US1524291A - Loading and discharging apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 27, 1925. 1,524,291

A. C. DENNIS LOADING AND DISCHARGING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 5, 1923 5 Shlae'S-Slxeeil l Jan. 27, 1925.

A. C. DENNIS LOADING AND DISCHARGING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 5, 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 vue/v1. boa

. Een rels' A. C. DENNIS LOADING AND DISCHARGING APPARATUS jan. 27, 1925. 1,524,291

Filed Nov. 5, 1923 3 Sheets-Shea?l 5 Patented Jan. 27, 1925.

F l C E ARTHUR C. DENNIS, 0F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

LOADING AND DISCHARGING APPARATUS.

Application led November 5, 1923. Serial N50. 672,898.

To all who-m t may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR C. DENNIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Loading and Discharging Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in loading machines or ap aratus and has todo more particularly wit an improved car loader.

The device of my invention includes, in its practical form, an excavator or scraper means acting in concert with an improved conveyor structure for conveying and depositing the material to the desired pomt of de osition.

e device of my invention is especially designed for tunnel or other underground work in which cars are employed to receive the material from the conveyor. In this character of work it is frequently necessary to wait for empty cars and this delays the operation of excavation until a car arrives. Further, when cars arrive slowly so that continuous openation of the apparatus cannot be carried on, the delay or slowing up increases the cost of the work to the contractor.

Therefore, it is a special feature of my invention to provide a conveyor which can be operated substantially continuously, thereby permitting substantially continuous scraping, and yet which can be speeded in accordance" with the number andcapacity of cars available. Thus, when cars arrive slowly, my improved conveyor will be advanced step by step While being loaded, so thatv the material loaded thereon will be held in storage and will form a substantially continuous and uninterrupted strip of material. When a car arrives, the conveyor will quickly and continuously advanced suiliciently to dump a oar full, and then the conveyor will be retracted back to the loading point, or sufficiently toward such point so that the excess material on the conveyor, that could not be accommodated by the car, will be in a position to form a. continuation with new material about to be loaded onto the conveyor. Thus it will be seen that my improved conveyor may be termed a storage conveyor in that it serves in a storage capacity for material until the latter accumulates sufiiciently to fill or more than lill aV car, and also for excess material which the car cannot hold.

My invention has many other features of novelty. which will be more fully described in connection with the accompany' drawings and which will be more particularly pointed out in and by the appended claims.

In the drawings Fig. 1, is a view in elevation of the preferred form of my invention showing the loaded scraper just approaching the skid or guide.

Fig. 2, is a view in elevation showing the loaded vscraper advanced along the skid to a dumping position.

Fig. 3, is a plan view of that portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 4, is a sectional view on line 4'4 of Fig. 1'.

Fig. 5, is a sectional view on line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6, is a sectional view on line 6-6 of Flg. 1.

Fig. 7 is a View partly in section on line 7-7 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8, is a front face view of the scraper.

Fig. 9, is a view in side elevation thereof.

Like characters of reference designate similar parts throughout the dierent figures of the drawings.

As shown, my improved apparatus includes a main wheeled frame generally designated at 1, and adapted to be advanced toward-a dump or muckl pile 2, on rails 3, said main frame 1`, may comprise a horizontal portion 4, suitably mounted on wheels 5, and likewise suitabl laterally braced. Said frame may inclu e uprights 6 connected by a transverse member 7 on which is supported a suitable power scraper cable winch mechanism, generally designated at 8, and which will be later referred to. An operators platform 9, is mounted in accessible proximity to sai-d mechanism, as clearly shown, and the apparatus isdesignedl so [that the operator can control the entire mechan-ism while standing on this platform 'Upf rights 10, on that end remote from uprights 6, are suitably connected at 11, andiform a boom supportto which a otally connected.

