Abstract: A belt conveyor for steep or vertical conveyance of bulk material has a conveyor belt (1) of the type having corrugated side walls which travels upstream and downstream of the upper discharge end drum (9) along a steep incline or in the vertical direction, that is, there is no additional deflection means at the upper end of the conveying track.

Abstract: A belt conveyor has a luffing boom (5) and a supporting leg (10) turningly joined with a free end of the boom. The single conveyor belt (15) of the belt conveyor is guided between the boom (5) and the supporting leg (10) by way of a bend unit (24), that has a so-called curved rolling guide (41). This rolling guide (41) is made up of a rigid part-circular guide (42) joined with the boom (5) and a chain-like curved part (43) dependent from the guide (42), the curved part (43) changing into a curved form on upward luffing of the boom (5) because of the wedge-like form of its chain links (43) or because of a curved rail (55) fixed to the top end of the supporting leg (10), whereas on downward luffing of the boom (5) it takes on a straight, freely hanging form so that it is taken up in the supporting leg (10) and for this reason takes up only a little space between the two runs (28 and 29) of the conveyor belt (15).

Abstract: In a conveyor system for bulk materials used for loading and unloading large containers, and particularly ships, including a gantry, a boom pivotally mounted on the gantry, a vertically positioned leg extending from the boom and mounted to rotate relative to the boom and conveyor belt devices movably carried by the gantry, the boom and the leg for conveying the bulk materials, improvements are provided which are characterized by providing a simplified construction of the conveyor system allowing both loading and unloading operations and eliminating the necessity of plural conveyor belts by utilizing a single continuous conveyor belt, spaced guide mechanisms for the conveyor belt carried by the rotating leg and by the boom for allowing the conveyor belt to twist with rotation of the leg relative to the boom, and a motor for selectively driving the conveyor belt in forward and reverse directions for loading and unloading bulk material.