US1516293A - Continuous automatic concrete mixer - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 18, 1924- r 1,516,293

M. F. HORST CONTINUOUS AUTOMATIC CONCRETE MIXER Filed Feb. 20 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ajzlltozz E f/075$ Nov. 18, 1924. 1,516,293

' M. F. HORST CONTINUOUS AUTOMATIC CONCRETE MIXER Filed Feb. 20. 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 18, 1924- M. F. HORST CONTINUOUS AUTOMATIC CONCRETE MIXER Filed Feb. 20 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 gmnto';

o Milton i'fiozjt M. F. HORST CONTINUOUS AUTOMATIC CONCRETE MIXER Nov. 18, 1924.

Filed Feb. 20

1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ,lllllrlllrlll llz m n I n Patented Nov. 18, 1924 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HILTON I. HORST, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNO'R OF ONE-THIRD TO CHRISTIAN HORST, 035 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

CONTINUOUS AUTOMATIC CONCRETE MIXER.

Application filed February 520, 1924. Serial 'No. 694,086.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that '1, Mirrors F. Hons'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Continuous Automatic Concrete Mixers, of which the following is a specification.-

This invention relates to concrete mixers and its primary object is to provide an apparatus which will operate automatically and continuously to mix concrete and deliver it at a point of use. The invention also has for its object the provision of a portable mechanism combining means for receiving concrete, sand and gravel in the proper proportions and delivering them to a preliminary mixing chamber, then conveying them to a point of discharge and continuing the mixture during the travel, water being added to the commingled cement, sand and gravel during the latter part of its travel to the discharge point, and then conveying the finished mixture to any desired point where it is to be used. The invention also seeks to provide an apparatus for the stated purpose in which the operation of mixing and delivering the-concrete will be continuous as long as the supply is maintained and in which the parts will be compactly arranged and will be of such type as to be strong and durable. These stated objects and other objects which will incidentally appear in the course of the following description are attained in such an apparatus as is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:.

Figure 1 is a plan View of my improved concrete mixing machine;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3' is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line H of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fi 6 is a similar section onthe line 6-6 of'Fig. 1, and a Fig. 7 1s a similar section on the line 77 of Fig. 1.

power.

While my apparatus may be stationary, I prefer to provide for its ready travel from point to point and to that end employ a truck- 1 which may be of any convenient construction and may be drawn by draft animals or equipped with a motor whereby it may be caused to travel under its own When the truck is equipped with a motor, the same motor may be employed to impart rotation to the main driving shaft 2 but, if the truck is not motor equipped, said shaft may be extended to any convenient point and driven by any convenient engine. Upon the truck 1, I erect a frame consisting of standards 3 and suitable braces 4, whic standards support a superstructure 5 of proper form and arrangement to securely support all the working parts. Carried by the upper ends of the standards 3 is an annular wall 6 which is connected by a cover plate or other form of bridge 7 with an inner concentric annularwall 8, as shown most clearly in Fig. 6. Between the lower edges of the walls 6 and 8 is an annular bottom plate 9 which is caused to rotate in the operation of the apparatus, as will presently fully appear. The cover plate or bridge member 7 is provided at one side of the ap paratus, preferably the front side, with an opening 10 therethrough and supported in alinement with the said opening is a hopper or preliminary mixing chamber 11 having' downwardly converging walls and equipped with a cut-off slide or valve 12 in its lower end whereby the flow of material into the annular chamber defined by the Walls 6 and 8 and the bottom plate 9 may be regulated. Supported by suitable bearing brackets 13 at the front end of the truck and by arms 14: extending from the standards'3 and the superstructure 5 are a plurality of elevators 15 which may be of any preferred endless chain bucket type and by which the ingredients of the concrete are carried to and delivered into the hopper or preliminary mixing chamber 11. The lower ends of these elevators are disposed within receiving hoppers 16 which are mounted upon the shafts 17 which carry the sprockets 18, about which the lower bights of the elevator chains are trained, and the side walls of these receiving hoppers converge rearwardly toward the elevators, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The shafts 17 may be supported so that the entire apparatus will e reinforced and braced b a beam 19 connected with the front end of the truck and extending between the rear pivoted ends of the hoppers, as will be readily understood upon reference to Figs. 1 and 2. These hoppers are loosely fitted about the shafts 17 so that, when the apparatus is not in use,

they may be swung upwardl and partly over the lower ortions of t e respective elevators, as in icated b dotted lines in Fig. 7, and secured in t e raised position by hooks 20 secured u on the standards 3 or other fixed parts an adapted to engage in eyes 21 upon the hoppers. When the aplparatus is in use, the outer ends of these oppers are supported by props 22in an obvious manner. In the u per ends of the frames of the elevators 15, fmount a jointed or flexible shaft 23 upon which are secured the sprockets supportlng the upper bights of the elevator chains and upon one section of which is secured a sprocket 24, about which is trained a chain 25 which extends inwardly from the elevators to a point about at the center of the machine whereit is trained about a second s rocket 26 secured upon a shaft 27 journals in suitable bearings upon the superstructure 5, a beveled gear 28 bein secured upon said shaft and meshing wit a similar gear 29 on the upper end of a vertical shaft 30.

