GB2157645A - Improvements in or relating to bulk material transposing vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

A bulk material transposing vehicle is described. The vehicle has a scoop 19 at its front end which, as the vehicle is driven along the ground, picks up the bulk material. This is then raised by a pair of upwardly inclined belt conveyors 24,25 and discharged through a hopper 45 onto the lower end of an inclined trough belt conveyor 49. The latter discharges the material into suitable position. The vehicle is particularly suitable for use in the holds of cargo vessels, for picking up the bulk material which inevitably remains around the perimeter of the hold after the latter has been substantially emptied by the normal type of pick-up pipe or the like. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to bulk material transposing vehicles This invention relates to vehicles for movement of bulk material and is particularly although not exclusively applicable to vehicles for continuous collection or "clean-up" of bulk material and its transportation.

Handling of the bulk materials such as ships' cargoes frequently requires material to be moved to a particular location or area from where the material can be lifted or otherwise moved by mechanical handling equipment. For example, in the unloading of large bulk carriers by either pneumatic or mechanical grabs, the cargo can only be raised from the central part of the hold to where the grab can be lowered and not from the edge of the hold. It is common practice to lower a conventional front end loader into the hold to scoop up the material at the edges of the hold and deposit in the central region of the hold for collection by the grab. Such machines are not however efficient for the purpose since for a substantial part of the time of its operation the machine is moving with its scoop empty and is not therefore moving material.

The invention provides a bulk material transposing vehicle having discharge conveyor means, means to mount the discharge conveyor means at one end thereof on the vehicle with the other end of the conveyor means extending remote from the vehicle to swing about a vertical axis through the vehicle whereby the conveyor means may be turned to any required position with respect to the vehicle for discharge of material at the required location, scoop means for lifting material from the ground or floor as the vehicle advances into a heap of the material and feed conveyor means for feeding the material from the scoop to the said one end of the discharge conveyor means for discharge thereby at the required position in relation to the vehicle.

In a preferred form of the invention an open topped hopper for bulk material is mounted on the vehicle having an outlet disposed over said one end of the discharge conveyor means to delivery material thereto, and said feed conveyor means is arranged to deliver material from the scoop to the hopper via the open top thereof.

The feed conveyor means comprise a pair of closely spaced belt conveyors for receiving material between them from the scoop and deliverying material to the open top of the hopper. Various types of conveyor belt can be used to cuit the particular characteristics of the material such as plain faced flat rubber belts, troughed belts, studded or patterned belts.

More specifically the scoop may have a front end for positioning close to the ground or floor from which the material is to be picked up and a rear end, the scoop extending at an upwardly inclined angle from the front to rear thereof and the feed conveyors extend from the rear of the scoop at a more steeply inclined angle to the top of the hopper.

One of the feed conveyors may extend from a location immediately below the rearward end of the scoop to a position adjacent the top of the hopper and the other feed conveyor may extend from a position over the rearward part of the scoop to a position immediately above the upper end of said one conveyor over the open top of the hopper. The other of the feed conveyors may have a stretch at the lower end thereof extending over the rearward part of the scoop to engage and draw material on the scoop between the two conveyors.

In any of the above arrangements the discharge conveyor means may be mounted on a rotary turntable on the vehicle to permit the conveyor to be turned with respect to the vehicle for discharge of the material by the conveyor at the required location.

The discharge conveyor may comprise a jib extending from said mountinq and a tough form belt conveyor extending along the jib.

The following is a description of a specific embodiment of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a bulk material transposing vehicle for picking up material at one location and depositing it at another; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the vehicle as shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a section through a boom conveyor of the vehicle; Figure 4 is a front view of the vehicle with the boom conveyor swung out to one side of the vehicle; Figure 5 is a plan view of the vehicle as shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 is a similar view of the vehicle to that of Figure 2 with the front scoop of the vehicle in a raised position; and Figure 7 is a plan view of the vehicle as shown in Figure 2.

The drawings illustrate a bulk material transposing vehicle indicated generally at 10 which is particularly suitable for transposing bulk cargo in a hold of a vessel from one location such as the perimeter of the hold to a central location in the hold where the material can readily be unloaded from the vessel by a conventional grab.

