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The colors speak for themselves. ;) It is amazing how long that is. My only experience with a belt was working at Walgreens on warehouse truck days. Even ou

The colors speak for themselves. ;) It is amazing how long that is. My only experience with a belt was working at Walgreens on warehouse truck days. Even our 60 foot belt continually had product falling off of it. I wonder what kind of oversight is done to make sure the items stay on it.

guelo 12y ago
None, that's why you can see the phosphate spillage from space.
- YokoZar 12y ago
  Still, it seems a little counterintuitive that it's not worth putting up an edge or something.
  - refurb 12y ago
    If it's crushed rock, i'll bet a lot of the spillage is dust and small rocks. After a few years it adds up!
  - kijin 12y ago
    If they poured crushed rock directly onto the belt, not much would be left after only a few kilometers, what with all the curves, slopes, and vibration. The belt will also be damaged beyond repair if you keep rubbing rock against it. So they probably put the rock in boxes and put the boxes on the conveyor belt. The tiny guardrails on either side should be enough to keep the boxes on the belt. Small pieces might spill over if the boxes aren't covered, but most of the cargo will arrive intact.
    - tlb 12y ago
      How would you get the boxes back to the beginning?
      - YokoZar 12y ago
        Hang em on the bottom of the conveyer belt!
      - saganus 12y ago
        Well, you put another conveyor belt going in the other direction of course. Then you will have the TWO longest conveyor belts in the world. Ka-ching! [Edit: Typo]
      - bcoates 12y ago
        Re-use them for shipping out the finished product, so they become someone else's problem.
    - garrettgrimsley 12y ago
      They don't have it in boxes. There are also no guardrails. You might be looking at the conveyor belt in the picture with trees. That's not the Bou Craa belt. Check out this video of a 10.5km limestone conveyor belt in China [0]. Notice the rollers have a tilt to them? I found a better photo of the belt itself on PBS. [1] if you look on the left hand side of the photo you can make out a cylindrical object beneath the belt. That is the roller, it has the a tilt to it, just like the Chinese belt. Any vibration will result in the load gathering toward the bottom the the belt. Most of what we see on the ground is small particles that are swept off of the belt by wind (Used to live near a port and a concrete factory. Lovely air quality, S&W Ready Mix.) [0] http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iq5TN_H_C4o http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iq5TN_H_C4o [1] http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-media/newshour/photos/2012/12/21/conveyer_slideshow.jpg http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-media/newshour/photos/2012/12/21/...
mc32 12y ago
I'm not sure, but I would guess they could be either have V-shaped x-section or have sag in the middle to avoid having the material fall off the edges.

guelo 12y ago

None, that's why you can see the phosphate spillage from space.

YokoZar 12y ago
Still, it seems a little counterintuitive that it's not worth putting up an edge or something.
- refurb 12y ago
  If it's crushed rock, i'll bet a lot of the spillage is dust and small rocks. After a few years it adds up!
- kijin 12y ago
  If they poured crushed rock directly onto the belt, not much would be left after only a few kilometers, what with all the curves, slopes, and vibration. The belt will also be damaged beyond repair if you keep rubbing rock against it. So they probably put the rock in boxes and put the boxes on the conveyor belt. The tiny guardrails on either side should be enough to keep the boxes on the belt. Small pieces might spill over if the boxes aren't covered, but most of the cargo will arrive intact.
  - tlb 12y ago
    How would you get the boxes back to the beginning?
    - YokoZar 12y ago
      Hang em on the bottom of the conveyer belt!
    - saganus 12y ago
      Well, you put another conveyor belt going in the other direction of course. Then you will have the TWO longest conveyor belts in the world. Ka-ching! [Edit: Typo]
    - bcoates 12y ago
      Re-use them for shipping out the finished product, so they become someone else's problem.
  - garrettgrimsley 12y ago
    They don't have it in boxes. There are also no guardrails. You might be looking at the conveyor belt in the picture with trees. That's not the Bou Craa belt. Check out this video of a 10.5km limestone conveyor belt in China [0]. Notice the rollers have a tilt to them? I found a better photo of the belt itself on PBS. [1] if you look on the left hand side of the photo you can make out a cylindrical object beneath the belt. That is the roller, it has the a tilt to it, just like the Chinese belt. Any vibration will result in the load gathering toward the bottom the the belt. Most of what we see on the ground is small particles that are swept off of the belt by wind (Used to live near a port and a concrete factory. Lovely air quality, S&W Ready Mix.) [0] http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iq5TN_H_C4o http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iq5TN_H_C4o [1] http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-media/newshour/photos/2012/12/21/conveyer_slideshow.jpg http://www-tc.pbs.org/prod-media/newshour/photos/2012/12/21/...

mc32 12y ago

I'm not sure, but I would guess they could be either have V-shaped x-section or have sag in the middle to avoid having the material fall off the edges.