US1890679A - Traversing hoist - Google Patents

Description

H. E. HALLENBECK Dec. 13, 1932.

r TRAVERSING HOIST Original Filed Jan. 13. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR jimallelzfied 9 4 ATTORNEYS m v 5 Q Dec. 13, 1932. I E. HALLENBECK TRAVERSING HOI ST Original Filed Jan. 15. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN ENTOR fififf/ r AT I'ORNEYS l in'e 3--3 of F g .7 rt partly neleva 1.011,

Patented Dec. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE HAROLD E. HALLENBECK, OF HUDSON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 GII'FORD-WOOD COI- PANY, 01" HUDSON, NEW YORK, ACG'RPOBATION OF NEW YORK TBAVEBSING E0181 Application filed January 13, 1930, Serial No. 480,482. Renewed September 18, 1982.

This invention relates to improvements in traversing hoists of the trolley bucket type. Among other objects, the invention aimsto provide an automatic, quickly acting device for stopping the downward travel of the bucket and starting the upward travel thereof when the bucket reaches the pile of material on which it is discharging, irrespective of the height of the material above the ground.

Heretofore, it has been necessary for the operator (who is almost invariably unable to see the material as it discharges from the bucket) to reverse the hoistmotor when he .hinks the material is discharged, thus elevating the bucket. There is much time lost, in the course of a days work, while an operator brings a bucket to a sto waits a moment for the discharge, an starts it up again. Operators are usually not particularly impressed by the value of eliminating a few seconds delay in efl'ecting each operation, and frequently are deliberately dilatory. Hence, automatic return of the bucket is a most desirable feature of a trolley bucket installation.

.A further object is to provide means for sto ping the bucket in its downward travel WhlCh will act as a protective device so that should the bucket be lowered by accident over an obstruction, it will beautomatically returned to the monorail. 4

Other objects will appear from the following descriptio of the invention.

bodiment,

Fig. 1 is a. diagrammatic view of a trolley v bucket installation using; the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation'onanenlarged scale of the automatic bucket return devicewhich embodies the invention "and which is shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is'a longitud I tiontaken-on the Fig. 4is-a sectionon thei'line of Fig. 2. Referring to Fig. 1, there is' shown a part of a trolley bucket installation includin a bucket 5 which maybe of the construction trolley line 15 n of the preferred embodiment);

wmgsome of the,

disclosed in the A. O. Bennett Patent No. 1,743,123 dated Dec. 24, 1929. This bucket is suspended from a hoist line 6 having one end,

trolley line) then over a sheave 13 to a hoist engine 14, which controls the hoist line and which s preferably driven by an electric motor.

The trolley 11 is moved back and forth along the monorail 8 b means of a trolley line 15, both ends of which are secured to the trolley as shown, said trolley line passing around a sheave on an automatic take-up carriage 16, as disclosed in the Harding Patent No. 1,631,030; and from the take-up sheave the trolley line passes around a sheave 17 and down to the trolley engine 18, passing around two grooved drums, as shown, for example, in the Harding application, Ser. No. 194,842, assigned to the assigneeof'this application. From the trolley engine 18, the asses u wardly around a sheave 19 and -.t en to t e other sheave of 11. 3 From the above description, it will be clear that the two engines 14 and 18 work entirely r independently of each other and may effect hoisting and lowering of the bucket and the traverse of the bucket in either direction. Thus the bucket may be made to descend into a pit (not shown) in order to receive a load of material. After loading, the bucket is elevated to a position immediately beneath the trolley 11 and the trolley is then moved along vthe monorail to a position over one of the piles of" material located beneath the monorail.

The bucketis then lowered until its trip pads 20 come in contact with the material, whereupon the bottom of the bucket is unlatched and the material is discharged upon the pile.

the combination head block 12 and then back a 1 -t-o the trolley Referring particularly to the'accompany ing drawings illustrating the preferred em Instead of being in piles, the material may be deposited in a bin or silo, as is known in the art.

In order to protect the bucket and the trolley, the host engine 14 is provided with a limit switch 21 which prevents the bucket from being hoisted so far as to injure the trolley and which may also be employed to prevent lowering of the bucket beyond a certain point. The trolley engine 18 may also have a limit switch 22, which is preferably driven in the manner disclosed in the aforesaid Harding application. Thus, the trolley is prevented from colliding with the supports and sheaves at the ends of the monorail.

