A loading conveyor is any type of conveyor system used to load a receptacle or transportation vehicle. Conveyors are systems that transport items or materials from one point to another using a belt wrapped around a series of rollers or cylinders. Sometimes a conveyor uses an auger to transport materials that cannot be moved on the belt, such as fine particulate matter. The loading conveyor itself is usually designed to move items or materials forward and upward so materials can be loaded onto the belt at the low end and then raised to the high end. This allows the materials to fall freely into a truck bed or other receptacle.
Some types of materials will need to be contained within the loading conveyor to prevent spillage during transport. The conveyor will therefore feature walls, usually made of steel, to contain the materials while they are being transported. The end of the conveyor system may have a flexible tube that allows a user to control where the materials are dumped within a truck bed or receptacle; this is especially useful when transporting fine particulates such as grains, soils, or even some types of rocks. The conveyor itself is also sometimes adjustable so the materials can be moved effectively without having to move the truck or receptacle.
Sometimes the loading conveyor is not raised up at all; instead, the system may use a hopper, which is a container that will temporarily hold the material and slowly load it onto one end of the belt. A backhoe could, for example, dump soil into the hopper, which will then release the soil from the bottom of the hopper onto the loading conveyor, which in turn moves the soil horizontally into a truck bed. This is a system commonly used in construction settings, mining settings, or other excavation sites.
Another type of loading conveyor is not motorized and may not feature any inclines or declines at all. Instead, this manual system features rollers on which items such as boxes can be pushed along for sorting and loading into trucks. Such a system is commonly used by shipping companies or by delivery workers in a warehouse. Items can be placed on the loading conveyor and pushed along the rollers, sorted, added or removed from the conveyor, and dropped into a collection bin or stacked in a delivery vehicle. Sometimes these conveyors are even portable or retractable so they can be stored more easily when not in use.
