A belt-type bucket elevator in which each bucket is connected to the belt by two movable fastenings arranged one behind the other in conveying direction. Each bucket is divided into front and rear bucket portions along a dividing plane extending between the fastening joints perpendicularly or approximately perpendicularly to the plane of the belt. The two bucket portions are connected to each other by connecting joints mounted coaxially on the side walls of the two bucket portions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a belt-type bucket elevator in which each 
bucket is fastened to the belt by means of movable fastenings arranged one 
behind the other in conveying direction. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,732,932 describes and shows belt-type 
bucket elevators of the type described above which are particularly 
suitable for coarse-grained materials to be conveyed. As described in 
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,732,932, it is known to fasten buckets to 
belts by means of a fastening or fixing strip with screws or by means of a 
flat steel strip vulcanized into the belt. In addition to the pendulous 
support of the buckets on the belt, these types of fastenings have the 
disadvantage that material may get jammed between the belt and the back of 
the bucket and, consequently, the belt may become damaged. Fastening the 
buckets by means of a flat steel strip vulcanized into the belt is very 
expensive. When the buckets are fastened to the belt by means of eyelets 
vulcanized onto the belt, the belt is suitable only for excavating 
operations requiring small forces because the adhering force of the 
eyelets to the belt is small. The German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,737,932 
has as its object to provide a bucket elevator which is suitable also for 
coarse material to be conveyed and for high conveying capacities. In 
particular, the fastening of the bucket to the belt is to be able to 
absorb high excavation forces, is to ensure a quiet operation of the belt 
and a long service life. 
In accordance with German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,732,932, in the 
belt-type bucket elevator, each bucket is fastened to the belt by means of 
at least four fastening strips arranged into rows. The rear wall of the 
bucket is mounted by means of fastening angle pieces screwed onto the rear 
wall, so that the rear wall of the bucket is maintained a distance away 
from the belt and jamming of material to be conveyed is avoided. This 
known manner of fastening the buckets to the belt by means of two rows of 
fastening strips is intended to prevent a pendulous motion of the buckets. 
The distance between the belt and the rear walls of the buckets can be 
selected in accordance with the grain size of the material to be conveyed. 
In addition, the distance between the belt and the rear walls of the 
buckets can be adjusted subsequently as desired. 
German Pat. No. 932,118 describes and shows a bucket elevator for granular 
material, such as barley, green malt or the like. The buckets of the 
excavator are fastened to two link chains. In the discussion of the prior 
art, German Pat. No. 932,118 mentions that bucket elevators are known in 
which deflecting walls are mounted in the front of the openings of the 
bucket, so that these excavators can be used for vertically as well as 
horizontally transporting the material to be conveyed. However, the 
buckets are formed in one piece. The known excavators have the 
disadvantage that the buckets do not by themselves take up the material to 
be conveyed; rather, the material must be conveyed into the buckets by 
means of a chute. Particularly at the location where the buckets travel 
around a guide roller, the buckets only incompletely receive the material 
to be conveyed. It is the object of the German Pat. No. 932,118 to provide 
a bucket excavator for granular material and particularly a bucket 
elevator to be used for traveling heap malting, in which the danger of 
falling and crushed grains in the bucket operation are essentially 
avoided. This object is to be met in that each bucket includes a main 
bucket portion and a front bucket portion connected in an articulated 
manner to the main bucket portion. The front bucket portion is mounted in 
front of the opening of the two-piece buckets seen in conveying direction 
and forms a deflecting wall. This deflecting wall catches and prevents 
from falling those particles of the granular material which could be 
thrown out of the buckets due to acceleration at the locations where the 
belt is guided from one conveying direction into a subsequent different 
conveying direction. 
It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide a 
belt-type bucket elevator in which particularly small guide rollers can be 
used, which can be operated with relatively high conveying speeds and in 
which the danger of the formation of wedge-shaped spaces between the belt 
and each bucket during travel of the bucket around the guide roller is 
avoided as much as possible, so that additionally the danger is reduced 
that such wedge-shaped spaces be filled with material which would impair 
the operation of the belt. Specifically, these wedge-shaped spaces would 
prevent the bucket from returning into the normal position when the belt 
travels along a straight line. In addition, it should be possible to use 
simple fastening means for the buckets. By improving the manner of 
operation of the belt, the speed of travel of the belt can also be 
improved. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with the present invention, each bucket of the belt-type 
bucket elevator is divided into two bucket portions. The bucket is divided 
tranversely of the travel direction of the belt and the dividing plane 
extends perpendicularly or approximately perpendicularly relative to the 
plane of the belt and intersects the plane of the belt between the front 
and rear fastening joints which connect the bucket with the belt. 
Coaxially mounted connecting joints are provided for connecting the side 
walls of the bucket portion. 
The present invention provides the advantage that guide rollers can be used 
in a belt-type bucket elevator which have a relatively small diameter. 
This is because the invention avoids the formation of harmful wedge-shaped 
intermediate spaces between the bottom wall of the bucket and the belt 
when the belt travels around the guide rollers. After traveling around the 
guide roller, the bucket is not prevented from returning into its normal 
position, for example, in the straight portion of the bucket elevator. 
Thus, the travel of the bucket elevator belt around the guide rollers is 
not impaired. 