The apparatus so far described forms no part of the present invention. The advantages of the invention can only be understood, however, by an explanation of a typical installation.

According to the present invention, the automatic return device is interposed between dead end 6 of the hoist line 6 and the bracket 7, and is-connected with control switches in such a manner that when the hoist line hecomes slack, one of the switches is opened to stop the lowerin of the bucket and another switch is immediatel closed to effect upward movement of tie bucket. While the 80 switch operating mechanism and the switches themselves may be mounted on a sheave which replaces sheave 13, as disclosed and claimed in a companion application filed by me herewith, Serial No. 420,483, they may be made into a separate unit, as shown herein. This simplifies installation, making it possible to install the device on old installations by merelfy disconnecting the dead end 6 of the cable rom the bracket 7 and then connecting the unitary device to the cable and bracket, thus avoiding the necessity of taking off the cable, and threading it through a sheave like that shown in my above-mentioned application.

Preferably, this invention is employed in a completely automatic, electrically driven trolley bucket installation, such as the one shown and described in my application, Serial No. 491,534, filed Oct. 27, 1930.

Referring now to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the device embodying the switch operating mechanism is shown as comprising a frame formed of a pair of elongated side members or plates 23 secured in spaced relation to each other by end and intermediate spacing members 24 and 25 and suitable bolts 26. The other ends of the plates 23 are pivotally mounted for vertical swinging movement on a pivot bolt 27 extending through them and the bracket 7. Located between the side plates 23 of the frame is a block 28 against which one end of a compression spring 29 bears. Preferably the compression spring surrounds the shank of an eye bolt 30, the shank extending through the end member 24, the spring 29 a5 and the block 28; the end of the shank being threaded and secured to the block by a lock nut 31. The dead end 6 of the hoist cable 6 is secured to the eye of the eye bolt 30. The other end of the spring bears against a washer 32 which is normally flat against the inner shoulder of the end member 24. In order to adjust the tension of the compression spring 29, a hollow nut 33 is provi ed around the shank of the eye bolt, the lower end of said nut bearing against the washer 32, as shown in Fig. 3 and having threaded engagement with the end member 24. The outwardly projecting end of the nut 33 may be non-circular, as shown, so that the spring may be compressed by means of a wrench. It will 'be clear that the hoist line 6 is under constant tension because of the weight of the bucket 5 and that this tension is very greatly increased when the bucket is filled w1th heavy material, such as coal, sand, gravel or the like. Thus, there is a considerable slackening in the tension of hoist line 6 whenever the trip ads 20 come in contact with the top of the pi e of material, and when the bucket hits an ob struction.

Referring again to Fig. 3, it will be clear that as the eye bolt is connected to the dead end of the line 6 and other end of the device is connected to the stationary bracket 7 the tension of the line 6 is resisted by the tendency of the spring 29 to expand and maintain the stops 35 similar to the stops 34. As the frame.

is pivotally mounted on the bracket for vertical swinging movement it will be clear that regardless of the tension on the line 6, the device may adjust itself so that the bolt 30 is always aligned with the line 6, thereby reducing wear and strain on the various parts.

In order to effect instantan'eous control of the hoist unit 14, a pair of switches 36, 37 are mounted directly on one of the side plates 23, as shown. The switches are standard limit switches and as their specific construction does not form a part of the present invention, they are not illustrated. switches 36, 37 has a rojecting plunger 38, 39 respectively, the p ungers being reciprocable longitudinally of the side plates 23.

At the top and bottom, the block has arms 40, 41 secured thereto, as by bolts 42, and said arms have bent ends 43, 44 extending toward each other, asshown in Figs. 2 and 4, for contact with the respective plungers 39 Each of the and 38 which actuate the limit switches.

The parts are so arranged that when the spring 29 is under heavy tension, the end 44 name-re will contact with the plunger 38 to close the switch 36. When the spring 29 is relieved of some of the weight on it, the Iparts will assume the position shown in igs. 2 and 3,

wherein the contact member 39 is depressed led from the switches to the motor panel (not shown). The wiring dia am, including switches 36, 37, is descri and claimed in my co-pending a plication, Ser. No. 491,534, and hence is not isclosed here.

