CA1082623A

CA1082623A - Conveyor skirt board and holder

Info

Publication number: CA1082623A
Application number: CA314,130A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Richard P. Stahura
Original assignee: Martin Engineering Co
Current assignee: Martin Engineering Co
Priority date: 1978-02-16
Filing date: 1978-10-24
Publication date: 1980-07-29
Also published as: NL7900329A; FR2417452A1; AU524185B2; GB2014530A; NL177480C; ATA94579A; MX147626A; DE2855164C2; CA1155786B; SE7813452L; IT1110686B; DE2855164A1; IN149740B; FR2417452B1; AT361378B; SE436735B; AU4192578A; ZA786627B; JPS5734167B2; GB2014530B

Abstract

CONVEYOR SKIRT AND HOLDER
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A skirt board and installation arrangement adapted effectively to seal a moving conveyor belt, including skirt board sections interlocked with each other and individually adjustable and removable for replacement, which can be accomplished easily without major tools and without stopping the conveyor belt. The skirt board sections are simple to install individually, or by groups and these operations may be performed while the conveyor belt continues to run and when installed, maintains a proper and effective seal with the belt.

Description

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COM~EYOR ~KIRT AN~ IIOLDER
BACK~ROUND OF T~IE INVEN'rION

Heretofore, skirt board devices have involved arrangements which because of rapid wear by the n~oving conveyor be~t, necessitated frequent replacement, or constant adjustment which, with the arrangements used, was difficult and ~ecause of the continuous wear on the devices it was impossible to maintain an e.ective and continuous seal between the skirt boards and the moving belt.
L0 It has been the general practice to utilize skirt boarding on ~onveyorsto provide a ~seal between the movins ,' convevor kelt and the stationary bin, or chute, where ma~
terial'is discharged onto the belt. This particular point is very important to ~eal because it is ~Aere that a great per-centage of the dlrt encountered thrGughout a plant finds its source. Material escaping from the conveyor at this loading point becomec scattered throughout the plant and represents a loss of the material conveyed.
`. Prior skirt boards were constructed fror;~resilient '' material, such'as rubber or the like, and were mounted on the ~ ' ,,' conveyor housing by some means whick afforded manual adjustment, in an effort to mate the board with,the conveyor belt in ~ome such manner as might form an,adequate seal;ng relationship.
~ The seal was extremely difficult to maintain because of the ; wear re$ulting from the abrasion by the constantly traveling conveyor belt and which made the frequent ad]ustments re-quired, almost impossible for maintenance personnel in the ',~, pl~nt to cope with,and unless the adjustr,lent was attenaed , to at regular intervals it was not possible to prevent the , ~-~
, material from escaplng from the conveyor system.

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~O~Z~3 Conventional skirt board installations here-tofore have provided arrangements where it was ~ossible to adjust the skirt boards to obtain a sealing engagement with the conveyor belt but generally, these prior skirt boards were bolted in place and it became a major operation to perform the adjustments. The system had to be completely shutdown, the bolts loosened, the skirt boards adjusted and then the bolts retightened and each time an adjustment was required these same steps became necessary to perform and if any resemblance of an effective seal was attempted to be maintained, the operation had to be repeated quite frequently.
SUMMARY OF THE I~VENTION ~`
The present design for a skirt board installation utilizes an inventive concept which avoids the problems ;
o such prior art devices and overcomes the various short-comings inherent in the structures heretofore relied upon.
According to the present invention there is provided a shirt board installation for a conveyor having a travelling belt including a mounting plate secured on the vertical walls of a conveyor loading chute. There is provided at least one skirt board section adapted to contact the travelling belt with means mounting the skirt board section relative to the mounting plate so as to allow for selective adjustment of the section toward the belt and to retard movement of the section away from the belt until a predetermined vertical force is exceeded. The skirt board has one or more skirt board sections each adapted to con-tact the travelling belt, the skirt board sections each including generally vertical slides and guideways along their adjoining edges allowing for the adjustment and the ; movement.

