GB2119747A - Mine cage - Google Patents

Abstract

A mine cage in which a platform is capable of being tilted so that long materials can lie at an angle in the cage. So that the platform (14a) can assume an optimal position for the accommodation of long articles, the platform is mounted in the frame (10) so that it can undergo rotational motion about a horizontal axis and lateral motion in a direction at right angles to said horizontal axis. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Mine cage This invention relates to a mine cage, i.e. the conveyance for personnel and/or materials which is hauled up and down a mine shaft. (The word "materials" is intended to include all items which are transported either up or down a mine shaft).

Mine cages are often provided with more than one platform. It is often necessary to transport materials of a length longer than can be accommodated in any one section of such a cage, and to this end it has been proposed to have a mine cage in which one platform is capable of being tilted (see U.K. Patent Specification No. 1 395 408i so that long materials can lie at an angle in the cage. We have realised, however, that this proposed mine cage has the disadvantage that the angle which the platform adopts in the tilted position is such that it is impossible to utilise fully the diagonal space available within the cage; the geometry of the arrangement means that this applies whatever the position of the pivot about which the platform tilts.

The present invention therefore aims to provide a mine cage in which the space within the cage may be utilised as fully as possible.

According to the present invention there is provided a mine cage having a frame and at least one platform, at least a portion of said platform being mounted in the frame so that it can undergo rotational motion about a horizontal axis and lateral motion in a direction at right angles to the said horizontal axis, in order to bring it to a tilted position.

In this way it is possible to bring the tilting platform or platform portion to an optimal position for the accommodation of long articles, because both the angle of tilting and the location of the platform or platform portion on the tilted position, in relation to the ends of the cage, can be suitably chosen.

It is most suitable that only a central portion, spaced from the cage sides, of the platform is tiltable, the lateral portions being fixed to the frame. This central portion might carry rail tracks for mine cars and the like.

Preferably the tiltable platform or platform portion is guided when being tilted by one or more pairs of guides or links which control its movement so as to cause combined tilting and lateral movement. In this way one end of the platform or platform portion can at the commencement of the tilting movement describe a somewhat complex movement to bring forwardly projecting portions of a mine car or the load carried by the platform around hoop structure encircling the cage in the region of platform height. The platform or platform portion may be provided with a stop or locating arrangement for a mine car or the like (or may act as a stop for the load carried by a mine car) and such an arrangement may be in the form of a gate which can be rendered inoperative when it is desired to unload the cage.The horizontal axis about which the platform portion can be tilted may be compliant to lateral movements brought about by the guides or links either by being suspended on stout wire ropes or a linkage arrangement connected to an upper portion of the cage, or by being mounted on rollers engaging oppositely disposed tracks. In the latter case the tracks may be horizontally disposed or may be inclined or may even be of curved form to suit the required movement of the platform or platform portion.

The tiltabie platform or platform portion will.

preferably be held in its normal position, that is to say in its horizontal position for carrying personnel or relatively short lengths of material, by latch mechanism. Means for moving it between its horizontal and fully tilted positions may be constituted by wire ropes and associated eiectrical, pneumatic or hydraulic actuating means, or may be constituted by a pair of hydraulic rams acting directly on the tiltable platform or platform portion.

The mine cage may have one or more further platforms in addition to the tiltable platform or platform portion referred to; in this case a further platform immediately above the tiltable platform or platform portion, or indeed part of a roof structure, may be pivotable to provide clearance for unusually long loads.

In order that the invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figs. 1 and 2 are respective side and perspective views of a mine cage embodying the invention, and Figs. 3 to 9 are views similar to Fig. 1 which illustrate various possible modifications.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the mine cage there illustrated has a rigid frame 10 including hoop structure 1 2. The cage is provided with an upper platform 14 and a lower platform 16, the latter being fixed relative to the frame. Side portions 1 4b of the upper platform, forming part of the hoop structure, are also fixed relative to the frame but a rectangular central portion 1 4a of the upper platform is capable of a combined pivotal and horizontal displacement into a tilted position as shown in Fig. 2 by virtue of the fact that it is guided, when being tilted, by a pair of guides 18 which extend down the opposite sides of the frame and in which respective rollers 20 run, and by a pair of links 22 which depend pivotally from roof structure of the cage and which are pivotally connected beneath the central portion of the upper platform as shown.

