AU608475B1

AU608475B1 - Portable belt tensioned elevator

Info

Publication number: AU608475B1
Application number: AU50108/90A
Authority: AU
Inventors: John Ayres
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-02-01
Filing date: 1990-02-22
Publication date: 1991-03-28
Anticipated expiration: 2010-02-22

Description

I r b&0V;75 This document contains the amendments made under Section 49 and is correct for printing.

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA The Patents Act 1952-1969 Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: JOHN AYRES 50 WEST MT. COTTON ROAD,

CORNUBIA,

QUEENSLAND 4130,

AUSTRALIA

APPLICANT

o Eo o0 o 00 0000 0 0 0 0 a o OQOoo 0000 0 0 0000 0 09 G.R. CULLEN COMPANY, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 79 Eagle Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

00oo99 0 0 00 0 04 0 0s 0 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR THE INVENTION ENTITLED: "PORTABLE BELT TENSIONED ELEVATOR" 0o 0 0 0 0 e a 0 6 The following statement is a full description of the invention including the best method of performing it known to me: I Australian t i' (SW ature) attorne A LLO W ED THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS This form must be accompanied by either a provisional specification (Form 9 and true copy) or by dcomplete specification (Form 10 and true copy).

2 THE PRESENT INVENTION relates to a conveyor apparatus. In particular, the invention concerns a conveyor apparatus which may function as an elevator for lifting and conveying building materials at a building site.

At building sites there is a need for lifting and conveying building materials such as bricks or roofing tiles.

Bricks or tiles are generally suppled on pallets and need to be conveyed to locations around the site as needed during the construction process.

Bricks and tiles have been manually conveyed to c e 0 o0 locations around the site. This is tedious and time °000 a consuming.

o o o.o Conveyors having endless belts trained between Goo 0 0 00 0" spaced rollers at ends of a substantial framework have also been proposed. The framework was either constructed as a unitary component or was made of framework sections which 000". were bolted together.

0000 o 0 Because such conveyors had a substantial framework 00 over which the belt was trained, they tended to be expensive and not readily transportable from one building site to another. For this reason the framework sections were, as 0" mentioned, usually bolted together and could be demounted for 0o o 0 O transport to other sites but required re-assembly when positioned at new sites.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyor apparatus which at least minimises the S ia 3 disadvantages referred to above.

According to the invention there is provided a conveyor apparatus including a frame, a cambered conveyor jib extending outwardly from the frame and in a cantilevered fashion, an adjustable mount securing the jib to the frame and enabling the degree to which it extends from the frame to be varied, at least two spaced rollers, one said roller being mounted to the frame or to the jib adjacent the frame and the other said roller being mounted to the jib and distant from the frame and an endless conveyor member trained to extend over the rollers whereby adjusting the degree of extension of the jib from the frame may tension the endless conveyor 0 0o member and place the jib under compression.

0 0 0 The cambered conveyor jib may comprise one or more o0 o00.16 elongate conveyor support members. Where there is more than o oo one member, these members are preferably releasably securable 6000 0 to one another in end to end relationship. The member may 00oo o comprise conveyor support channel. The channel has opposed side flanges and a connecting web. The endless conveyor may rest upon the web. Preferably the channel comprises a o 0 plurality of channel sections mounted in end to end oo0 0 o0o 00 0 relationship to provide a cambered support channel.

0 o0 00 At least two spaced rollers are present for o"Oo" supporting the endless conveyor. One of these rollers is o025a driven to cause the endless conveyor to move over the rollers o o o.ono and the web of the support channel. One of the rollers may 0 0 L IL 4

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rl -;l I -ic i I i 3a be journalled for rotation at or adjacent the distal end of the jib. The other roller may be mounted either on the frame or the end of the jib adjacent the frame. Preferably the e 00 00 0 0 00 0000 0 0 0 0 0000 0 0 0 a o 0000 0000 0 00 00 0 00 a 0o G 0000 0 00 Q0 0 0 00 0 a J 0 0 00 0 6 0 6 0 a 4 other roller is journalled for rotation and mounted relative to the frame. It is preferred that the other roller be the driven roller and the roller spaced therefrom be an idler roller. If desired, a plurality of intermediate guides for the endless conveyor may be present along the jib. The intermediate guides may also be rollers. The intermediate rollers are preferably idler rollers journalled for rotation relative to the support channel.

The endless conveyor may comprise a conveyor belt 10 or chain. Preferably a belt is employed. The belt may be Seo 00 provided with spaced partition members which extend across o0o0 the belt and which assist to restraining articles on the belt oOOO during conveying motion.

0 o The adjustable mount, as mentioned, enables .the o e degree to which the jib extends from the frame to be varied such that the endless conveyor may be tensioned to thereby I o.oo place the cambered jib under compression to reinforce the o"0 inherent strength of the jib. Preferably the jib is slidably 0 0 mounted to the frame. To this end the mount may include o oe slide members on the jib receivable in slide guides on the frame. The mount may include an adjustment member 'for o o causing sliding movement of the jib relative to the frame.

0 The adjustment member may comprise a screw or a jack.

Preferably a jack such as a screw or hydraulic jack is employed. The jack may be mounted to extend between the frame and the jib such that extension of the jack caises the jib to slide relative to the frame.

The apparatus may include drive means. The drive means may include a motor for driving one of the rollers. An electric hydraulic or internal combustion motor may be used.

