GB1593569A - Mine equipment - Google Patents

Description

(54) MINE EQUIPMENT (71) We, COAL INDUSTRY(PATENTS) LIMITED, a company organised in accordance with the laws of Great Britain of Hobart House, Grosvenor Place, London, S.W.1X 7AE England 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 mine equipment and in particular to apparatus for conveying underground roadway roof support sections.

Typically underground roadways are extended by well known ripping or heading machines which cut rock or mineral in advance of the roadway forming rock or mineral boundaries constituting the floor, side walls and roof of the advanced roadway. These newly exposed boundaries have to be supported as quickly as possible to protect the operators from falling rock and to prevent collapse of the roadway. In order to provide rapid roof support it is common for the operators to manhandle disassembled roof support sections from supply vehicles adjacent the rear of the machine to the front of the machine where the sections are assembled before being lifted up to the roadway roof. Such a time consuming operation requires the machine to be inoperative during the assembling and setting of the roof support sections.During this manhandling operators are exposed to danger and also a substantial amount of possible cutting time is lost and the rate of advance of the roadway is reduced.

In our British Patent No. 1 493 584 (hereinafter called "our previous patent") we claim apparatus for conveying a roadway roof support section along a portion ot an underground roadway adjacent a mining machine, comprising an elongated frame supportable such that in use the frame extends along the portion of the roadway adjacent the mining machine, a carriage for carrying the support section and advanceable along the elongated frame, and means for urging the support section from the advanced carriage towards a roof supporting position.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an alternative carriage to be used in the apparatus claimed in our previous patent.

Therefore according to the present invention there is provided a carriage in combination with apparatus according to an one of the claims of British Patent No. 1 93 584, the carriage comprising a base engageable with and movable along the frame, and a jaw arrangement pivotally attached to the base, which jaw arrangement is lockable onto the roof support section.

The roof support section may be a crown section roof support or a roof support arch.

Preferably a set of wheels which run along a track on the frame are fitted on the base of the carriage. Conveniently the track comprises a pair of opposed U-section rails inside which the wheels are locatable.

Preferably the carriage is movable by a haulage system including a rope engageable with a clamp fixed onto the base. The rope may be a closed loop, passing around a pulley at each end of the frame, one of which pulleys may be driven. Preferably the rope is attached at each of its ends to a reel, and is reeled onto one and off the other reel, and vice versa, to cause the movement of the carriage. Conveniently the reels are located adjacent one another and only the reel being used to reel in the rope is driven, preferably by hand. Advantageously each reel has a frictional brake which operates while the rope is being reeled off to prevent the rope coming off the reel in an uncontrolled manner. If the rope comes off in such a manner it is possible that it will become snagged on a part of the mining machine or apparatus, and may thereby cause an accident or breakage.

Preferably the jaw arrangement comprises a pair of opposed jaw members. Conveniently the first jaw member is pivotally mounted, but may be fixed in a support section engaging position. Preferably the second jaw member is movable between a support section engaging position and a nonengaging position.

Conveniently, the first jaw member is fixable in its engaging position by abutment with a part of the second jaw member when the second jaw member is also in its engaging position.

Preferably the second jaw member is movable by means of a screw mechanism, which is conveniently manually operable, optionally with the aid of a spanner.

The first jaw member may be locatable in various positions on the jaw arrangement thereby to allow support sections of varying sizes to be accommodated on the carriage.

This will be necessary only if the distance of movement of the second jaw member is small. Conveniently the first jaw member is pivoted such that when it is not in abutment with the second jaw member it pivots out of engagement with the support section.

Preferably one or each jaw member includes a portion to bear the support section.

The mining machine with which this invention is suitable for use preferably also includes a temporary roof support canopy as described in our co-pending application No.

25883/76, serial no. 1 532 875 which provides temporary roof support in the area adjacent the mining machine. When the support section has been put in place in the mine roadway, the canopy is advanced with the mining machine.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which; Figure 1 shows a part sectional side view of a carriage according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows a part sectional end view of the carriage of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a part sectional plan view from below of the carriage of Figure 1; Figure 4 shows a side view of an apparatus for conveying a roof support section along a portion of a mine roadway adjacent a mining machine, the apparatus including a carriage as shown in Figures 1 to 3; Figure 5 shows a plan view of the apparatus of Figure 4, with some parts removed for the sake of clarity; Figure 6 shows a detail of a part of the apparatus of Figure 4; Figure 7 shows another detail of Figure 4; and Figure 8 shows a roof support arch.