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The improvements afforded by this invention provide a simple and convenient means for installing the skirt boards and for adjusting them relative to the moviny belt. ~-This adjustm~nt can readily be made merely by tapping in- -dividual s~irt hoard sections to move them downwardly to positions in enaagement with the belt, whi.ch can be accomplished without the need for stopping the belt, thus ~voidin~ complete shut-down of the s~stem.
By thus mmairltaining the sealiny relatioship 0 between the skirt board and the conveyor belt more o{ less constan~ the escape of material from the belt is prevented ..
and the high labor costs of cleanina u~ this lost materia].
i~ avoided. Present EPA rules require that plants be kept very clean ~nd in view of which any material escapin~ from the conveyor system must be cleaned up and with prior skirt board arrangements it was not possible to work around a moving : conveyor bel.t so that it became nec~ssary to shut down the conveyor system to adjust the skirt .in an èffort to obtain â more effective seal and to clean up the lost material.
~ Shutting down the conveyo:^ system for these pur-; poses resulted in a serious loss of valuavle production time so that the capability of the present skirt board arrangement to enable the individual skirt board sections to be tapped into er.gagement with the belt to maintain a maximum sealing condition greatly reduces, or eliminates, the necess.ity for clean-up operat.ions and stoppa~e of the conveyor system.
BJECTS OE' T~E INVENTION
It lS a primary purpose of this invention to 0 provide a sealing installation between a stationary b.i.n, or loading chute, and a traveling conveyor belt which effectively prevents the escape of mate~ial and which - ~8~ 6~3 may be readily adj usted to maintain a substantially ;
continuous sealing relationship with the belt.
The principal object of the invention is the provision of a skirt board installation for conveyors including a plurality of skirt board sections individually adjustable.
An important object of the invention is to provide a skirt board installation for conveyors having a plurality of skirt board sections interlocked together at their adjoining vertical edges and capable of individual relative vertical movement.
DESCRIPTION OF IHE DæAWINGS
The foregoing and other and more speci~ic objects of the invention are attained by the construction and arrangements illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:
. Figure 1 is a general perspective view of a conveyor belt system in association with a stationary bin, or loading chute, and showin~ the skirt board installation of this invention mounted on the loading chute; . ~:~
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing the conveyor belt beneath the bin, or chute, with the skirt boards of this invention engaging the belt at the sides of the bin;
Figure 3 is a sectional view to larger scale showing the skirt board installation in greater detail;
Figure 4 is`a top edge plan view of the skirt board installation on the mounting plate secured on a side :~
wall of the bin utilizing dovetail slide sections;
Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of a mounting plate and a plurality of skirt board sections in separated relationship showing horizontal serrations on the dovetail section vertical slides; .:
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Fi~urc 6 is a detail perspective view of a skir-L
board section of another form; and Fi~ure 7 is a detail perspective view of a some-what modified mounting plate and skirt board sections.
DE~CRIPTION OF rRFFERP~ED EMBO IMENT
. As shown in Fi.gure 1, a hopper bin, or chute 10, is mounted to dischar~e its contents on-to a traveling con-: veyor belt system 11. The conveyor belt runs on rollers 12 located respectively at opposite ends of its reach and the conveyor belt surface i.s supported by idler rollers 13 which carry the ~onveying surface in a trough-like shape by reason ~: o the inclined disposition of the side rollers relative to tlle bottom center roller (see Figure 2). Rollers 1~ at ~ ~ spaced intervals support the under side of the conveyor ¦ belt system. . : :
j ~ : The bin, or chute 11, di~charges directly onto the conveyor belt 11 and in order to prevent escape of any material by leakage at the side and rear edges of the chute, .
,. a skirt board installation 15 is mounted at these edges to !O seal these areas against the escape of material deposited on the belt in~o the surrounding area beyond the conveyor . system. ~he skirt boarcl installation includes a mounting ~lat~ 16 adapted to be secured on the face of each side wall of the chute 10, here shown as being rigidly attached by means of welding 17.. The mounting plate 16 is provided with a plurality cf vertical slides 18 at longitudinally spaced intervals upon which a plurality o~ separate skirt board sections 19 are adapted to be mounted for relative ` ~ ` vertical sliding movements and as best sho~wn in Figures 4 and 5, these slides are o~ dove-tail section whereby to , ' . :. :
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~8~ 3 provide an interlockin~ connection wi-th the skirt board sections which have complementa]ly shaped guidet~7ays ~ closely fittin~ and operatively en~agin~ the slides 1~. Thus, the skirt board sections are restrained against relative longi-tudinal displacement but may be moved vertically on the mounting plate sl;des 18 witllout affecting their longitudinal position relative to each other and to the mounting ~late 16 The individual skirt board sections 19 have interlocking connections at the:ir vertical edges with adjoining skirt board sections and these connections ta]ce the form of a verticall~ extending slide 21 of round section on ~he edge of one skirt board section and a complementally shaped guiàeway 22 ofround shape, on the adjoininy skirt board section. ~'his relationship is best indicated in Figures a~d 5. Th~s, the individual skirt board sections 19 are adapted to have relative vertical sliding movement with respect to the mounting plate 16 and to each other, without A- ' affecting their interlocking relationship with either.
As best shown in Figure 5, the outer face of each