The shaft 30 extends downwardly to the truck 1 and has its lower end fitted in a step bearing 31 which may or may not be of the b ball bearing type, as may be preferred. The

upper end of the shaft is, of course, mounted in a suitable bearing in the superstructure 5 and upon the said shaft in its lower end -port1on 151 secured a worm gear 32 meshing with a worm 33 on the main driving shaft 2.

'Above the worm gear 32 I secure to the shaft 30 a plurality of radial arms 34 which extendupwardly as well, as outwardly and are rig d under si e of the annular ottom plate 9 of the main mixing chamber. It will thus be seen that, when'rotation is imparted to the vertical shaft 30 the annular bottom plate 9 will be caused to follow the movement of the shaft and motion will also be imparted to the elevators 15 so that the material to be-mixed will charged into the hopper 11.

Within the hopper 11 is disposed a stirrer or agitator comprising a vertical shaft 35 and a mixer member 36 which is preferably.

in the form shown in Fig. 5 consistin of two loops or rings of stout wire or a fight rod disposed in the vertical plane of the shaft and m superposed relation, the entire mixer or agitating member resemblin an inverted fi re 8'. The lower end 0 the shaft 35 is but its upperend is mounted per 11 .is disc secured at their upper ends to the be raised to and dis in and supported by bearings 37 upon the supporting structure 5, and a sprocket wheel 38 is secured upon the shaft between the bearings, as shown. A chain 39 is trained around the sprocket 38 and around a similar sprocket 40 secured upon the upper end of a shaft 41 which is disposed vertically within the superstructure'5 and journaled in suitable bearings provided therefor 11 on the superstructure. The shaft 41 carrying the sprocket40 is one of a series of similar shafts which are disposed concentrically about the vertical shaft 30 midway between the walls 6 and 8 and rotatably fitted in suitable bearings upon the superstructure. Each of these shafts has secured thereto a pair of sprockets 42, and sprocket chains 43 are trained about the sprockets upon adjacent shafts as shown in Fi s. 1 and 2, whereby all the shafts will e simulta- ,neously rotated in the same direction and at and has secured upon its lower end a pair of mixing blades or a 'tators 46 which are disposed edgewise wit in the mixing chamer and are of such dimensions that in one position their free ends will be disposed close to the walls of said chamber, as will be readily understood'upon reference to Fig. 3. In operation, the material which has been given a reliminary mixing in the hopharged into the space between the walls 6 and 8 onto the bottom plate 9 which is rotating in the direction of the arrow a in Fig. 3 and is thereupon carried around through the mixing chamber by said moving bottom plate. Simultaneously with this travel of the material, the mixing blades 46 will be rotated as indicated by the arrows b in Fig. 3 and a very thorou commingling of the several ingredients w1ll be effected. At a point substantially diametrically opposite thehopper 11, a water pipe 47 is disposed across the top of the mixmg chamber to deliver water in the proper volume'to the dry mixed concrete so that during the rest of the travel of the same it will be wet mixed.

The outer end portion 75 of each mixer blade is hin d to the main body of theblade, as at 72, and a leaf s rin 77 holds the two parts in alinement. hou d a large stone or other obstruction, by any chance be lod ed between the end of the blade an the we l of the chamber, the hinged end will yield to and ride over the obstruction, re-

' jacent the hopper 11 is a discharge'opening 48 and extendin between the two walls 6 and 8 above the bottom plate 9 at the rear side of the said opening in the direction of travel of the mixture is a deflecting transverse wall 49 by which the mixed material is directed into and through the opening 48 to pass through a chute 50 into a hopper 51. The hopper 51 has a discharge spout 52 depending from its lower side through which the material will immediately flow to an elevating conveyer 53 and will be received in the buckets 54 of said conveyer. The conveyer 53 will discharge into a second hopper or chute 55 below which is disposed a second endless conveyer 56 which receives the concrete from the hopper 55 and carries it to a delivery tube or chute 57 which is preferably of a jointed sectional construction whereby it may be extended to any desired point of use so that the mixed concrete may be delivered into the wall or other;

structure which is to be formed therefrom. The elevating conveyer 53 is supported by suitable brackets, as 58, secured to and projecting fromthe superstructure and theouter end of the conveyer 56 is supported by props 59, as will be understood upon reference to Fig. 1. The conveyer 56 may be caused to deliver into a third conveyer and as many such conveyers may be employed as may be necessary to convey the material to the point of use. It will also be understood that the conveyers 56 may be so ar ranged as to successively carry the concrete to a higher level so that a" building of any height may be supplied with the concrete mixed in my apparatus. To operate the elevating conveyer 53, the shaft 60 which carries the sprocket 61 supporting the lower bight of the elevator chain is mounted in suitable bearings upon the truck and is equipped at its inner end with abeveled ear 62 meshin with a similar gear 63 on t e front end 0 the main shaft 2. The conveyer 56 is driven by a vertical shaft 64 mounted in suitable bearings upon-the frame of the conveyer and of the elevator 53 and equipped at its upper and lower ends with beveled gears 65 and 66 meshing with similar gears 67 and 68 secured, res ectively, upon the shaft at the upper 'en of the elevator 53 and the shaft at the front- 9. Water is supplied to this pipe 47 by 'a main 70 extending partly around the outer wall 6 and downwardly to a point adjacent the truck 1 where it is connected to the dev livery side of a pump 71 which may be" of any preferred type and is illustrated in a conventional manner only. Sprocket gearing, indicated at 72, operatively connects the main driving shaft 2 with the shaft of the pump, and. a clutch 73 is provided upon the main shaft so that the pump may be put in operation or cut off at will.

