A closed loop feed trough having a feed chain moveable lengthwise therein to distribute feed from a hopper associated with the trough provided with an impeller which rotates in response to movement of the chain to assist in returning uneaten feed to the hopper. The impeller is mounted in the hopper adjacent its inlet and is fabricated in two halves which are fastened to opposite sides of a drive sprocket which engages the feed chain. Each half of the impeller has a hub and a series of vanes extending outwardly and rearwardly at spaced intervals from the hub to provide a series of buckets between the vanes. A baffle overlies the impeller to shield the buckets from feed in the hopper as they rotate downwardly toward the inlet while affording unloading of feed from between the vanes as they rotate upwardly away from the feed chain.
A feed hopper for loading a conveyor with bulk pellet-like items is disclosed. The hopper has a chamber with a top opening for receiving the items and a bottom opening positioned above the conveyor for discharging the items. A plurality of baffle plates are arranged in spaced relation one above the other within the chamber, the baffle plates being angularly oriented with respect to the horizontal and extending partially across the chamber. Bulk pellet-like items received in the top opening impact on the baffle plates as they fall under gravity through the chamber onto the conveyor beneath, the weight of the pellets being supported by the baffle plates and not directly all at once on the conveyor. The lowermost baffle plate is rotatably movable between an open position wherein the plate is in spaced relation with the above positioned neighboring plate, and a closed position whereby an edge of the movable baffle plate is brought into contact with an edge of the neighboring plate, thereby closing off the chamber and preventing items from passing through to the conveyor. The hopper includes a device for measuring the quantity of items on the conveyor, and when this quantity exceeds a predetermined limit, the movable baffle plate is positioned to close off the chamber, the plate being moved back to the open position when the quantity is lower than a second predetermined amount less than the first quantity.