The vehicle illustrated is adapted from a conventional front end power loader machine which has been stripped of its front bucket, loading arms and hydraulic operating cylinders and also the cab and controls. Thus the elements of the original vehicle which are retained comprise the chassis 11 engine (not shown), power pack gila, counterweight lib, transmission train (not shown) with axles and front and rear wheels 12, 13.

A substantial fabricated steel support structure 14 providing an upwardly and rearwardly inclined face 15 is bolted to the front transom 16 of the vehicle chassis. At the upper end of the structure 14 two pivot lugs 17 are formed spaced apart across the structure from which a scooplconveyor assembly indicated generally at 18 is pivotally mounted.

The scoop/conveyor assembly comprises a steel fabricated scoop 19 having a leading end 20 to be disposed in use immediately above the ground or surface from which material is to be lifted, a trailing end 21 from which material is to be discharged from the scoop and side walls 22 to contain material on the scoop. The scoop is mounted on the framework so that, in use, with the leading end 20 adjacent the ground as shown in Figure 2, the scoop is inclined upwardly towards the rearward end 21.

A pair of upwardly inclined belt conveyors 24, 25 are mounted in the framework extending upwardly from the rearward end of the scoop at a more steeply inclined angle than the scoop. The turning drum 26 of the rearward conveyor 24 is located immediately below the upwardly turned rearward end 21 of the scoop so that the bolt 27 of the conveyor extends upwardly past the rearward end 21 and closely adjacent to the end. The bolt is supported in its upward path of movement by support rollers 28. At the top of the conveyor the belt passes over a drive roller 30 driven by a conventional motor 31 (e.g. a hydraulic motor) supplied by the vehicle power pack. The second belt conveyor 25 is disposed immediately in front of the conveyor 24 with a small gap of approximately 100mm provided between the adjacent stretches of the conveyor belts.The conveyor 25 has a turning roller 32 disposed above the rearward end 21 of the scoop under which the belt passes, a further turning roller 33 located partway down the scoop towards the leading end thereof, a turning roller 34 mounted on the framework and spaced above a forwardly of the roller 32 under which the belt passes and thence to a drive shaft 35 disposed at the top of the structure immediately above the corresponding drive roller 30 of the conveyor 24. The drive roller 35 is driven by an motor 36 (e.g. a hydraulic motor) powered from the vehicle power pack. The lower stretch of the belt of the conveyor 25 is supported by rollers 37 to support the belt.

Material forced on to the scoop 19 as the vehicle is driven forwardly into a stack of the material passes into the nip between the lower stretch of the belt and the scoop 19 and thence under the action of the conveyor the material is drawn to the rear of the scoop and between the adjacent upwardly inclined stretches of the conveyors 24, 25 to the top of the conveyor.

The scoop/conveyor assembly is pivotally mounted on the lugs 17 at the top of the bracket 14 as described earlier. Hydraulic rams 40 are connected between the lower end of the bracket and the sides of the framework which may be adjusted to swing the framework and thereby the scoop and conveyor assembly to adjust the height of the leading end 20 of the scoop from the ground. Figures 2 and 6 show the scoop in its lower and uppermost positions respectively. The ram can be controlled to set the scoop at any intermediate height required. Additionally the basic scoop angle can be adjusted to suit optimum pick-up of various materials by means of a quadrant plate and locating pin device.

A driver's cab indicated diagrammatically at 42 is mounted on a forwardly projecting part of the framework in front of the conveyors and over the scoop from which the vehicle driver controls movement of the vehicle and the operating systems. Since the driver is located immediately over the front scoop, he is in a good position to watch and control the operation of the scoop as it picks up material from the ground or floor over which the vehicle is moving.

A discharge hopper 45 is mounted on the upper end of the bracket 14. The hopper 45 is open topped and is partially cut away to receive the upper end of the conveyor assembly so that material raised between the conveyors is delivered into the open top of the hopper.

