Abstract: A door frame for use in the discharge doors of silos which is adapted to be quickly moved from one frame to another as silage is removed from the silo, and which will support a hood or funnel used with clean chute systems for discharging silage from the silo. The door frame also may provide a support for the silo unloader, including guides for the normal gooseneck discharge conduit of the unloader and its torque restraining means. The frame provides a rack for receiving and storing the silo door which is removed for installation of the frame. The frame is adjustable to tightly fit into different size door openings. In a preferred embodiment the door frame is raised and lowered into position through the use of a winch and motor assembly, thus making the changing of the movable door frame that supports the hood for the clean chute assembly simple, and relatively labor free.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a silo unloader which has a center ring supported through a support framework from a single centrally located cable, and a silo unloader is mounted for rotation relative to the ring. The ring is held from rotation through the use of a torque arm, and the unloader is driven for rotation by the same motor which powers the other standard silo unloader components. A chain encompasses the support ring and the drive sprocket and motor orbits around the ring with the silo unloader, which moves in a circular path for gathering and unloading silage through conventional means. The assembly can be suspended at the top of silos in which it is used.

Abstract: A support structure mounted at the top of the side walls of a tower silo including a safety platform accessible from the exterior of the silo, and extending into the interior of the silo so that operators may stand on the platform for servicing unloaders and filler devices at the top of the silo. Incorporated into the support structure is a track member which has a traveling carriage thereon adapted to provide a support for both a silo unloader and a silage filling distributor. The carriage and the distributor are connected by linkage such that when the filling distributor is to be used, the carriage moves laterally to move the center of support for the silo unloader away from the center of the silo so that the silo unloader can be raised above the top of the silo staves and positioned out of the way.