US1433012A - Loading-machine attachment - Google Patents

Description

'1. w. uouemow AND T. w. HARVEY.

LOADING MACHINE ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I4. 192l- Patentd Oct. Z IIJIEIZZ.

Patented (kt. 24, 1922.

[ Zr a gfrfifi. stares JOHN w. HOUGHTON AND THOMAS w. HARVEY, or HUNTINGTON, wnsr VIRGINIA, AssIs-Nons T0 smnnr. rnonnc'rs 00., or .HUN'rINeroN, wnsr VIRGINIA, a core- H ronerIo or WEST VIRGINIA.

LOADING-MACHINE ATTACHMENT.

Application filed April 14,

T 0' aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that we, JoHN WV. HoUoH- ToN and THOMAS 1V. HARVEY, citizensof the United States, residing at Huntin ton, in the, county of Cabell and State ofwest Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in 'Loading-Machine Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for loading coal and other material, and consists essentially of improvements in the type of machine disclosed bythe patents of Francis K. Holmested, No. 1,290,200, oflanuary 7,1919, and.1,291,522, of January 14, 1919,and also illustrated and described l in the application of J ohn'lV. Houghtonand Thurston 1V. Mitchell, Serial No. 428,077. The improvement consists specifically applying tothe feed shovel or nose at theforward= end of the inclined portion of a conveyer and cooperating with a reciprocating feed bar, forwardly projecting material-disloldging means, which in part is movable and effects a fall of the material relatively to the bulk of material operated upon and a drop thereof onto the feed shovel or nose. The primary object of the. invention is to provide means in connection with the feed shovel or nose at the forward extremity of a conveyer which will easily penetrate the material to be loaded and facilitate loading of the materialrelativelyto' the shovelend or nose when. the latter is withdrawn from and reset in operative position or penetration relativelyto thematerial to be loaded.

. In the accompanying drawing Fig. '1 is a side elevation of the feed shovel I or nose at the lower end of a conveyer, show side of'the feed shovel or nose and one at tachment being illustrated in horizontal section.

1F ig. 3"is a detail perspective view of the simplified form ofthe attachment.

.Fig. 4 is .anvi'ew' similar to Fig 3, showing .a modification of the attachment. 7

As in the patented machines of Francis K. Holmested and the machine disclosed by the pending application of Messrs. Houghton and-Mitchell hereinbefore referred to, a con- 1921. Serial No. 461,324.

veyer 5 is comprised in the cooperating compone-nts of the loading machine, said conveyer having opposite beams 6 which incline downwardly a suitable distance and connect with, or have applied thereto, a feed shovel or nose, generally indicated by the numeral 8. From the lower feeding shovel or nose 8 upwardly over the inclined portions of the beams 6 and continuing over the horizontal portion of said beams is a pan or trough 9, preferably formed of sheet metal of suitable thickness and firmly attached to the beams at opposite side edges. means, such as cross bars or lags 10, have close movement upwardly over the pan or trough 9 and are actuated by suitable mechanism forming no partof the present improvement. The feed shovel or nose 8 is of a practically unitary structure, or, is composed of a metal strip or sheet of suitable dimensions bent over at opposite sides to provide U-shaped' housings or angular guides 11 with their inner opposite sides fully open. This shovel end or nose extends downwardly from the forward terminals of the beams 6 and for a greater portion of its length is straight and at the same inclination as the beams. The front extremity of the feed shovel or shovel end .or nose is horizontally flat, as at12, and the terminating'end thereof is beveled off, as at 13, in a downward and forward direction. Between the horizontal straight extremity 12 of the feed shovel or shovel end and the remaining straight inclined portion of the latter, a

' bend 1 1 is formed which is gradual and obviously necessary to dispose the said extremity 12 horizontally, and whereby the forward extremity of the shovel end or nose may be causedto practically penetrate the coal or material to be loaded'or operated upon by the machine. The curved bend of the shovel end or nose is regularly carried out fully across the said end or nose and inclnding' the housingsll, and reciprocatingly mounted on and closely engaging the upper surface 15 of the shovel end or nose is a feed bar 16. which is angular in cross section, the opposite ends of the said bar being freely movable in and covered by the housings or enclosing guides 11. The feed bar .16 has a forward reduced edge 17 and a rear vertically straight side 18 disposed towards the movable elements of the conveyer.

The rear straight side of the bar 16 provides a. feedtions are given uniform and re 'ular reto t) ciprocating strokes by actuating means, preferabh consisting of slide blocks 21 mounted in the outer portions of the lower inclined extremities of the beams 6, the said. slide blocks. having pitmen 2O pivotally attached thereto and operated by suitable driving mechanism to uniformly and simultaneously reciprocate the blocks 21 and actuatethe flexible connections 19 and regularly move thefeed bar 16 over the shovel end or nose, the said feed bar 16 being movable over the shovel end or nose such distance as to bring up the material. being loaded into operative engagement with the conveying means.