2~ of the vertical slides 18 is provided with horizontal serra-tions 23 w~ich are shaped to facilitate movement of the skirt board sections 19 in a downward direction but to resist, or retard upw~rd movement thereof, as best indlcated in Figur~

3. Thus, as thc skirt board sections are adjusted downwardly to engage the belt 11 for more effective sealing purposes, the adjusted position thereof is retained by the serrations engagement with the inner faces of the skirt board seCtiGn6.
It can readily be understood that an individual s~irt board section, or for that matter, several such sections, can be removed vertically and replaced without affecting adjoining sections. This is possible because of the relatively vertical sliding movements permitted by the interlocking connections .. .

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18/20 an~ 21./22 between the sections 19 and mountin~ p]ate 16 and the adjoi.ning skirt board sections, respectively.
To facilitate slidin~ movement of one or more individual skirt board sectlons an openin~, or recess 24, is provided in the outer face of each such section and when it is nece-ssary, or desirable, to remove one or more sections, a suitable tool can be inserted in the recess 24 for the pur~ose of prying~ or slidin~, the section out of the assembly. When inserting a new skirt board section, or when adjusting one or more sections toward the belt, it is necessary merely to tap the top edge oE the section : with d suit~ble hammer, or mallet, to drive the indlvidual sections in a generally downward direction for a more effecti.ve s~aling engagement with t:he conveyor belt 11.
These operations may be performed w..thout shutting down the conveyor, if desired, in view of the simplicity of the operation afforded by this mounting arrangement, Only simple relative sliding movements o, the skirt board sections are involv~d in making these adjustments, o ~he descri~tion of the invention hereinbefore makes refe~ence to relative vertical movements of the skirt board secti.ons with respect to each other and in regard to the mountin~ plate but it must be ~ointed out that this does not requixe that the skirt board sections actually move in a directly vertical direction. The generally ver- :-. tical movements of the sections may include a component of movement whereby the sections would move toward and away from the convevor be-t, as by means of inclined guideways and ~
slides, disposed at an angle such as would cause the sections :~
to move generally vertically toward and away from the belt, -6~3 . , ~,~ The mountinc~ plate 16 may be fabricated from ;,; metal in the form shown, as preferred, but the skirt board sections 19 are nonmetal:l.ic and may be made from rubber, or a suitable plastic material such as might be consistent with ~he type of service to be encountercd with an installation such as herein ~roposed~ The bottom edge of the s~irt board rides on the belt 11 and therefore must be capable of with-stancling this type of wear. However, the skirt board of this inven-tion is highly adapted to this type of service and .~.
L0 may readily be adjusted to compensate for any wear that may occur Oll the bottom edge of the skirt board sections as a .. -result of the running belt in engasement therewith, merely by tapping the sections on their upper edges with a hammer, or the like, to move them downwardly, as necessary, to take up any develo~ed clearance, which otherwise might result in leakage of the discharged material.
MODIFI~D SKIRT BOARD EMBODIMENT
. As illustrated in Fig~re 6 a modification of the skirt board sections 19 is shown where.in the skirt boa~d ~20 sections are of the same general dimensions as before and have simil~r slide and guideway features 21 and 22, respec-tively, of round section, at their opposite side edges and : ~ an actuating recess 24 in the front face thereof. Elowever, :.
this skirt board section utilizes a slide arrangement and `~ guideway for association with the mounting plate that is simi-lar to the slide and guideway arrangement 21/22 of round section whereby all of the slides and comp].emental guideways are of similar round section. The skirt board section on its inner face is provided with a pair of l~ngitudinal spaced .
~30 guideways 25 of round shape designed to be complemental to a slide of round section on a modified mounting plate .-(not shown). -~:
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.~ ' ~:i8'~ 3 In this form of the .invention the round section which slides on the mounting plate 16 may also be constructed to retard upward movement of the skixt board sectiolls 19 once adjustment thereof has been attained. For this purpose the round section sliding on the mounting plate may comprise threaded rod sections secured on the face of the mounting plate ].6 by welding or the like. The guideways 25 in the skirt board sections which engage ~he slldes on the mounting plate may be smooth on their inner surfaces or they might be provided with generally horizontal ribs on their rounded inner surfaces which would relate to the threaded portions on the ro~nd slides in a manner to retard upward movement of the skirt board sections once they have been adjusted downwardl~ .into positions bearing on the conveyor belt 11.
- The skirt board sections 19 of this type wlll function relative to a mounting plate and in respect to each other just as.the preferred form does but the modified arrangemert facilitates manufacture inasmuch as all of the slides anc guideways are of simila:. design. . ::
MC~DIFIED SKIRT BOARD AND MOUNTIN.G PLATE . :~
Figure 7 illustrates a further modificatlon of the skirt board installation which involves changes in the mounting plate as.well as the ski~-t board section. The outer face 26 of the mounting plate 16 slopes inwardl~ from top to bottom so that the dovetail slides 18 on this face are in-cllned at an inward angle whereby the skirt board sections 19 mounted`on the mounting plate by means of the slides 18-and complemental guideways 20 in the skirt board sections, are disposed at a similar inclination and enyage the conveyor belt 11 at this angle. The skirt boards are movable toward or away from the belt on the slide~ 18 at the angle of the - ~ 7 ,.
front surface 2G in mak,in~ any adjustment of the s~irt board sections relati.ve to the conveyor belt~
~, The skirt boaxd sections 19 in this form of the invention incol-porate a modi.fied slide and guideway arrange-ment at their side edges which may be described as V-shaped.
Each skirt board section 19 has a V-shaped slide 27 on on~ side ed~e, a complementally V-shaped guideway 23 OII
~ the opposi.te side edge so that, in operative position, i., adjoining skirt board sections interlock against relative lateral displacement just as in the previous forms of the invention and are relatively slidable in the same manner as the previously described versions.
~UPlMAR~
From the foregoing it will be seen that there has been.provlded a skirt board installation for use with a conveyor belt wherein individual skirt board sections are .' independently movable toward or away from the conveyor belt.
for adjustment, or removal and replacement'`and wherein the skirt board sections have interlocking engagement with .
a mountiny plate and with respect to each other to main- .' ', tain operative relationship while permitting adjustment of one ,or more sections without the n~cessity'for shutting ,~ , ., , .~
down the conveyor operation. The interlocI~ing connections `:.' between skirt board sections and with respect to the mount- . :
in~ plate afford advantayes not heretofore available in ', .
maintaining alignment of the skirt board sections and in-dependent adjustment and renewal.

