GB1157539A - Power-Driven Machine for Mechanical Clearance of Sewers and Drain Pipes by Drain Rods. - Google Patents

Abstract

1,157,539. Power-driven machine for mechanical clearance of pipes by drain rods. WARD'S FLEXIBLE ROD CO. Ltd. 9 Feb., 1968 [13 April, 1967], No. 16923/67. Heading F2N. A power-driven machine for the mechanical clearance of sewers and drain pipes by means of drain rods, not shown, comprises a wheeled carriage 32 having mounted thereon an output shaft 1 for connection to the drain rods, a driven friction disc 4 on the output shaft 1, an axially displaceable second shaft 5 at right-angles to said driven output shaft 1, two friction driving discs 6, 7 on the shaft 5, spaced apart by a distance greater than the diameter of the driven friction disc and having their faces opposed to the periphery of the latter; means connecting the second shaft to a power unit on the carriage, and means for moving the second shaft axially in order to bring one or other of the driving friction discs into driving engagement with the driven friction disc. The shaft 5, driven in a constant direction by a power unit 8 through pulleys 9, 10 and V-belts 11 tensioned by a device 12, is supported in bearings 13, 14 on a slidable carriage plate 15 which is movable laterally to bring either one, or the other, of the two driving discs 6, 7 into frictional driving contact with the driven disc 4. The latter is made of a fabric based plastics material. By moving a lever 16, Fig. 4, to the left the link between a connecting block 24, carrying a pin 23 which extends in a slot 22 in the lever, and a block 27, bolted to an angle bracket 28 welded to the carriage plate 15, is by a spring 31 which is compressed between the blocks 24, 27, the lever being held in position by a pawl 18 which engages teeth 19 extending only over half of the upper face of a fixed quadrant plate 20. The spring linkage 31 allows slip to take place between the discs 4 and 7 if the drain clearing tool, not shown, on the end of the drain rods, not shown, strikes an obstruction in the drain pipe, or sewer. On striking such an obstruction, the rotation of the drain rods can be temporarily reversed by moving the lever 16 to the right over the plain upper face 21 of the quadrant plate 20, and holding it in position by hand until the tool is freed from the obstruction, the discs 4, 6 engaging to rotate the tool in the opposite direction. The connection between the blocks 24, 27, in this case, is between a rod 25, which at one end has a pin 29 and slot engagement 30 with the block 27, the other end being secured to the block 24. The output shaft has a connection 3 for engaging an end of the drain rods. The carriage 15 may remain stationary in which case the shaft 5 is movable laterally in its bearings 13, 14.