US1249491A - Sampler mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

E. RAMSAY. SA MPLER' MECHANlSM. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2, I916.

Patented Dec. 11; 1917.

4 SHEETSSHEET l.

r avwmdcoz' Fmkine 9022250 wi/tmam E. RAMSAY. SAMPLER MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2 I916.

Patented Dee. 11, 191?.

CE LING LINE.

40 Fgsoq uNE- SLATE TMKED LUMP,

/ LUMP COAL Fri/6122? fan 25m E RAMSAY.

SAMPLER MECHANISM.

APPLICATION HLED- OCT. 2, 1916.

Patented D0.11,1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

nu aim; Era/H222 Eazwzz% ami/imam v mass erm ne Parana orrrcn nns inin na usavj or BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

t SAMELERMEGHANISM;

1,2%99&91. s cification of Letters Patent. i Patentgfl 1y, r

App1icationfi1ed0ctober2,1916. Serial No. 123,445.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownnthat I, ,ERSKINE ,RAMsAY, a citizen of. the United States of America, residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sampler Mechanism, of which the following is aspecification. 1

My invention relates to mechanism which is adapted for both sampling and checking cars of coal or other mineral in orderlthat an accuraterecord maybe obtained ofathe character and quality of the mineral-loaded by the different miners or loaded into dilferent freight. cars. l i a i In Letters Patent No. 1,191,227, issued to meon the 18th day of July, 1916, I have shown and described a mechanism for same pling and checkingminers coal by means of a reciprocable and rotatable sampling pocket which is movable crosswise of the chute in order to take a "sample at any de-J sired point transversely of thestream of mineral and which may be timed to take thesample at any time during the dumping of'the mine car. By this means it was possible to obtain a small but truly average sample of each car and such sample when withdrawn from the chute was delivered to a bin which may comprise, if desired, a plurality of sample holding pockets and beneath is arranged a screening mechanism which separated the slack from the lump and enabled the lump portion of the sample to be more quickly and thoroughly picked for slate or rock as it passed over the screen during the screening operation. The subdivided slack, lump and slate of each sample were delivered to separate receptacles and their contents respectively weighed and entered upon a tally sheet, each sample being designated by the number ofthe miners check oni the car fromwhichtakem The record showing the proportion of lump and slack, made possible by the use of the screen and the same being recorded upon, a tally sheet, gives a record on each miner and shows whether he is unnecessarily breaking the coal and therefore producing'an excessive amount of slack with its'usual high propor tion of foreign matter, (This point is very important atmines generally andespecially at those endeavoring toproduce the highest posisible proportion of lump and domestic coa a a Mypresent invention has for its purpose to improve the, structure of thepatented apparatus with a view to simplifying it,to broadening its adaptability to tipples \Of varying construction, and to adapting it to take in rapid succession truly average samples of a whole trip of cars if desired, no matter how, quickly dumped, and to pre serve thesamples separately for their sub sequent treatment over a single screenat the leisure of the operator.

My improved sample taking mechanism comprises the arrangement of a transverse series of sample pockets each below a hole in the tipple chute bottom and each having an individual movable cover so that the sample may be taken in any desired pocket. The several sample pockets are adapted to deliver their samples under control of their respective discharge valves througha com: mon feed chute to a common'shaking screen. The relative location of the pocket trans,- versely of the chute determines from what part, laterally of the stream of mineral flowing from the car,the sample will be taken, and the movable covers provide means for taking the sample from the early or any later part of the stream. The samplepocket covers are manually and independently con trollable through levers which are in convenient reach of the operator in charge of the screenin'gand picking operation, thus permitting one man to take entire charge of the sampling operation and enabling him to vary'at will both the place and time of taking the sample so as to prevent the mine cars being with undue amounts of slate in apart of thecar which otherwise would not be sampled and the miner thus avoid detection. e i i The further feature of my present invention relates to the manufacture of the whole sampling apparatus as a single structure which can be fabricated and delivered complete to the mine where the only change requiredis the cutting of the necessaryopen:

' tracted thereunder to car and protect a pocket cover when reeXpose a pocket for takinga sample.

