US1521022A - Safety appliance for mining machines - Google Patents

Description

Dec; 30, 1 24.

M. P. HOLMES SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR MTNING MACHINES Filed June 11, 1921 will Patented Dec. 30, 1924.

Mortars r. HOLMES, or cLARE aoN'r, NEW ini arsninn, Asst anon T :SULLIVAN MACHINERY COMPANY, a CORPORATION oF vIAssnoi-InsErTs.

SAFETY APPLIANCE FOR 1\ INII TG MACHINES.

.Applicationfiled June 11, 1921.

Z 0 all 10 ham it. may. .ccncem Be it known that I, .MoRRis P. HOLMES, a citizen of .the United States, residing at Claremont, in the county of Sullivan and State of New .Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Appliances for Mining Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to safety appliances for bodily. movable machines.

The invention has for its general object to provide means for automatically stopping the operation of sucha. machine in the event (if-accidental movement thereof in ,a direction other than that which it is meant to travel. Another object ofthe invention is to provide mechanism of the character referred to which will not only. stop the operation of the machine butwill also .arrest the bodily movement thereof. A moreparticular object of the invention is to provide a safety appliance for mining machines of the type employing a feed chain or cable for moving the machine bodily along the mine face and instrumentalities for cutting a kerf in said face as the machine is so moved, said appliance being of such .a character that, should the feed chain or cablebreak while the machine isYtrav-elling up an incline, rearward movement of .said machine down said incline will be immediately arrested, and the operation of the cutting instrumentalities instantly stopped in order to prevent injury .to the machine or to the operator.

The foregoing and other .objects of invention, together with means whereby the same may be carried into effect, will best be understoodfrom the following description of one form or embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a. miningmachine having the invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged verticalsection of therear of the machine takensubstantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 .is an enlarged plan view of the rear end of the machine with the top cover plate and cutter bar-removed.

Fig. 4 is a detail section on. the line l4 of Fig. 2-.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the clutch controlling mechanism.

' or ca n an a: G tt r b 1-.. carr es theusual cutter chain vided .6 in the frame andebaiz or ra ie mounted at the oppositefen'd ofitlie andis adapted to cooperatew'ith afleiiible feeding member ofany suitable form, erein Serial No,, 476,756.

The min n maeh i e $1. .Q I i1t aW- ings 1s of the longwall type having "frame tter with cutter bits 4, and is pivotally. connected to one end of I the frame, and held -as desired either in opposite lateral positions. .or in ,a longitudinal position by .aireniovable pin,y5 cooperating with registering Ais uitable feed also rotat'ably member '7 is shown as .a feed chains which pas s about suitably disposed guide sprockets its in awe llm vn QQ S QQ M h talar n ing member 7 is driven fronija inotor' 10 within the casing .tliro igh usual coi nec ions, notshown. Themotor shaft 11 :carries a bevelpinion 12 which meshes. with a bevel gear 13 fast upona sleeve 1 l wh ch carries a :spur pinion l5 meshing with a spi r gear 16 adapted to be connected through snitable clutch devices 17, withasp rochet 18 for actuating the cutter chainB.

Theparts thus farahferred to, are of a construction and arrangement well known invv the art and require no further description in .detail. In; the use of amachine of the type shown, the cutter bar2 isswung in.

under, themine face in any suitable manner, I

.as for instance by, connecting, the :feed, chain to projections 19 on the banand then simultaneously, operating the :uttei;- chain 3. and

. .feedoperating member 7 The feedchain 8 is then extended along the face and anchored at its ends, .so that when. the feed operating member '7 and cutter chain 3 are again simultaneously operated, the machine will move bodily along the feed chain and the face, and will occupy the position illustrated in Fig. 1 during its traversing cutting operation.

As is. also usual in machines of this type, theclutch devices 17 I are operatedby .arms 20 on a rock shaft 21 journaled in a bracket 22 secured at a suitable point toftlie main frame 1, said,clutchdevices comprising pins carried by a ring 17 rotatahly cooperating with upstanding arms 17*. connected with the arms 20 (Fig. 5). In accordance with the present invention, means areTQprQV ided the gear 16 and stop the operation of the cutter chain 3 should the machine for any reason, as for example breakage of the feed chain 8 when the machine is operating on a pitch or incline, start to move backwardly, said means preferably also operating to arrest such bodily movement of the machine. Such means may obviously assume various forms, but in the embodiment of the invention illustrated the following mechanism is provided.