A skid or guide way for the scraper is mounted on said frame 1, andvmay include angle irons 14, secured to uprights 6 and 10 and to intermediate members 15. ,Suitable braces 16, may be employedl to brace the boom 12, is pivllu boom supports 10, said members being connected with said uprights 10 and with the skid irons 14. The skid irons 14 are t'loored, as indicated at 17, from points 18 to 19. The horizontal portions 20, of the irons 14, form the guides proper. To the left of end 19, of thel loor, there is au open space bctween the irons 14 through which the contents of the scraper can dump or descend onto the receiving end of the conveyor, as will be later described. I provide an apron or shoe 22, at the entrance of the skid onto which the Scraper can be advanced to the skid. The forward edge of this apron may ride on the, rails 3, and said apron may be mounted on bars 23, hinged at 24, to the skid, and having a cross stop bar 25, extending under the -Iskid to prevent a too great descent of the front end of the apron. A boom supporting yoke is pivoted at 24, and may comprise uprights 26, and a cross member 27, extending beneath boom 12, and connected therewith by a U-bolt 28, which need not be described in detail as the same is not herein claimed. Guide bars 29, mounted on uprights 26. serve to guide the scraper onto the apron and into a position of registry with irons 14.

I have indicated a scraper at 30, which is one of the reversible types known as the Sullivan, and which need not be described in detail. The forward portion of the scraper is connected with a cable 31, trained about sheave 32, of the power winch 8, A cable 33, is connected with the rear end of the scraper and is trained about a sheave 34, on boon 12, and supported on idle rollers 35 and 36, mounted on boom 12. This cable extends to and is trained about sheave 37, of winch 8. This winch may be electrically, air or otherwise driven mechanism, not material to this case, and will have operating levers or switches whereby it may be controlled by the operator on platform 9, to cause the scraper 30 to be advanced along the skid into a dumping position and back along the skid to the muck dump. It will be clear that the foregoing scraper mechanism constitutes means controllable at the will of the operator for intermittently loading the conveyor, which I will presently describe.

My improved conveyor includes a` conveyor frame 38, having a. loading or intake portion 39, connected with the main frame 1, in subjacent relation to the discharge space at the left of the floor 19, of the scraper guide-way 14. The conveyor frame 38 is inclined upwardly and rearwardly from the I nain frame, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, the elevation of the rear or delivery end 40, of the conveyor frame, is suicient to overhang a ear indicated at 41. I provide means which may take the form of a wheeled supporting truck 42, for supporting the overhanging portion of the conveyor frame and I preferably couple said track 42, with the main frame truck 1, as indicated at 43, whereby the supporting truck will at all times be in predetermined relation with the main frame truck 1. In order to relieve the apparatus from strain, which would result from hastily laid rails 3, I preferably pivotally connect truck 42, with theeonveyor frame. To this end, the frame 38, is provided with pendent bearings 44, and the truck 42, is provided with bearings 45, through which bearings a pivot shaft 46 extends and is journalled. An endless conveyor apron 47, of any suitable type, has its receiving bight 48, trained about a suitable wheel structure 49, journalled in the conveyor frame 38. The remaining bight 50, is trained about a wheel structure 51, mounted on shaft 52, which is journalled at 53. Frame 38, is provided with guards in the form of angle irons 54, which overhang the edges of the conveyor apron 47, as will be clearly seen by reference to Fig. 6. The frame 38, also has side extensions 55, which may be in the forni of angle irons, for the purpose of enablin the structure to take a greater depth 0% material. An idler supporting roller 56, is provided to engage and support the lower lap of apron 47, so that it will clear the to of truck 42. This roller may be supporte by brackets'57.

On one side of the rear end of frame 38, is a motor 58, which for the purpose of this invention may be any type capable of imparting a continuously slow or step by step motion to the apron 47. This motor is Adirectly connected with shaft 52 to drive the latter in one direction of revolution. If it be an air motor, a controlling pipe 59, may extend to platform 9, and terminate in a controlling valve 60. A similar motor 61, on the opposite side, is directly connected with the remaining end of shaft 52, and has a controlling pipe 62, extending forwardly to platform 8, and terminating in a controlling valve 63. It will be understood that wheels 51, will have teeth so that rollers 64, on apron 47, will engage said teeth and thereby constitute a positive drive.

