GB2212789A

GB2212789A - Compartmentalised bag and apparatus for providing a predetermined, constant flow of material

Info

Publication number: GB2212789A
Application number: GB8826843A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Frederick Wilson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-11-24
Filing date: 1988-11-16
Publication date: 1989-08-02
Also published as: GB8826843D0; GB8727484D0

Abstract

Apparatus for providing a constant flowrate of sand, gravel and cement at a predetermined ratio comprises a conveyor belt 30 receiving the said materials from a three compartment hopper in three separate bands. Rubber strips 28 are carried by the lower wall edges 17, 19 and 26 of the hopper, to define three channels for keeping said materials separate. Gates 34 in tunnel members 36 define openings 34a to 34c through which the separate materials pass to deliver them at a constant flowrate and predetermined ratio. A three compartment guide means 35 is further provided at the end of the conveyor belt 30 to deliver the separate materials into a compartmentalised bag, 1, which comprises compartments 2 to 4 each having a closable opening at the top end thereof. The gates 34 are pivotally mounted, and the guide means 35 is provided with set of jaws which can close off each compartment in the guide means. <IMAGE>

Description

Compartmentalised Bags and Apparatus for Providing a Predetermined, Constant Flow of Material.

A first aspect of the Invention relates to a bag having separate compartments, especially useful for holding a sand, aggregate and cement powder mlx in die correct ratio. A second aspect of the invention relates to apparatus for providing materials from a non-continuous source at a constant predetermined rate. In particular,the second aspect of the invention relates to apparatus for providing at the same time materials from several of said non-continuous sources at a constant predetermined rate.

Often different materials have to be mixed together at a pre-determined ratio to obtain a final usable product. An instance of this is cement which has sand, aggregate and cement powder in a 3 : 3 : 1 ratio.

Since these materials cannot be pre-mixed before sale, tie user has to mix tiie sand, aqgrecjafte and cnmetit powder himself widen he wants cement. This is mess; and where only a small quantity is required as with D-I-Y enthusiasts, is also wasteful since a bag of cement powder can often harden once opened. Furthermore heretofore a ready to mix cement composition would be sold as three separate bags for the sand, aggregate and cement powders.

It is an object of the present. invention: to provide a bag which has two or more compartments for receiving materials, especially for a cement or mortar mix.

It is another object of the present invention to provide apparatus for supplying a material at a constant, pre-determined rate from, forexanpie, a gravity discharge materials holder.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for providing a constant flowrate of material comprising conveyor means for receiving the material thereon, and flow control means defining an opening or part thereof through which the material passes for controlling the flowrate of material delivered from the front of the conveyor means.

Preferably the apparatus can deliver a first and second material separately at a predetermined ratio, the apparatus further comprising separating means in intimate contact lengthwise with the uppermost surface of the conveyor means to divide same into at least a first and second channel for carrying said first and second materials, a flow control means being mounted for each channel.

Preferably also, the control means is variable and comprises a member pivoted forteach channel and defining said opening between its pivotal lower edge and the upper surface of the channel base.

Preferably also, there is further provided a gravity discharge materials holder having an open bottom and mounted above each channel to discharge the firse and second materials therein separately. Advantageously the separating means is carried by the bottom edge of the wall of at least one materials holder.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a materials bag comprising two or more compartments, each compartment having a closable opening for receiving materials therein, such that when the compartments are completely closed off, the co-mpartmentalised materials cannot mix with each other.

Preferably the bag is open at the top end, which is comprised of the closable openings of the separate compartments.

Preferably also, there is a middle compartment for receiving cement powder and two outer compartments for receiving sand or aggregate, the compartments being so dimensioned such that when filled, the sand and aggregate is in a 3 : 1 ratio to the cement powder.

It will be appreciated that a bag in accordance with the second aspect of the invention is ideal for use with apparatus in accordance with the first aspect of the invention.

The invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a front view of a bag according to a first aspect of the invention; Fig. 2 is a side view of bagging apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention including a hopper, conveyor, and guide means at the front of the conveyor; Fig. 3 is a top perspectifive view of the guide means; Fig. 4 is a side view of the bagging apparatus in the closed position; Fig. 5 is a side view of the front of the apparatus in the open position with a bag clamped open; Fig. 6 is a front view of the front end of the bagging apparatus showing the drive mechanism of the conveyor belt; Fig. 7 is a front view of the front end of the bagging apparatus showing the guiding means; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view through a vertical plane of the front end of the bagging apparatus.

Reffering t6 Fig. 1, a bag having three longitudinally extending compartments which are'open at the top for receiving a concrete mix. The outer compartments 2 and 3 hold sand and aggregate in a 3 : 1 ratio to cement which is held in the middle compartment 4 There is shown in the drawings apparatus for filling materials bags comprising a hopper 15 having a central and two outer compartments 20 to 22 for receiving separately cement, sand and aggregate 23 to 25 respectively. A conveyor (as shown in Figs. 2 and 4) having a conveyor belt 30 is provided below the hopper 15 to receive the gravity discharged materials 23 to 25 (Fig; 3) and to load them, still separated into a compartmentalised bag in the correct ratio for a cement mix.

The hopper 15 is supported by a framework (Figs. 2 6 and 9) including four upstanding corner legs 10, two horizontal struts 11 and other strengthening beams 12. As shown in Figs. 2, 6 and 9,' the hopper is bolted to the corner legs 10 at the upper end thereof via plates 13 and at the lower end by supporting arms 14.

The hopper 15 itself generally takes the form of an inverted, truncated and open-ended pyramid; and has a front and rear wall 16 and 17, and two longer side walls 18. Together with these walls 16 to 18, and two separating panels 19 (Figs. 6 to 8): the compartments 20, 21 and 22, are formed These panels 19 are fitting against the front and rear walls 16 and 17, and converge slightly from the top to the bottom edge of the hopper 15 (as shown best in Figs. 6, 7 and 8). All three compartments 20 to 22 thus formed are rectangular in cross-section and converge along their depth to limit discharge of the materials 23, 24 and 25 contained therein. A lid 26 (Figs. 2 and 6) in the form triangular roof is hinged along one top edge of the middle compartment 20 to prevent entrance therein of the sand or aggregate 24 to 25. At the lower end of each of the separating panels 19; a second smaller panel 26 (Fig. 8) is fixed to form the inner and lower walls of each of the outer compartments 21 and 22.

The lower edge of each of the walls 18, 19 and 26 contacts the conveyor belt 30 and since two such walls 19 and 26 separate each compartment 20 to 22, it is less probable that the materials 23 to 25 will mix on the conveyor belt 30. This arrangement is therefore more preferable than having only one lower wall 19 or 26 separating each compartment 20 to 22. To allow intimate contact with the conveyor belt 30 a rubber strip 27 (Fig. 8) extends the length of the lower edge of the walls, 18, 19 and 26; and to compensate for wear of the rubber strip 28, the conveyor belt 30 can be adjusted upwards as will be described hereinafter.

The mechanisms of the conveyor and the adjustment therefore are as follows. The conveyor 29 comprises the rubber conveyor belt 30 which is stretched between two tension wheels 31A and 31B and which rolls over a row of cylindrical belt idlers 32; and the conveyor belt 29 can be shortened and tensioned by screw adjustment mechanism 33 at the rear tension wheel 31B. The conveyor 29 is supported on the front and rear horizontal struts 11, which are adapted for upward adjustment and to allow complete removal of the conveyor 29. As best shown in Fig. 7 the struts 11 are fixed to the legs 10 by bolts lla, which are slidable in slots (not shown) provided in the legs 10. An adjustable, screw-bolt support llb abuts between the underside of the horizontal strut arid the upper surface of 'a ledge 10a fixed to each leg 10.In the normal fixed position the bolts lla are tight, but when loosened they can slide upwards in the leg slots (not shown) by screwing up the support bolt llb. This small upward adjustment compensates for the wear of the rubber strips 28 located on the lower edges of the walls 17 and 17a, 19 and 19a, 26 and 26a.- When the rubber strip 28 has to be changed completely, the bolts lla will be removed so allowing the conveyor 29 to drop to the ground.