A powered slewing ring (46) is mounted on the vehicle chassis 10 below the lower end of the hopper on which an upwardly inclined elongate jib boom 47 is mounted by means of a support bracket 48. The jib boom carries an inclined trough belt conveyor 49 the upper stretch of which is supported by a plurality of rollers spaced along the boom comprising a main central roller 5G and upwardly inclined side rollers 51. The lower stretch of the belt passes over an is supported by spaced rollers 52. At the lower end of the jib boom the belt passes around the turning drum 53 and at the upper end of the boom the belt passes round a drive shaft 54 driven by a hydraulic motor 55 powered from the power pack referred to earlier.A feed skirt 56 is mounted or the jib boom over the upper stretch of the conveyor and encircles the lower part of the hopper 45 to guide material from the hooper on to the upper stretch of the conveyor.

The direction of drive of the conveyor moves the upper stretch of the belt towards the top end of the jib so that material deposited on the conveyor from the hopper passes upwardly to the free end of the jib from which it is dumped. By means of the powered slewing ring, the jib can be turned through a wide arc of movement to either side or the rear of the vehicle to dump the material in the required place in relation to the vehicle.

The slewing ring is powered by means of a spare ring mounted on the slewing ring and a pinion mounted on a drive shaft of a vertically mounted hydraulic drive motor 57 driven from the power pack referred to earlier.

Whilst the vehicle has many suitable applications, it is particularly applicable to use in shifting bulk material in a hold of a cargo vessel to a location where the material can be picked up by a mechanical grab. In particular it is conventionally difficult to collect material from the perimeter of the hold since the grab cannot normally be manoeuvred into a position close to the perimeter. The vehicle is suitable for transposing material such as grain and its derivaties, coal, iron ore pellets, sponge iron, iron ore, phosphate rock, alumina and urea and many other such materials.

Figure 1 illustrates the vehicle in operation picking up grain material in its front scoo p at the perimete r of a cargo vessel hold 70 from the floor 71 of the hold. The material is raised by the feed con veyors 24, 25 and deposited in the hopper 45 which feeds the material onto the discharge conveyor which is angled to one side of the vehicle as shown in full line to discharge the material into a central heap or pile 72 from where it can be picked up by a conventional grab 73 of a dock-side or ship's hoist or crane.

Claims (9)

1. A bulk material transposing vehicle having discharge conveyor means, means to mount the discharge conveyor means at one end thereof on the vehicle with the other end of the conveyor means extending remote from the vehicle to swing about a vertical axis through the vehicle whereby the conveyor means may be turned to any required position with respect to the vehicle for discharge of material at the required location, scoop means for lifting material from the ground or floor as the vehicle advances into a heap of the material and feed conveyor means for feeding the material from the scoop to the said one end of the discharge conveyor means for discharge thereby at the required position in relation to the vehicle.

2. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein an open topped hopper for bulk material is mounted on the vehicle having an outlet disposed over said one end of the discharge conveyor means to deliver material thereto, said feed conveyor means being arranged to deliver material from the scoop to the hopper via the open top thereof.

3. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the feed conveyor means comprise a pair of closely spaced belt conveyors for receiving material between them from the scoop and delivering material to the open top of the hopper.

4. A vehicle as claimed in claim 3 wherein the scoop has a front end for positioning close to the ground or floor from which the material is to be picked up and a rear end, the scoop extending at an upwardly inclined angle from the front to rear thereof and the feed conveyors extend from the rear of the scoop at a more steeply inclined angle to the top of the hopper.

5. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4 wherein one of the feed conveyors extends from a location immediately below the rearward end of the scoop to a position adjacent the top of the hopper and the other feed conveyor extends from a position over the rearward part of the scoop to a position immediately above the upper end of said one conveyor over the open top of the hopper.

6. A vehicle as claimed in claim 5 wherein the other of the feed conveyors has a stretch at the lower end thereof extending over the rearward part of the scoop to engage and draw material or the scoop between the two conveyors.

7. A vehicle as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the discharge conveyor means are mounted on a rotary turntable on the vehicle to permit the conveyor to be turned with respect to the vehicle for discharge of the material by the conveyor at the required location.

8. A vehicle as claimed in claim 7 wherein the discharge conveyor comprises a jib extending from said mounting and a flat belt conveyor extending along the jib.

9. A bulk material transposing vehicle substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.