Afurther improvement relates to the provision of a signal to automatically notify the man on the tipple' wlien a sample is being taken'so that he can notify the sampler of the mmers check number, or, as is preferable send down through a chuteor on a rod the riiinerfs"'check or aspecialcheck of term:

spending number for the. car; beingsampled,

" which check may be hooked or attached,

first, to the lever for opening'the' discharge valve o'f'the' pocket in whichthe sample was taken, and, later, to the boxes containing the screened and pickedsample to properly identify{ the latter until-entered upon the tally sheet: Th e check when attached to the lever thus also "constitutes an indicator to the sample-man of which pockets are full. Sgcreen barsofregular or irregular distances apart may be arranged over each or any number either sample pockets so that they will exclude therefrom all lumps above predetermined si'zes,-this being often desirable Where the mineral, and-particularlythe coal as: mined arid loaded, often comprises very largelumps, Such lumpswould not'be a fair portion ofan average sample and might alsoeasilyenter and choke the pocket and interfere with theclosing of its cover unless 'suchlumps are caused to pass over the pocket by the'screen bars. "l vherethe run of mine mineral is small t-hesebars'may be partially or entirely dispensed with, or-they may be regularly or irregularly spaced'any desired distance apart in-anypocket or pockets, but where used theyare of suchcharacter and so constructed as toenable the cover to easily force off any lumpsfthat might-hang on the screen, without becoming blocked thereby.

1 These and other advantages will be better understood by referenceto the more detailed description hereinafter and to the accompanying drawings which form a part ofthis specification, and in which what I regard as the preferredembodiment only of my invention is -illustrated,.it being'understood that the details of construction maybe widely variedwithoutldeparting from the real sub stance of my invention.

7 According to the drawings r *Figure l is aside elevation of a mine tipple structure equipped with my sampling apparatus. 7 r Fig. 2'is a side elevat'ion of the sampling apparatus 1 enlarged with the tipple chute partl in section'and the'sampler pockets broken away; V L 1 Fig, 3 is an elevation looking away from Y Fig; 4 ;is -'a section' fon the line 3 3 of Fig. his a front elevation-looking toward the tippl-e partly broken away to illustrate one of the adjustable pocket bottoms.

Fig. 6. is a detail view of the chute for delivering the miners checks from the tipple evel to the sampling platform.

parts throughout the drawings.

MID the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, a mine car 1 is shown in "dumping position on a tipple' 2 .-.-wi.th-.:the mineral falling therefrom upon a guard plate 3 raised above the bottom t of the coal chute The guard plate 3 is con nected at its sides to angle bars 6 which are fastened to the side walls of the chute. The bottom 4: of the chute, beginning at a point below-the lower end of the guard plate 3, is cut away to form a rectangular transverse elongated openingthrough which the mineral is intended to fall intothe sampling apparatus disposed thereunder. The transverse upper and lower edges of the opening in the chute being of substantial length are reinforcedbeneath by transverse angle bars 7 which extend from side to side of the chute and these angle bars are riveted to upper ends of the front plate 8 and the back plate 9 forming respectively.what I term the front and back walls of the sampling apparatus.v At their outer ends these angle bars 7 are connected to vertically disposed angle bars 10 riveted tothe sides of the chute. End plates or walls 15 are connected to the walls 8 and 9 to'form the outer casing of the sampling apparatus and four intermediate vertically disposed partitions 11 ex tend lengthwise of the chute and divide the sampling easing into five sampling pookets, equal in size and each pocket having an individual bottom discharge door 1:2 which is hinged to the back wall 9 and held in closed position against the front wall 0 by a counterweight 13 on the lever 14 for manually operating the discharge door. The side walls 15 extend downwardly in parallelism to a point below the level ofthe dis charge doors 12, where they are bent inwardly to form a hopperlike feeder chute it adapted to receive a sample from any one of the several sample pockets and deliver it to a shaking screen 17. The back wall 9 is inclined upwardly away from the wall 8 so that the sample pockets increase in size toward their upper ends. A square door 13 is hinged in the back wall 9 with its bottom corner edges projecting beyond the tapering attached to the door 18, serves to yieldingly holdtlie door against the mineral so as to distribute itgradually over the shaking screen; Thebottom of the screen below the Similar reference numerals refer to similar the bottom end ofthe chute -16=tojform gusset plates 22 and to each-:of these plates is attacheda depending angle bar23 which bars supp'ort'th-e front end oftheframe 24 for the sample bins under the screen,the rear or other end of this frame-work being supported. by two angle bars 25 connectedby means of gusset plates 26 totheupper end of therplate 9..

