GB1578118A

GB1578118A - Apparatus for moving material

Info

Publication number: GB1578118A
Application number: GB4663775A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Crone & Taylor Ltd
Current assignee: Crone & Taylor Ltd
Priority date: 1977-02-14
Filing date: 1977-02-14
Publication date: 1980-11-05

Description

(54) APPARATUS FOR MOVING MATERIAL (71) We, CRONE & TAYLOR LIMITED, a British Company of Sutton Oak, St.

Helens WA9 3ER, Lancashire, 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: The invention relates to apparatus for removing or reclaiming material fiom a stockpile or other mass of such material.

Our Patent Specification No. 1,256,272 relates to apparatus for this purpose and the apparatus thereof has a ramped portion that is drivable into the material to be moved so that the material falls onto a conveyor running transversely of the ramped portion.

The apparatus is specifically disclosed as having a pair of ramped portions disposed back to back but spaced by the conveyor system. This apparatus has been found to be successful for moving most materials. However, heavy and tightly compacted materials, such as is the case for coal stockpiles, have presented problems from the point of view of driving a ramped portion into the material to be moved.

It is an object of the invention to provide a system or apparatus that overcomes or reduces the penetration problem for a ramped removal system for highly compacted and/or heavy materials, though there is no intention to limit application of embodiments of the invention to such materials.

According to the invention there is provided apparatus for removing or reclaiming material, the apparatus comprising two ramped portions disposed back to back and spaced, the apparatus being movable to cause one or the other of the ramped portions to enter into the material, each said ramped portion having conveyor means movable thereover to convey material up from a position in which it engages the material when that ramped portion has been moved into the material, to a spaced higher position from which conveyed material will discharge into a space between the ramped portions whereat there is a further conveyor movable with said ramped portion and operative to receive that material and transfer it transversely of the ramped portions.

In one embodiment, the conveyor is a flighted chain or belt type arrangement.

A preferred arrangement has a plurality of simultaneously driven series of flights extending substantially parallel to each other up a said ramped portion and the flights of adjacent series may be relatively staggered.

It is further preferred that the flights of each series are interconnected by a driving belt, chain or rope that is narrow compared to the width of the flights so that material being moved will be dragged over the upper surface of a said ramped portion to fall over an edge of that portion or an extension thereof preferably down an inclined surface onto the transversely running further conveyor that may, itself, be flighted if desired.

In our double ramped system a one flighted conveyor system may be used with the conveyor thereof arranged to run over both ramped portions via one or more guide and/or drive rollers or pulleys positioned centrally above and between the ramped portions and the transvere further conveyor.

Reversal of the direction of drive to the ramped conveyor system will enable either ramped portion of the double-ramped system to be used for material removal or reclaiming.

In another embodiment of the invention, a plurality of spaced rotatable conveyors are disposed on a said ramped portion. Such conveyors may conveniently be in the form of paddle or star-wheels having material engaging paddles or conveyor arms extending generally radially therefrom preferably, but not necessarily, without any substantial support plate above the ramp surface.

Such paddles or conveyor arms are preferably of end-curved or sideless scooplike form and extend substantially above the top of the ramp so as adequately to deposit shifted material on to a conveyor running along the rear of the ramped portion.

Satisfactory material removal may be achieved where such rotatable conveyors have the same direction of rotation but do not overlap, or are in a staggered relationship on the slope of the associated ramp so that higher ones of the conveyor take up some material carried back from the top of the associated ramp by adjacent conveyors.

However, it is preferred for the rotatable conveyors to have their drive axes at substantially the same height up a ramp portion and to have alternating directions of rotation with their material shifting arms able to reach the bottom of the ramp and extend above the top of the ramp. Then, of course, the paddles or conveyor arms of the adjacent conveyors may interleave or overlap in operation and, although such an arrangement halves the number of material raising positions up the ramp, it substantially increases material carriage thereat and is particularly suitable for highly granulated materials.

Drive for the rotatable conveyors is conveniently taken by appropriate bevel or worm-and-wheel gearing from a single shaft for each ramp portion and that shaft may run below the inclined ramp wall or along a cross-frame or gantry above the ramp portions. It may, in fact, be convenient for such a cross-frame or gantry to be associated with a stocking-out system say with an overhead material delivery mechanism adjustably extending therefrom to stockpile positions and served by a conveyor system within such cross-frame or gantry.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings accompanying the provisional specification, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view through a double-ramped material moving apparatus; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic part-plan view of the apparatus of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of a further embodiment; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of a modification of the embodiment of Figure 3.

