The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

i38 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL trough, therefore, must be provided for the horizontal portion of the lower strand. This trough is fitted with doors or slides, so that delivery can be given at any desired point. In the case illustrated, the delivery is given by a horizontal door held in position by a chain. This can be closed, and some other door opened elsewhere. The partitions in the buckets act like the scraper plates of a push-plate conveyor in this trough. Conveyors for Handling Larger Individual Loads in both Horizontal UPPER RUN LOWER RUN Fig. 191. Continuous Travelling Trough Conveyor with Partitions. and Vertical Direc- tions.—Appliances on the same principle as the gravity bucket conveyor are often used for tea chests, barrels, cases containing cube sugar, soap, etc., as long as they are all of a uniform size. By a slight modi- fication to a vertical swing tray elevator, the same type of machine can be readily adapted for conveying goods horizontally, after having been Fig. 190. Elevator with V-shaped Buckets, wh ch can also be Used as a Gravity Conveyor. LOADING raised vertically; the chains being now provided with small wheels or rollers running on angle-iron tracks as diagrammed in Fig. 193. By this means there results an enormous extension in the scope and utility of the machine; which further emphasises its marked superiority over the intermittent cage hoist, for the movement of large quantities of similar packages. It is evident that the path of the chains is not confined to the vertical and horizontal directions. The path may be inclined at any angle, or even curved; a variety of possible combinations being thus available. The nature of the path is determined by the site, the relative positions of the machines and workers to be served, and the impediments to be cleared. Of necessity, every conveyor has to be designed specially to suit the local conditions and requirements. Standardisation and production in quantities are clearly impossible in the case of conveyors where no two are precisely alike in form and dimensions, although certain details, such as chains, have been standardised.