' :l'provideasliding pocket cover- 27 for each sample pocket, these covers being preferably. made of sections of channel bars, in-

verted and adapted'to slidein angle guides 28 attached to; the upper edge of. eachside wall of the several pockets. As illustrated inFig. 4, a convenient manner of attaching these angles is bylbending over the :upper edgeof the partitions ll and side walls 15 to an angle-of 45. and riveting: or otherwise fastening: the angle. guidethereto. 'By this arrangementthe several covers are held in contiguous relationship soias toform a sectional closure for the transverse openingin the: chute bottom 4. The upper end of each pocket cover carries'a yoke 28 to which is pivoted a link 29;:which inturn is pivotally connected to-the upper end of alever 30 for operating thepocket cover. Each coveris controlled by awseparate leverand the several levers are mounted to rock on a. common shaft: 31 mounted in bearings" '32 which are eachsupported by: angle bars 33 and 34. Each angle bar '34 is connected to a gusset plate 26 andueachangle bar 33 is connected by a gusset plate 35toan angle bar 25 and by a gusset'plate 36 to the. back wall 9 of the sampling apparatus. Each lever has riveted thereto agussetplate 37' and a half pipe flange 38 is'boltedto this gusset plate, ahole being bored through the plate in line with the opening in the flange which-is bored smooth,thus affording a rocking bearing for thelever. Therseveral leversare spaced by pipe sleeves 39 interposed between their rocking bearings. The:l1andle endsof the leiversare disposed-in convenient position to beoperated from the'platform 40 which is suitably supported from the tipple framework. MThe' frame 24 fonthe sample bins may be additionallybraced by the tie bars 41 and 42 which connect to convenient points in the tipple' frame-work and arerespectively made fast to thegusset plates-'43 and 44; This frame 24 is formedyof longitudinal and transverse angles suitably bolted to form a rectangularframe fromlwhich de] pends a hopper divided -transversely by inclined partitions *to form three distinct sample bins 45, 4 6 The 45 receives slack .coal or screened mineral and isdis posed. beneath the screen 17; the bin46is disposed to receive the lump coalor mineral that fallsofi? the end of the screen; and the end bin 47 is intended to receive the lump slate .or rock picked from the mineral 011 the screen or in the hopper 46. The slack bin 45 has a balanced butterfly valve 48 in its bottomfonriing its discharge doorand provided with an angle'stop lug 49 to prevent it swinging quite to a vertical position. This valveswlngs on a bearing 50 whlch is offset fromthe-center to make it self closing by :gravity. An anglebar51, attached to the free end of the. valve, extends on each sidebeyond the hopper and in position to be depressed by the foot or hand to open the valve. The .bin 46 has a. bottom door 52 which swings on a hinge 53 and is, held nor mally closed by a counterweight. 54. This door also carries at its free end an angle bar 55 which projects sufficiently to enable itto be engaged by thefoot or hand to open the door. The bin 47 has a vertically hingedend doori 56 held normally closed by a counterweight 57 on a hand lever 58 which pro-f jectsin convenient position .to be grasped and raised todump the bin. Below thebins 45,46 and 47, respectively, are arranged con tainers, 59, 60 and 61, respectively,-for the 1..

treated sample, which are suitably marked to indicate their respective contents.

The screen 17 is mounted on flanged wheels 62 journaled onthe frame 24 and angle bars 23 and disposed to incline the screen. Aconnectingrod 63, formed bya bent metal strap, is connected to the lower end of the screen and extends forward above the frame 24to a crank shaft 64 journaled in bearings 65 attached to the angle bars 23. i

This shaft extends suiiiciently on each side of the apparatus to attach to a shaft or to receivea driving pulley 66 on whichever side proves most convenient for connectingits driving belt to the line shaftor motor on the tipple. i i i It being desirable to reduce the results of the sampling operation to percentages for,

