Bucket Elevators

Although bucket elevators can be used for a wide variety of agricultural and commercial applications, you will most often find bucket elevators being used in agriculture. There probably isn't a crop farmer that grows such things as corn who doesn't use some form of bucket elevator to move his crops which have been newly harvested up and into silo. Bucket elevators are manufactured in such a way that they can move heavy loads quite easily. They can be belt driven or chain driven and they can move vertically, horizontally or at an incline.

Advantages of Bucket Elevators

The major advantage to using bucket elevators is that they can be completely automated, thereby reducing manpower hours. Although a human is needed to monitor the machinery and perhaps periodically change settings, once the load is deposited for transport little human participation is necessary. The other major advantage in bucket elevators is amount of weight they can withstand. This alone makes them ideal for agricultural and industrial applications.

Centrifugal Discharge Bucket Elevators

Bucket elevators are sometimes referred to as conveyor buckets, most often when the movement is horizontal or on an incline. However, technically speaking, vertical movement is also accomplished with a conveyor belt or chain. The centrifugal discharge bucket elevator is perhaps the most common type. Of course, as the name implies the elevator is driven by centrifugal force. This type of elevator has lower speeds and the buckets are often placed relatively closely together.

Vertical Elevators

Vertical bucket elevators usually have buckets that are well spaced with bottoms that are rounded, and are often referred to as grain legs. Part of the reason for this is balance which keeps the contents in the buckets as they move up the elevator so that spillage isn't a problem. Vertical bucket elevators need to be used at a much slower pace both to avoid spilling contents and also because much of the time they carry loads that are quite heavy.

Bucket Elevators – Optional Features & Designs

There are so many types of bucket elevators that are built to accommodate a great number of different cargos. Because of this, there are quite a few optional features that you could look for when seeking the best type for the task at hand. Some of those optional features would include variable speeds, automatic bucket clearing, stainless steel buckets, plastic buckets, anti-static buckets, dust proof buckets, weather proof/resistant buckets and even buckets that are explosion proof. Again, depending on the composition of the materials the bucket will be holding, some options provide safer handling of the contents.

No matter what type of product you need to move, bucket elevators can usually be manufactured to easily handle the load. From oil to granary products, they can be 100% customized or standard issue. For more information on what is available, it is advisable to get quotes from a variety of manufacturers. Not only are you likely to find the best solution for your business, but you will also have a range of prices to choose from.