US1617941A

US1617941A - Mining apparatus

Info

Publication number: US1617941A
Application number: US1539A
Authority: US
Inventors: John H Crawford
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1925-01-10
Filing date: 1925-01-10
Publication date: 1927-02-15
Anticipated expiration: 1944-02-15

Description

Feb. a

J. H. CRAWFORD MINING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 10. 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. i J. H. CRAWFORD MINING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 10, 1925 s- Sheets-She et 2 Feb. 15 1927.

1.617.941 J. H. CRAWFORD MINING APPARATUS iled Jan. 10. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Feb. 15, 1927.

JOHN H. CRAWFORD, OF HARRISBURG, ILLINOIS.

MINING Arr Animus.

Application filed January This invention relates to a new and improved mining apparatus and more particularly, to a machine adapted to both dig and load material such as coal in the relatively restricted areas available in underground mining operations.

This invention relates specifically to a device which is capable of removing coal or other material, directly from the face or breast of the coal in a coal mine, for example, by purely mechanical means, without the intervention or either undercutting or of shooting the seam, and then depositing the recovered coal directly into pit cars or similar conveyances.

Another device operates a suitably arranged scraper which is controlled by a system of wire rope haulage, by which means the shot down coal is gathered by a scraper and dragged a varyingdistance to an inclined plane, at the upper side of which, the scraper dumps its accumulation of coal into the pit car.

A considerable number of other coal load ing devices combine the conveyor, scraper and actuating mechanism in one compact whole which is brought directly u the shot and undercut face and the coal gat ered and conveyed into the pit cars, which are dispose'd directly back of the loading device.

Other types consist merely of conveyors which are forced under the shot down coal,

dependence being placed uponthe conveyor fli hts to gather the coal.

ome machines contain all the functions of coal winning in'one operation or rather,

.sequence of operations, in that they do their ,own undercutting means of power driven Epunche'rs or chains. After the undercutting is accomplished the conveyor portion of the mechanism is run into the kerf produoed and I "then eitherthe punchersor the other cutting chains knock down the coal above the kerft it into the pit cars behind the and convey machine. Vith these machines, noexplosive is required but the I are complicated and of low-ca acity and aven'otcome 'intovery genera use. Still other ty es of these' ina-' chines depend 'upon shovel I evices forgathering the shot down coal similar .to the small 1 steam shovels in 1 use work above ground level;

, It'is an ob'ect of the presentinvention to'l provide a new and improved mining map chine adapted to both remove the material wh'i'chfls provided upon its upper face with directly from its position in'the seam' and to was openings 33adaptedto permitthe cradle today on excavation 1,617,941 PATENT OFFICE.

HEISSUED load it on to cars or other conveying means. It is a further object to provide an apparatus of this character adapted for use in mine cha-mbers having a low roof.

It 1s an additional object to provide a type of mlning machine adapted to make a lateral cut in the material being mined.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds. at

I have illustrated somewhat diagrammatr cally certain preferred embodiments of my lnvention 1n the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross section #taken on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the form of construction shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4: is a fragmentary section taken on line 44 of Figure 3;

Flgure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 but shplwing a modified form of construction, an s Figure 6 is av sectiontaken on line 6-6 of Flgure 5 and shown on an enlarged scale.

The apparatus comprises the main platform 11 which is supported by bearin s 12 on the axles 13 which latter serve to rive the caterpillar traction elements 14. The platform 11 carries the electric motor 15 which, through suitable caring, drives the gear 16 mounted on the s aft 13.

10, 1925. Serial 110.1539.

The platform 11 also carries .the fixed jack 19 into either or both of which fluid may be pumped by the hydraulic pump unit 20 carried by the platform 11. These units 18 and 19 may be caused to firmly engage the-roof 21 and the floor'22 to anchor the ap- 'paratus in place. f

The fixed column. 17 also carries the Irotating sleeve 23,.the lower end-of whichis fixedly secured to the rotating drive member 24." The "sleeve23 and membe'r241are,

carried on the circular roller bearing 25', as

indicated in"Fig'ure 1. The platformfll carries. the motors 26 and-27j,fwhich"drive ;.worms 28 a d29 e ec v y; ag s the worm gear 30' uponthe outer of the drive member 24. I As best shown in Figure2"'the jsleeve23 is provided With the L laterally extending 'trunnions 31,: These carry"the' cradle 32,

Penney.

to tilt on its trunnions without engaging the sleeve 23. The

booms

34 and 35 pass through the cradle 32 and are supported on the rollers 36 carried by the cradle. Their upper edges are also guided by the rollers 37. The upper sides of the booms carry the

racks

38 and 39.

I The .adlc 32 supports the bracket 40, which carries the motor 41 and the transverse shaft 42. This shaft 42 is driven by motor 41 by means of suitable gears and carries the gears 43 and and 44 meshing with the

racks

38 and 39. The shaft 42 has fitted thereon the upper end of the yoke 45, the lower end of which is pivotedly connected to the screw 46. The lower end of the screw 46 is carried in the member 47 which is in turn supported at 48 on the drive member 24. The member 47 carries the worm gear 49 which is driven by a worm connection from motor 50.

