US1954508A - Elevator boot structure - Google Patents

Description

\ April 10, 1934. A. P. WINTER 1,954,503

ELEVATOR BOOT STRUCTURE Filed July 6. 1951 Patented Apr. 10, 1934 PATENT OFFICE ELEVATOR BOOT STRUCTURE August P. Winter, .Winnipeg, .Manitoba, Canada, assignor to Samuel C. Glow, Minneapolis,Minn.

Application July 6, 1931, Scria1'No.,548,761

3 Claims.

My present invention relates to elevators'of the type wherein material suchas grain, sand or cement are received into a boot and elevated through legs by means of bucket-equipped elevating belts that are arranged to run over upper and lower pulleys. Elevators of this character are used in various places such as grain-receiving and storage houses (generally designated as grain elevators) in mills, and elsewhere for the elevating of grain from a pit or lower floor to ahigher elevation for the delivery into bins. It is customary to apply the power for driving the bucket-equipped elevator belt to the upper belt pulley and usually the operators floor is located above the elevator boot in the receiving pit and below the point of application of the driving power. More particularly the invention provides a novelmounting for the lower belt pulley which is located in the boot in the receiving pit. In

accordance with the invention, the lower belt pulley is mounted by novel means so that in a sense it floats and is capable of vertical movements automatically under over-accumulation of grain in the lower boot or by hand control.

Among the objects of this invention is the provision of an extremely simple, highly efficient and readily adjustable lower pulley mounting of thekind described. This and other objects will be pointed out'in the specification.

Generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of' devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

As will hereinafter be noted, the preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a connection with a boot and variable guides, a vertically adjustable frame, a spindle for angular adjustments in the frame, and a boot pulley rotatably mounted onthe spindle.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view partly in elevation and partly in section on the line 1--1 of Fig. 2 showing the boot, a portion of the operators floor, and means for releasing or decreasing the driving friction between the elevator belt and pulleys;

Fig. 2 is a. view partly in side elevation and partly in section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, some parts being broken away;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1, some parts beingbroken away;

Fig. 4 is a detail section on the-lineA-i of as provided with oppositely projecting receiving hoppers 9 adapted to be opened and closed by vertically movable sliding gates 10, one or the other of which will be open and the other closed, depending on which side ofthe boot the grain isto be delivered thereto; The numeral 11 indicates the elevator belt equipped with the customary buckets 12. This belt will run over and be driven in theusual way from a driving powerdriven pulley, not shown, located at the upper portion of the boot above the extreme upper ends of the legs 8; The lower portion of thebelt, that isthat portion that runsthrough the boot, runs under an idle pulley 13-that is journaled on a non-rotary spindle 14, through suitable bearings such as roller bearings 15.

As a feature of this invention spindle 14 is not supported directly by the boot but is carried by a vertically movable frame which, in turn, is'vertically movable in said boot. This frame has vertically disposed bar-like legs 16 and 17' that are guided for true verticalmovements on the interior surfaces of the boot by means of guide cleats 18. A cross bar 19 is rigidly secured to and. braced from the leg 16 and the leg 1'7 is adjustably secured to the end of said cross bar preferably by devices, shown in Figs. 1, 5' and 6, by reference to which it will be notedthat the cross bar 19 has ahorizontal slot 19 that crosses the intermediate portion, of a vertical slot 17 The said members 16,17 and,l9,are preferably. rolled steel and a nut-equipped bo1t20 is passedthrough the slots 1'7 and 19 to, rigidly secure together the members 17 and 19. A vertically disposed adjusting rod or bolt 21 equipped at its upper end with a nut 22 is passed downward through and works in a slot 19' in the upper surface of the bar 19' andhas alaterally bent end 21* that is inserted through and secured to the upper end'portion of the leg 1'7.

Spindle 1'4 issecured to-the-legs 16 and 1'7 by novel means best shown in Figs. 3' and 4. The

ends of the spindle 14 are fitted through holes 23 in bearings 24 that are riveted, bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the lower portions of the legs 16 and 17. The edges of the holes 23 are rounded in radial cross-section so that spindle 14 is capable of some angular movements in respect to the bearings 14 and said spindle is held against rotation but free for rocking movements in a vertical plane by means of pointed set screws 25 screwed through the bearings 24, as best shown in Fig. 4, and engaging the spindle with their points.

In view of the adjustable connections between the spindle 14 and bearings 24 just described and by means of the adjustable connections best shown in detail in Fig. 6 and above described, the legs 16 and 1'? can be set in exact parallel laterally spaced adjustment and the spindle 14 can be angularly adjusted in a vertical plane and in respect to the bucket-equipped belt 11 so as to set the pulley 13 in the best adjustment for contact with the bucket-equipped belt. The lateral travelling position of the belt in respect to the sides of the boot and lower pulley is, of course, determined by the angular adjustment of the pulley and this may be readily adjusted to cause the belt to travel in a desired lateral position by raising or lowering the frame leg 17 in respect to the frame leg 1.6 of cross bar 19 and thereby vertically tilting the spindle 14 and lower pulley 13. Another important feature of the above noted arrangement is that the bars 16 and 17 of the vertically movable frame may be adjusted for different lateral spacings so that the vertically movable frame may be adapted for use in boots of varying widths. The last noted adjustment is accomplished by loosening the set screws 25 and sliding the bearings 24 inward or outward on the spindle 14 until correct spacing is obtained between the lower ends of the frame legs 16 and 17 and then shifting, by sliding the upper ends of the legs 16 and 17 until they are brought into true parallel spacing, the bolts 20 and 22 laterally in their respective cooperating slots 19 and 19 Also by such arrangement, cramping of the pulley journal is positively prevented for no matter what the angular adjustment of the spindle 14 may be, no cramping engagement is produced between the lower pulley journal and the co-operating spindle.

