GB894061A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for measuring and delivering granular, powdery or like material - Google Patents

Abstract

894,061. Conveyers. PORTASILO Ltd. June 4, 1959 [June 20, 1958], No. 19859/58. Class 104 (2). [Also in Group XVIII] Weighing apparatus in which the weighing receptacle is movable along the weight beam between a loading and an unloading position as described in Specification 748,361 [Group XVIII] is adapted for powerdriven transport of the receptacle by the provision of means associated with the hopper for engagement with an endless driven chain or the like disposed beside the weigh beam, the interengagement being such that the swinging of the weigh beam during loading is not inhibited thereby. To achieve this the chain may be mounted on the weight beam, but in the form shown the chain 10 is mounted on a channel member 13 fixed to the silo 2 from which the hopper 5, which constitutes the weighing receptacle, is to be loaded. The hopper is carried by a subframe 4 which runs on wheels 41 in a track formed in the main frame 1, which constitutes the weigh beam and which is pivoted at 3, the arrangement being such that the driving connection 19, 20 between the subframe 4 and the chain 10 is located on the pivot axis during loading. The tilting of the 235 weigh beam cuts off the feed as described in Specification 748,361 and also closes a switch 43 (Fig. 9) which is in series with a manually operable switch 47 (Fig. 3) by which the chain driving motor is started. Operation of switch 47 also energizes a solenoid which pivots the lever 40 (Fig. 9) to return the main frame to its untilted position. The initial movement of the chain is anticlockwise and drives the hopper from the loading position of Fig. 3 towards the unloading position of Fig. 9 until, on the disengagement of the connection 19, 20 at the end of the chain run, a second driving connection 21, 22 is made to complete the transport to the unloading position in which cable 32 actuates lever 27 to open the discharge gate of the hopper against the resistance of spring 28 which also tends to move the hopper (now disengaged from its driving connection) back towards the loading position. A succession of members 24 on the chain make temporary driving connections to return the hopper towards the unloading position and these, together with the spring 28, constitute jigging means to assist complete unloading. At the end of the unloading a cam member 34 on the chain operates reversing switch 36 to reverse the drive and may also operate switch 37 to stop the drive if the reversing action fails. The connection 21, 22 returns the hopper to the loading position and disengages when that position is reached, the switch 37 being operated by channel member 22 to stop the drive in the loading position in which the feed gate 9 of the silo outlet 8 is held open by the engagement therewith of the subframe 4. During loading the connection 19, 20 is located adjacent pivot 3 with the pin 19 situated loosely within the channel 20 and thus not inhibiting the balance operation.