In addition, the bucket elevator according to the invention can be operated 
at relatively high speeds. Simple fastening means can be used for 
fastening the buckets to the belt because the fastening is essentially 
free of squeezing forces. No harmful loads are exerted on the fastening 
means or the belt. The fastening provided according to the present 
invention results in a connection between bucket and belt which is 
practically free of squeezing forces no matter what the length of the 
radius of curvature of the deflection roller. The joint between the two 
bucket halves and the two movable fastening joints of the bucket halves 
with the belt together form a support triangle, wherein the length of the 
base of this triangle between the fastening points with the belt is 
flexible. This length of the base is adjusted in accordance with the 
distance between the fastening joints with the belt during travel of the 
belt along a straight path and travel along positive or negative 
curvatures. 
The joint between the bucket halves and the joints for fastening the bucket 
halves to the belt can be constructed in a variety of different ways. A 
simple embodiment resides in constructing the joint between the two bucket 
halves as a pin-shape joint without bushing or as a joint with bushing. 
The joint may also be a rubber bushing joint which is able to absorb 
relative rotations. All joints may also be constructed as single-ball 
joints. However, the construction of the joints always depends upon the 
respective requirements in accordance with the structural materials used. 
In order to facilitate the relative change of position of the two bucket 
halves during travel around the deflection rollers even if the side walls 
of the two bucket halves are in alignment with each other, the side walls 
may be constructed so as to taper rearwardly, so that a relative movement 
of the bucket halves is possible in the region where the side wall edges 
face each other. The rearward tapers extend radially from the joints. 
In order to cover the space formed between the edges of the side walls of 
the divided bucket facing each other when the bucket moves around a bend, 
the side walls of one of the bucket halves may be provided with cover 
strips, so that material is prevented from entering when the edges of the 
bucket portions move away from each other. When loads are applied to the 
cover strips during operation, the cover strips may be flat iron sections, 
flat steel sections or the like. The remaining cover strips may be made of 
an elastic material, such as rubber or the like. Each of these cover 
strips are fastened to only one of the bucket halves in order to allow 
relative movement to the other bucket half. 
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are 
pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part 
of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its 
operating advantages and specific objects attained by its use, reference 
should be had to the drawings and descriptive matter in which there are 
illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The bucket according to the invention includes a rear bucket portion 1 and 
a front bucket portion 2. The two bucket portions 1 and 2 may be 
manufactured by cutting a normal closed bucket into two portions along a 
cutting plane to be discussed later. 
In the illustrated embodiment, the bucket is divided along a cutting plane 
3 which extends perpendicularly or approximately perpendicularly to belt 
4. Rear bucket portion 1 is fastened to belt 4 by means of fastening joint 
5. Front bucket portion 2 is fastened to belt 4 by means of fastening 
joint 6. Front bucket portion 2 has a cutting edge 7. 
The upper walls 8 and the bottom walls 9 of the two bucket portions 1 and 2 
are in alignment in the position illustrated in FIG. 1 because both bucket 
portions 1 and 2 have been manufactured by cutting a bucket into two 
halves. The two bucket portions 1 and 2 are connected to each other by 
means of a joint, for example, a pin-type joint 10, arranged in the upper 
area of cutting plane 3. Instead of the joint without a bushing as 
illustrated in the drawing, a joint with bushing or rubber bushing or a 
single-ball joint may be used. Any other suitable joint may also be used. 
The side walls of the two bucket portions 1 and 2 or of one of the bucket 
portions may be formed so as to taper rearwardly above the joint 10, as 
indicated by reference numeral 11 in FIG. 1. This rearwardly extending 
taper makes possible a travel of the buckets along convex curvatures as 
well as concave curvatures. A movement of the two bucket portions relative 
to each other into the position illustrated in FIG. 3 is possible without 
any structural components being subjected to squeezing forces. 
Front bucket portion 2 has at its lower edge in the area of cutting plane 3 
a rubber strip 12, so that material is prevented from penetrating the gap 
between the two bucket portions 1 and 2. 
Similarly, on the two side walls of each front bucket portion 2 in the 
middle area of the cutting plane 3 above and below joint 10 are provided 
cover strips 13 which also serve to cover gaps forming between the front 
and rear bucket portions. Another cover strip 14 is provided on the upper 
wall of the bucket. Cover strip 14 is made of rubber and, in the 
illustrated embodiment, is shown fastened to rear bucket portion 1 in 
order to point out the possibilities of fastening the various cover 
strips. 
FIG. 3 shows the positions of the two bucket portions 1 and 2 relative to 
each other when the bucket travels around a guide roller. During the 
travel around the guide roller, the two fastening joints 5 and 6 move 
apart from each other, so that a gap 15 is formed between the two bucket 
portions 1 and 2. Gap 15 is covered by cover strip 13. 
FIG. 4 shows a very simple connection of the two bucket portions 1 and 2. 
In this illustrated embodiment, the side walls of the front and rear 
bucket portions are in alignment. The side wall of either the front or 
rear bucket portions is provided in the area of the joint with a 
projection 18, while the side wall 16 of the other bucket portion is 
provided with a corresponding recess 19. Thus, the two bucket portions 
engage each other in the manner of a joint. 
To avoid movements of the two bucket portions 1 and 2 in lateral direction, 
the outer surfaces and/or the inner surfaces of the side walls 16 and 17 
are provided with cover plates 20. In addition, the bucket portions 1 and 
2 are connected to each other with rubber strips 21 which facilitate 
movement of the bucket portions 1 and 2 relative to each other and prevent 
material being conveyed from falling out. During relative movement of the 
bucket portions 1 and 2, the rubber strips 21 located farther away from 
joint 18, 19 are stretched more than the rubber strips 21 located near 
joint 18, 19. 
While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described 
in detail to illustrate the application of the inventive principle, it 
will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without 
departing from such principles.