GB1575371A

GB1575371A - Mining/tunnelling equipment

Info

Publication number: GB1575371A
Application number: GB29582/77A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Lockwood Bennett Ltd
Current assignee: Lockwood Bennett Ltd
Priority date: 1977-07-14
Filing date: 1977-07-14
Publication date: 1980-09-24
Also published as: ZA783068B; DE2830802A1; FR2412684A1; AU3659578A

Description

(54) MININGITUNNELLING EQUIPMENT (71) We, LOCKWOOD BENNETT LIMITED, a British Company of 5, Orgreave Road, Handsworth, Sheffield, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to mining/tunnelling equipment suitable for use in, not only driving a tunnel or roadway, but also for clearing or loading the debris resulting therefrom.

There are now employed in British coal mines, impact breakers for bringing down the ripping lip to advance roadways located as usual at the ends of a mineral face, as the latter advances, such impact breakers working by a percussive action on the ripping lip, in contrast to machines provided for the same purpose, but employing one or more pick carrying rotary cutting heads, both these being possible alternatives to the traditional drilling and shot-firing.

It is known to employ a hydraulically powered bucket loader to raise the debris from the floor of the roadway e.g. onto a conveyor to convey the debris into a pack hole, but this has meant the presence of an additional item of equipment in the limited confines of a mine roadway or alternatively the halting of ripping operations and the replacement of an impact breaker unit by a bucket if there is employed an arrangement described in Patent Specification 1,377,809 (= U.S. 3 999 805), but even this arrangement results in loss of working time while the change from impact breaker unit to bucket for loading, and then from bucket to impact breaker unit for further ripping is effected.It has therefore been proposed (see Patent Specification 1,482,357) to mount an impact breaker unit permanently on a bucket but in certain circumstances the permanent presence of the impact breaker unit can impair efficient working of the bucket.

According to the present invention, equipment for the combined ripping of the face of a tunnel or roadway and the loading of the resulting debris comprises a bucket mounted on a boom and rotatable by the boom about the longitudinal axis thereof and an impact breaker unit mounted on the bucket, which unit remains on the bucket in use, during the loading, and is displaceable from an aligned, operative position, in which the unit projects forwardly in a direction parallel to the boom longitudinal axis, to a non-aligned, inoperative position in which the unit extends laterally with respect to the boom longitudinal axis.

Thus, the equipment in accordance with the invention enables the impact breaker unit to be "parked" in a non-operative position in which any possible obstruction to bucket loading operations is obviated.

Preferably, the impact breaker unit has a permanent pivotal attachment to the bucket, about which attachment it is swung from operative to inoperative positions and vice versa, with another, releasable attachment e.g. in the form of a removable pin, to lock the unit in its operative position, and to be released when it is required to swing the unit about its pivotal attachment to its inoperative position. The unit may be displaced about its pivotal attachment either manually or by power means, e.g. a hydraulic ram. If manual operation is required, it will be necessary to provide a means of latching the unit in its inoperative position during bucket loading operations. Such a means may be a pin connection to the bucket. If a hydraulic ram is employed, this would be double-acting and the hydraulic circuit could be arranged to lock both sides of the ram.Preferably the pivotal attachment and the releasable attachment lie on a line at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the impact breaker unit.

Preferably the boom is in use mounted on an articulated support arrangement, such as that described in Specification 1,377,809 in order that the impact breaker unit may be located over the entire area of the face of the roadway, and the bucket is preferably rotatable through 360" about the longitudinal axis of the boom.

The articulated support arrangement preferably comprises a support member, a turret pivotally attached thereto, means to rotate the turret with respect to the support member, link means pivotally connected between one part of the turret and one part of the boom, at least one ram pivotally connected between another part of the turret and another part of the boom, means to rotate the link means about the pivotal connection thereof at the turret. Preferably, the boom comprises a rear portion having a part capable of rotation about the longitudinal axis of the boom, means to effect such rotation, and a front portion attached at one end to that part and at the other end pivotally attached to the bucket or a mounting thereof, with a ram pivotally attached between the front portion of the boom and the tool.

