Overview
Conventional drag conveyors use return-side flights that travel opposite to the material at the loading point. When material enters from above — especially in surge or batch loads — these opposing flights create interference, jams, and blockages. The Top Flight Drag Conveyor solves this with a fundamentally different design. Its chain-driven flights sit on top of the conveyor bed and move in the same direction as the material flow. Material drops in from above with zero interference, and the flights push it along the bottom of an abrasion-resistant hardened steel trough to the discharge point.
This design makes the Top Flight the right conveyor for operations that deal with problematic materials and unpredictable loading conditions — recycling lines with variable infeed, shredders with surge output, manufacturing cells producing chips and turnings, and bulk handlers processing wet, gritty, or hot materials that would damage or overload a standard belt conveyor.
How It Works
Material enters through the top or infeed area of the conveyor. Chain-driven flights — reinforced for tough applications — engage the material and push it along the bottom of the hardened steel trough toward a controlled discharge point. Because the flights travel in the same direction as the material, there is no opposing motion at the loading point. This allows continuous top loading, surge loading, and batch loading without the jams, overloading, and premature wear that plague conventional drag-chain systems.
Key Advantages
The Top Flight brings together the strengths of drag conveyors and belt conveyors while avoiding the weaknesses of each. It combines the material containment and abrasion resistance of a trough-based drag system with the open, interference-free top loading of a belt conveyor.
- Zero top-loading interference — flights move with the material, not against it
- Handles high temperature, sharp, jagged, gritty, wet, and loose materials
- Accommodates high-volume infeed, surge loading, and batch loading
- Abrasion-resistant hardened steel trough contains material and reduces spillage
- Heat-resistant flights push material along the trough bottom for durable, consistent transport
- Maximized flight surface area for increased material movement per cycle
- Reduced jams, downtime, maintenance costs, and premature wear compared to belt conveyors and standard drag chains
Models and Configuration
The Top Flight is available in three chain-pitch configurations — 1-1/2 inch, 2-1/2 inch, and 4 inch — covering a capacity range from 1,200 to 4,000 pounds. Conveyor widths run from 6 to 52 inches, with custom widths available. Flight materials include UHMW, abrasion-resistant steel, and stainless steel. Configuration options include self-feeding hoppers, liquid-tight construction with drain plugs, discharge hoods, removable top covers, modular sections, and side skirts from 6 to 36 inches in straight or flared configurations. Chain options include standard hardened steel, stainless steel, and mill-duty chain.
Applications
The Top Flight Drag Conveyor serves operations where material characteristics make belt conveyors impractical and where conventional drag chains create loading-point problems. Target industries and materials include recycling (shredded plastics, mixed recyclables, cardboard), industrial shredding (metal shreds, post-shredder fines), e-scrap (circuit boards, shredded wire, metal fragments), manufacturing (machine chips, turnings, wet or oily swarf), biomass and wood processing (chips, sawdust, pulp), aggregate and sand handling, agricultural applications (grain, seed, mash, feed), and toll grinding or metering operations.