Preferably an electric motor is employed. The motor may be directly or indirectly coupled to the pulley.. Preferably the motor is indirectly coupled to drive the roller via a pulley.

The motor may be mounted to the frame.

The frame may be wheeled for transport over the ground. At least one pair of wheels may be present. The o 0 1 3 wheels may be journalled to the frame by an axle extending coc across the frame.

000ooeo0 .0oo A particular preferred embodiment of the invention 0000 o 9o will now be descr-ibed by way of example with reference to the oo0 000 0 drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conveyor apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention; and 0000 o 0, Figure 2 is a sectional view of the apparatus taken along line II-II of Figure 1.

A conveyor apparatus 10 is shown in Figure 1. The apparatus has a frame 11 and a jib 12. The frame 11 consists 0o 0 0 'o of frame members 14, 15 and 16 which extend longitudinally

O

0" 0 and transverse frame members, 17/17a, 18/18a. The frame has an extension comprised of longitudinal frame members 19, The free ends of members 19, 20 are bridged by a short transverse frame member (not shown).

r:- The jib 12 comprises two support channel sections 26. Each section 25, 26 has two opposed flanges 27, 28 and a web 29. Sections 25, 26 are joined together by sliding joints 30. Each joint 30 consists of a guide block 31 secured to flanges of section 26 and a guide 32 with a finger 33 secured to a flange of section 25. Finger 33 is received in a recess between a flange of section 26 and block 31. The ends of sections 25, 26 abut and the sections may easily be separated by moving section 25 away from section 26 to slide finger 33 out of the recess.

o0 0 Frame members 19, 20 slide blocks 35 secured thereto with longitudinally extending members 36 welded to o flanges 27, 28 of section 26. Members 36 and blocks 35 guide 0 the jib for sliding movement relative to the frame 11.

000 0 A jib 40 is secured to members 17 and 19 by frame member 41 and its free end abuts plate 42 which projects downwardly from web 29.

Driven roller 50 is mounted to the frame 11 and is t) o journalled for rotation by bearings 51. A shaft 52 extends o 4.( from the roller and one end of the shaft has pulley 53 mounted to it. A motor 54 is secured to bed 55 and drives 06 0 C pulley 53 via belt 56.

04 A roller 57 is journalled for rotation at the distal end of the jib. Endless belt 58 is trained over rollers 50 and 57.

The frame 11 has ground engaging wheels 58 mounted il___ i i~ I 7 at opposite ends of an axle 59 which is secured to the frame and extends transversely thereof.

Flange 28 of section 25 has a slot 60 as does web 29 adjacent the slot 60. These slots enable the belt 58 to be removed if desired.

In use, the jack 40 is employed to cause the jib to move away from the frame 11. This causes the belt to be tensioned. Tensioning of the belt places the cambered jib under compression and this, together with the presence of the 9 10 camber or upward bowing of the jib instills added strength to a0 0 the jib without the need for a substantial framework for supporting the belt and hence the load.

)When it is desired to move the apparatus to an o* alternative worksite the jack is released and the jib caused to slide toward the frame 11. This enables the belt to be removed and the jib can then be detached and sections 25 and 26 separated from one another.

o p o o As an added feature a guy wire may extend between the ends of the jib to apply some degree of compressions to the jib. This ensures that the jib is still able to safely carry the load in the event that the belt breaks during al i service.

a s 4

Claims

1. A conveyor apparatus including a frame, a cambered conveyor jib extending outwardly from the frame and in a cantilevered fashion, an adjustable mount securing the jib to the frame and enabling the degree to which it extends from the frame to be varied, at least two spaced rollers, one said roller being mounted to the frame or to the jib adjacent the frame and the other said roller being mounted to the jib and distant from the frame and an endless conveyor member trained to extend over the rollers whereby adjusting the degree of extension of the jib from the frame may tension the endless conveyor member and place the jib under compression.

2. The apparatus of Claim 1 including a pair of ground engaging wheels journalled for rotation and mounted to the frame.

3. The apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 wherein one said roller is mounted adjacent a distal end of the jib and journalled for rotation r:lative to the jib and the other said roller is mounted to the frame for rotation relative thereto.

4. The apparatus of Claim 3 including drive means for rotating the other said roller to cause the endless conveyor member to move over said rollers.

The apparatus of Claim 4 wherein said drive means includes an electric motor, a pulley coupled to the other roller and a belt for driving the pulley. 9

6. The apparatus of any one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein said jib comprises a channel shaped support member for supporting the endless conveyor member.

7. The apparatus of Claim 6 wherein the channel shaped support member comprises at least two channel shaped support sections releasably coupled in end to end relationship.

8. The apparatus of any one of Claims 1 to 7 wherein said jib is slidably secured relative to the frame.

9. The apparatus of Claim 8 wherein said jib has longitudinally extending slide members secured thereto which co-operate with respective guide blocks on the frame for guiding the jib for sliding movement relative to the frame. 0

10. The apparatus of any one of Claims 1 to 9 including an adjustment member for causing the jib to slide relative to the frame. 0 0

11. The apparatus of Claim 10 wherein said adjustment o e^ member comprises a jack extending between the frame and the 0 04 :4 jib.

12. The apparatus of any one of Claims 1 to 11 wherein said endless conveyor member is an endless conveyor belt.

13. A conveyor apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings. DATED this 11 day of December, 1990. JOHN AYRES 'By his Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.