Bin sweeper

A power driven auxiliary conveyor assembly used in conjunction with a standard grain auger for sweeping grain on a supporting surface toward the infeed end of the grain auger. The auxiliary conveyor assembly consists of a longitudinally extending material conveying element driven by a hydraulic motor and in one form is an endless belt having cleats mounted thereon at longitudinally spaced intervals and, in a second embodiment, is a screw conveyor or auger. A sliding swivel connection, detachably connects the auxiliary conveyor assembly to the grain auger. The sliding connection facilitates loading the auxiliary conveyor assembly onto the grain auger so that it may be transported in a piggyback fashion. The pivot connection allows moving the auxiliary conveyor assembly relative to the grain auger during use.

This invention relates to a power driven auxiliary conveyor assembly for 
use with a grain auger to sweep grain on the floor of a bin toward the 
grain auger and to the combination of the grain auger and auxiliary 
conveyor assembly. 
Portable grain augers for moving grain are well known consisting of an 
auger in a casing having an infeed end which is placed in the grain and a 
discharge end. In the past it has been necessary to manually move the 
grain in the bottom of a bin to the infeed end of the auger. Removing the 
grain from the bottom of the bin has thus been a laborious task. 
A principal object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary 
conveyor assembly for use in conjunction with grain conveyors to move the 
grain in the bin in a direction toward the infeed end of the coneyor. 
A further principal object of the present invention is to provide an 
auxiliary conveyor assembly that is easily moved from one position to 
another when in use either attached to the grain auger adjacent the infeed 
end thereof or detached. 
It is also a principal object of the present invention to provide an 
auxiliary conveyor assembly and means connecting the same to a grain auger 
for sliding and pivital movement relative thereto. 
A further principal object of the present invention is to provide an 
auxiliary conveyor assembly for a grain auger which may be readily and 
safely controlled during operation minimizing hazardous risks to the 
operator using the same. 
Accordingly, there is provided in accordance with the present invention an 
auxiliary conveyor assembly for use in conjunction with a grain auger or 
the like used to move material such as grain, fertilizer etc. from one 
position to another and having an infeed end and an outfeed end, said 
auxiliary conveyor assembly being used to sweep material toward the infeed 
end of the grain auger and comprising: 
A. a longitudinally extending conveyor assembly having a material conveying 
element; 
B. power means mounted on said conveyor assembly for driving said conveying 
element to move the grain adjacent thereto toward one end thereof; 
C. connecting means for detachably connecting one end of said conveyor 
assembly to said grain auger adjacent the infeed end thereof said 
connecting means including means for permitting pivotal movement of the 
auxiliary conveyor relative to the grain auger when attached thereto, and 
d. remote control means for controlling the driving of said conveying 
element.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, shown in FIG. 1 is a conventional 
grain auger 10 having an auxiliary conveyor assembly 50, provided in 
accordance with the present invention, mounted thereon for transport from 
one location to another. The assembly 50 is illustrated in FIG. 2 
pivotally attached to the infeed end of the grain auger for sweeping grain 
on the floor of a bin toward the infeed of the grain auger 10. In FIG. 3 
the assembly 50 is shown detached from the grain auger and in FIG. 4 the 
assembly 50 is being mounted onto the grain auger. 
The conventional grain auger or conveyor 10 consists of an auger 11 mounted 
within a casing 12 carried by a pair of spaced apart wheel assemblies 13 
supporting the conveyor tubular casing 12 by a number of supports 14 and 
15. The grain auger 10 has an infeed 16 wherein the auger extends beyond 
the casing 12 and an opposite outfeed end 17 having a spout 18 for 
directing the conveyed material to a truck or other type of storage or 
transport 19. The auger 11 extends longitudinally through the tubular 
casing 12 and is driven by a motor assembly 20 mounted on a frame of the 
wheel supported structure. The motor 20, through a V-belt or other type of 
drive 21, drives a pulley 22 which, in turn, through a transmission or 
gear assembly, drives a shaft 23 extending longitudinally along the casing 
12 to the discharge end. The driven shaft 23 has a gear 24 secured thereto 
meshing with a gear 25 secured rigidly to a shaft extending through the 
central part of the auger 11. The auger 11 is thereby driven by the motor 
20 to convey material from the infeed end 11 to the discharge spout 18. 
Conventionally the supports 14 and 15 are arranged such that the discharge 
end of the grain auger may be raised and lowered by jack. This is all 
known in the prior art and forms no part of the present invention. 
The auxiliary conveyor assembly 50, illustrated in FIGS. 1 - 5 inclusive, 
consists of an endless belt 51 having a plurality of cleats 52 mounted 
thereon at longitudinally spaced intervals. The belt passes around 
sprockets 53 and 54 mounted on shafts journalled for rotation on a frame. 