It may sometimes be found desirable to provide ascreen or sieve in connection with one or more of the receiving hoppers 16. Such a hopper is shown at 78 slidably mounted on ways 79 and connected by a pitman 80 with a crank 81 on the shaft 17.

The sand, gravel and cement are delivered into the receiving hoppers 16 in the proper proportions and, inasmuch as the bottoms of these hoppers are inclined downwardly toward the elevators 15, the material will at once gravitate to the rear ends of the hoppers where it will be taken up by the buckets of the respective elevators. The elevators will deliver the material into the preliminary mixing hopper 11, the sides of which converge toward the opening 10 and the agitator arranged in alinement with said opening. This agitator is constantly rotated as long as the power of mixed material will be delivered directly into the space between the circular walls 6 and 8 and onto the traveling bottom plate 9 which will at once cause it to travel around through the space between said circular walls and eventually reach the open ing 48 through which it will be discharged by the action of the mixers 46 adjacent the .said opening and the deflector 49. By the time the material reaches a point below the water pipe 47 ,the several in dients Wlll. be thoroughly commingled an the wet concrete will, consequently, be quickly brought to the proper! consistency after the water is discharged onto the same. leakage of concrete through the space betweenthe bottom carrying plate 9 and the walls 6 and 8 will be negligible, but, if it The possible 4 be desired to guard against such leakage, packing 74 of felt or other material may be arranged along the lower edges of the walls 6 and 8, as shown in Fig. 6. My apparatus is compactly arranged and is simple in the construction of its parts. It will operate efliciently and'continuously as long ower is applied to the main shaft 2. Owmg to the simplicity of its construction, repairs are not ant to be needed but-if they 1. A concrete mixer comprising inner and outer annular stationary concentric walls, a moving bottom between said walls, means for delivering material onto said bottom, and a circular series of mixing elements disposed between said walls. above the said bottom for successively acting on the material.

2. A concrete mixer comprising inner and outer annular stationary concentric walls, a traveling bottom between said walls, means for delivering material onto said traveling bottom, a circular series of rotat-- mg mixers disposed concentric w1th and midway between the walls for successively acting on the material, and constantly operating means for continuously discharging the mixed material through the'outer wall. I

3. A concrete mixer comprising stationary, inner and outer annular concentric Walls and a bridge plate connecting the upper edges of said walls, an annular bottom plate mounted for travel between the walls, means for delivering material onto said bottom plate and between the walls, a circular series of rotatable mixers mounted between the walls concentric therewith and above the bottom carrying plate for successively actin on the" material, means carried by the bridge plate for simultaneously rotating all of said mixers in the same direction, means' arranged centrally within the space enclosed by 'the inner wall, and constantl operating means for discharging the mixe material through the outer wall.

4. A concrete mixer comprising an annular mixing chamber including concentric circular walls and a bridge plate connecting the upper edges'of said walls, the outer Wall havin a' discharge opening therethrough', a ,de ector extending between the walls adjacent the discharge opening, an annular bottomplate mounted between the concentric walls, means for efiecting travel ofsaid bottom plate in a path concentric with the walls, means for delivering vmaterial onto said bottom plate at one side'ofi'the space between t e walls in a circular path,

means for continuously agitating the material at all points of its said travel, "a hopper above said walls deliverin ,into the space between them, means" for elivering material to 'bemixedinto said hopper, a vertical shaft supported on the top of said hopper and depending therei'nto, lateral agitator loops on said shaft within the hopper, and means for continuously rotating-said "shaft.

6. A concrete mixer comprising a supportingstructure, an'annular mixing chamber comprisin stationa concentric wa ls carried y the supporting structure, a vertically disposed shaft mounted in the said supporting structure concentric with the walls of the annular mixing chamber, an annular carrier consti-' tuting a bottom for the mixing chamber,.

inner and outer upwardly and outwardly extending. arms below the carrier rigidly connecting said carrier with the vertical shaft, means for delivering material onto the carrier, a circular series of mixers disposed within the mixing chamber for successively acting on the materialon the carrier, means for rotating thevertical shaft,-and means above the mixing chamber 'opera'tively connecting said shaft withithemixers' whereby all the mixers will be simultaneously rotated in the same. direction.

In testimony whereof 'I afiix my signature. A

' MILTON, F; HORST' a 5.1 y

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