An elevator bucket is an elevator bucket, right? Not anymore. Recent advances in design technology have brought the advent of the modern high efficiency centrifugal discharge elevator bucket. High efficiency elevator buckets push the traditional limits of carrying capacity, input flow and discharge, construction materials and diminished shipping space.

1. Digital Re-print -
May | June 2013
High efficiency elevator buckets: modern
vs traditional design
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2. A
n elevator bucket is
an elevator bucket,
right? Not anymore.
Recent advances in design
technology have brought
the advent of the modern
high efficiency centrifugal
discharge elevator bucket.
High efficiency elevator
buckets push the tradition-
al limits of carrying capacity,
input flow and discharge,
construction materials and
diminished shipping space.
No ‘angles’
The ‘breaks’ or ‘angles’
seen in the interior front
face of some traditional grain
handling elevator buckets
serve no determinable func-
tion. They neither improve
material flow nor discharge
efficiency. They simply mimic
the design employed by
the original fabricated steel
buckets of the 1920s, where
a break press was used on
High efficiency elevator buckets:
modern vs traditional design
by Carl Swisher, sales manager - material handling products, 4B Components Ltd, USA
A high efficiency elevator bucket has all of the following characteristics:
Modern Traditional
Smooth interior front faces, with
no breaks, that provide an efficient
discharge over higher speeds
They can be mounted closely
together to deliver the greatest, and
thereby, most efficient throughput
A tapered bottom that allows
the buckets to fill and discharge
efficiently
The tapered bottom allows the
buckets to nest inside one another,
for more efficient shipping and
storage
Wing-less sidewalls, making the
design more cost efficient and
thereby reducing material costs
JUMBO CC-S High Efficiency Bucket
Grain&feed millinG technoloGy20 | may - June 2013
FEATURE

3. sheet steel to gradually bend the metal
into a curve. High efficiency elevator
buckets have a smooth interior front
face with employing compound curve
geometry. This delivers an efficient
discharge with no impediments and
no crevices where product can collect.
Clean out is efficient and cross contami-
nation is minimized.
Tapered bottoms
High efficiency elevator buckets fea-
ture a tapered bottom. This tapered
bottom is key to the performance of the
high efficiency design and is leveraged for
several advantages. It allows the buckets
to be mounted closely together with a
minimum of vertical spacing. This creates
a ‘column’ of input material and generates
the greatest amount throughput possible
in the elevator leg system.
Close vertical spacing requires the
efficient entry and exit of input materi-
als into the elevator bucket string. The
tapered bottom allows the buckets to fill
and discharge not just from the front, but
from the sides as well. This style of bucket
feeds more efficiently on the up-leg, but
also in the boot section as well.
The tapered bottom allows high effi-
ciency elevator buckets to nest inside
one another. This makes shipping and
storage more efficient. Traditional buck-
ets do not nest and even when packaged
to minimize space, it is mostly air that
is being transported. A stack of high
efficiency buckets is denser, and as such,
qualifies for the most economical freight
rates. Additionally, they use less space
in the motor trailer or ocean-shipping
container, thereby reducing costs even
further. Once at the job site, they occupy
less floor space for storage.
Wing free
The ‘wings’ or ‘ears’ found on tradi-
tional grain handling elevator buckets do
not serve a determinable function either.
The origin of the feature is unclear but
appears to originate with the first fabri-
cated sheet steel buckets of the 1920s.
It may have served as a handle for shop
welders to safely grab with their fingers
and they tack welded the inside of the
buckets together. There is no evidence
that the wing provides extra guidance for
material during fill or discharge. Buckets
cannot nest for shipping and storage if
they have this feature. High efficiency
elevator buckets do not have wings or
ears. Material cost efficiencies are realized
with the removal of this physical feature.
In some cases, weight savings are realized
as well.
The advent of the modern high efficien-
cy centrifugal discharge elevator bucket
has brought industry greater throughputs
and cost savings. Now popular in agri-
cultural applications, they are becoming
more widely accepted for industrial use
as well, where over-sized slower mov-
ing elevator buckets have been utilized.
A true high efficiency elevator bucket
has a smooth interior front face, can be
mounted closely together, has a tapered
bottom, nests inside one another and has
no wings on the sidewalls.
"Recent advances in design technology have
brought the advent of the modern high efficiency
centrifugal discharge elevator bucket"
Grain&feed millinG technoloGy may - June 2013 | 21
More inforMation:
UK office
Tel: +44 113 2461800
Email: 4b-uk@go4b.com
USA office
Tel: +1 309 6985611
Email: 4b-usa@go4b.com
Website: www.go4b.com
FEATURE

4. www.gfmt.co.uk
LINKS
• See the full issue
• Visit the GFMT website
• Contact the GFMT Team
• Subscribe to GFMT
A subscription magazine for the global flour & feed milling industries - first published in 1891
INCORPORATING PORTS, DISTRIBUTION AND FORMULATION
In this issue:
• Additives
for flour
standardisation
Part II:
Additives other than
enzymes
• High efficiency
elevator
buckets:
modern vs
traditional
design
• Feed focus
Poultry
• Assessing
nutritional value
with NIR
May-June2013
• ‘Kill step’
validation of
low-moisture
extrusion
• Adding value to
feed milling
with profit-oriented feed
formulation
• Pest control
across the supply
chain
first published in 1891
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