GB2111561A

GB2111561A - Device for sinking mine shafts

Info

Publication number: GB2111561A
Application number: GB08234288A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Friedrich Wilhelm Paurat; Roland Paurat
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1981-12-17
Filing date: 1982-12-01
Publication date: 1983-07-06
Also published as: AU539649B2; DE3149973C2; AU9130482A; GB2111561B; ZA828987B; DE3149973A1

Abstract

A device for sinking mine shafts consists of a crossbeam (1) adapted to be disposed in a shaft (SW), a cutter (2) attached thereto for excavating the shaft floor (SO), a vertical conveyor (3), and a transfer attachment to transfer excavated material to the vertical conveyor, the cutter (2) having a milling and conveying worm to swivel about the shaft axis (5) and feed the excavated material to the axis of the shaft, the crossbeam being equipped with bracing means (6) which can be extended and retracted to fix the position of the crossbeam, the milling and conveying worm (2) on the one hand and the crossbeam (1) on the other hand being movable relative one to the other by means of at least one cylinder-piston unit disposed between the crossbeam (1) and the conveying worm (2), the vertical conveyor (3) being formed by a belt conveyor which is deflected from the vertical into the horizontal and is formed into a tubular conveyor (9) in the vertical run and a trough (10) in the horizontal run, where it functions as the input section of the transfer attachment. The device is used in an operating cycle whereby the milling and conveying worm (2) on the one hand and the crossbeam (1) on the other hand move relative one to the other with rhythmic forward and backward movements, thereby excavating the shaft floor (SO). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Device for sinking mine shafts This invention relates to a device for sinking mine shafts and having a crossbeam to be disposed in the shaft, a cutter attached thereto for excavating the floor of the shaft, a vertical conveyor, and a transfer attachment for transferring the excavated material to the vertical conveyor, the cutter having a milling and conveying worm to swivel about the shaft axis and feed the excavated material to the axis, and the crossbeam being equipped with bracing means which can be extended and retracted.

In a known device of this type (DE-PS 28 37 348, DE-PS 28 48 349), the crossbeam is adapted as a staging in the form of a platform for bridging the entire shaft cross-section and carrying the milling and conveying worm on its underside.

The milling and conveying worm as such revolves about the shaft axis. A separate driving unit is required for this purpose. The milling and conveying worm does not operate rhythmically with forward and backward movements. The worm conveyor is a tubular unit, having inside a tube a worm which is itself fitted with a cutting head operating as a gimlet. The milling and conveying worm is inclined towards the shaft axis and itself transports the excavated material through suitable apertures towards the tube of the vertically disposed conveying worm. It is also possible to adapt the upper side of the milling head to act as the transfer attachment. The entire system has been proven and is functionally reliable in operation. On the other hand, the equipment costs are relatively high, and consequently this known device is best suited to the sinking of large deep shafts.

A previous Applicaton (GB-PS 8215393, filed by the present Applicants) describes a shaft conveyor having a material loading station, a material unloading station, a vertical conveyor extending up the shaft and a shaft conveyor machine, in which the shaft conveyor machine drives one or more endlessely circulating traction devices and the material loading station, the vertical conveyor and the material unloading station form a single belt conveyor system. Its conveyor belt is deflected out of the material loading station into the vertical conveyor run and out of the vertical conveyor run into the material unloading station, and taken back in the return run to the material loading station.In these respects, the belt conveyor has a special design and function; it is provided with a closure device leading into the vertical conveyor run, which closes the conveyor belt into tubular form, and an opening device beyond the vertical conveyor run, which opens the closed tubular conveyor belt back into a trough shape. Within the vertical conveyor run, the belt is tubular. The conveyor belt can also act as the traction means or it can be attached to additional traction devices. It can moreover be fitted with bulkhead-like constrictions. It is possible to employ a shaft conveyor of this type for the sinking of shafts, but the problems of shaft sinking have not hitherto been influenced by this known type of shaft conveyor designed like a belt conveyor.

