Bucket elevators are used to move bulk materials in agriculture and mining. They are like conveyor belts with rotating buckets that can move vertically, horizontally, or around corners. They can handle minerals, fertilizers, and grains. They are designed for continuous operation and have safety features to prevent injury.
A bucket elevator or grain leg is a piece of equipment that is used to move materials in bulk. Bucket elevators are used in a wide variety of environments, including commercial agriculture and mining, and several specialized companies manufacture bucket elevators and accessories. These devices are primarily used when materials need to be handled on a large scale and are capable of moving huge volumes of bulk material every hour.
In essence, a bucket elevator is like a conveyor belt with buckets attached. It can be used to move things vertically, but it can also be used for corner carry or horizontal carry, depending on the design. The buckets are designed to rotate so they always remain upright, preventing spills, and their edges are hollowed out, so they can catch materials dragged through them. A bucket elevator can move materials such as minerals, fertilizers and grains.
In a basic vertical bucket elevator, the elevator moves the bulk materials up, dumps the bulk materials at the top, and the empty buckets return to pick up a new load. The unloaded materials are conveyed into a chute which can be attached to storage bins, packing bags, etc. The bucket elevator makes material processing purely mechanical, without the need to involve people beyond monitoring elevator activity and changing settings as needed.
More sophisticated bucket elevators can be programmed to unload materials at multiple intervals, as well as run along horizontal rails. As a general rule, elevator works are screened for safety so that people are not caught in the moving elevator. This is especially important when the buckets are on a chain rather than a belt, as the chain can snag clothing, hair or large limbs and cause serious injury to operators and bystanders.
Like many heavy equipment, the bucket elevator is designed for continuous operation. Starting and stopping operation can damage the device or reduce its efficiency, as well as increase the risk of spills. A business may choose to operate a bucket elevator for a set period of hours each day or operate the device nearly continuously if its computing needs are large enough. The bucket elevator has emergency stop settings that allow people to shut down the device if something goes wrong, and some are sensitive to lockouts that suggest something is trapped in the device and shut down automatically.
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