Referring now to Figures 1 to 3, the carriage comprises a base 1 having a central portion 2 and two side portions 3. At one end, the central portion 2 projects beyond the side portions 3 and an axle 4 supporting a pair of wheels 5 is rotatably located in the projecting part of the central portion 2. The axle 4 is located with its axis in the plane of the base 1 and perpendicular to the longest side thereof. A clamp 6 is welded onto the bottom of the central portion 2, on the projecting part. The clamp 6 comprises a fixed abutment 7 and a movable abutment 8, the relative spacing of these abutments 7 and 8 being variable using four setting screws 9 which pass through holes in the movable abutment 8 and fit into threaded holes in the fixed abutment 7.

At the other end of the base I there are two angled slots 10 into each of which fits a side member 11 of a jaw arrangement. The side members are held together by bolts 50 and are pivotally mounted in the slots 10 by a pin 12 which passes through holes in the side portions 3, the side members 11 and the central portion 2. The side members 11 are held in parallel spaced apart relationship and are each provided with spacer portions 49 to maintain this relationship. A first jaw member 13 is pivotally mounted on a pin 14 between the two side members 11, the pin 14 being above (as seen in Figure 1) the pin 12. The first jaw member 13 comprises a jaw part 21 and an abutment arm 22.

A jaw carrier 15 is bolted symmetrically on the other end of both side members 11.

The jaw carrier 15 comprises a block having on it a lug 48 through the centre of which extends a threaded bore whose axis is parallel to the longest side of the base 1. A screw threaded member 16 is screwed into the bore and has fitted on its end remote from the first jaw member 13 a grooved knob 17.

A second jaw member 18 is fitted onto the free end of the threaded member 16 in such a manner that the second jaw member 18 does not rotate when the threaded member 16 is screwed in the bore. The second jaw member 18 is also slidably mounted for movement parallel to the longest side of the base 1 on the side members 11.

The first and second jaw members t3 and 18 are mounted in opposition. The second jaw member comprises a supporting limb 19 and a jaw part 20.

The jaw arrangement is used in the following way to grip onto for instance an I-section roof support arch (not shown in Figures 1 to 3). The knob 17 is screwed in such a sense that the threaded member 16 and therefore the second jaw member 18 move right to left, as seen in Figure 1, until the distance between the jaw members 13 and 18 is sufficient for the arch to be placed on the bearing limb 19. The first jaw member 13 is then manually rotated in an anticlockwise fashion (as seen in Figure 1) and is held in the position shown in Figure while the knob 17 is screwed in the opposite sense, causing the second jaw member 18 to slide towards the first jaw member 13, thus causing the jaw members to grip onto the arch.When this is achieved the abutment arm 22 of the first jaw member 13 abuts the bottom of the supporting limb 19, thereby preventing the jaw arrangement from disengaging with the arch until the jaw members 13 and 18 are moved apart by action of the knob 17.

The carriage as a whole is included on the apparatus shown in Figures 4 to 7, to which reference is now also made. This apparatus is used for conveying roof support sect ions, for instance roof support arches 31 along a portion of an underground mine roadway 32 adjacent a mining machine 33 of a well known heading machine type. The mining machine 33 includes a self advancing base 34 and a boom 35 mounted on the base 34 and carrying a cutter head 36 for excavating rock from a working face in advance of the roadway 32 to extend the roadway. The mining machine also includes conveyors 40 and 41 which feed cut rock to a roadway conveyor (not shown), and a temporary roof support canopy 42 of the type described in our co-pending application No. 25883/76, serial no. 1 532 875.

As the roadway 32 is extended by use of the cutter head 36, the canopy 42 is advanced to support the newly exposed roadway roof. The area which was previously supported by the canopy 42 is then arranged to be supported by a permanent roof support arch of the type shown in Figure 8, to which reference is now also made. Each arch comprises a crown section 37 and two leg sections 38 and is made from pieces of I-section girders rigidly interconnected by plates 39.