In Figures 1 and 2, part of a pile of material to be worked is indicated at 10 and part of a machine frame is shown. This machine frame comprises a unitary doubleramped structure with base girders 12 and transverse beams 14 supporting ramp-defining girder work 16, only one ramped side of which is shown in Figure 1. The machine frame is indicated as being mounted on wheels 18 though rollers or other means could be used so that it is movable into the material to be moved.

Mounted at the foot of the ramp, i.e. in the angle thereof, is a plurality of conveyor rollers or pulleys 20 mounted on a common shaft 22 and each serving a flighted conveyor 24 comprising a set of flights 26 and a relatively narrow drive belt, chain or rope 28. The drawings do not, for clarity, show a full set of flights, but the general disposition and spacing is indicated, particularly (see Figure 2) the staggering between adjacent sets of flights. As shown in Figure 1, the flights 26 travel up the left-hand ramp portion substantially perpendicular to a surface sheeting 30 covering the ramp and suitable for the material to be dragged over by the flights as indicated in Figure 1.At the top of the ramp is a downwardly inclined surface 32 over which the material will fall onto a conveyor 34 running transversely of the flighted conveyors 24, that is into or out of the plane of Figure 1. The flighted conveyors 24 run over drive rollers or pulleys 36 above the mid point of the sectional view of Figure 1, i.e. above the funnel-like feed to the transverse conveyor 34 formed by the inclined surfaces 32 of the two ramped portions.

The flighted conveyors 24 pass over a similar right-hand ramped portion that is back to back with that shown fully in Figure 2, over rollers or pulleys at its foot and then via guide rollers or pulleys 38, 40 which serve to track the flighted conveyors below the transverse conveyor 34 but onto (and off) the rollers or pulleys 20 of each ramped portion at a low level suitable for picking up material to be moved.

The transverse conveyor is shown having a load-carrying run 42 where it is constrained to a channel-like configuration by suitable guides 44, and a substantially flat return run 46, drive and/or idler shafts being shown at 48. A drive unit is shown at 50 as being linked to the transverse conveyor 34 by way of drive and/or idler shafts at 52 to cause the desired movement of that conveyor 34. Any convenient transmission can be used to drive the flighted conveyors 24 from the same drive unit 50, for example via the roller or pulleys 36 or via the roller or pulleys 20 from extensions of the ends of one or more of the shafts 48, or both.

Furthermore, drive means will usually be provided or adapted to be used for moving the machine bodily into or out of the pile or mass of material 10. To assist the relatively small penetration needed for operation, compared with the system of our abovementioned patent, there is also provided a scraper blade or blades 56 mounted pivotally at the foot of each ramped portion. The blade or blades 56 are shown pivoted about the same axis as the rollers or pulleys 20 but thus is not essential. As an alternative to the blade or blades 56, the base girder 12 may extend forwardly and be suitably shaped. In either version may also employ fixed or moveable agitators or disturbers for the blade or blades 56 or their equivalent and/or for the entire ramped portions.

In operation, the machine is driven bodily into the material to be moved but need only penetrate the material partially or to a predetermined distance at which the flighted conveyors 24 pick up the material and drag it away up the lamp using, if necessary, material disturbers above the ramp foot.

The flights 26 have been described as being at right angles to the ramp surface 30 but any other desired angle may be used and the flights may be curved in either direction.

Machines of the type described may work in a warehouse or stockyard first in one direction and then in the other, the warehouse or stockyard always being filled from the end away from which the machine is working. Such machines may be large, say 50 feet in width across the ramped portions, and/or they may work in conjunction with other machine relative to further conveyors probably running at right angles to the transverse conveyors of the machines themselves. These conveyors may be permanent features of the sides of the stock pile area or may, themselves, be moveable as desired.

Alternative embodiments that are even better suited to modular construction techniques may use single sided ramp structures each equipped with a set of flighted conveyors. Such structures may have integral or, preferably, separate transverse conveyor systems for material that has been carried up the ramps. Where convenient or desired, two such single sided ramp structures may be placed back-to-back and separated by transverse conveyor means. It is anticipated that hydraulic power drives will allow ready interconnection of a plurality of modular structures that can be driven from a single power source. Space-frame construction may be particularly suitable for such modular structures for which the position of the upper conveyor drive rollers or pulleys may be other than central for two back-to-back structures.

In the embodiments of Figures 3 and 4, the flighted belt arrangement is replaced by rotating paddle arm structures 60 of which alternate ones rotate in opposite directions to lift material from the leading edge of the associated ramped portion up and over the surface thereof to be deposited over the upper edge thereof onto the transverse conveyor.

