Patent ID: 8727108

Claim:
A belt conveyor apparatus comprising: a tube mounted on a frame supported on wheels, the tube sloping upward from a lower intake end to an upper discharge end; a hopper extending from the lower intake end of the tube; a belt with an upper run passing along a floor of the hopper then up through the tube to the discharge end of the tube, and with a lower run extending under the tube and hopper; wherein the floor of the hopper has edge portions curving upward from a middle portion of the floor such that as the belt moves along the floor, corresponding side portions of the belt curve upward from a middle portion of the belt; wherein right and left sidewalls of the hopper extend upward and outward from bottom inner edges thereof located above right and left sides of the middle portion of the belt such that right and left outer edges of the belt are located under the corresponding right and left sidewalls; right and left seal strips, each seal strip fastened along an upper edge thereof to a corresponding sidewall such that lower edges of the seal strips are in proximity to corresponding right and left sides of the middle portion of the belt, and such that right and left pockets are formed under the right and left sidewalls between the curved side portions of the belt and the seal strips.