GB2109327A - Idler roller support mounting - Google Patents

Abstract

A support system for conveyor belt idler rollers includes a supporting member 10 disposed transverse to the direction of the belt's travel with a plurality of rollers 33, each of which is supported by a sleeve member 15, 16, 17 slidingly mounted on the supporting member. The several sleeve members also extend transversely of the belt for substantially the full width thereof and cover the supporting member and protect that portion of such member beneath the belt from spillage falling from the belt. The sleeves are slidable independently of each other along the supporting member and such member is mounted to allow each of the sleeves to slide linearly along the supporting member and off from at least one end thereof in a direction parallel to the axis of the supporting member. A pair of vertically extending end arms e.g. 26 is provided on each sleeve member which rotatably mount an idler roller and each sleeve member includes fastening means to prevent relative linear movement of the sleeve on the supporting member. They include lubricating means for the bearings thereof with a lubricant conduit through the respective rollers and flexible connector tubes 39 between the conduits of adjacent rollers. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Idler roller support mounting BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field Of The Invention: The invention is directed to conveyor belt mounting arrangements for idler rollers which support the belt in the form of a traveling trough.

Description Of Prior Art: Conveyor belts heretofore have been supported in their intermediate reaches by means of idler rollers that were mounted in multiple and arranged end-to-end transversely of the belt. Such roller assemblies were disposed at spaced intervals under the reaches of the belt system carried thereby and where the belt was used in the form of a traveling trough, the rollers at the outermost ends of each roller assembly were inclined upwardly to give the belt traveling thereon a configuration in the trough form desired. Three or more rollers were usually provided in such roller assemblies and in such arrangements the intermediate roller was operated on a horizontal axis.

An arrangement of this latter type is disclosed in Patent No. 2, 312, 610 of March 2, 1943. Patent No. 3,815,724 of June 11, 1974, discloses a somewhat similar arrangement for supporting a conveyor belt on idler rollers arranged to support a belt in trough like form. This arrangement, however, comprises an assembly that involves multiple roller installations that cannot be dismantled by one man, inasmuch as at least two rollers are mounted on each assembly and these devices are of such size and weight that one person cannot manipulate the parts.

Other patent disclosures related to conveyor belt roller installations include Patents 1, 883,422, 3,106,286, 3,157,272 and 3,217,862. Reference should also be made to Stahura Patent No. 4,249,650, but this patent relates to a conveyor belt cleaner mounting arrangement and does not suggest that the track mounted arrangement might be utilized in a belt supporting roller installation.

In fact, no prior disclosure makes any suggestion that such an arrangement be used for a conveyor belt roller supporting installation.

Prior roller mounting installations also created problems when it became necessary to remove, or change one or more rollers because when the rollers had been in service over a long period of time, they became very difficult to remove due largely to accumulations of spillage from the belt onto the rollers and the mounting apparatus for rotatively supporting the roller assemblies. The present invention eliminates such problems by mounting the idler roller mounting apparatus for sliding removal of the rollers and their mounts in a direction transversely from beneath the belt whereby all of the parts of the roller mounting assemblies may be removed individually and slid outwardly from beneath the belt one at a time and easily removed without any binding difficulty.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a system of supporting a plurality of conveyor belt idler rollers wherein a linerly extending supporting member is positioned beneath the belt in a direction transverse to the direction of conveyor belt travel. Each idler roller is suppprted on a separate sleeve member that is mounted on the supporting member and a plurality of such rollers and sleeve members constitute an assembly extending laterally of the belt for substantially the entire width of the belt at each belt supporting location that are assembled and disasse-mbled individually relative to the support member. The sleeve members cover and protect the portion of the supporting member disposed beneath the conveyor belt so that spillage from the belt will not contaminate such support.The sleeve members are slidable along the supporting member independently of each other and, with the rollers mounted thereon, are removable laterally from beneath the conveyor belt one at a time. The supporting member is mounted so that each of the sleeve members is slidable linearly therealong and off the supporting member in a direction parallel to the central axis of the supporting member transversely of the conveyor belt. Each sleeve member has a pair of vertically extending arms disposed at respectively opposite ends of the sleeve and which rotatively support the respective idler rollers. Each sleeve member includes one or more fastenings between the sleeve and the supporting member to prevent relative linear movement therebetween and this fastening may comprise a set screw, or bolt, or a pin may be disposed through the sleeve and supporting member.This pin arrangement may be utilized as a device for positioning a sleeve, such as the central sleeve, under the conveyor belt relative to the supporting member. The idler rollers include bearings that are lubricated and a central conduit extends through the rollers for this purpose with flexible connectors extending between the conduits of adjacent rollers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The conveyor belt idler roller mounting system as hereinbefire described is achieved by the structure and arrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a general view of an idler roller mounting installation for a troughed conveyor belt showing a cross section through the belt with the idler roller mounting assembly in elevation; Figure 2 is an exploded prespective view of the various parts of the idler roller mounting apparatus showing the linear supporting member with the sliding sleeves spaced thereabove and the idler rollers spaced above the vertical mounting arms therefor on the sleeves; and Figure 3 also is an exploded perspective view of a modified sleeve installation for association with the linear supporting member disposed therebelow.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODI MENT As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the invention is illustrated as comprised of a linear supporting member 10 disposed transversely of the direction of belt travel and which is made of angular configuration having generally right angle flanges 11 and 12, mounted on end supporting blocks, or wedges 13, that are shaped to fit within the bight of the angular flanges at respectively opposite ends thereof.