It will be seen in Fig. 2 that a forward end of the central portion of the upper platform is provided with an upstanding stop structure 24. This is shown somewhat schematically in Fig. 2. The stop structure in this case can act as a securing means for a mine car or for a load carried by the mine car.

It will in fact be formed as a gate which can be rendered inoperative when it is desired to unload the cage. (Rails on which the mine cars can run are not shown in the drawings). The arrangement is such that forwardly projecting portions of a leading mine car or the load can project, above the side portion 1 4b of the upper platform, to or even beyond the outermost extremity of the frame 10 so that full advantage can be taken of the overall width of the cage. The shape of the guides 18 is such that at the commencement of a tilting movement the platform portion 1 4a describes a somewhat complex movement to bring the forwardly projecting portions of the leading mine car or the load around the hoop structure encircling the cage in this case in the region of upper platform height.It will be seen that the horizontal axis about which the platform portion can be tilted is compliant to lateral movements brought about by the shape of the guides 18 by virtue of the fact that it is located at the lower ends of the links 22. The fully tilted position of the platform portion 1 4a is shown in chain-dotted lines in Fig. 1. This is a position to which it could not be brought by a simple pivotal movement about a fixed pivot; it is a position which fully utilises the diagonal space available within the frame.

The movable platform portion 14a is shown in Fig. 1, in full lines, in its normal position, that is to say in its position for carrying personnel or relatively short lengths of material. It is held in this position by latch mechanism (not shown).

Means for moving the tiltable platform portion between its horizontal and fully tilted positions are not shown in Fig. 1 but are shown in Fig. 2 to be constituted by wire ropes 26 connected via respective pulleys 28 and 30, mounted on the roof of the cage, to respective hydraulic actuators 32 (which can be connected when required, by means not shown, to a source of hydraulic fluid under pressure either at the top or bottom of the mine shaft concerned).

In operation, items of unusually long material equipment and the like may be loaded on a conventional conveyance, e.g. a bogie truck, and then moved into position on the tiltable platform portion of the cage. The hydraulic actuators will then be operated to allow said platform portion to assume the position shown in chain-dotted lines in Fig. 1 with one end thereof resting upon the bottom platform and the leading end of the load positioned in the bottom left hand corner of the cage. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that had the tiltable platform portion been simply pivoted in the frame without being capable of lateral movement, even though it might have assumed the same angle of tilt as that shown, it would not have positioned the load to best advantage to cater for longer loads.Likewise, had the tiltable platform portion been pivoted nearer its middle, then the load might well have struck the roof structure before the ideal diagonal positioning of the load had taken place. It will also be understood that it would be unsatisfactory to have a relatively short tiltable platform which was capable of lying parallel to, but spaced apart from, the diagonal of the cage, without its lower edge resting against the lower platform.

As shown in Fig. 2, the roof of the cage is provided with a hinged flap portion 34 which can pivot upwards, as shown, to allow even longer lengths of material or items of equipment to be received within the cage, to be brought to a tilted position even nearer the vertical than the platform portion (or of course being located a greater vertical distance from the surface of said platform portion before the latter is tilted).

Various modifications may be made. For example, the links 22 in the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 could be replaced by lengths of stout wire rope.

Referring to Fig. 3, this illustrates a construction similar to that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and retaining the specially shaped guides 1 8.

However, the horizontal axis about which the platform portion can be tilted is in this case compliant to lateral movements brought about by the shape of the guides by virtue of the fact that the platform portion is supported by rollers 36 running on substantially horizontal guides 38 located below the normal height of the platform instead of by the links 22.