The foregoing structure is particularly disclosed by the application of Messrs. Thurston and hlitchell, hereinbefore noted, and the improvement consists of a materialdisplaeing attachment, shown in detail by Figs..3 and fl, and'comprising a shank 22 conforming in longitudinal contour to the outer side of the shovel end or nose and hav ingextending therethrough a pluralityxof openings 28 to receive attaching bolts and nuts or analogous devices 2%, which project outwardly from the opposite sides of the out-er walls of the housings 11 forthe fleX- ible connections 19, as clearly shown by Fig. 2. The displacing attachment has its forward end beveled, as at 24, to facilitate penetration thereof into the mass of material to be loaded, and in the simplified form of the improvement shown by Fig. 8, a single displacing means is shown and consists of a drag arm 25 pivotally secured at its lower end 26 to the forward extremity of the at tachment, the arm being free to move upwardly and downwardly at its rear extre1nity. The rear end 27 of the arm 25 is shaped to form an abutment to operate upon the material adapted to be drawn towards the shovel end or nose 8 and the feed bar 16. The arm 25 is prevented from falling below a certain predetermined level by a stop pin 28 projecting outwardly from the shank 22, and at such elevation that a part of the free end 27 of the arm is always held elevated above theupper edge of the said shank 22 of the attachment. The forward pivoted extremity of the arm 25 is rounded and fits in a correspondingly curved socket 29, and where this socket passes out through the up per edge of. the forward extremity of the at- T0 the opposite ends of tachment a transversely straight shoulder 30 manner similar to that shown by Fig. 3, and

the shank 22is made correspondingly longer, it being understood that any number of the arms 25 be employed as found necessary.

One ofthe attachments in either form is adjustably appliedto each outer side of the shovel end or nose 8 and projects beyond the front terminal of the latter, the single arm attachment shown by Fig. 3 being so applied that its arm will stand in advance of the front terminal of the shovel end or nose, and the modified form of theattachment having a plurality of arms being also so applied that all of the armswill be in advance of the front terminal .of the shovel end or nose.

\Vhen the shovel end or. nose is pushed for-.

wardly into the bulk of material to be loaded, the beveled front ends 24 of the shanks become imbeddedin the material, and also-the arms 25, the latter being depressed by engagement with the material to their lowest level and engage the stop means therefor, said stop means in the modified structure being part of the shank, as at 31, the shank being constructed of such width in'the modified structure as to accommodate the application of aplurality of the arms 25 thereto. After the shovel end or nose 28 and the attachments have been set or applied to the material to be loaded, as just explained, the feed bar 16 is causedto operate and draw the material upwardly towards and into engagement with the conveyor elements. When the shovel end. or nose is withdrawn or moved rearwardly for the purpose of resetting or repenetrating the same relatively to the materialto be loaded, the one or more arms 25 of the attachments are immediately drawn upwardly by the engagement of the material with the rear abutment ends27 of the arms, and by this means the materialis drawn rearwardly towards the. shovel end orlnose and feed bar-16 and over onto the latter, and the bulk ofmaterial that may be standing above the arm or arms 25 is caused to fall and also drop over onto the forward extremity of the shovel end or nose for engagement with the saidfeed bar, with material advantages in facilitating the loading operation.

The improved attachment may be applied. to any machine now in use having cooperating devices such as the reciprocating feed bar 16 or any other analogous feed the attachments having movable arms on the means and will be found exceptionally advantageous in disposing the material to be loaded for engagement by the feed means for a convever.

lVhat is claimed, as new is:

1. The combination with the shovel end of a conveyer of a loading machine having means for moving material to the conveyer, of rigid material-displacing attachments applied to opposite sides and in part projecting in advance of the terminal of the shovel end,

outer sides wholly above the lower edges of said arms and adapted to penetrate the material and displace the latter when the shovel end is withdrawn from the material.-

2. The combination withthe shovel end of a conveyer having means for moving material upwardly thereover to the conveyer, of rigid material displacing means having a fixed association with relation to opposite sides of and in part in advance of the front extremity of said shovel end, the said material-displacing means being provided with arms pivoted at their forward lower ends above the lower edges of the arms and having a free gravitating movement at their rear ends, the said arms being located above and any portions thereof prevented from moving below the lower edges of said means.

3. The combination with the shovel end of a conveyer having means for moving material upwardly thereover to the conveyer, of rigid material-displacing means applied to opposite sides and in part in advance of the front extremity of the shovel end and provided with gravitating arms having their rear ends free to move upwardly and downwardly and controlled as to their downward movement by stop means, the said arms during their operations being wholly held at all times above the lower edges of the displacing means.

4. The combination with the shovel end of a conveyer having means for moving material upwardly thereover to the conveyer, of rigid material-displacing means applied to opposite sides and in part in advance of the front extremity of the shovel end and. provided with gravitating arms having their rear ends free to move upwardly and downwardly and controlled as to their downward movement by stop means, but at all times wholly held above the lower edges of the displacing means, each attachment being longitudinally adjustable with relation to the shovel end. I

5. The combination with a shovel end at the front extremity of a conveyer having means for moving material thereover into engagingposition by the conveyer, of a rigid displacing attachment secured to each side and projecting in advance of the front extremity of the shovel end, the attachments having fixed penetrating forward ends and arms pivoted at their front lower extremities and free to move upwardly and downwardly at their rear ends the arms being at all times held above the lower edges of the displacing attachments, means being provided to limit the upward and downward movements of the arms. i

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN W. HOUGHTON. THOMAS l/V. HARVEY. Witnesses:

STARR. SADLER, BLANCHIE BROMLEY.

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