The machine frame 1 is formed at a suitable point adjacent its rear end, and preferably at or near the top thereof, with a short, longitudinally disposed, under-cut guideway 23 in which is mounted a slide 2 1. Pivoted at 25 to the slide 24 is a sprag 26 which extends upwardly and rearwardly from the rear end of the machine and is formed with a pointed end adapted to engage with the roof of a gallery in which the machine is operated and to follow the surface of said roof as the machine is moved forwardly. The sprag 26 is preferably con nected with the slide 2 1 by a suitable yielding connection, herein in the form of a relatively light coiled spring 27 operatively connected between a collar 28 substantially midway between the ends of the sprag and a point at the top of an upright portion 29 of the slide 2 1. As a result of this spring connection, it will be observed that the sprag is normally held in the upwardly and rearwardly inclined position shown in Fig. 2. Secured at its rear end to the upright portion 29 of the slide 24 is a horizontal rod 30 guided for longitudinal movement in the machine frame and connected by a link 81 .to an arm32 on the rock shaft 20, whereby, when said rod 30 is moved forwardly, said rock shaft will be operated to disconnect the clutch devices 17 and stop the operation of the cutter chain 3.

In order to start the cutter chain 3, the slide 24; is manually moved into its rearmost position as shown in Fig. 2, thereby drawing the rod 30 rearwardly and operating the rock shaft 21 to engage the clutch devices 17. During the normal forward travel of the machine, the sprag 26 will tend to occupy the position shown in Fig. 2, its upper end following the roof surface, and the spring 27 holding the same in engagement with the roof, the slight rearward drag of said sprag tending to maintain the slide 2% in its rearmost position and the cutter chain clutch engaged. Should, however, the machine start to move bodily rearwardly for any reason, as, for example, upon breakage of the feed chain when the machine is travelling up an incline, such rearward movement will tend to drive the upper end of the sprag into the roof, thereby arresting such rearward movement. At the same time, the reaction of the lower or forward end of the sprag upon the slide 24 will move said slide forwardly in the guide-way 23, carrying with it the rod 30, such forward movement of the rod acting through the link 31 to rock the shaft 21 and operate the clutch devices 17 to disconnect the sprocket 18 from the gear 16, thereby immediately stopping the operation of the cutter chain.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention provides means whereby both the operation and the bodily movement of a machine be automatically arrested upon incipient m vement thereof in a direction opposite from that in which it is intended to move. It will be noted, however, that whenever it is desired to permit a free rearward movement of the machine, the sprag may be readily rendered inoperative by disconnecting the spring 27, said sprag being preferably of such a length and so mounted upon the machine frame as to fall idly to the rear of the machine without engaging the bottom over which the machine is moved.

ll hile T have herein specifically shown and described one embodiment which my invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that the particular construction and arrangement described and shown have been chosen for illustrative purposes merely, and that the invention may be otherwise embodied and practiced without departing from its spirit or the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 2- l. The combination with a bodily movable machine, of means including a pivoted element engageable with an extraneous abutment carried by said machine for automatically discontinuing the operation thereof only upon bodily movement thereof in one direction.

2. The combination with a bodily movable machine slidable on its own bottom, of means including a yieldable member engageable with an extraneous abutment carried by said machine for automatically discontinuing the operation thereof upon only bodily movement thereof in one direction.

3. The combination with a bodily movable machine having moving parts, of means engageable with an extraneous abutment automatically operative only upon bodily rearward movement of said machine to stop the operation of said parts.

4. The combination with a bodily movable machine comprising an actuator, a driven member, and a clutch connecting said actuator and member, of means carried by said machine and engageable with an extraneous abutment for automatically disengaging said clutch. only upon bodily rearward move ment of said machine.

5. The combination with a bodily movable machine, cutting mechanism carried by said machine, and means'engageable with an extraneous abutment for automatically discontinuing the operation of said cutting mechanism only upon bodily movement of said machine in one direction.

6. In a mining machine, the combination with a cutter chain, a motor, and driving connections including a clutch between said chain and motor, of means automatically operative upon bodily rearward movement of said machine to disengage said clutch and stop said cutter chain.

7. The combination with a bodily movable machine, of means carried by said machine and adapted to engage a fixed extraneous object adjacent the path of'movement of said machine for automatically discontinuing the operation of said machine only upon bodily movement thereof in one direction.

S. In a mining machine, the combination with a motor, a cutter chain, and driving connections including a clutch between said motor and chain, of means carried by said machine for engaging a gallery roof and adapted upon rearward movement of said machine to disengage said clutch.

