Secondary belt cleaner with modular, torsional tensioned arm and replaceable blade tips

1. A secondary belt cleaning system for cleaning the return side surface of an endless conveyor belt, said secondary belt cleaning system comprising:

a plurality of blade devices mounted to a support shaft having mounting brackets at each end of said support shaft in order to configure said plurality of blade devices to be transversely positioned against the return side surface of the conveyor belt, each one of said plurality of blade devices being pivotable in the direction of conveyor belt movement for providing relief thereto;

each one of said plurality of blade devices comprising:

a torsion spring; and

a blade tip that is replaceable, said torsion spring rotatably biasing said replaceable blade tip of said blade device against the return surface of the conveyor belt;

a blade support to which said replaceable blade tip is connected to form a head portion;

a blade arm coupled at one end to said head portion and coupled at its other end to a first end of a rotatable shaft; and

wherein said rotatable shaft comprises a second end, opposite said first end, that is coupled with said torsion spring inside a housing that is fixedly secured to the support shaft.

2. The secondary belt cleaning system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of blade devices comprises blade arms of different lengths arranged alternately on said support shaft.

3. The secondary belt cleaning system of claim 2 wherein said torsion springs of said blade arms are pretensioned to different angular amounts depending on said lengths.

4. The secondary belt cleaning system of claim 1 wherein said torsion spring is stainless steel.

5. The secondary belt cleaning system of claim 1 wherein said replaceable blade tip comprises a carbide tip.

6. A method of cleaning the surface of the return side of an endless conveyor belt, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of blade devices mounted to a support shaft having mounting brackets at each end of said support shaft in order to configure said plurality of blade devices to be transversely positioned against the return side surface of the conveyor belt and wherein each blade device is formed by:

connecting said replaceable blade tip to a blade support to form a head portion;

coupling a blade arm at one end to said head portion and coupling the other end of said blade arm to a first end of a rotatable shaft; and

coupling a second end of said rotatable shaft, opposite said first end, with said torsion spring inside a housing that is fixedly secured to said support shaft; and

rotatably biasing a blade tip of each one of said plurality of blade devices against the return side surface of the conveyor belt by pretensioning a respective torsion spring within respective blade devices, each one of said plurality of blade devices being pivotable in the direction of conveyor belt movement for providing relief thereto, each blade tip being replaceable such that only said blade tip requires replacement when said blade tip is worn.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said step of coupling a blade arm comprises coupling a blade arm of a first length between said head portion and said rotatable shaft for a first blade device and coupling a blade arm of a second length, different from said first length, between said head portion and said rotatable shaft for a second blade device positioned adjacent to said first blade device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said step of coupling a second end of said rotatable shaft comprises pretensioning said torsion springs of said first blade device and said second blade device to different angular amounts.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein said torsion spring is stainless steel.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein said replaceable blade tip comprises a carbide tip.