Patent ID: 7464808

Claim:
In combination: a dual belt conveyor having a flexible endless lower loop belt having a conveying section and a return section, a flexible endless upper loop belt having a conveying section and a return section, said lower loop belt and said upper loop belt arranged with adjacent portions of said conveying sections in face-to-face conveying relationship, drive means for moving said lower and upper loop belts at the same speed and trough means supporting said adjacent portions of said conveying sections of said lower loop belts and said upper loop belts and biasing said upper loop belt towards said lower loop belt thereby retaining granular product therebetween through the length of the adjacent portions of said conveying sections of said upper and lower loop belts; and a gripping intake system operatively associated with said dual belt conveyor, said gripping intake system including; intake chute means above and adjacent to said return sections of at least one of said upper belt loop and said lower belt loop; an upper loop belt tail roller operative to rollably support said upper loop belt between said conveying section and said return section; at least one hold down roller operative to rollably support said lower loop belt between said return section and said conveying section; at least one roller shield including a lower roller engaging section which fits over and generally encloses said at least one hold down roller; said tail roller and said at least one hold down roller retaining said upper and lower loop belts in spaced apart configuration prior to said adjacent portions of said conveying sections of said upper and lower loop belts being biased towards one another in face-to-face conveying relationship; and said return sections of at least one of said upper and lower loop belts operative to engage granular material held within said hopper means, accelerate the granular material via gravity and periodic engagement of the granular material with at least one of said upper and lower loop belts and the adjacent accelerated granular material as said upper loop belt passes over said tail roller and said lower loop belt passes under said at least one hold down roller to approximately the speed of said lower and upper loop belts and feed the accelerated granular material into said adjacent portions of said conveying sections of said upper and lower loop belts whereby the granular material is efficiently fed into said face-to-face conveying relationship section of said dual belt conveyor.