Figure 3 shows the paddle arm structures 60 driven from below by a worm-and-wheel mechanism 62 on a single shaft with appropriate pitching of the gears to achieve successively opposite rotations. Any convenient common drive transmissions may be used for a double-ramp arrangement.

Figure 4 shows the paddle arm structure driven from above via dependent shafts 64 from a common drive on a cross-head structure 66 that is ideally suited for being equipped to stock-pile material carried along the head structure and via associated overhead delivery mechanisms that may have a very long reach laterally of the illustrated machine driven conveyor, which may then, of course, normally be associated with such a head and overhead delivery arrangement and may share the same drive as the paddles, though not necessarily at the same time.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Material moving apparatus comprising at least two ramped portions disposed back to back and spaced, the apparatus being movable to cause one or the other of the ramped portions to enter into a pile of material to be moved, each said ramped portion having conveyor means movable thereover to convey material from a lower position, in which it engages the material when that ramped portion has been moved into the material, to a spaced higher position from which conveyed material will discharge into the space between the ramped portions whereat there is a further conveyor movable with said ramped portions and operative to receive that material and transfer it transversely of the ramped portions.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyor means is of flighted chain or belt type.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conveyor means comprises a plurality of simultaneously drivable series of flights extending substantially parallel to each other up each ramped portion.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the flights of adjacent said series of flights are relatively staggered on each ramped portion.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the flights of each said series are interconnected by a driving belt, chain or rope that is narrow compared with the widths of the flights.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said conveyor means is common to both ramped portions and reversibly drivable.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein on a said ramped portion the conveyor means comprises a plurality of rotatable armed structures overlying that ramped portion.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein on each ramped portion the armed structures overlap with arms of adjacent ones interleaving such adjacent ones having opposite directions of rotations.

9. Apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, comprising common drive means for the armed structures of each ramped portion.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the drive means is disposed below the inclined surface of a said ramped portion.

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

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. at right angles to the ramp surface 30 but any other desired angle may be used and the flights may be curved in either direction. Machines of the type described may work in a warehouse or stockyard first in one direction and then in the other, the warehouse or stockyard always being filled from the end away from which the machine is working. Such machines may be large, say 50 feet in width across the ramped portions, and/or they may work in conjunction with other machine relative to further conveyors probably running at right angles to the transverse conveyors of the machines themselves. These conveyors may be permanent features of the sides of the stock pile area or may, themselves, be moveable as desired. Alternative embodiments that are even better suited to modular construction techniques may use single sided ramp structures each equipped with a set of flighted conveyors. Such structures may have integral or, preferably, separate transverse conveyor systems for material that has been carried up the ramps. Where convenient or desired, two such single sided ramp structures may be placed back-to-back and separated by transverse conveyor means. It is anticipated that hydraulic power drives will allow ready interconnection of a plurality of modular structures that can be driven from a single power source. Space-frame construction may be particularly suitable for such modular structures for which the position of the upper conveyor drive rollers or pulleys may be other than central for two back-to-back structures. In the embodiments of Figures 3 and 4, the flighted belt arrangement is replaced by rotating paddle arm structures 60 of which alternate ones rotate in opposite directions to lift material from the leading edge of the associated ramped portion up and over the surface thereof to be deposited over the upper edge thereof onto the transverse conveyor. Figure 3 shows the paddle arm structures 60 driven from below by a worm-and-wheel mechanism 62 on a single shaft with appropriate pitching of the gears to achieve successively opposite rotations. Any convenient common drive transmissions may be used for a double-ramp arrangement. Figure 4 shows the paddle arm structure driven from above via dependent shafts 64 from a common drive on a cross-head structure 66 that is ideally suited for being equipped to stock-pile material carried along the head structure and via associated overhead delivery mechanisms that may have a very long reach laterally of the illustrated machine driven conveyor, which may then, of course, normally be associated with such a head and overhead delivery arrangement and may share the same drive as the paddles, though not necessarily at the same time. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Material moving apparatus comprising at least two ramped portions disposed back to back and spaced, the apparatus being movable to cause one or the other of the ramped portions to enter into a pile of material to be moved, each said ramped portion having conveyor means movable thereover to convey material from a lower position, in which it engages the material when that ramped portion has been moved into the material, to a spaced higher position from which conveyed material will discharge into the space between the ramped portions whereat there is a further conveyor movable with said ramped portions and operative to receive that material and transfer it transversely of the ramped portions.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10,

wherein the drive means is disposed above that ramped portion with depending shafts thereto.

12. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, having an overhead structure for delivering material to stockpiles.

13. Material reclaiming apparatus arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 and 2, or Figure 3 or Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.