Patent ID: 6499585
Filing Date: 2002-12-31
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
A method of loading a bulk material into a container having a top wall and an end wall, comprising:providing an access opening in said container end wall adjacent said top wall; inserting a cantilevered section of an apparatus through said access opening in said container end wall, a conveyor having a support means, a first housing disposed on said support means, having an inlet for feeding bulk material therethrough, a second housing disposed on said cantilevered section, means providing a pair of passageways, each intercommunicating said first and second housings defining a circuitous path, a first sprocket mounted in said first housing, a second sprocket mounted in said second housing having an axis of rotation disposed substantially vertically, said second housing having an arcuate opening relative to the periphery of said sprocket mounted therein, a rope assembly including an endless rope disposed in said housings and said passageways, along said circuitous path and reeved about said sprockets, and a plurality of discs secured to and spaced along said rope, and means for driving one of said sprockets; feeding bulk material to be loaded into said container into said first housing through said inlet thereof; and operating said drive means to cause said rope assembly to travel along said circuitous path, correspondingly causing bulk material fed into said first housing to be engaged by said discs of said rope assembly, conveyed to said second housing and propelled substantially tangentially through said opening in said second housing, dispersing within said container.