This is a photo of the inside of the hopper where the cement trucks deposit their concrete. The angled pipe you see in the center of the hopper pivots back and forth from the opening you see on the left, to the position it is currently in, covering a second opening on the right which you can't see. Located behind these 2 round openings are the pump cylinders. The cylinders are operated by a pair of hydraulic cylinders which opperate in opposition to each other. When cylinder #1 is sucking concrete out of the hopper, cylinder #2 is pushing it's load of concrete through the discharge pipe you see in the photo above. At the end of the stroke cycle, the pipe you see in the photo will "toggle" to a position in front of the opposite cylinder allowing the empty cylinder to suck up another load of concrete while at the same time pumping the loaded cylinder of concrete into the delivery pipe. This all happens in a totally automatic sequence creating a constant flow of concrete out the end of the discharge pipe.
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