The dipper, or spoon 51 is carried upon the forward end of the

booms

34 and 35. The front member 52 of the spoon carrles the teeth 53 upon its forward edge. Certain of these teeth 53 are connected by bars 54 with the air knocker 55 carried upon the rear face of the spoon 51. These bars 54 may be located in grooves cast or planed 1n the front face member 52 as shown in Figure 4. The forward portion of the bottom 56 of the dipper is provided with the fixed teeth 57.

The pusher plate 58 is normally fitted against the rear wall 59 of the spoon 51. This plate 58 is connected by shaft 59 to a reciprocating piston carried in the cylinder 60 on the rear of the spoon.

The form of construction shown in Figures 5 and 6 diflfers from that above described, merely in the means for discharging the mined material from the spoon 61. The boom 62 which is associated with the rear edge of the s con 61 is made in box shape, as shown in of the drag conveyor 63 passes over the inside of the bottom late of the boom 62. This plate is extende forward at 64 to form the rear portion of the bottom of the spoon 61. The forward end of this conveyor passes over the roller 65 and the rear end asses over the roller 66. This roller 66 is riven by the motor 67 carried by the rear end of the boom. The arcuate discharge ho per 68 is carried from the bod of the mac ine or from the platform 11 an serves to receive material passing from the conveyor through a considerable arc of movement. The material passes from the hopper 68 through the chute 69.

In the operation of the form of machine shown in Figures 1 to 4 the machine moves into the room, or entry of the mine under its own power, the'motor 15 driving the caterpillar tractor members. The machine igure 6. The upper run is stopped adjacent the breast of coal to be mined and by means of hydraulic power suppliedby unit 20, the jacks 18 and 19 are brought firmly to bear against the roof and floor respectively, thus anchoring the machine. The

booms

34 and 35 are run out by means of motor 41- until the teeth are in contact with the left side of the face to be cut. The booms will be tilted upwardly by power supplied from the motor 50. This rotates the member 47 drawing down the screw 46 and by means of the yoke 45 pulling down upon the bracket 40 connected to the rear end of the cradle 32. The cradle 32 is thus tilted about the trunnions '31.

The spoon is now swung clockwise against the coal by applying power through

motors

26 and 27 to the drive member 24. This member 24 rotates the cradle through trunnions 31 and the engagement of the cradle with the booms positively swings them together with the spoon. During this movement, fluid power, as for example compressed air, may be supplied to the knocker cylinder 55, which, by means of bars 54, serves to rapidly reciprocate certain of the teeth 53. This facilitates the cutting action of ,-the spoo'n.

Wheh the spoon is loaded, the swinging action is stopped, the spoon is retracted from the face by bringing the booms back through the cradle by power supplied by motor 41. The booms are then rotated to bring the forward edge of the spoon over the car or other means for receiving the coal and the coal is pushed from-the spoon by admitting fluid under pressure to the rear end of the cylinder 60. This causes the member 58 to clear the spoon. The member 58 is retracted and the spoon swung back into position and the cut continued.

The operation of the form of construction shown in Figures 5 and 6 is similar to that just described with the exception of the discharge of the material from the spoon. In this form, the coal or other material mined may be continuously discharged from the spoon by means of the drag conveyor 63. The hopper 68 may be constructed to cover any desired arc of movement and will discharge material at a fixed point relative to the machine through chute 69. If the hopper be of a less are than the dig ing arc of the apparatus, the conveyor may e operated intermittently when the boom has been swung sufiiciently to bring its discharge end above the hopper.

While I have shown certain preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that these are illustrative onl and I contemplate such changes and mo ifications as come within the spirit and scope of the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. In a mining machine, a movable platform, a shovel supported from said latform, teeth upon an edge of the shove, certain of said teeth being fixed and others being movable, and means adapted .to reciprocate the movable teeth.

2. In a mining machine, a movable platform, a shovel supported from said platform, teeth upon an edge of the shovel, certain of said teeth being fixed and others being movable, means extending from the movable teeth to the rear of the shovel, said means being located within the contour of the shovel, and pistons and cylinders coacting with said means to reciprocate said teeth.

3. In a mining machine, a movable platform, a fixed column carried by said platform, trunnions rotatably carried by said column, a. cradle carried on said trunnions, a shovel and shovel carrying booms extending through said cradle. 4. In a minin machine, a movable platform, a fixed co umn carried by said platform, trunnions rotatably carried by said column, a cradle carried on said trunnions, a shovel and shovel carrying booms extending through said cradle, and means carried by the cradle for moving said booms longitudinally relative to the cradle.

Signed at Harrisburg, Illinois, this fifth day of J an., 1925.

JOHN H. CRAWFORD.