Patent ID: 7938244

Claim:
A flexible liner panel or tile for a hopper or chute or other bulk materials handling equipment, comprising: an elongate body having mounting means releasably engageable with fixing means on a wall of the hopper or chute; and at least one flexible fin or flap extending from the elongate body and operable, in use, to extend at an acute inclined angle to the wall of the hopper or chute in a downstream direction of flow of material through the hopper or chute, the elongate body means being releasably securable to a wall of the hopper or chute, so that the at least one flexible fin or flap of one liner panel or tile overlies an elongate body of an adjacent liner panel or tile, in the downstream direction, intermediate or adjacent the centre line of the or each flexible fin or flap, and wherein at rest, the or each flexible fin or flap of the one liner panel or tile is spaced above the elongate body of the adjacent liner panel or tile and, in use, the elongate body of the adjacent liner panel or tile forms a line of deflection for the or each flexible fin or flap of the one liner panel or tile, the line of deflection forming a fulcrum within the or each flexible fin or flap such that material flowing through the hopper or chute causes a portion of the flexible fin or flap downstream of the line of deflection to flex.