The wedges 1 3 are each mounted on a bracket 1 4 with all of the parts secured preferably by welding. The linear angle section 10 is spaced above the top surface of the brackets 1 4 to provide clearance for the sliding sleeves to be mounted thereon as hereinafter described.

Sliding sleeve members 15, 16, and 1 7 are adapted to be slid onto the linear member 10 from either end and for this purpose each of these sleeves is in the shape of an angle section conforming generally to the outside surface of the supporting member with- the right angular flanges 1 8 and 1 9 lying over the flanges 11 and 1 2 of the support.Each flange 1 8 and 1 9 is formed with a rebent flange 20 that engages around the respective free edges of the flanges 11 and 1 2 on the supporting member 1 0. The spacing of these free end edges of the supporting member above the brackets 14 enables the sleeves 15, 1 6 and 1 7 to be passed onto the supporting member without interference with the brackets 14 so that the sleeves are freely slidable onto the member 1 0.

The supporting member 10 is provided with a center hole 21 and the middle sleeve 15 is provided with a corresponding hole 22 and when these holes are aligned, a pin 23 is inserted through the holes so that the central position of the sleeve 1 5 is fixed relative to the linear supporting member centrally thereof.With the sleeve member 1 5 thus properly positioned, the positioning of the sleeves 1 6 and 1 7 readily follow at opposite ends of the central sleeve 1 5. All of the sleeves 15, 16, and 1 7 are adapted to be fixedly related to the linear supporting member 10 and for this purpose each of the sleeves is provided with a pair of threaded openings through the flange 18, which, as shown, are obtained by welding a hexagonal nut bolt 24 to the flange at the respective openings. A stud bolt 25 is threaded into each of these openings and bears against the flange 18, thus frictionally to engage the flange and act like a set screw to prevent relative movement between the sleeves and the supporting member 10.

Each of the sleeve members 15, 1 6 and 1 7 is provided with a pair of vertically extending arms to rotatably carry an idler roller operatively supported by each sleeve. On the central sleeve 15, the vertical arms 26 are of equal height to support an idler roller on a horizontal axis. On the outer sleeves 1 6 and 17, the vertical arms 27 next adjacent to the central sleeve arms 26 are of approximately the same height as the arms 26, but are each inclined from the vertical, as at the angle 28, for the purpose of disposing the associated idler roller at an inclined angle such as to provide a troughed configuration to a conveyor belt supported by the rollers.The outermost vertical arms 30 on the sleeves 1 6 and 1 7 are of channel section for rigidity and of greater height than all of the other arms 26 and 27 whereby to dispose the outside idler rollers carried by these sleeve members at the desired inclination to obtain the trough-like shape of the conveyor belt. The upper portion of each arm 30 is inclined inwardly, as at 31, at an angle corresponding to that of the arms 27 and 28, whereby the idler roller supporting upper portions are disposed in parallel relation for carrying the respective end idler rollers at the upward inclined desired.

All of the vertical arms 26, 27, and 30 are each provided with an upwardly open slot 32 that is shaped to receive a hexagonal end piece on respectively opposite ends of each idler roller. The idler rollers 33 are shown as being of approximately the same diameter and length and are equipped with hexagonal end pieces 24 adapted to fit into the slots 32 for supporting the idler rollers in the pairs of vertical arms 26-26 in the center and 27-30 at the respectively adjacent ends. Thus, the idler rollers 33 are carried in the several pairs of vertical arms associated with the respective sleeve members 15, 16, and 1 7, with the end rollers disposed at upwardly inclined angles to impart the trough shaped configuration to the conveyor belt 35.

