US2124485A - Conveyer or cable clamp - Google Patents

Description

July 19, 1938.

C. G. DELLENBACH CONVEYER OR CABLE CLAMP Filed Feb. 25, 1937 I Patented July 19, 1938 2,124,485 CONVEYER OR CABLE CLAMP Charles G. Dellenbach, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Application February 26, 1937, Serial No. 127,928

8 Claims;

This invention relates to a conveyer or cable clamp and particularly to an improvement in devices of this type in which a separate key is formed to cooperate with the complementary members of the clamp toprevent any slipping of the cable with respect to the clamp.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the. appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, I

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a cable carrying a pair of flights or clamps comprising my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged end View of the flight or clamp comprising my invention;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 5 is an end view of a locking key prior to its final formation; I

Fig. 6 is a side view of the key of Fig. 5 after it has been finally formed;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the key of and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the key of Fig. 6. Referring particularly to Fig. 1 of the draw Fig. 6;

1 ing, there is seen a cable I!) which is a multiple flights It will be eliminated which will, in efiect,

convert said flights into transmission blocks. It may be stated that transmission blocks are employed in a scraper type of conveyer for the purpose of insuring proper driving of the cable ID from the drive sprocket where it' is not desirable to have all'conveyin'g flights.

Each of the flights I I comprises a clamp memher or casting I2 provided with a longitudinally extending groove I3 which is straight and of uniform diameter, thereby receiving the cable I0 without bending or deforming said cable I9.

Cooperating with the clamp member I2 is a complementary clamp member or casting I4 pro vided with a longitudinally extending tongue I5 adapted to extend into the groove I3 and to cooperate with said groove I3 to elfect a clamp-' ing action on the. cable H3. As is clearly illus; tratecl in Fig. 2 of the drawing the cable contacting face It of the tongue I5 is a segment of a cylinder whereby it will contact a plurality of 5 strands of the cable It without effecting an appreciable deformation thereof.

The clamp members I2 and M are provided with abutment head members I! and I8, re-

spectively, at each end, which head members I1 110,

and I8 cooperate to provide abutment means which cooperate with the drive sprocket to drive the cable conveyer. By virtue of the substantially duplicate arrangement of the head mem-z bers I7 and I 8 at each end of the flights-I lit is evident that said flights II may be clamped to the cable II in either of two reverse positions whereby should one pair of head members I1, l8 become worn the flights may be reversed .to present a new pair for active service.

' Centrally disposed with respect to the clamp members I2 and I4 I provide a pair of complementary Webs or flanges I9 and 20, carried by the clamp members I2 and I4, respectively. It is manifest that said flanges I9 and 20 cooperate to provide a substantially'continuous disc-like flight which, in operation, may move ina trough to convey material by a scraping action in; a well-known manner. I i

Extending through the clamp members l2 and I4 is a plurality of bolts 2!, four in number, provided with appropriate nuts 5.22. It is evident that the nuts I22 may be screwed home to clamp the members I 2 and I4 together, whereupon the tongue I5-will effect a clamping action on the cable III with the grooves. I3;

I have found from practice that the device of the type so far described is reasonably satisfactory, but that under very high load there may be a tendency for the flight or cable clamp II to slip with respect to'cable I0. In order to increase very'appreciably the force necessary to cause this slipping I provide an additional clamp means or wedge in the formof a key 22.. .I have found from actual test that the key22 mor-e than doubles the force necessary to effect a slip ping of the flight or cable clamp 'I I.

Centrally positioned in the longitudinally ex-. tending tongue I5 of the clamp member of casting I4 is a groove or recess 23 which hasa flat top surface 24. This groove is positioned opposite the cable II and receives the key 22. The key 22 is formed to have an arcuate surface 25 which contacts the top surface'id. As a consequence said key 22 may rock or'pivot on the top surface 24 which will cause one end thereof to dig into the cable 10, thereby effecting a very complete clamping or wedging action thereon.

In order to enhance further the wedging orclamping action effected by the key 22 I provide a particular form of cable contacting surface 26 therefor. As clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawing, the key 221s originally made with the cable contacting surface 26 as a segment of a cylinder, the diameter of which is substantially the same as the cable l0. Thereafter, said surface 26 is formed with a plurality of diagonal grooves 21 which follow lines substantially along the axis of the individual strands of the cable H]. The diagonal grooves 21, of course, inherently produce diagonal ridges 28 on the surface 26. It will be evident that this particular corrugated formation of the cable contacting surface 26 provides a surface of the type which will have intimate contact with the strands of the cable I0 thereby increasing to a maximum the contacting area between said surface 26 and the cable H].

The thickness of the key 22 is so selected that the tongue IE to both sides thereof will have an appreciable clamping action on the cable Ill while at the same time an appreciable amount of clamping action will be effected on said cable ID by the key 22. I

In case the device comprising my invention is intended to be used only as a transmission block rather than a flight the webs or flanges l9 and 20 will be eliminated, otherwise the structure will be substantially the same as that above described.