Preferably, the link means comprises two spaced links pivotally connected to opposite sides of the turret and to opposite sides of the boom, while the turret may be rotatable by at least one ram pivotally connected between the turret and the support member. Preferably two such rams are provided, attached to the turret at opposite sides thereof. It is also preferred to connect two rams between the turret and the boom, again pivotally connected to opposite sides of the turret and to opposite sides of the boom.

Means to rotate the link means preferably comprises a ram. Conveniently this ram may be mounted on the turret. The means to rotate the rotatable part of the boom may comprise a hydraulic motor or a torque actuator i.e. a ram operated rack and pinion arrangement. If a hydraulic motor is provided it may be mounted coaxially with the axis of rotation of that part Either the hydraulic motor or torque actuator is located at the end of the rear portion remote from the bucket. Advantageously a bearing for the rotatable part is carried at each end of the rear portion i.e.

adjacent the motor or torque actuator and adjacent the rear end of the front portion.

Thus the rear portion of the boom may be a circular section fabrication while the front portion of the boom may be a rectangular section fabrication.

Pivotal attachment of the bucket to the front portion of the boom and connection of the ram between the bucket and the front portion of the boom enables the bucket to be adjustably pivotable with respect to the longitudinal axis of the boom over a sector of about 90". Ability to adjust the rams that extend between the turret and the boom enables the boom to be displaceable parallel to the support member (when forming the parallelogram linkage) upon rotation of the link means, or adjustments of the position of the boom and hence the bucket carried by the boom can be made in a vertical plane (or other planes depending upon the angular position of the boom) by suitable adjustment of these rams, and this ability, together with the rotational ability, provide high bucket manoeuvrability, and for the impact breaker unit, enables the corners of the roadway or tunnel, which are usually the most awkward to remove, to be broken out with relative ease.

Also, for the impact breaker unit, adjustment of the ram connected between the turret and the boom until that ram is parallel to the link means produces a parallelogram linkage so that when the link means is, in use, displaced towards or away from the face to be attacked, the angle at which the impact breaker unit is presented to that face is maintained.

For the bucket, the support arrangement of the invention provides a front dump, side dump or reverse dump ability.

Obviously when the limit of stroke of the articulated support arrangement is reached, the latter must be advanced.

The support member may in turn be mounted on a base member adapted to sit on the floor of a roadway or tunnel and to be advanceable with respect thereto. Thus the base member may be self-advancing e.g. by providing it with the known walking beams, or crawler tracks.

The invention will now be described in greater detail by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a first embodiment of mining/tunnelling equipment according to the invention, mounted on a tracked support member; Figure 2 is a plan view of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side elevation, to a larger scale, of the bucket of the equipment of Figures 1 and 2; and Figure 4 is a plan view of the bucket of Figure 3.

In the drawings, the miningltunnelling equipment comprises a support member 1 mounted on a base member 2 which includes tracks 3 seating on a roadway or tunnel floor 4. Brackets 5 extend rearwardly from the support member 1 to carry an operator's seat 6, a bank 7 of control valves, and other ancillary equipment. A turret 8 is pivotally mounted on the support member 1 and rotatable about an axis 9 by a pair of rams 10 connected to laterally extending arms 11 of the turret 8. Link means comprises firstly a pair of links 12, pivotally attached at pivot 13, one to each side of the turret 8, and at 14 to a rear portion 15 of a boom 16, and secondly a pair of spaced apart rams 17 also pivotally attached at pivot 18 to the turret 8 and at 19 to the rear portion 15.The link means 12, 17 is rotatable about the pivots 13 and 18 by double acting rams 20 pivotally attached at pivot 21 to the turret 8 and at pivot 22 to the links 12. The boom 16 has a longitudinal axis 23 and the rear portion 15, which is a rectangular section fabricacation contains a part (not shown) capable of rotation through 360" about the longitudinal axis 23 in bearings (not shown) located at each end of the rear portion 15, the rotation being effected by a torque actuator 24 located transversely and at the end of the rear portion 15 remote from a front portion 25 in the form of a circular section fabrication which is carried by the rotatable part.To the end of the front portion 25 remote from the rear portion 15 is attached a loading bucket 26, on which is mounted an impact breaker unit 27 indicated in full line in its operative position in which the impact breaker unit 27 projects forwardly in a direction parallel to the boom longitudinal axis 23. The bucket 26 is rotatable about a pivot 28 under the control of a double acting ram 29, secured pivots 30 and 31 to the bucket 26 and front portion 25, respectively.

