Bucket Elevators Specifications

Nearly all centrifugal discharge elevators have spaced buckets with rounded bottoms. They pick up their load from a boot, a pit, or a pile of material at the foot pulley.
The buckets can be also triangular in cross section and set close to on the belt with little or no clearance between them. This is a continuous bucket elevator. Its main use is to carry difficult materials at slow speed.
Early bucket elevators used a flat chain with small, steel buckets attached every few inches. Current construction uses a rubber belt with plastic buckets. Pulleys several feet in diameter are used at the top and bottom. The top pulley is driven by an electric motor.
The bucket elevator is the enabling technology that permitted the construction of grain elevators. A diverter at the top of the elevator allows the grain to be sent to the chosen bin.