US1529635A - Conveyer - Google Patents

Description

R. C. NEVVHOUSE March l0, 1925.

CONVEYER Fi1ed.Apri1 17, `3.922

Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

UNITED PATENT ovirlufcev.-. i

RAY c. NEwHoUsE, or Wimwnrosn., WISCONSIN, AssIeNon. To ALnIs-CHAILMERS MANUFACTURING DELAWARE.

Application led Aprill,

To all 'whom t may' con-cem.' u

Be it known that RAY C.` NnwHoUsn, a citizen of the United States, lresiding at Wauwatosa, in the county of Milwaukee' and State of Wisconsin, has invented ascertain` vators adapted to automatically transport materiall from one elevation to another, that the driving or propelling chains must be constructed relatively heavy in order to secure vsufficient strength to'carrythe iloaded buckets. Such yheavy construction `of the chains limits` the loads which may be transported by the elevator, and requires excesi .sive vpowerin order to operate the elevatorI when running idly. In endless elevators having extremely long stretches, the ,weight of the chain requisite to produce the, necessary strength, requires the provision of yrelatively heavy driving gears and supporting A structure for preventing sagging of `the chain stretches, thereby inducing enormousl'friction losses andconsequent waste rof energy. The ypresent invention contemplates" the provision of means for enabling the use of f relatively light `but sufficiently strong conveying elements .in elevators having relatively great length, thus reducing to a mini- 'mum the cost of construction of'sucli devices.

l visionof one or more devices 4for supporting the weight of sections of the endless elevating A chains and the buckets lassociatedl therewith, thereby relieving the driving mechanismy of some of the load induced by tliefweight of these elements. lIthas been found that with r theaid of the present invention,,it is possible to employ the` same propelling chains,

Sprockets.l v f The invention comprises lthe -pro' ooMPANY, or MILWAUKEE," WIscoNsIN, a coaPoRArroNo-r 4 CONVEYER.

1922. seria1'No.554,2s4.

' the same loads but are at least 40% shorter from center to center'of the end A clear'conception of several embodiment-s of the, present invention and of the operation of avr device constructedin acordance there-` f,

with, may be hadyby referringfto the drawf" ing accompanying and forming apartlof this specification, in which l like j reference charac- L ters designatey the -s'amefor Asimilarparts' in" gv 4 the various views.

.'Fig.l `lis a fragmentray'sided/elevation Vofjl65v i Van improved bucket'elevator. 1 f

Fig. 2' is anV enlarged4 centralsection f though 'an'improved inrmediatel gupptm-` f for endless bucket elevatorsi Fig.l 3`is an enlarged side view of the "7o proved intermediate@support -forj endless bucket elevators.

l'The elevator specificallyillustratedinthe i drawing comprisesin general a seri`e s of con@` 4 veyer bucke'tso-r 'pans2v supported byv endless r75 chains consisting-'lof` series of-interconnected vlinks '6, upper or head sprockets l rotatably supported in bearings ysecured -to the upper stationary frame "26 by'meansof fa Vsprocket. Y v shaft 25, lower or tail sprockets coacting wit-h the links 6 andy rotatably supported I upon a floating tension vcarriage 10 bymeans l,

ofa sprocket shaft 27, intermediate sprockets coacting withv medialportionsof the endless chain stretches androtatably and automatically adjust-ably supported from stationary frames 19, 20 by means of a: sprocket shaft 13, and ay feed hopper l2 for delivering.

material into the buckets or pansQ fas they, vpa-ss'in succession around thel lower `or tail sprocket 3.v The chain'links 6 carry rollers 32 which coact with upper and lower sta-. tionary supporting rails 7, 8, 9 ,to prevent excessive'sagging ofthe chain stretches Vdue to u loading of the buckets. 'The upper or head sprockets 4 are rotatablethrough gearing 23, by means of an electric 'motorf28` or' other suitable driving device. A lratchet wheelzZl y secured tothe upper sprocket shaft" 25 is.

normally engaged by a pawl releasefmecha-l 100 nism 21 which is operable to release a pawl 22 and to c au'se this `pawl 22to engage vthe teeth of the ratchet wheel 24,' when reverse rotation of theshaft 25 from normal, tends.

to occur. The floating tensionkfcarriage 1Q whichsupports thelower or ytail'sprockets' is movably'supported upon stationary rails 11, thereby permitting automatic adjustment of the lower sprocket -8 to take up slack in the chain stretches.