In practice, the spring 29 is of such stren h that it is compressed by the bucket whet er loaded orempty, thereby causing block 28 to remain in the outer part of the frame with switch 37 open and switch '36 closed. This completes part of the electrical circuit of the magnetic .contactor controlling the direction of rotation of the hoist motor to cause the bucket to descend. As long as the bucket is descending unimpeded, the switch 36 remains closed. As soon as the bucket strikes something, so that the cable is relieved of part of its weight, the block 28 moves inwardly toward the bracket 7 so as to close the switch 37 and switch 36 will immediately open. This completes part of the electrical circuit of the magnetic contactor controlling the direction of rotation of the hoist motor, so that the bucket is hoisted upwardly. Immediately uponlifting the weight of the bucket, the parts assume the positions wherein block 28 is against stops 35, thus closing limit switch 36. This does not, however, start the lowering motion. but completes part of the electrical circuit, so that the lowering motion can be started when desired. The upward movement of the bucket continues until stopped by a limit switch, as switch 21, or until it is stopped by means of a master switch in the main control circuit.

When the invention is employed with a fully automatic trolley bucket, the bucket starts from the pit with a load, is hoisted to the monorail and stops. moves horizontally below the monorail to the pre-selected position, stops its traverse, and lowers. Then the bucket'return device functions, stopping the bucket as it reaches the pile, and starting it up a in; and when it reaches the monorail, hoisting is stopped, traversing begins, and continues until a point over the pit is reached; the bucket then stopstraversing,descends into the pit, is loaded and starts the cycle all over again. The cycle is repeated as long as .desired, without any attention whatever from the operator, other than an occasionai glance to see that the apparatus is working properly.

When the invention is employed with an operator-controlled trolley bucket, the hoist and trolley engines are individually con trolled by drum controllers worked by the operator. Only the stopping of the bucket by means of the bucket return device is automatic.

When the invention is employed in an installation employing push-button control, all operations (except the automatic stopping and returning of the bucket by the return device) are effected one at a time by depressin a series of ush buttons.

As the ucket return evice is designed for use with buckets of different sizes, the spring 29 is made adjustable by nut 33. When the device is in use witha heavy bucket, the spring will. be compressed by nut 33. Fig. 3. shows the spring adjusted for a relatively li ht bucket.

he device is especially desirable when the material is deposited in bins or silos, as the operator does not know the height of thematerial in the bins and consequently would not know when to stop the lowering movement of the bucket. With the above de scribed device, however, he does not have to touch the motor controls when the bucket is being lowered, as the bucket will be automatically hoisted when it strikes the material, irrespective of the height of the mate rial in the bin.

In a copendin application Ser. No. 487,628, filed Octo r 9, 1930, I have described and claimed a bucket return device combined with an overload switch.

While the hoist rope is shown and described as dead-ended to the eye-bolt 30, ohviously it could be connected to said e e-bolt through a pulley mounted thereon, an deadended elsewhere. 7

Obviously, the present invention is not restricted to the particular embodiment therewe of herein shown and described.-

What is claimed is:

1. A controlling device for electric motoroperated trolley buckets comprising, in combination, a support; a. frame connected to no the support; a compression spring in the frame; a block in the frame reciprocable relative to the frame; the spring bearing against said block at one end and said frame at the other end; an eye bolt assing throu h M the spring and the frame and secured to t e block; a pair of arms projecting from the block; a pair of limit switches on the frame, connected in the hoist motor circuit and actuated by said arms to be closed. and opened '120 alternately as the block reciprocates relative to the frame thereby stopping and reversing the hoist motor; a hoist iine wound and unwound by the hoist motor and connected to the eye bolt to cause the block to actuate the 2- switches responsive to the tension on the hoist line.

2. Incombination with the elevated track oi a traversing hoist, a bracket rigidlysecured to said track; a frame pivoted on the 13a 4 membrscket to swing in a. vertical hne below theta-wk;ememberreeiproceleonthe frame; a spring on the heme urging said reciprocnble member in one direction and 5 resisting movement thereof in the other direction; s hoist line secured to said reciproceble member; a bucket carried by said hoist line; I motor-driven drum for winding up and ps 3 out the line spair of switches 10 on the rsme; end means sttachedto said reciprocable member for actuating said switches siternsteiy.

In testimony, that I- claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto nflixed my signature. 15 HAROLD E. HALLENBECK.

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