Patent ID: 8607968

Claim:
A conveyor assembly comprising: (1) a continuous conveyor belt extending about a head pulley and a tail pulley to have a carry side and a return side for the belt, wherein the conveyor assembly has a loading zone where material is loaded onto the carry side of the belt and a transport zone between the loading zone and the head pulley; (2) a plurality of conveyor belt supports positioned along the length of the belt for supporting carry and return sides of the conveyor belt, the conveyor belt support comprising: (a) a return roller structure extending across the width of the belt and supported by a belt support on one side of the conveyor assembly; (b) a return roller extending across the width of the belt on the return roller structure; (c) a releasable support apparatus adapted to support the other side of the return roller structure on the opposite side of the conveyor assembly, whereby upon release of the releasable support apparatus, the return roller structure can be removed from the opposite side of the conveyor assembly.