One or both of the intermediate or equalizing sprockets 5 may be secured to the sprocket .shaft 13 by means of"keysl29, and have teeth meshing with both stretches of the elevator chains. The shaft 13 is freely rotatably supported in bearings 14C confined between spaced guide-ways 1S and resting ,upon the upper extremities of nests of compression -springs 15., The lower extremities of the springs 15 react against adjustable plates or supports 16 which in turn rest upon the threaded adjusting. rods 17 The threaded rods k17 coact with threaded plates or brackets sup-ported upon the stationary .frame 19. The upper stretches of the elevator chain are preferably vprovided with .retaining rails or guards l3.1 for preventing the .chains 'from leaving the upper teeth of the intermediate sprockets 5.l f

During normal operation of the elevator, the upper driving-sprocketsl are being posij tively rotated in a clockwisev direction as viewed in Fig. 1, by means of-the motor 28 and the driving gearing 23. Rotation' of the upper sprockets 4 causes the endlesselevator chains to move vas indicated by the arrow, and to rotatethe lower and the intermediate sprockets 3, .5. j During advancement. of the endless chains, the rollers 32 ride over vthe successive stationary guide rails 7, 8, 9 and 'thus prevent excessive sagging of the chain stretches.' Material may then be ldelivered by gravity or otherwise, from the feed hopi stretches taut.'

l.per 12 into the successive pans or buckets 2 passing the delivery spout, and the upwardly advancing'loaded buckets 2 carry the niaterial thus delivered therein over the upper sprocket i whe-re the material is eventually discharged by .gravity as the successive buckets 2 are inverted. By virtue of the floating carriage 10, .the lower sprockets 3 will automatically take up slack in the stretches of the lendless chains vand will keep these l lith the tension of the springs 15 properly adjusted, the intermediate sprockets V5 will automatically function to sustain a considerable portion of the weight of the buckets 2-and of the chain located below the engaged teeth ot the sprocket 5, `the balance ofthe weight of these elements being sustained by the guide rails 7, 9. The upper or driving sprockets 4.- are therefore required to sustain only a portion ofthe weight of Aco the buckets 2 and of the chain located above the sprockets 5, rthe ybalance of the weight of these elementsbeing sustained by the sta-v tionary guide rails S, 9. The proportion of the weight supported by the intermediate sprockets5 may be readilyvaried by adjustment-:of the ,rods .17 to vary the tension of the springs 15. The guard rails 31 serve to retain proper intermeshing between the sprockets 3 and the yupper' chai-n stretches.

It will thus kbe .noted .that by providing the intermediate equalizerl sprockets weight of the propelling chain. may be mavterial'ly"reduced without sacrificing necessary strength,` thus preventing excessive weight upon the upper driving sprockets 4 andupon the guide rails 7, 8, 9 and reducing to a minimum the power required to operate the elevator idly. In excessively long elevators it may be desirable to utilizemore than one vset of equalizing sprockets 5, and it will be lobvious that this ymay readily be done. The :dev-ice may also be made auto- 5 the j matically adjustable .to properly-support the weight of the elements by employing weights or other yielding meansin place of the compression springs 15. The springs 15 besides being readily adjustable maybe quickly removed for replacement, without removing y the sprockets 5 and the'elements associated therewith. It will also be obvious that the Veqiializi-ng device. is applicable toA vertical elevators and 'to elevators disposed atinclinations other than illustrated.

It should be understood that it is not :dei sired to limit the invention to the exact details of construction and of operation herein shown Vand described, for variousniodications within the .scope of the claims may occur to persons skilled in the art. j

It is claimed and desiredto secure by LettersPatent. A

1. In an elevator,`7a series ofinterconnected conveying ldevices forming oppositely traveling ."stretches, means 'for impartingv tion of each vof .Said stretches adjacent to.

said vsprocket to lpositively retain Said stretches in engagement with said sprocket.

S. In aneleva-tor, a series of interconnected conveying devices forming oppositely traveling rectilineal stretches, means associated with .adjacent ends of said stretches for imparting motion thereto, means mov-y able parallel to said stretches andy engaging their opposite ends for maintaining said stretches taut, a rotary idler element engaging portions of both of said stretches intermediate their ends, andnieans coacting with yboth of said stretches adjacent tofsaididler for positively retainingsaid stretches in engagement with said idler.

4. In an elevator, a series of interconnected conveying devices forming oppositely traveling parallel inclined f rectilineal stretches, means associated with the upper ends or' said stretches for imparting motion thereto, means movable along van inclined plane parallel to said stretches and coacting with their lower ends for maintaining said stretches taut, a rotary idler element engaging portions of both of said stretches intermediate their ends, and means coacting With i both of said stretches adjacent to said idler vfor positively retaining said stretches in engagement with said idler.

5. In an elevator, a series of interconnectendsof said stretches Afor imparting motion thereto, means movable alongan inclinedv plane parallel to said stretches and coacting With their lower ends tor maintaining said stretches taut, a rotary idler element engaginginner medial portions of both of saidl rectilineal v 20 stretches, and stationary means coacting i with outer medial portions of both of said. stretches to retain said stretches in Aengagementivh said element.

In testimony whereof, lie signature ofthe Y inventor is atlixed hereto.`

` RAY C.. NEWHoUsE,

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