Apparatus according to our British Patent No. 1 493 584 is also included on the mining machine 33, and comprises an elongate frame 43 extending from the back of the machine to just behind the canopy 42. The frame is pivotally supported for movement relative to the mining machine by jack 44.

The frame 43 comprises two opposed U-section guides 53 each arranged to receive a wheel 5 of the carriage 51. The frame also includes a series of pulleys 24 and holes 25, shown in Figure 7, over and through which a rope 26 passes. Each end of the rope is connected to a spool 45 or 46 respectively, each spool 45 or 46 being rotatable by handle 3.

The spools 45 and 46 are located adjacent each other in a mounting 23, which is shown in more detail in Figure 6.

Each spool 45, 46 has in it a hole 27 through which one end of the rope 26 is passed and is secured on the spool 45 or 46 by knotting. A friction braking plate 28 is slidably mounted over the spools 45 and 46 and is urged into frictional contact to brake the spools 45, 46 by means of a coil spring 29. The detachable handle 30 may be attached to either spool 45 or 46 which may thereby rotated.

In use, the carriage 51 is located with its wheels in the U-shaped girders 53 and the clamp 6 is clamped onto the rope 26. The cutter head 36 is then used to extend the roadway 32. While the cutter head 36 is extending the roadway, a roof support arch is assembled behind the machine 33. The carriage 51 is moved down the frame 43 by use of the handle 30 on one spool 45 or 46 and is brought to the lower end of the frame 43. The roof support arch 31 is then clamped into the jaw arrangement as previously described. At this point the arch 31 will be substantially horizontal and so the jaw arrangement will need to pivot about pin 12 so that it may be engaged with the arch 31.

When sufficient extension of the roadway 32 has been achieved, the canopy 42 is advanced using jacks 52, leaving behind it a space of unsupported roadway roof. By use of the handle 30 on the other spool 46 or 45, the carriage 51 is moved up the frame 43, the arch 31 gradually becoming vertical as its legs drop along the roadway floor and its crown is raised with the carriage, the jaw arrangement pivoting to allow for this.

The rope 26 is prevented from unwinding from the one spool too fast by the brake plate 28. When the carriage 51 is at the top end of the frame 43, the Jack 44 is used to move the frame 43 upwardly, bringing the arch into engagement with the roadway roof. The arch 31 is then set in conventional manner, the jaw arrangement released from engagement with the arch 31, and the jack 44 used to move the frame 43 downwardly.

The apparatus is then ready for use again to install a further arch.

In normal operation a series of arches 31 will be put in place as the roadway 32 advances, and the area of roof between them may be further supported by use of shuttering placed between them.

Thus, the carriage of the present invention provides a useful addition to the machinery available to mining engineers for the quick and safe setting of roof support arches, and removes from this task the necessity of a great deal of manhandling of equipment in a dangerous location.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A carriage in combination with apparatus according to any one of the Claims of British Patent No. 1 493 584, the carriage comprising a base engageable with and movable along the frame, and a jaw arrangement pivotally attached to the base, which jaw arrangement is lockable onto a roof support section.