The belt preferably is a reinforced rubber belt of the type used as a 
driving track on snow vehicles. The belt has a place thereon such as 
recesses or openings meshing with the teeth of the drive sprockets. The 
cleats 52 are preferably reinforced rubber plate-like or cup-shaped 
members and the sprockets also preferably are made of rubber as this 
prevents crushing the grain. 
The sprockets 53 and 54 supporting the endless belt 52 are supported on a 
longitudinally adjustable frame consisting of square in cross-section 
telescopically arranged members 55 and 56. A pin or the like 57 passes 
through aligned apertures in the respective members 55 and 56 retaining 
the sprockets 53 and 54 in a selected spaced apart relation. A series of 
apertures 58 are provided in member 56 thereby providing means to 
longitudinally adjust the length of the frame. The members 55 and 56 
terminate respectively at opposite ends in forks 59 and 60 on which the 
respective sprockets 54 and 53 are journalled. Inverted U-shaped members 
61 and 62 are secured to respective members 55 and 56 by a cross bar 63. 
The U-shaped members assist keeping the belt in place and also the upper 
portion serves as a handle facilitating handling the conveyor assembly. 
The lower ends of the respective U-shaped members 61 and 62 provide legs 
to support the assembly on for example the floor of a bin. 
A drive shaft 64 is connected to sprocket 54 at one end and the opposite 
end is connected to a hydraulic motor 65 for driving the sprocket. The 
hydraulic motor 65 is mounted on a bracket 66 secured to and projecting 
from the U-shaped member 61. The motor 65 drives the belt in a 
counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the bottom run 
of the belt 51 is positioned such that the tips of the blades or cleats 52 
sweep over the surface of the floor moving grain therewith toward the 
infeed end of the conveyor 10. 
The assembly 50 is connected to the grain auger 10 by a sliding pivot 
assembly 80 illustrated in detail in FIG. 7. The assembly 80 includes a 
bar 81 having one end thereof attached to the conveyor casing 12 at 82 and 
the opposite end attached to the infeed end of a conveyor housing by an 
L-shaped bracket 83. The infeed end of the auger 11 may if desired be 
journalled in the bracket 83. The member 81 consists of a rod circular in 
cross-section extending longitudinally of the conveyor casing and parallel 
thereto at a position spaced therefrom terminating in a square in 
cross-section portion 84 connected to the bracket 83. A sleeve 85 is 
slidably mounted on the rod 81 and is square internally in cross-section 
to slidably fit onto the square end portion 84 of the rod. The sleeve 85 
has a rod 86 attached thereto and projecting upwardly therefrom on which a 
sleeve 87 is slidably mounted. The sleeve 87 is supported at various 
selected vertical elevations by a cotter pin 88 located in one of 
vertically spaced holes 89 in the rod 86. 
The sleeve 87 has a further sleeve 90 secured thereto with the axis thereof 
perpendicular to the axis of sleeve 87. A rod 91 secured to and projecting 
from the frame member 55 passes through the sleeve 90 thereby mounting one 
end of the conveyor attachment 50 on the grain auger 10. A cotter pin or 
the like means 92 passing through shaft 91 may be used to retain the shaft 
in the sleeve. The shaft 86 and sleeve 87 and shaft 91 and sleeve 90 
provide a universal pivotal connection between the conveyor attachment 50 
and the conveyor 10. The sleeve 85 slidably mounted on rod 81 permits 
slidably moving the conveyor attachment along the conveyor from an 
operative position as illustrated in FIG. 2 to a transport position as 
illustrated in FIG. 5. The squared sleeve 85 and squared end portion 84 of 
rod 81 prevents rotation of the conveyor attachment relative to the 
conveyor along a portion of the sliding position. The length of squared 
portion 84 for example is approximately two feet. This retains the 
conveyor attachment in an operative orientation when the outer end for 
example is not supported by the floor and instead carried by the operator 
to move the same about the bin. 
The hydraulic motor 65, which drives the endless belt, is driven by a 
hydraulic pump 100 supplied with fluid from the pump by hoses 101 and 
controlled by a manually operative control means 102. The pump 100 is 
mounted on the conveyor casing 12 at a position spaced from the drive 
V-belt pulley 22 and is driven by a further drive belt 103 passing around 
a pulley (not illustrated but which is secured to the same shaft as the 
pulley 22) and a V-belt pulley 104 secured to the rotary shaft of the 
pump. The manually operative control means 102 consists of a flexible 
cable or rope connected to a suitable valve and which may be turned on and 
off by an operator manually handling the assembly 50. The valve is biased 
to a normally closed position thereby automatically stopping the endless 
belt when the operator releases the control. 