9. The combination with a bodily movable machine, of a slide guided for movement on said machine, means pivotally mounted on said slide for engaging a fixed extraneous object adjacent the path of movement of said machine, and means operated by said slide for discontinuing the operation of said machine.

10. The combination with a bodily movable machine comprising an actuator, moving parts operated thereby, and a clutch connecting said actuator and parts, of a slide guid d for movement on said machine, means carried by said slide for engaging a fixed extraneous object adjacent the path of movement of said machine, and means including a pivoted shipping member operativelv connected with said slide for operating said clutch.

11. The combination with a bodily movable machine slidable on a mine bottom, of means constantly engageable with a mine roof carried by said machine for automatically arresting movement of said machine only in one direction and substantially simultaneously discontinuing the operation thereof.

12. In a mining machine, the combination with a motor, a cutter chain, and driving connections including a clutch between said motorv and cutter chain, of a slide guided for movement on said machine, a sprag piv- ,oted to said slide, a rod connected to said slide, a rock shaft for operating said clutch, an arm on said rock shaft, and a link connecting said rod and arm.

13. In a mining machine, feeding means, cutting means, and controlling means for said cutting means including a' pivoted sprag engageable with a gallery controlled by the failure of said feeding means to operate.

14. In a mining machine, feedingmeans, cutting means, andcontrolling means for said cutting means controlled only by a reverse movement caused by failure of said feeding means.

15. Ina safety device for a miningmachine, feeding means, cutting mechanism, actuating means therefor, and automatic means to disconnect said cutting mechanism from said actuating means only-upon failure of said feeding means to operate.

16. In a mining machine, feeding mechanism, cutting mechanism, driving means therefor, and automatic means adapted to en age a stationary abutment and controlled only by the failure of said feeding mechanism to operate to disconnect said cutting mechanism from said driving means.

17. In a mining machine, feeding mechanism, cutting mechanism, driving means therefor, and means controlled by the failure of the feeding mechanism to operate and adapted to engage a mine roof and au tomatically disconnect said cutting mechanism from said driving means.

18. In combination. with a mining machine, feeding means therefor, cutting mechanism, driving means therefor, a clutch interposed between said driving means and said cutting mechanism, and automatic means controlled by the failure of said feeding means to operate and-operating to disconnect said clutch.

19. In a mining machine, flexible feeding means, cutting means, driving means therefor, and automatic means carried by the machine and engageable with a mine roof operative upon failure of said feeding means to disconnect the cutting means from the driving means.

20. In a mining machine adapted to slide upon a mine bottom, the combination with a cutter chain, a motor, driving connections including a clutch between said cutter chain and motor, and means automatically operative upon bodily rearward movement of said machine to disengage said clutch to stop said cutter chain.

21. The combination with a machine having bodily movement in a certain direction during operation, of means carried by said machine for automatically discontinuing operation thereof operative only upon movement of said machine in an opposite direction at any point of said machine movement during operation.

22. The combination with a machine hav ing bodily movement in a certain direction during operation comprising an actuator, a. driven member, and a clutch connecting said actuator and member, of means carried by said machine for automatically discontinuing operation thereof operative only upon movement of said machine in an oppositedirection at any point of said machine movement during operation for automatically disengaging said clutch.

2-3. The combination with a machine having bodily movement in a certain direction during operation, of means carried by said machine for automatically discontinuing the operation thereof only upon a predetermined movement in an opposite direction at any point of said machine movement during, op eration, said predetermined movement being of less magnitude than the distance of ma chine movement during operation.

2%. The combination with a machine bodily movable in a certain direction during operation, of means carried by said machine for automatically discontinuing the operation thereof, said means receiving its initial movement from said machine only in an opposite direction at any point of said machine movement during operation.

25. In combination, a mining machine, feeding means therefor including a flexible member, cutting mechanism, driving means therefor, and automatic means controlled by the failure of said flexible feeding member and operating to disconnect said cutting mechanism from said driving means.

26. In a mining machine adapted to slide on its own bottom on the mine bottom relative to a flexible feeding member during; operation, means for automatically discontinuing the operation thereof when said flexible feeding member fails to operate.

21 The combination with a machine bodily movable Within certain limits during operation, of means carried by said machine for automatically discontinuing the opera- .tion thereof, said. means being only operative upon movement of said machine in a reverse direction at any point between its limits of n'iovement.

28. The combination with a bodily movable machine provided with feeding and cutting mechanism and driving means therefor, of means automatically operative upon movement of said machine in one direction for discontinuing operation thereof while said driving means constantly operates.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

MORRIS P. HOLMES.

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