The object of the invention is to provide a device for the sinking of mine shafts, which is particularly simple compared with the known forms, can be set up without incurring high equipment costs and is therefore suitable for use in the sinking of smaller and shallower shafts.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a device for sinking mine shafts and having a crossbeam to be disposed in the shaft, a cutter attached thereto for excavating the floor of the shaft, a vertical conveyor, and a transfer attachment for transferring the excavated material to the vertical conveyor, the cutter having a milling and conveying worm to swivel about the shaft axis and feed the excavated material to the axis, and the crossbeam being equipped with bracing means which can be extended and retracted, has the milling and conveying worm on the one hand and the crossbeam on the other hand movable relative one to the other by means of at least one cylinderpiston unit disposed between the crossbeam and the milling and conveying worm and capable of moving forwards and backwards, while the vertical conveyor is adapted as a belt conveyor which can be deflected from the vertical into the horizontal and which is formed into a tubular conveyor in the vertical run and a trough in the horizontal run, and in the latter run the conveyor forms the input section of the transfer attachment.

The transfer attachment preferably has a loading tube secured to the crossbeam and a loading worm operating therein, the loading tube debouching at the axis of the shaft. One can employ a plurality of transfer attachments of this nature. The invention arises from the discovery that the belt conveyor described above (previous Application GB-PS 8215393) can also be used without difficulty for the sinking of shafts. When it is set up in the manner described and combined with the other parts of the device of the invention, no difficulties arise in transferring the excavated material to the belt conveyor, i.e., to the troughshaped input section.In connection with the input of material the transfer attachment is preferably linked to the milling and conveying worm, through the loading tube for example, and can move therewith, the loading worm being displaced axially in the loading tube during such movements. It is self-evident that the crossbeam in the device of the invention must be shifted from time to time, as it were swivelling about the shaft axis. Shifting becomes particularly straightforward when the crossbeam is supported on the floor of the shaft by a trolley. The milling and conveying worm continuously attacks fresh sections of the shaft floor. The swivelling motion can be brought about without difficulty, using equipment which is always on hand in the shaft.

Moreover, the moment of inertia of the milling and conveying worm is usually high enough to make the crossbeam swivel in the manner described, after releasing the bracing means on the crossbeam by means of the cylinder-piston unit.

In this connection, another aspect of the invention is a method of driving the equipment, which comprises moving the milling and conveying worm on the one hand and the crossbeam on the other hand relative one to the other with rhythmic forward and backward movements, thereby excavating the shaft floor. The synchronisation can easily be achieved by the use of modern control means.

The accruing advantages are to be seen in the simplicity of the device of the invention, all the parts of which have already been proven and are therefore functionally reliable. It will be realised that suitable driving means are provided for the milling and conveying worm, the transfer attachment, the belt conveyor and if required the trolley under the crossbeam.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a device in accordance with the invention, in operation in a shaft; Figure 2 is a section, taken on the line A-A of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a section taken on the line B-B of Figure 1.

