the claimed system, it is more precisely identified in this and the indented subclasses as a "source of supply discharging by gravity" (or, more briefly, as a "gravity source"). This particular usage of a gravity discharge material holder is provided for in subclasses 540+ below. (4) Note. Some material-containing receptacles (usually designated as a "hopper" or a "bin") found in this and the indented subclasses are not capable of discharging by gravity and, therefore, do not constitute gravity conveyor sections in the sense that gravity discharge material holders do. A power-driven conveyor section is provided within, or otherwise associated with, each such receptacle for removing (upwardly or laterally) the material therefrom. Where such a

receptacle and conveyor, identified herein as a "bin with a power-driven conveyor section for discharging it", constitutes a source of supply for the claimed system, subclasses 550.01+ provides for the system; however, if it appears elsewhere in the system, it has only the status of its power-driven section.

One other usage of a receptacle appears occasionally in this and the indented subclasses, namely, as an element for receiving the material transported by the system. Having neither a capability for gravity discharge nor a power-driven section for moving the material therefrom, it is treated as a mere receiver, for which no classification is provided. As a matter of fact, a receiver for this and the indented subclasses is not limited to a receptacle, but can be merely a surface.

(5) Note. Inasmuch as conveyor systems and sections for the conveying of articles usually are more adequately and specifically provided for in certain subclasses above, most of the art in this and the indented subclasses involves the conveying of bulk-type material (e.g., coal, sand, etc.).