From the foregoing it will be seen there is provided an auxiliary infeed 
conveyor unit pivotally and detachably connected to a grain auger for use 
in sweeping the grain on the floor of the bin toward the infeed end 16 of 
the conveyor 10. The assembly 50 may, if desired, include a stop or 
abutment 105 (see FIG. 3) secured to the member 62 for engaging a side 
wall of the bin preventing direct engagement of the driven belt with the 
wall during operation. 
In order to transport the assembly 50, it is slid into a piggyback 
position, as illustrated in FIG. 5, on the conveyor 10 by the operator 
carrying the free end of the conveyor attachment and sliding the sleeve 85 
on rod 81, to a position adjacent the pump unit 100. The leg portions of 
the U-shaped support brackets 61 and 62 engage brackets B (one of which is 
shown in FIG. 1) secured to the casing 12 of the conveyor 10 retaining the 
same in the piggyback transport position. The rod 81 and sleeve 85 permit 
pivoting the assembly 50 on the circular in cross-section portion of rod 
81 during sliding to avoid obstacles such as the gear box and the like 
attachments on the conveyor casing 12. 
An alternative arrangement for the auxiliary conveyor is illustrated in 
FIG. 8 and which consists of an auger unit 110 mounted on a support 
bracket at one end by a member 111 and at the opposite end is manually 
carried or moved by a handle member 112 pivotally attached thereto by a 
suitable journal member 113. Attached to the support 111 is a hydraulic 
motor 114 powered by the oil pump 100 through a flexible hose 101, the 
fluid of which is controlled as in the previous embodiment through a 
manually operative control means 102. The support bracket 111 is 
constructed such as to be supported upon the floor of a grain bin 
preventing the motor housing from rotating. The auger unit 110 also may be 
pivotally and slidably connected to the grain auger 10 by the previously 
described assembly 80 in which case a shaft corresponding to shaft 91 is 
secured to member 111 and projects laterally therefrom. 
In FIGS. 6 and 7 the shaft 91 is shown secured to the frame member 55 and 
projecting laterally therefrom. Alternatively it may be secured to the 
frame member 61 in which case brackets on casing 12 would project 
laterally from the casing to support the legs of frames 61 and 62 to carry 
the assembly 50 in the piggyback transport position. 
In the foregoing reference is made to grain auger 10 and it is obvious 
other conveyors may be used in conjunction with the assembly 50. However 
the auger type conveyor illustrated is the most commonly used in handling 
grain, fertilizers and the like. 
In FIG. 9 there is illustrated a modified means of connecting the sliding 
pivot assembly 80 to the frame of the auxiliary conveyor. The modified 
connection is designated generally by the reference numeral 200 and 
includes a pair of upstanding legs 201 and 202 interconnected intermediate 
their length by a cross member 203. The cross member 203 is secured as by 
welding or the like to member 55 of the frame of the auxiliary conveyor 
and the uprights 201 and 202 project therebelow providing a support for 
the drive end of the auxiliary conveyor. Connected to the upper ends of 
the respective legs 201 and 202 are bar members 204 and 204A which in turn 
are interconnected at their opposite ends by cross bar 205. In side 
elevational view members 202 and 204A are approximately perpendicular to 
one another while members 201 and 204 are arranged at an acute angle thus 
resulting in member 205 sloping from one side to the other. When connected 
to the main auger the slope is in a direction downwardly toward such 
auger. This results in a tendency of the auxiliary conveyor to slide in a 
direction to overlie the main conveyor. This can be of benefit during 
piggyback transfer of the auxiliary conveyor on the auger in the event of 
the loss of a cotter pin utilized to retain the sliding pivot 80 in 
preselected positions on bar 205. Preferably, however, bar 204 and upright 
201 are arranged at approximately right angles to one another. 
Leg members 201 and 202 may be disposed substantially vertically or 
alternatively slope inwardly and upwardly in a direction towards one 
another having a distance therebetween at the top less than at the bottom. 
Member 205 can be of any desired length and preferably substantially 
longer than the distance between the respective legs 201 and 202. This 
provides means for variously positioning the auxiliary conveyor relative 
to the auger in positions varying from longitudinal alignment with the 
auger to positions laterally offset therefrom. 
The sleeve 90 of member 80 is slidably mounted on member 205 and is 
retained in various selected positions in a direction transverse to the 
length of the auger by cotter pins 206. As in the previous embodiment, 
sleeve 87 of member 80 is vertically adjustable on post 86 and is retained 
in preselected vertical positions by cotter pins 88 passing through an 
aperture 89 in the post 86. 
In plan view of the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 9, member 204A is 
parallel to member 55 of the frame while member 204 is disposed at an 
angle thereto.