Claims
- 1. A method of forming an air seal and supporting a conveyor in a conveyor dryer comprising:a. supporting opposed side portions of a conveyor within the conveyor dryer on opposed conveyor supports; b. maintaining the conveyor supports stationary and moving the conveyor through the conveyor dryer such that the conveyor engages and-rides on the stationary conveyor supports. c. providing a material guide on each side of the conveyor and retaining material carried on the conveyor with the material guides; and d. extending the material guides downwardly towards the conveyor supports such that on each side of the conveyor the material guide and conveyor supports cooperate to form an air seal.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the conveyor supports are non-metallic.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein each conveyor support assumes a generally c-shaped configuration having a slot formed in the inboard side and wherein the side portions of the conveyor project into the slot and the conveyor is moved through the conveyor dryer such that the opposite sides of the conveyor ride in the slots of the conveyor support.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the material guides extend downwardly to the conveyor supports and then turn inwardly across the top of the respective conveyor supports after which the material guides turn downwardly and extend adjacent at least a portion of the outboard side of the conveyor supports.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the conveyor support on each side of the conveyor includes an elongated slot through which the conveyor moves.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the conveyor dryer includes a frame structure comprising a pair of laterally spaced rails that extend longitudinally through the conveyor dryer and wherein the conveyor supports are supported on the rails.
- 7. A method of supporting a conveyor within a conveyor dryer adapted to condition material carried on the conveyor, comprising: disposing a stationary non-metallic conveyor support on each side of a conditioning chamber formed within the conveyor dryer; supporting opposite sides of the conveyor on the non-metallic conveyor supports; and moving the conveyor through the conditioning chamber such that opposite portions of the conveyor engage and move over the stationary non-metallic supports; and directing a system of air through the conditioning chamber for contacting and conditioning the material carried by the conveyor.
- 8. The method of claim 7, including forming an air seal on each side of the conveyor by positioning a material guide adjacent to the conveyor such that the material guide and the adjacent non-metallic conveyor support cooperate to form the air seal which minimizes the flow of air between the material guide and the non-metallic conveyor support.
- 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the non-metallic conveyor support assumes a generally C shape configuration, having a slot formed in an inboard side thereof, and wherein the conveyor includes side portions that project into the slots of the non-metallic conveyor supports.
- 10. The method of claim 7, including positioning a material guide on each side of the conveyor and utilizing the material guide to retain material on the conveyor as the conveyor is pulled through the non-metallic conveyor support.
- 11. The method of claim 10, further including extending the material guides adjacent at least portions of the non-metallic conveyor supports such that an air seal is formed by the non-metallic conveyor supports and the material guides which generally minimizes the flow of air between the material guides and the nonmetallic conveyor supports.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/358,968, filed Jul. 22, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,941.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4407650 |
Greenler |
Oct 1983 |
|