The device shown in the drawings is used for the sinking of the shaft. A crossbeam 1 is disposed in a secton SW of the shaft which has already been excavated and if necessary lined, and a cutter 2 is attached thereto for excavating the shaft floor SO, with a vertical conveyor 3 and a transfer attachment 4 to transfer the excavated material to the vertical conveyor 3. The cutter 2 has a milling and conveying worm with built-in or attached driving means 2a. It can swivel, about the axis 5 of the shaft and feeds the excavated material to the axis of the shaft. The crossbeam 1 can be locked in position across the shaft by bracing means 6 which can be extended and retracted. The milling and conveying worm 2 acting as the cutter is mounted in bearings on the crossbeam 1.In operation, it can move over the shaft floor SO relative to the crossbeam, in the direction indicated by the arrow 7 in figure 1. For this purpose, a cylinder-piston unit 8 is disposed between the crossbeam 1 and the milling and conveying worm 2. In order to attach the assembly comprising the driving means 2a and the cylinder-piston unit 8 to the milling and conveying worm 2, the milling and conveying worm is in two sections, attached to each other at an angle in the manner shown in Figure 1. The vertical conveyor 3 is a belt conveyor, which at the bottom is deflected from the vertical into the horizontal. Details of the belt conveyor can be found in Figure 2, where it will be seen that the belt conveyor becomes a tubular conveyor 9 in the vertical run, but is trough-shaped in the horizontal run shown, so that it forms the input section of the transfer attachment.It will be appreciated that the conveyor 3 is again deflected into a horizontal position at the top, and opened into a trough shape for discharging the conveyed material. Alternatively, a lateral discharge can be used. In order to transfer the excavated material on to the input section 10 of the vertical conveyor 3, a transfer attachment 11 is attached to the milling and conveying worm 2. It has a loading tube 1 2 and a loading worm 1 3. This loading tube 1 2 operates in conjunction with a discharge member 1 5 on the input section 10 of the shaft conveyor 3. Before shifting the position of the crossbeam 1 , the bracing means 6 must be released.The crossbeam 1 is supported on the shaft floor SO by a trolley 14 and so can then be swivelled relatively to the milling and conveying worm 2, the cylinder-piston unit 8 between the crossbeam and the conveying worm being correspondingly actuated. The swivelling movement can alternatively be brought about by means of equipment already available in the shaft.

In this way, the milling and conveying worm 2 on the one hand and the crossbeam 1 on the other hand can be moved relative one to the other with rhythmic forward and backward movements, thereby excavating the shaft floor SO.

It is self-evident that the vertical conveyor 3 must also be shifted from time to time. The loading tube 12 may be fixed to the shaft wall or the vertical conveyor 3. The loading tube 12, and therewith the loading worm 13, can be manipulated so that the mouthpiece operates in and around the axis of the shaft, so that the material is always transferred from the mouthpiece and the discharge member 1 5 to the input section 10 of the vertical conveyor 3. As the mouthpiece moves, the rotating loading worm 13 also moves up and down as shown by the double-ended arrow, as required on geometrical grounds. The loading tube 12 and the loading worm 13 can be raised sufficiently to swivel the crossbeam 1 underneath the loading tube 12 and the loading worm 13.

Claims

Claims

1. A device for sinking mine shafts and having a crossbeam to be disposed in the shaft, a cutter attached thereto for excavating the floor of the shaft, a vertical conveyor, and a transfer attachment for transferring the excavated material to the vertical conveyor, the cutter having a milling and conveying worm to swivel about the shaft axis and feed the excavated material to the axis, and the crossbeam being equipped with bracing means which can be extended and retracted, the milling and conveying worm on the one hand and the crossbeam on the other hand being movable relative one to the other by means of at least one cylinder-piston unit disposed between the crossbeam and the milling and conveying worm and capable of moving forwards and backwards, while the vertical conveyor is formed by a belt conveyor which can be deflected from the vertical into the horizontal and which is formed into a tubular conveyor in the vertical run and a trough in the horizontal run, and in the latter run the conveyor forms the input section of the transfer attachment.

2. A device as in Calim 1, wherein the transfer attachment has a loading tube secured to the crossbeam and a loading worm operating therein, with the loading tube debouching at the axis of the shaft.

3. A device as in either of Claims 1 and 2, wherein the transfer attachment is linked to the milling and conveying worm and can move therewith, the loading worm being displaced axially in the loading tube during such movements.

4. A device as in either of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the crossbeam is supported on the shaft floor by a trolley.

5. A method of driving the device as in any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the milling and conveying worm on the one hand and the crossbeam on the other hand move relative one to the other with rhythmic forward and backward movements, thereby excavating the shaft floor.

7. A device for sinking mine shafts substantiaily as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.