convenience in tabulating the results, Lprefor to take samples of a predetermmed weight, as, for instance, insampling coal, 1 would design the pockets for an average capacity of samples about one hundred pounds, but it would seldom be exactly one hundred pounds. -Therefore the actual totalweight I would be increased or reducedvto a hundred pounds basis and the pounds of slack coal and slate'being also changed in proportion would then also-be. the pencent in which case comparisons would easily be made and averages struck. To make the pocketcapacity variable for different mineral, I provide the discharge door 12 with an end platen? ,and a series of holes are punched inboth are, dumped, are strung on the rod 80 and the door and-plate, preferably on different centers, so that the pla'te can be adjusted the pockets or to exclude from the sample mineral above a predetermined size. To these" ends 1 may provide over each pocket, if desired, a series of screen bars 69. The ends of these bars are bent down and fitted between the front and back plates 8 and-9 and attached thereto by bolts passing also throughthe angle bars 7 so as to easily adjust the numberor distances apart to suit the conditions desired for any pocket or of any mine. Additional holes are provided in thebars 7. These bars project sufficiently above the chute bottom 4 to permit lumps that may catch between them to be pushed off easily bythe covers 2721s they are moved to closed position. In order that the man on; the tipple may be advised when a sample is-taken so that he can promptly send down the mincrs check to the sample 'man or otherwise notify him of its number, I provide a gong 70 of ordinary construction, adapted to be rung by the depression of a spring'retracted arm 71 which is connected by a pull rope, chain or wire 72 that passes over pulleys-andacross above the levers 30, being made fast at its end to a fixed member 78. A. vertical rope, chain or wire 74 connects 72 with each lever and a pulley 7 3 is disposed between each pair of ropes or wires 74. "The pull rope 7 2 extends up and connects to the crank 75 that will rock To facilitate the delivery of miners checks from the tipple platform to the sampling platform, I provide, as a preferred arrangement, a tube 7 9 which extends from theiuppertipple floor level to a point in convenient reach of the sample. A guide rod or wire "80 for the checks is passed down through the tube 79 and at itslower end rests-on an angle bracket 81 attached to and projecting below the lower open end of the tube; The checks, in the order that the cars work down through the tube till they. rest on the platform on the bracket .81and the sampler in practice removes them in :order from'thebottom of the stack and mounts them on thepins or hooks 78 on the levers 14 to identify by the miners" checks the samplestaken in the, pockets. 1

ZIn operation, the. pocket covers normally standm closed position and thus do not in terfere with the normal use of the chute. When a sample is to be taken, the sample man observes the car as it tilts and at the desired time during the discharge of the mineral, he grasps and pulls down the lever which will open the sample pocket at the desired: point transversely of the flowing mineral. The lumps ride over the screen bars and the pocket fills, after which the lever 30 is thrust back up thereby forcing its cover to closed position. The manipulation of the lever notifies the tipple man and he sends down the tube 79 to the sample man the miners check 7 7 which is hung on a pin 78 on the weight 13, where it serves as a notice that the pocket opposite it is full and identifies the sample therein. If the cars are dumped in trips, as many as five samples can be taken of different cars as rapidly as they can be dumped.

After the samples have been taken, they can be screened and picked at the convenience of the sample man. This is done as follows: A lei'er let is raised to open a pocket discharge door 12 and drop the contents of a pocket into the screen feeder chute 16, the check being at the same time detached from the weight on the lever operated. The sample falls on the solid bottom or feeder of the inclined screen and is spread by the door 18 and fingers 19 into a thin mass and is fed by the reciprocating plate onto and passes over the screen bottom. The slack as separated by the screen falls into the bin 45, the lump into bin 46,

and the picked slate is thrown by hand into bin 417. The sample boxes 59, and 61 are arranged under the bins and at the completion of the screening and picking operation, the discharge doors of the bins are opened and theircontents delivered into the boxes which are either then weighed and the results entered on the tally sheet opposite the check number of the sample, or they can be set aside with the check to mark them and later weighed up.

It will be obvious that the size and number of the sample pockets may be varied as desired and that the other details of construction which are disclosed merely in their preferred embodiment may be changed to meet different operating conditions without departing from the substance of this invention. It being noted as a special feature of my present construction that the control of the sampling mechanism is such as to make it possible to select a sample from any desired part of the contents of the car, thus obviating the possibility of the car being lo d by the miner in. such manner as not to make the sample representative of the whole contents of the car.

What I claim as new and by Letters Patent, -is:

1. Mechanism for taking representative desire to secure samples of a moving stream of mineral, comprising'a multi-portedbed over which the mineral stream flows, separate gates for the bed ports,jwhichare disposed out of aline inent With e'achother in the directionof the movement of the material, a sarhplechute under the bed, and selective means manually controllable andoperable to set the gates to collect the sample through any desired port.