To control the flow of materials 23 to 25 in accordance with the required cement mix ratio (three sand, aggregate to one cement powder), pivotal gates 34 are provided at the front end of the hopper 15 (Figs 1, 2 and 4). As best shown in Figs. 1 and 2, each gate 34 is positioned over the front entrance of tunnel members 36 projecting forwardly from the front wall 16 of the hopper 15, and between forward extensions of the walls 17, 19 and 26, which extensions are defined 17a, 19and 26a. Each gate 34 is part cylindrical and is pivoted to one of the projecting tunnel members 36 via a rod 37. The flow of each material 23 to 25 is controlled by flowing through an opening defined between the rear edge of the respective gates 34 and the upper surface of the conveyor belt 30.

Thus, for aggregate material 25 the rear edge of the gate 34 would be further from the surface of the conveyor belt 30 to provide a larger opening (for example 34c) for a greater throughput of aggregate, than for say cement powder (opening 34b) The gates 34 can therefore be set to give a predetermined ratio of materials in this case cement mix.

The gates 34 in Fig. 3 are manually operated each by a handle 35, but they can also be hydraulically operated by a piston ram (not shown). The operation of a similar piston ram will be described hereinafter. Different gate positions for various materials and flow rates can be preprogrammed for automatic adjustment from a control box.

After passing through the gates 34, the materials 23 to 25 are discharged off the end of the conveyor belt 30 into a member acting generally as a closable guide for channeling the materials 23 to 25 separately into the bag 1 (see Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 7). This upper part of the guide member 35 has a base plate 37 with equally spaced separating plates 38 and 39 fixed at right angles to it (Fig. 3). These separating plates 38 and 39 have one edge which is arcuate and rubber lined for fitting contact with the end of the conveyor belt 30. There is therefore formed three separate compartments 40, 41 and 42 for the separate materials 23 to 25. The outer plates are releasably fixed to the outer extended walls 17a while the inner plates 39 overlap with the inner extended walls 19a, 26a.The guide member is also adapted to shut off the flow of the materials to the bag 1. The lower part of each guide compartment 40 to 42 is split vertically into two sealable halves 43 which are pivoted to the upper part of the guide compartments 40 to 42 via bars 44 (Fig. 4). These lower two halves 43 are movable between an bpen position for filling the bag 1 (Fig. 5) and a closed position (Fig. 4) for preventing materials spillage until the next bag is in position. In the open position (Fig. 5) the two halves 43 also act as jaws to clamp the mouth of the bag 1 apart, the other jaws being provided by rubber covered bars 45 fixed to the guide member above the pivotal joint 44. A Hydraulic piston ram effects the opening and closing of the sealable halves 43.As shown, a piston rod 46 is slidable at its upper end within a cylinder 47 and has two pivotal arms 28 at its lower connected to the pivotal bars 44. When the piston ram is operated to close the sealable halves 43, the conveyor 29 is also automatically stopped.

An advantage of the present invention is that two or more materials can be supplied separately to an outlet in a predetermined ratio and at a constant, predetermined rate. That is, there is always a surplus of material on the conveyor belt 30 which compensates for a non continuous supply of materials. Thus whereas it is not particularly significant when filling a bag with one material whether or not there is-a continuous supply of material to the conveyor, such dis-continuity is significant when filling the same bag with separate materials. In the gravity discharge of say sand or cement powder from hoppers, there is a tendency for the materials therein to momentarily clog. However the surplus of material already on the conveyor belt 30 is still available for bagging.There can therefore be a constant supply of separate materials in a predetermined ratio for supply to a compartmentalised bag 1 as in the first aspect of the invention.