In Figure 4, the impact breaker unit 27 is indicated in chain-dotted line in its inoperative, parked, position in which position the impact breaker unit 27 extends laterally with respect to the boom longitudinal axis 23. As best seen in Figures 3 and 4, the impact breaker unit 27 is bolted to forward and rearward bearing bars 32, 33 carried by a bed plate 34 having a central, swivel pin 35 and two diametrically opposed latching pin holes 36. The bed plate 34 is swivellably mounted on a support plate 37 by its swivel pin 35 engaging a corresponding hole 38. The support plate 37 is provided with two diametrically opposed latching pin holes 39 alignable with the holes 36, and also with a third latching pin hole 40 located on the same radius as the holes 39, 36.The support plate 37 is carried by two spaced apart support brackets 41 apertured at their lower ends for mounting on the pivot 28, and provided with two apertures 42, a selected one of which is engageable by a pin 43 to locate the support brackets 41 with respect to the bucket 26. A removable pin 44 when passed through either of the pairs of aligned holes 36, 39 serves to lock the unit 27 in its operative position. When the pin 44 is removed, the unit 27 may be swung through 90 in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction about the swivel pin 35 to attain the nonoperative, parked position shown in chaindotted line in Figure 4, with the unit 27 latched in this position by passing the pin 44 through one aperture 36 and into the third latching hole 40.The unit 27 is moved as required between operative and inoperative positions according to the function required of the equipment by the user.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Equipment for the combined ripping of the face of a tunnel or roadway and the loading of the resulting debris comprising a bucket mounted on a boom and rotatable by the boom about the longitudinal axis thereof and an impact breaker unit mounted on the bucket, which unit remains on the bucket in use, during the loading, and is displaceable from an aligned, operative position, in which the unit projects forwardly in a direction parallel to the boom longitudinal axis, to a non-aligned, inoperative position in which the unit extends laterally with respect to the boom longitudinal axis.

2. Equipment as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the impact breaker unit has a permanent pivotal attachment to the bucket, about which attachment it is swung from operative to inoperative positions and vice versa, with another, releasable attachment to lock the unit in its operative position, and to be released when it is required to swing the unit about its pivotal attachment to its inoperative position.

3. Equipment as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the releasable attachment is in the form of a removable pin.

4. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the unit is displaceable manually about its pivotal attachment.

5. Equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the unit is displaceable by power means about its pivotal attachment.

6. Equipment as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the power means is a double-acting hydraulic ram.

7. Equipment as claimed in Claim 4, comprising a means of latching the unit in its inoperative position during bucket loading operations.

8. Equipment as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the latching means is a pin connection to the bucket.

9. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the pivotal attachment and the releasable attachment lie on a line at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the impact breaker unit.

10. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the boom is mounted on

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. turret 8 is pivotally mounted on the support member 1 and rotatable about an axis 9 by a pair of rams 10 connected to laterally extending arms 11 of the turret 8. Link means comprises firstly a pair of links 12, pivotally attached at pivot 13, one to each side of the turret 8, and at 14 to a rear portion 15 of a boom 16, and secondly a pair of spaced apart rams 17 also pivotally attached at pivot 18 to the turret 8 and at 19 to the rear portion 15. The link means 12, 17 is rotatable about the pivots 13 and 18 by double acting rams 20 pivotally attached at pivot 21 to the turret 8 and at pivot 22 to the links 12.The boom 16 has a longitudinal axis 23 and the rear portion 15, which is a rectangular section fabricacation contains a part (not shown) capable of rotation through 360" about the longitudinal axis 23 in bearings (not shown) located at each end of the rear portion 15, the rotation being effected by a torque actuator 24 located transversely and at the end of the rear portion 15 remote from a front portion 25 in the form of a circular section fabrication which is carried by the rotatable part. To the end of the front portion 25 remote from the rear portion 15 is attached a loading bucket 26, on which is mounted an impact breaker unit 27 indicated in full line in its operative position in which the impact breaker unit 27 projects forwardly in a direction parallel to the boom longitudinal axis 23.The bucket 26 is rotatable about a pivot 28 under the control of a double acting ram 29, secured pivots 30 and 31 to the bucket 26 and front portion 25, respectively. In Figure 4, the impact breaker unit 27 is indicated in chain-dotted line in its inoperative, parked, position in which position the impact breaker unit 27 extends laterally with respect to the boom longitudinal axis 23. As best seen in Figures 3 and 4, the impact breaker unit 27 is bolted to forward and rearward bearing bars 32, 33 carried by a bed plate 34 having a central, swivel pin 35 and two diametrically opposed latching pin holes 36. The bed plate 34 is swivellably mounted on a support plate 37 by its swivel pin 35 engaging a corresponding hole 38. The support plate 37 is provided with two diametrically opposed latching pin holes 39 alignable with the holes 36, and also with a third latching pin hole 40 located on the same radius as the holes 39, 36.The support plate 37 is carried by two spaced apart support brackets 41 apertured at their lower ends for mounting on the pivot 28, and provided with two apertures 42, a selected one of which is engageable by a pin 43 to locate the support brackets 41 with respect to the bucket 26. A removable pin 44 when passed through either of the pairs of aligned holes 36, 39 serves to lock the unit 27 in its operative position. When the pin 44 is removed, the unit 27 may be swung through 90 in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction about the swivel pin 35 to attain the nonoperative, parked position shown in chaindotted line in Figure 4, with the unit 27 latched in this position by passing the pin 44 through one aperture 36 and into the third latching hole 40.The unit 27 is moved as required between operative and inoperative positions according to the function required of the equipment by the user. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Equipment for the combined ripping of the face of a tunnel or roadway and the loading of the resulting debris comprising a bucket mounted on a boom and rotatable by the boom about the longitudinal axis thereof and an impact breaker unit mounted on the bucket, which unit remains on the bucket in use, during the loading, and is displaceable from an aligned, operative position, in which the unit projects forwardly in a direction parallel to the boom longitudinal axis, to a non-aligned, inoperative position in which the unit extends laterally with respect to the boom longitudinal axis.

10. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the boom is mounted on

an articulated support arrangement.

11. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the bucket is rotatable through 360" about the longitudinal axis of the boom.

12. Equipment as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the articulated support arrangement comprises a support member, a turret pivotally attached thereto, means to rotate the turret with respect to the support member, link means pivotally connected between one part of the turret and one part of the boom, at least one ram pivotally connected between another part of the turret and another part of the boom, means to rotate the link means about the pivotal connection thereof at the turret.

13. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the boom comprises a rear portion having a part capable of rotation about the longitudinal axis of the boom, means to effect such rotation, and a front portion attached at one end to the rear portion and at the other end pivotally attachable to the bucket or a mounting thereof, with a ram pivotally attached at one end to the front portion of the boom and the other end being operable on the bucket.

14. Equipment as claimed in Claim 12, wherein the link means comprises two spaced links pivotally connected to opposite sides of the turret and to opposite sides of the boom.

15. Equipment as claimed in any one of Claims 12, 14, or 13 when appendant to Claim 12, wherein the turret is rotatable by at least one ram pivotally connected between the turret and the support member.

16. Equipment as claimed in Claim 15, wherein two rams are provided, attached to opposite sides of the turret and to opposite sides of the support member.

17. Equipment as claimed in Claim 12 and any Claim append ant thereto, wherein two rams are connected between the turret and the boom, pivotally connected to opposite sides of the turret and to opposite sides of the boom.

18. Equipment as claimed in Claim 12 and any Claim appendant thereto, wherein the means to rotate the link means comprises a ram mounted on the turret.

19. Equipment as claimed in Claim 12 and any Claim appendant thereto, wherein the means to rotate the rotatable part of the boom comprises a hydraulic motor or a torque actuator located at the end of the rear portion of the boom remote from the bucket.

20. Equipment as claimed in Claim 13, and any Claim appendant thereto, wherein a bearing for the rotatable part is carried at each end of the rear portion.

21. Equipment as claimed in any preceding Claim, mounted on a base member adapted to sit on the floor of a roadway or tunnel and advanceable with respect thereto.

22. Equipment as claimed in Claim 21, wherein the base member is self-advancing, being provided with crawler tracks.

23. Equipment for the combined ripping of the face of a tunnel or roadway and the loading of the resulting debris substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.