GB1428567A - Mobile slurry handling system - Google Patents

Abstract

1428567 Supporting hoses CONTINENTAL OIL CO 18 Sept 1973 [3 Oct 1972] 43731/73 Heading F2P A pair of hoses 13a, 13c, Fig. 1d, between a coal &c. mining machine 14 at a workface 12 and a terminal 16 to which water is supplied and from which slurry (a mix of coal &c. and the water) is pumped, includes slack to allow the hoses to move as the mining machine advances, the hoses being held off the ground. The hoses may be lifted by an overhead crane system. As shown, various forms of wheeled conveyers are used. Endless tracked carts 18 (see Fig. 2) powered by electric motors may support hoses 30, 31 one above the other in clamps 32. A 180 degree turn between hose sections 13a, 13c, Fig. 4, is effected by a conveyer 22. One such conveyer, Figs. 5, 7, is pulled or pushed by a tractor 74 and comprises side plates 71, 72 journalling conveyer rollers 73. The conveyer 22 is moved along the ground on rollers 76a, 76b which hold it at an angle to the ground (Fig. 7). Carts 80, 90, which are powered and unpowered, respectively, are connected by links 40 which are of a length to maintain correct spacing of the hoses 13 secured to the carts as they negotiate bends. The wheels of the carts 80, 90 are raised off the ground as they travel over the conveyer 22. In another form of conveyer for effecting a 180 degree turn of the hoses, the links 40, Fig. 8, connecting the carts 80, 90 carry guide discs 103 which engage a curved vertical track 101. Ground engaging wheels 42 support the conveyer. For a 90 degree turn, the guide discs 103 engage a track (200), Fig. 9 (not shown), on the ground. The powered carts, Figs. 13, 15, have each ground wheel 81 driven by an hydraulic motor 102 fed from a pump 104 actuated by an electric motor 105. The control valves 106 of the pumpmotor circuits are connected by control cables 115, 132 to the corresponding control valves of the adjacent powered carts. The arrangement is such that when one powered cart starts or stops, the adjacent carts move similarly. Wheel speed control arms 120, 121 depending below the powered carts engage steering rails (200), Figs. 18, 19 (not shown), secured to the ground where the carts have to negotiate corners. An explosion-proof box (317), Fig. 17 (not shown), on the unpowered carts 90, houses the electric controls for the system, Fig. 20 (also not shown).