It will thus be seen that I have provided, broadly speaking, driving mechanism, preferably at. the delivery cud of the conveyor, for operating the conveyor apron in either of two directions, which is a claimed feature of novelty. This drive is of `such a character that the apron 47 can be intermittently advanced toward a dumping position, or continuously so advanced. By locating the motors on the delivery end o the conveyor, Iam able to exert a pull through the shortest length of apron as between the bight thereof and the load thereon, which is a great advantage in that much friction is avoided as compared to the same construction with the motors on the intake end' of the con` veyor. p

Explaining the operation in connection with the apparatus as shown, with a scraper loader, it will be seen that as each scraper full is dumped onto the receiving portion of the apron 47, the motor 58, will be enerized to advance the apron a short step or distance toward the delivery end in order to present a vacant apron space to thenext scraper load, thereby making the stripl of material X, continuous. Hence, the conveyor apron 47, functions as a storage device for holdingr the material loaded, after and also during the time of dumping the new material. The conveyor apron might, in some instances, be loaded to an extent beyond that indicated in Fig.`1. This is a novel feature over all other conveyors, of this general type, known to me, as in -all prior types, the conveyor is continuously operating and cannot be operated suticiently slowly, or step by step, in order to perform the functions set forth.

Suppose a car had been located as shown at 41, in receiving relation with the delivery end of the conveyor, then the operator would energize motor 58, to continuously andI quickly advance apron 47 until enough of the material X had been discharged into car 41, to completely fill the same. Suppose there was more than enough material on the apron to lill -car 41, then, and in that event, the operator would not stop and wait for the next car, but he would energize motor 61, and return apron 47, with its excess material back to the position shown in Fig. 1, or into such position that the right hand end of the excess material would be in a position to form a continuation with the next scraper full dumped onto the conveyor apron. Thus, it will be seen that in deference to the best economy and to obtain the greatest efficiency, the material will preferably always be in the form of a continuous strip. It will be understood that during the short period of filling the car 41, the scraper 30,' will be idle, or may be slowly approaching a dumping position.

It will now be clear that with a large capacity machine, a car need! not be delayed to be filled, and that by reason of the storage feature, the operation of scraping the muck from pile 2, may be carried on practically continuously. vThis is especially -valu able when for some reason the cars are delayed, aside from the equally important and obviously great advantage of maintaining this costly apparatus in practically constant operation.

It is believed that my invention will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and while I have herein shown and described one specificv embodiment of `my invention, I do not wish to be limited thereto except for such limitations as the claims may import.

1. In a car loading machine, a conveyor for loading material, a conveyor for receiving the material from said means and conveying it to a car, and' mechanism for actuating said conveyor -in either of two directions to fill the car and return the excess material back into roximity to the new material being loaded). onto said conveyor by said means.

3. A car loading apparatus comprising in combina-tion, a wheeled frame adapted to be advanced toward the dump, a conveyor on said frame having a receiving and a delivery end, means for loading material onto 'f the receiving end of said conveyor, means at the delivery endI of said conveyor for advancing the latter sufficiently to dump a car full of material, and means on the delivery end of said conveyor for retracting the latter with the excess material thereon back to near the proximity of the newly loaded material. v

4. In a car loading apparatus, a storage conveyor having a. dlscharge end for delivery into a car and also having a receiving end, means for' intermittently loading material ontothe 'receiving end of said conveyor at the will of the operator, means at the will of the operator for successively adlvancing said conv `yor step by step toward .its discharge end in accordance with the amount of material loaded onto said receiving end and in a manner to form a continuous strip of material to be held in storage until a car arrives, said means being adapted to quickly advance the conveyor after a ear arrives to discharge enough of the stored material to till the car and retain the excess on said conveyor, and means for retracting said conveyor back toward the loading point suihciently so that the newly loaded material will again form a` continuation with the excess material carriedl back on said conveyor.

5. In a loading apparatus, a wheeled main frame, a conveyor frame mounted on said main frame and having a discharge end, an endless conveyor on sald conveyor frame, a

shaft structure at the discharge end of said conveyor frame about which the discl'iarge 0nd of. said endless conveyor is trained,- a motor on one side of said conveyor frame and connected with one ond of said shaft i structure for driving the latter in one direction of revolution, and a motor on the other side of said conveyor frame and connected with the remaining end of said shaft structure for driving the latter in a direction of revolution o posite to the first named direc- 10 tion of revo uton.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I hereby aix my signature.

ARTHUR C. DENNIS.

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