How is a Bucket Elevator Used?

Can you point me to a video or article showing the correct and efficient operation of a bucket elevator?

I have read a lot on design of conveyors, but very little on operation, installation and the connection to other equipment.

My basic doubt is if a bucket elevator is fed by a chute going into the boot hopper or if it is fed by filling the boot's pit with grain (or other bulk solid). In that case I would have to clean manually the elevator before doing any other operation with it. I have seen both ways of doing it. Which is better?

What I want to do is to use the same elevator to accomplish different tasks at the plant. For that I would have to give it a capacity several times greater than the capacity given by a continuous flow, and build intermediate hoppers to store the grain while the elevator is doing something else. I don't know if this approach to the design of a grain facility is fine.

If feeding a boot with chutes is the right thing, may I also converge flows (lines) to the boot using a diverter valve? Is it the same any of the two boot's hoppers or have I got to make some capacity corrections?