2. In a sampling mechanism, a plurality of sample pockets, a plurality of separate means operable at different pointstransversely of the stream of mineral to be sampled to direct part. thereof into a predetermined pocket.

3. In a mineral sampling mechanism, a series of sample pockets arranged transversely of and disposed in the path of the moving body of mineral to be sampled, and

door means operable at different points transverselyofthe stream of material to be sampled to admit portions of the material toany desired sample pocket or pockets.

4. In a sampllng mechanism, a series of separate sample pockets having movable doors disposed across the path of the moving material to be sampled, and means to independently open and close said doors to take a sample in any desired pocket.

5. In a sampling mechanism, a series of separate sample pockets having movable doors disposed transversely across the path of the moving material to be sampled, and manually controllable means to independently open and close said doors to take the sample in any desired pocket and at any desired time during the movement of the body of material to be sampled.

6. A sampling mechanism comprising a chute having a plurality of transversely arranged sample pockets, and door means to open at will any desired pocket and admit thereinto a sample of the material moving in the chute.

7. In a mineral sampling mechanism, in combination, a car tipple, a chute to receive the contents dumped from a car, a plurality of pockets arranged transversely under and opening overhead through the bottom of the chute, and independently controllable doors for admitting samples to and discharging them from pockets, substantially as described.

8. In a sampling mechanism, the combination with a tipple chute having an opening in its bottom, of a multi-compartment sampling mechanism disposed below said opening and comprising independently movable doors for the compartments, which doors, in closed position, form a closure for the opening in the bottom of the chute.

9. The combination with a tipple chute having a bottom opening, of a sampling structure having a flaring top subdivided into pockets and attached to the chute with the pockets in position under the bottom opening in the chute, movable covers for the pockets adapted, in closed position, to bridge the opening in the chute, and means to independent-1y control the discharge o'f samples from the pockets, substantially as described.

lOptlL sampling mechanism comprising a structure adapted to be interposed in the path of the moving body of material. to be ricated structure bodily attachable beneath the chute and having separate pockets to receive the material Which falls through the opening of the chute, door means to direct said material to any desired pocket, means no to identify each sample taken in a pocket,

and means to deliver the samples taken in the order desired to be treated, substantially as described.

12. In a sampling apparatus, a casing comprising in its upper portion a subdivided hopper and in its lower portion a chute, doors for controlling the discharge of material from the subdivisions of the hopper into the chute, doors for controlling the 1nd admission of material to the subdivisions of the hopper, bins to receive the treated sample from the screen, and a metallic framework tying all said parts together into a unitary structure, substantially as described. ing.

18. In a sampling mechanism, a tipple chute having an opening in its bottom, sample pockets under said opening, a plurality of slide doors bridging the opening in the chute and each controlling the admission of 11a material to one of the pockets, and separate levers for opening and closing said doors, substantially as described.

let. In a sampling mechanism having a plurality of sample pockets, covers for said pockets, a chute to pass the material to be sampled over said covers, screen bars for the pockets which project substantially above the bottom level of the chute level, and positive means to open and close the doors in ran the direction of the length of the screen bars, substantially as described. r

15. Mechanism for taking representative samples of a stream of mineral, a hopper divided by vertical partitions in line with the movement of the material, ii-shaped slide guides at the top edge of said partitions, inverted channel bars mounted to slide in said guides and to normally cover the hopper, means to pass the mineral stream over said bars, and means to, operate the bars, substantially as described.

16. In a sampling mechanism, a sample pocket, means to admita sample thereinto,

a hinged discharge door for the pocket adapted to abut.against I a straight pocket Wall to close the pocket, and means to adjust the Width of the door to change its point of engagement with said straight wall and vary the capacity of the pocket, substantially as described.

signal on the tipple.

18. A sampling mechanism v comprising selective means to take a sample at the desired point transversely of the falling material, and a signal. operated contemporaneously with and by thesampling mechanism when adjusted to take a sample, said signal being adapted to notify the man on the tipple that a sample is being taken.

19. In combination, a tipple and its chute, a plurality of sample pockets interposed in the path of the material dumped over the tipple, an independently controllable cover for each pocket, and a common signal for the man on the tipple, and means to operate said signal by the opening of any one of the pocket covers, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ERSKINE RAMSAY. Witness:

NoMm VELSH.

Copies: of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents.

. Washington, D. G.

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