Patent ID: 8770388

Claim:
A sweep conveyor including: a. a conveyor body having a conveyor length extending between a conveyor sump pivot and a conveyor outer end, the conveyor body including: (1) a forward inner wall, a rearward outer wall, and a rearward inner wall situated therebetween, wherein: i. a space defined between the rearward inner wall and the rearward outer wall defines a return area, and ii. a space defined in front of the forward inner wall defines a sweep area; (2) a roof extending over the return area; and wherein: (I) the conveyor body is formed of two or more body sections adjacently arrayed along the conveyor length, (II) each of the body sections includes a portion of the forward inner wall, a portion of the rearward inner wall, and a portion of the rearward outer wall, and (III) at least two adjacent body sections are hingedly connected, whereby the hingedly connected body sections may pivot with respect to each other in vertical planes; b. a pair of wheels oriented to rotate about at least substantially vertical axes, the wheels including an inner wheel at or adjacent to the conveyor sump pivot, and an outer wheel at or adjacent to the conveyor outer end; c. an endless belt riding on the inner and outer wheels about the forward and rearward inner walls; d. flights spaced along the belt and within the sweep and return areas, each flight having a length protruding horizontally from the belt between: (1) a flight inner end at which the flight is affixed to the belt, and (2) an opposing flight outer end.