The hexagonal end pieces carrying the idler rollers in the slots 32 are secured in the slots by means of lock plates 37 bridging the slots and mounted across the tops of the end pieces 34 to retain the end pieces in the slots and each fixedly secured to the face of the respective vertical arms by cap screws 37 threaded into the arms at opposite sides of each of the slots. In this manner, the idler rollers 33 are securely retained in the supporting arms 26-26 and 27-30 while being free to rotate in their bearings (not shown) provided internally of the rollers.The bearings are lubricated through an alemite fitting 38 at the outer end of one end roller 33, which feeds the lubricant into an internal conduit supplying the bearings in the several rollers and having flexible connections 39 extending between the internal conduit portions of adjacent rollers, so that all three idler rollers are lubridated from the one fitting 38. An end cap 40 acts as a closure for the lubricant conduit at the outer end of the opposite end roller 33.

DESCRIPTION OF MODIFIED EMBODIMENT The arrangement illustrated in Fig. 3 is fully similar in principle to the structure shown and described in reference to Figs. 1 and 2 and like parts are identified by similar reference characters with a suffix. In this structural arrangement the sleeve members 15a, 16a, 17aç are adapted for direct application to the angle section supporting member 1 0a and for this purpose the rebent edge flanges of the previous form of sleeves are omitted so that the individual sleeves can be installed directly onto the angled flanges 1 8a and 1 9a and removed one at a time, without the necessity for sliding the sleeves endwise onto the flanges 11 a and 1 2a of the supporting member.The linear member 1 Oa is provided with end closure blades 1 3a and supporting or attaching brackets 1 4a but in this type of construction the angled flanges 11 a and 1 2a are not spaced above the brackets 1 4a inasmuch as the sleeves 15a, 16a, and 1 7a are not slid onto the ends of the flanges 11 a and 12a, but instead are dropped directly onto the top surface of such flanges so that the spacing of the flanges 11 a and 1 2a above the brackets 1 4a becomes unnecedsary.

The linear supporting member 10A is provided with pairs of threaded openings 24a spaced to synchronize with pairs of openings 24b in the respective sleeve members 15a, 16a, and 1 7a and cap bolts 25a are inserted through the sleeve member openings 24b and threaded in the openings 24a in the underlying supporting member with washers 24c under the heads of the bolts. As a means of further rigidifying the vertical arms 26a, 27a, and 30a, for carrying the idler rollers, gusset plates 26b, 27b, and 30b are provided in positions to brace the upright arms in relation to the angle sectioned sleeve members 15a, 16a, and 17a.

The idler rollers are not shown in Fig. 3 but the mounting thereof would be identical to that described in reference to Figs. 1 and 2 with the hexagonal end pieces of the respective rollers mounted in the upwardly open slots 32a of the vertical arms of the severwal sleeve members, with the same lubricating arrangement being utilized and can be dismantled by one person just as in the previous installation.

CONCLUSION From the foregoing it can be seen that a conveyor belt troughing idler arrangement has been provided which enables the idler rollers to be slid outwardly from under the belt one at a time and wherein a linear supporting member affords a generally horizontal slideway for the plurality of sleeve members, each of which includes a pair of upright arms and an idler roller carried in each pair of upright arms and an idler roller carried in each pair of arms, with some of the rollers at an upward angle to impart a trough-like configuration to the conveyor belt and a conduit lubricating system for all of the rollers from one point and whereby the several idler rollers and their mounting sleeves can easily be moved outwardly from under the conveyor belt by one workmen for servicing.

Claims (5)

CLAIMS:

1. A support system for conveyor belt idler rollers including a) a linearly extending support member positioned transverse to the direction of conveyor belt travel; b) a plurality of sleeve members, one for each other idler roller to be supported, mounted on said support member, said sleeve members extending laterally of the conveyor belt substantially the entire width thereof and covering a protecting said portion of said support member disposed beneath said conveyor belt, said sleeve members slidable along said support member independent of each other; c) means mounting said support member at at least one end thereof so as to allow each of said sleeve members to be slidably carried linearly along said support member and off said support member in a direction parallel to a central axis of said support member; and d) a pair of vertically extending arms one disposed at either end of each of said sleeve members, each pair of arms adapted to rotatably carry an idler roller.

2. An idler roller support system as in claim 1 in which each said sleeve members includes securing means between said sleeve member and said support adapted to prevent relative linear movement therebetween.

3. An idler roller support system as in claim 2 in which said securing means consists of a set screw arrangement.

4. An idler roller support system as in claim 1 including a plurality of idler rollers, each adapted to be rotatably carried by said arms, each roller defining a lubrication conduit therethrough.

5. An idler roller support system as in claim 4 including flexible connector means adapted to connect the lubrication conduits of adjacent rollers.