The key 22 may be formed as a drop forging ofsteel and, if desired, may be given a hardening treatment. It is also possible to form the key 22 by milling the grooves 21.

In the operation of the device comprising my invention the flights or cable clamps II will be rigidly clamped to a cable ID at predetermined intervals. This clamping action will, of course, be effected by screwing down the nuts I22 on bolts 2|. The tongue I5, which is formed substantially in two parts, will, with the groove 13, effect a clamping action on the cable l0. A supplementary clamping action will be effected by the key 22 which will have very intimate contact with the cable Ill due to the corrugated formation of the surface 26. Should there be any tendency for slippage between a flight II and the cable l0 during operation the key 22 will rock or pivot on its surface 25, thereby digging into the cable l0 and effecting a very thorough wedging action. As before stated, in practice it has been found that this particular construction more than doubles the effective clamping action on the cable to.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement I of parts without departing from the spirit and ping members, a clamping element positioned in said recess between said rope gripping mem- .make intimate gripping contact with the irregular surface of a multiple strand rope, and means for clamping said members together to effect a clamping action between said gripping members and the rope and'between said clamping element and the rope.

2. A rope clamp comprising complementary members one of which is provided with a groove and the other with spaced-apart rope gripping tongues adapted to extend into said groove, said grooves and tongues being adapted to co-operate to grip a rope, spaced-apart devices for clamping said members together with the tongues gripping the rope in said groove, and a rocking supplementary gripping element in a recess in one of members one having a straight rope receiving groove and the other having spaced-apart rope gripping tongues adapted to extend into said groove, the member having the tongues being provided with a recess between said tongues and opposite the groove in the other member, 'a key in said recess having grooves and ridges providing an intimate rope contacting surface toclamp a multiplestrand flexible rope, and a plurality of devices for connecting said complementary members to cause said spaced-apart tongues and the key between the same to grip the rope against said groove.

4. In combination, complementary members one having a straight uniform rope receiving groove and the other having spaced-apart rope gripping tongues opposite said groove, an enclosed recess extending longitudinally along one of said members intermediate the ends thereof, a rope fitting into said groove, means for clamping said spaced-apart tongues against said rope, and. a key mounted for rocking movement in said recess in position to grip said rope with a wedging actionwhen said rope tends to slip relatively to said spaced-apart rope gripping tongues.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with a rope, of a pair of complementary clamp members one having a rope receiving groove and the other spaced-apart rope gripping tongues adapted to extend into said groove, a removable locking key in a recess between said spaced-apart rope gripping tongues, in position to grip the rope between the tongues and sufflciently free to-rock relative to said recess while confined therein to effect a wedging gripping action on the rope when the latter tends to slip relatively to said gripping tongues, and means for clamping the members together with said tongues and said removable locking key in gripping connection with the rope in said groove.

6. In a conveyer, the combination with a flexible rope of the multiple strand type, of a sectional flight, a pair of complementary members for car rying the sections of said flight, one of said members having an elongated body with a straight uniform rope receiving groove and the other member having spaced-apart rope gripping tongues extending into said groove, means for clamping said members between said clamping devices in said complementary members together to effect a clamping action on said rope between said tongues and said groove, the tongue carrying member having an enclosed recess between said tongues and having a rectangular elongated inner wall spaced from the rope in the groove and extending longitudinally thereof, and a removable key extending into said recess and having va gripping face provided With a corrugated surface conforming to the strands of said rope for intimate gripping contact therewith, said key having a curved back adapted to have rocking engagement with the rectangular inner wall of the recess to enable said key to have a clamping action on the rope supplementary to that of the gripping tongues when the rope tends to slip relatively to said tongues.

7. In a, conveyer, the combination with a flexible rope, of a sectional transmission block comprising complementary sections, one member having a rope receiving groove and the other having means co-operating with said groove to grip said rope, means for clamping said sections together to efiect a clamping action on the rope between said gripping means and said groove, one of said sections having an enclosed recess with an inner wall extending longitudinally of said groove and parallel thereto, and a key corrugated on one side to fit the rope and curved on the opposite side for rocking engagement with said rectangular inner wall of said recess, the construction and arrangement being such that the enclosed recess constitutes the sole means for confining the key therein when the clamping means holds together said complementary sections as aforesaid.

8. A rope clamping device comprising complementary members one having a groove for receiving a rope and the other having rope gripping means extending into said groove, the member having the rope gripping means being provided with an inner enclosed recess having an inner elongated wall extending longitudinally of said groove and in parallelism therewith, a key in said recess and having a corrugated face adapted to grip the rope in the groove and also having a curved back in rocking engagement with said inner elongated wall, and two pairs of bolts for securing together said complementary -members when said rope is in said groove and said key is confined in said recess.

CHARLES G. DElLENBACI-I.

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