In the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 4, the tiltable platform portion is again shown to be guided, when being tilted, by the guides 18 and by links 22. However, the links 22 are in this case shown to be a good deal shorter than those of Figs. 1 and 2 and the lower ends of the links are pivotally connected to upstanding brackets 40 which are formed on said platform portion.

In Fig. 5 there is illustrated a variation of the last described arrangement in which the upstanding brackets 40 have rollers 36 running in substantially horizontal guides 38 located in this case above the normal height of the platform.

Referring now to Fig. 6, this is an arrangement similar to that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and retaining the links 22 on which the tiltable platform portion is suspended. However, the specially shaped guides 1 8 have in this case been omitted and replaced by a linkage 42 pivotally connected to the tiltable platform portion and to the frame. It will be seen that the linkage is such that the actual movement of the platform portion is almost identical to that of the first described embodiment.

The constructions illustrated in Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are the same as those previously described with reference to Figs. 3, 4 and 5 respectively except that in each case the specially shaped guides 1 8 have been omitted and replaced by the linkage 42 just referred to.

Various other modifications may be made. For example, in those cases where the rearward part of the platform portion is supported on rollers 36 running in guides 38 (see Figs. 3, 5, 7 and 9) it will be understood that to suit the particular movement required of the tiltable platform portion the guides may either be horizontally disposed or inclined and indeed they may even be of curved form.

It will be understood that the specially shaped guides 1 8 in each of the embodiments illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 may be of whatever shape is required to bring about the tilting and lateral motion required; the upper portions of the guides, even if curved, need not be truly arcuate, and the lower portions of the guides, even if straight, need not necessarily be vertical. Depending on the movement required, the guides may on some occasions be substantially S-shaped. On the other hand they may be straight or very nearly straight.

In each of the illustrated embodiments shown the mine cage is a two platform arrangement.

However, it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable to a cage having three or more platforms or in fact even to a cage having only a single platform.

It will be seen that in all the illustrated embodiments the rigid hoop structures are shown to be at the same height as the tiltable platform portion (so that in effect a part of the hoop structure at each end of the cage constitutes a fixed part of the platform). However, it will be understood that this is not essential and that the hoop structure could be either above or below the tiltable platform or platform portion.

Claims (9)

1. A mine cage having a frame and at least one platform, a portion of said platform being mounted in the frame so that it can undergo rotational motion about a horizontal axis and lateral motion in a direction at right angles to the said horizontal axis in order to bring it to a tilted position.

2. A mine cage according to claim 1, in which only a central portion of the platform, spaced from the cage sides, is tiltable, the lateral portions being fixed to the frame.

3. A mine cage according to claim 2, in which the central portion of the platform carries rail tracks for mine cars and the like.

4. A mine cage according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the tiltable platform or platform portion is guided when being tilted by one or more pairs of guides or links which control its movement so as to cause combined tilting and lateral movement.

5. A mine cage according to any one of the preceding claims, in which one end of the platform or platform portion can at the commencement of the tilting movement describe a somewhat complex movement to bring forwardly projecting portions of a mine car or the load carried by the platform around hoop structure encircling the cage in the region of platform height.

6. A mine cage according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the platform or platform portion is provided with a stop or locating arrangement for a mine car or the like.

7. A mine cage according to claim 6, in which the stop or locating arrangement is in the form of a gate which can be rendered inoperative when it is desired to unload the cage.

8. A mine cage according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the horizontal axis about which the platform portion can be tilted is compliant to lateral movements brought about by the guides or links either by being suspended on stout wire ropes or a linkage arrangement connected to an upper portion of the cage, or by being mounted on rollers engaging oppositely disposed tracks.

9. A mine cage according to claim 8, in which tracks which are engaged by rollers on which the platform portion is mounted are horizontally disposed or are inclined or are of curved form to suit the required movement of the platform or platform portion.

1 0. A mine cage constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.