Hopper

The Hopper is a block planned to be added in the Redstone Update. When placed, it will connect to the face of the block you are looking at. If an item falls into the top of it, it will store it in its own internal inventory of five item slots. However, if the block the hopper is attached to is a container with inventory slots (like a chest), the hopper will transfer items from its inventory to the inventory of the attached block at rate of about 2-3 items per second. The hopper will also transfer items from the inventory of a container placed above it into its own inventory at the same rate. If the hopper is both drawing items from a container above it and also putting them into a container beside or below it, it will alternate between the two containers, effectively transferring items between the containers at 1-1 1/2 items per second.

The hopper will recognize Storage Minecarts, but it currently also recognizes ordinary Minecarts and Powered Minecarts. For example, if a powered minecart is directly under a hopper and the hopper has items in its inventory, it will actually store the items in the powered minecart. The items can only be retrieved by positioning the same powered minecart over the top of another hopper.

Hoppers can not currently be used for automating furnaces. When fuel and smeltable items are fed into the furnace, they are not always placed in the correct slot. Also, if a hopper is placed underneath the furnace, it will take items from all of the furnace's slots, rather than just the output, removing items before they have a chance to smelt.

The hopper can be used for substitute pipes. If you were to place a chest or other block with an inventory above a hopper, then connect the hopper to another block(even another hopper), it will transfer the items between the two blocks. However, this method is expensive and items cannot travel upwards.

Trivia

 * A hopper is a type of chute used in industrial processes that incorporates a limited storage capacity.
 * Hoppers will not connect to Ender Chests.
 * Currently, hoppers do not automatically connect to the nearest storage block. Instead, you must place it against the storage block by holding shift and right clicking.
 * You can make a hopper "net" to have a higher item catch rate. Make sure hoppers point to each other!

Bugs

 * Sometimes, hoppers will not connect to chests sideways. [This bug is only effective on some versions. It can be fixed by placing a hopper into the direction you want it to go to, as hoppers do not automatically connect]

Gallery
Trichterblock Embudo Entonnoir 漏斗