Patent ID: 7810788

Claim:
An apparatus for lifting a conveyor belt, the apparatus comprising: a belt lifting member configured to engage the belt and to lift and to lower the belt; a lower support to support the belt lifting member and the lifted belt thereon; a scissor mechanism having crossed lever arms with each lever arm having opposite ends and the lever arms being joined at an intermediate pivot axis for angular movement relative to one another; one of the arms having an upper one of the ends mounted for translation and the other arm having a lower one of the ends mounted for translation with the pivot axis translating with the translation of the upper and lower ends of the arms; a power input device operably connected to the scissor mechanism and configured to be operated to generate a drive force to actuate the crossed lever arms with the upper and lower ends and pivot axis translating and the arms moving angularly relative to one another for raising or lowering the belt lifting member; upper and lower track members that are laterally open; an upper roller of the one lever arm mounted at the upper end thereof for rolling on the upper laterally open track member; a lower roller of the other lever arm mounted at the lower end thereof for rolling on the lower laterally open track member; and a linear drive member of the power input device that travels linearly for actuating the crossed lever arms and that is aligned laterally with the lower roller and the lower end of the other lever arm to which the lower roller is mounted during the entirety of the linear travel thereof to transmit the drive force from operation of the power input device to the lower roller.