In any case each compartment 20 to 22 should have a sufficiently sized lower opening to minimise the probablility of the whole lower compartment clogging at once or at least so that such clogging will not last sufficiently long that the surplus material on the conveyor will run out. There will therefore be a critical area of the lower end opening which can be found by trial and error but will depend on the size of materials holder and the type of material used. The lower opening of the compartments should preferably te sufficiently large so that at any one time, even if there is clogging over part of the opening, the other unclogged part can still discharge material. In the embodiment shown the size of the lower opening is about 0.25 m wide by 0.21 m long for a hopper having an upper size of about 2.1 m wide by 3.6 m long and having a height of 2.1 m. A vib-' rator (not shown) could be used to help mitigate clogging, which would reduce the necessary area of the lower end opening.

It will be appreciated that the compartments are basically holders for the materials, and so could be physically separate hoppers.

It will also be appreciated that the gates 34 are adjustable to cater for different sizes and throughputs of material, such as aggregate and sand. Therefore if each gate 34 is handling the same material and the same flowrate, then effectively the gate can be fixed.

Furthermore, the same type of material could be run through all gates 34 of the apparatus, or different materials could be run into separate bags. Thus the apparatus can provide desired materials at a predetermined constant flowrate - and so could have other uses other than that as shown.

Claims

Claims:

1. Apparatus for providing a constant flowrate of material comprising conveyor means for receiving the material thereon, and flow control means defining an opening or part thereof through which the material passes for controlling the flowrate of material delivered from the front of the conveyor means.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the apparatus can deliver a first and second material separately at a predetermined ratio, the apparatus further comprising separating means in intimate contact lengthwise with the uppermost surface of the conveyor means to divide same into at least a first and second channel for carrying said first and second materials, a flow control means being mounted for each channel.

3. Apparatus as claimec iii any one of claims 1 or 2 where in the control means is variable and comprises a member pivoted for each channel and defining said opening between its pivotal lower edge and the upper surface of the channel.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the pivotal member is an elongate cup shape with the open face thereof aligned towards the oncoming material.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein there is further provided a gravity discharge materials holder having an open bottom and mounted above each channel to discharge the first and second materials therein separately.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the separating means is carried by the bottom edge of the wall of at least one materials holder.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein the materials holders are compartments in a materials bin, which is divided depthwise by a separating wall, the lower end of said separating wall having two mutually separated lower edges which each carry. a separating means.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 to 7 wherein the materials holders are movable upwardly from the conveyor means tor replacing the separating means.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 8 wherein there is further provided a guide means mounted at the front end of the conveyor means and, having sepa rate compartments communicating with the respective channels for receiving the first and second materials therefrom and delivering same separate materials into a bag.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the guide means have sealed jaws operable between an open and closed position to respectively deliver and shut off the first and second materials.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10 wherein the jaws when open also serve in conjunction with two further jaws spaced outwardly therefrom, to form a clamp to hold the bag open. A

12. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and further comprising a materials bag comprising at least two compartments each compartment having a closable opening for respectively receiving said first and second materials therein and such that when the compartments are completely closed off the compartmentalised materials cannot mix.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

14. A materials bag comprising two or more compartments, each compartment having a closable opening for receiving materials therein, such that when the compartments are completely closed off, the compartmentalised materials cannot mix with each other.

15. A materials bag as claimed in claim 14 wherein the bag is open at the top end, which is comprised of the closable openings of the separate compartments.

16. A materials bag as claimed in claims 14 or 15 wherein there is a middle compartment for receiving cement powder and two outer compartments for receiving sand and aggregate, the compartments being so dimentioned such that when filled., the sand and aggregate is in a 3 : 1 ratio to the cement powder.

17. A materials bag as claimed in claim 16 substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.