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Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive privilege or property is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A skirt board installation for a conveyor having a travelling belt including a mounting plate secured on the vertical walls of a conveyor loading chute, at least one skirt board section adapted to contact said travelling belt and means mounting said skirt board section relative to said mounting plate so as to allow for selective adjustment of said section toward said belt and to retard movement of said section away from said belt until a predetermined vertical force is exceeded, said skirt board including one or more skirt board sections each adapted to contact said travelling belt, and said skirt board sections each including generally vertical slides and guideways along their adjoining edges allowing for said adjustment and said movement.

2. A skirt board installation as in claim 1 wherein each of said skirt board sections and said mounting plate have cooperating generally vertical guideways and slides allowing for said adjustment of the sections toward said belt.

3. A skirt board installation as in claim 2 wherein said cooperating guideways and slides include the means to retard movement of the sections away from the belt.

4. A skirt board installation for a conveyor having a travelling belt including a mounting plate secured on at lease one of the vertical walls of a conveyor loading chute, at least one skirt board section connectable to said mounting plate, a slide and guideway interlocking connection disposed between said mounting plate and said skirt board section allowing generally vertical movement of said skirt board section with respect to said mounting plate and friction means disposed between said mounting plate and said skirt\
board section adapted to permit sliding of said skirt board section toward said conveyor when a predetermined force is exerted but to retard movement of said skirt board section away from said belt.

5. A skirt board installation as in claim 4 including a plurality of skirt board sections slidable with respect to said mounting plate.

6. A skirt board installation as in claim 5 including means connecting adjacent skirt board sections which allow for relative vertical movement with respect to each other.

7. A skirt board installation as in claim 4 in which at least one mounting plate and at least one skirt board section is mounted on a plurality of said vertical walls of said loading chute.

8. A skirt board installation as in claim 5 wherein said skirt board sections are each removable and having a notch to assist in removing each skirt board section upwardly from between adjoining skirt board sections.

9. A skirt board installation as in claim 6 wherein said skirt board sections have interlocking slides and guide-ways along their respectively adjoining side edges allowing relative vertical sliding movements of the several sections.

10. A skirt board installation as in claim 4 wherein said slides each include an outwardly disposed flat face on the respective projecting slides and each includes serrations on said face disposed to resist sliding movement of the skirt board sections away from said belt.

11. A skirt board installation as in claim 4 in which said friction means is disposed in said slide and guideway connection.