Normally, the weight of the lower pulley 13, spindle 14 and legs 16 and 1'? will be exerted to press said pulley against the lower portion of the belt and, of course, this weight and also the weight of the bucket-equipped belt will be ex erted to hold the upper portion of the belt frictionally engaged with the upper driving pulley not shown. In some instances this will be found sufficient to afford the proper driving friction between the driving pulley and belt but where it is not, then additional weight may be added such as the weighted bucket 26 see Fig. 1, which, as shown, is hung from the cross bar 19.

In the operation of elevators of this general character it frequently happens that grain will accumulate in the boot faster than it can be carried away by the bucket-equipped elevator belt. Such over-accumulation usually occurs as a result of leaving one of the gates 10 too wide open and many times results in a clogging of the elevator that will stop or retard the belt and cause a slippage between the belt and its upper driving pulley. If this slippage is not stopped in a relatively short time, the great friction produced thereby may create suflicient heat to create a fire and cause much damage.

This fire hazard is substantially eliminated, however, in elevators constructed in accordance with the arrangement illustrated for in the event that the elevator should become clogged due to over-accumulation of grain in the boot, the lower pulley will be raised vertically by the belt so that the buckets will work on the upper portion of the accumulated grain until they have carried away the surplus at which time the lower pulley will have dropped to its normal working position.

For affording a means of quickly raising the lower pulley manually from the operators floor A and thereby releasing the bucket-equipped belt from a jam, I provide a releasing connection which, as shown, involves a lever 27 and two chains or cables 28 and 29, but may involve various other arrangements. As illustrated in Fig. 1, cable 28 aifords a fulcrum for lever 27 and is hung from the floor A; the intermediate portion of said lever is connected to the cross bar 19 by a short link 30; and chain or cable 29 is extended upward through the passage 31 in floor A and is adapted to be fastened on a hook 32 projected from wall 33 or other fixed part.

When the elevator belt is in normal action, chain 29 will be slack allowing the frame 161'l to drop and press lower pulley 13 against the lower portion of the bucket-equipped belt. If at any time the boot should be clogged with grain to such an extent that the elevator belt is stopped and cannot relieve itself, the operator by pulling on cable 29 can raise pulley 13 and thereby relieve the lower portion of the belt from its pressure against the accumulated grain allowing said lower portion of the belt to rise and scrape off the upper portion of the accumulated grain until the boot has been relieved from the over-accumulation of grain.

In actual practice this invention has been found efiicient for the purposes had in view and to accomplish the purposes above enumerated and others such as increased durability.

What I claim is:

l. The combination with an elevator boot having an inlet passage for the supply of material thereto, of a supporting frame having parallel legs mounted for vertical movements on said boot, one of said legs at its upper end having a rigidly and permanently secured cross bar to which the other leg is secured for vertical adjustments relative to the first noted leg, a pulley having a shaft, the ends of which are supported in the lower ends of the legs of said frame by means of angularly self-adjusting bearings that automatically adjust themselves to relative vertical adjustments of the said legs, the one in respect to the other, and an elevator belt running under said pulley and normally supporting said pulley and frame.

2. The combination with an elevator boot having an inlet passage for the supply of material thereto, of a supporting frame having parallel legs mounted for vertical movements on said boot, one of said legs at its upper end having a rigidly and permanently secured cross bar to which the other leg is secured for vertical adjustments relative to the first noted leg, a pulley having a shaft, the ends of which are supported in the lower ends of the legs of said frame by means of angularly self-adjusting bearings that automatically adjust themselves to relative vertical adjustments of the said legs, the one in respect to the other, an elevator belt running under said pulley and normally supporting said pulley and frame, and a lifting device connected to the cross bar of said frame for lifting said frame and pulley at will to relieve said belt from tension on said pulley.

3. The combination with an elevator boot having an inlet passage for the supply of material thereto, of a supporting frame having parallel legs mounted for vertical movements on said boot, one of said legs at its upper end having a rigidly and permanently secured cross bar to which the other leg is secured for vertical adjustments relative to the first noted leg, a pulley having a shaft, the ends of which are supported in the lower ends of the legs of said frame, by means of angularly self-adjusting bearings that automatically adjust themselves to relative vertical adjustments of the said legs, the one in respect to the other, and an elevator belt running under said pulley and normally supporting said pulley and frame, said relatively adjustable frame leg being also connected to said cross bar for lateral adjustments to properly space said legs.

AUGUST P. WINTER.

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