2. A carriage according to Claim 1 and including wheels engageable with a track on the frame.

3. A carriage according to Claim 1 or 2, and including a clamp fixed to the base

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

Claims (10)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. bottom of the supporting limb 19, thereby preventing the jaw arrangement from disengaging with the arch until the jaw members 13 and 18 are moved apart by action of the knob 17. The carriage as a whole is included on the apparatus shown in Figures 4 to 7, to which reference is now also made. This apparatus is used for conveying roof support sect ions, for instance roof support arches 31 along a portion of an underground mine roadway 32 adjacent a mining machine 33 of a well known heading machine type. The mining machine 33 includes a self advancing base 34 and a boom 35 mounted on the base 34 and carrying a cutter head 36 for excavating rock from a working face in advance of the roadway 32 to extend the roadway. The mining machine also includes conveyors 40 and 41 which feed cut rock to a roadway conveyor (not shown), and a temporary roof support canopy 42 of the type described in our co-pending application No. 25883/76, serial no. 1 532 875. As the roadway 32 is extended by use of the cutter head 36, the canopy 42 is advanced to support the newly exposed roadway roof. The area which was previously supported by the canopy 42 is then arranged to be supported by a permanent roof support arch of the type shown in Figure 8, to which reference is now also made. Each arch comprises a crown section 37 and two leg sections 38 and is made from pieces of I-section girders rigidly interconnected by plates 39. Apparatus according to our British Patent No. 1 493 584 is also included on the mining machine 33, and comprises an elongate frame 43 extending from the back of the machine to just behind the canopy 42. The frame is pivotally supported for movement relative to the mining machine by jack 44. The frame 43 comprises two opposed U-section guides 53 each arranged to receive a wheel 5 of the carriage 51. The frame also includes a series of pulleys 24 and holes 25, shown in Figure 7, over and through which a rope 26 passes. Each end of the rope is connected to a spool 45 or 46 respectively, each spool 45 or 46 being rotatable by handle 3. The spools 45 and 46 are located adjacent each other in a mounting 23, which is shown in more detail in Figure 6. Each spool 45, 46 has in it a hole 27 through which one end of the rope 26 is passed and is secured on the spool 45 or 46 by knotting. A friction braking plate 28 is slidably mounted over the spools 45 and 46 and is urged into frictional contact to brake the spools 45, 46 by means of a coil spring 29. The detachable handle 30 may be attached to either spool 45 or 46 which may thereby rotated. In use, the carriage 51 is located with its wheels in the U-shaped girders 53 and the clamp 6 is clamped onto the rope 26. The cutter head 36 is then used to extend the roadway 32. While the cutter head 36 is extending the roadway, a roof support arch is assembled behind the machine 33. The carriage 51 is moved down the frame 43 by use of the handle 30 on one spool 45 or 46 and is brought to the lower end of the frame 43. The roof support arch 31 is then clamped into the jaw arrangement as previously described. At this point the arch 31 will be substantially horizontal and so the jaw arrangement will need to pivot about pin 12 so that it may be engaged with the arch 31. When sufficient extension of the roadway 32 has been achieved, the canopy 42 is advanced using jacks 52, leaving behind it a space of unsupported roadway roof. By use of the handle 30 on the other spool 46 or 45, the carriage 51 is moved up the frame 43, the arch 31 gradually becoming vertical as its legs drop along the roadway floor and its crown is raised with the carriage, the jaw arrangement pivoting to allow for this. The rope 26 is prevented from unwinding from the one spool too fast by the brake plate 28. When the carriage 51 is at the top end of the frame 43, the Jack 44 is used to move the frame 43 upwardly, bringing the arch into engagement with the roadway roof. The arch 31 is then set in conventional manner, the jaw arrangement released from engagement with the arch 31, and the jack 44 used to move the frame 43 downwardly. The apparatus is then ready for use again to install a further arch. In normal operation a series of arches 31 will be put in place as the roadway 32 advances, and the area of roof between them may be further supported by use of shuttering placed between them. Thus, the carriage of the present invention provides a useful addition to the machinery available to mining engineers for the quick and safe setting of roof support arches, and removes from this task the necessity of a great deal of manhandling of equipment in a dangerous location. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A carriage in combination with apparatus according to any one of the Claims of British Patent No. 1 493 584, the carriage comprising a base engageable with and movable along the frame, and a jaw arrangement pivotally attached to the base, which jaw arrangement is lockable onto a roof support section.

2. A carriage according to Claim 1 and including wheels engageable with a track on the frame.

3. A carriage according to Claim 1 or 2, and including a clamp fixed to the base

adapted to engage with the rope of a rope haulage system.

4. A carriage according to any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the jaw arrangement includes a pair of opposed jaw members.

5. A carriage according to Claim 4, wherein the first jaw member is pivotally mounted and fixable in a support section engaging position.

6. A carriage according to Claim 4 or Claim 5, wherein the second jaw member is movable between a support engaging position and a non-engaging position.

7. A carriage according to Claim 6 when dependent on Claim 5, wherein the first jaw member is held in the engaging position by the second jaw member when it is in its engaging position.

A A carriage according to Claim 6 or 7, wherein the second jaw member is movable by means of a screw mechanism.

9. A carriage according to any one of Claims 4 to 8, wherein one or each jaw member includes a portion to bear the weight of the roof support section.

10. A carriage as claimed in claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings.