US2156732A - Endless chain cutting machine for use in mining coal and other minerals - Google Patents

Description

0. F. LEWIS May 2, 1939 ENDLESS CHAIN CUTTING MACHINE FOR USE 1N MINING COAL AND OTHER MINERALS Filed March 7, 1938 w/ 0 My 1 5 5 9 ",4 3 F Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ENDLESS CHAIN CUTTING MACHINE FOR USE IN MINING COAL AND OTHER MIN- ERALS Application March 7, 1938, Serial No. 194,455 In Great Britain March 30, 1937 '7 Claims.

This invention relates to endless-chain cutting machines such as are used for excavating coal and other minerals.

In such machines the cutting chain runs round a guide member or jib and is guided between the top and bottom plates of the jib, so that in time the parts of the jib orguide wear and require renewal. Owing, however, to the large number of rivets or "bolts which have to be removed to enable the jib members to be taken apart, considerable trouble'and expense is involved in again putting the machine into proper working order.

The object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement which will avoid the delay and inconvenience involved in removing and replacing the worn parts of the jib and which will also enable the cutting chain to be properly guided and supported and thus avoid the usual slackness and play between the chain and its guide so that the machine can be made more efficient.

According to the invention the jibor guide in which the cutting chain runs is provided with a readily renewable liner. This liner can be made in one or more pieces and can be shaped so as to cover all the surfaces of the jib guide which are subjected to wear. The liner is preferably secured in place by light welds or tack welds along the outer edges of the jib plates so that the liner can be readily removed when required by chipping away the securing welds.

When the liner is made in more than one piece the parts can be secured together and to the jib frame by a weld or welds at the bottom of the jib guide or, in cases where the cutting chain is retained in the jib guide by an internal retaining member secured by bolts or studs to the jib frame, the member can be utilized for holding the liner in place at the bottom of the jib guide.

The jib guide into which the liner is fitted can also be built up from plates welded together and machined to receive the liner.

Examples of alternative constructions according to the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a section through a jib guide and liner and showing a pick block of the cutter chain in position in the guide.

Fig. 2 is a section through a built up jib guide before the jib is machined and the liner is fitted.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View similar to Fig. 2 and showing a modified liner structure.

Figs. 4 and 5 are similar fragmentary sections through a jib guide to show modified forms of liners.

Referring to Fig. l, the jib has two side members I and a cross member 2 which forms the bottom of the jib guide while the projecting portions of the side member I form the sides of the guide. The inside of the jib guide is machined on its inside faces to take a renewable liner 3 having a bottom portion 6 and side portions 5. Within the liner is shown the saddle 6 of a pick box forming part of the cutter chain and the sides of the liner are turned over or flanged as at I to form bearing surfaces beneath the pick block 8 on the top of the saddle Ii. In this construction the pick boxes are retained in the jib guide by a retaining member 9 secured by a bolt II] to the bottom 2 of the guide and the retaining member 9 is. utilized for holding the liner in place at the bottom of the guide, the bottom 4 of the liner being gripped between the member 9 and the bottom 2 of the guide when the bolt I0 is tightened. The liner 3 can be divided along the centre line of the jib or it may be in one piece transversely with clearance holes formed therein for the bolts lit. The outer edges of the liner are secured by light welds or tack welds II either along the outer corners of the sides I .of the guide and the flanges l as on the left of Fig. 1 or in the spaces between bevels I2 on the sides I and the undersides of the flanged parts I of the liner as on the right of Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 shows how the jib can be built up from side plates 2| and a bottom plate 22 welded to the side plates by fillet welds I3 and plug welds I4 and the guide then machined away to the dotted lines for the reception of the renewable liner.

Fig. 3 shows a built-up jib guidesimilar to that of Fig. 2 with a liner made in one piece transversely but only having a bottom portion 24 and sides 25 and not flanged over the edges of the side plates 2| of the jib guide. In this construction the liner is secured in place by light welds I5 filling the spaces between bevels IE on the inside edges of the side plates 2| and the outer face of the sides 25 of the liner as on the left of Fig. 3 or it may be secured by cutting short the sides 25 of the liner and filling up the corners. thus formed by the sides 25 of the liner and the side plates I by welds I! as on the right of Fig. 3.

Figs. 4 and 5 show two forms of liners built up from parts. A liner can be constructed in two halves transversely, one half being as shown in Fig. 4 with a side flanged over at 1 and with a half-bottom 4 and held in place by a bottom weld 18 between the two halves 4 and welds ll similar to the corresponding weld on the right of Fig. 1. Alternatively the liner may have each half constructed as shown in Fig. 5 with a side 45 and half-bottom 44' held in place by the welds l8 and i9 and with a separate strip 20 forming a flange secured to the side 45 and to the jib side plate 2| by the weld I9 and also secured on the jib plate 2| by a weld ll between the underside of the strip 20 and a bevel I2 on the plate 2|.

The liners are made of specially hard or tough steel and can be made in convenient lengths or longitudinal sections to suit convenience in manufacture and fitting to the jib and the joints between the longitudinal sections can be suitably positioned welds.

The liner can be readily removed when required by chipping away the holding welds and the liner can be easily replaced by a new liner or a thicker liner to take up wear on the outside of the cutter chain.

The wearing faces of the liner can be machined so that the chain can be made a much more accurate fit in the guide than is usually the case and this in itself greatly reduces excessive wear as there need be no looseness or slackness to permit twisting or tilting of the chain in its guide.

The fact that the liner is readily removable also makes it much easier and quicker to repair a machine with a worn chain and jib than is the case with the usual constructions of chaincutter machines.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a chain coal-cutting or like machine, a jib for carrying the cutter chain, a guide channel for the chain in said jib, said channel being wider and deeper than necessary to receive the chain, and lining means covering the entire bottom and sides of said channel to bring it to the required dimensions to fit the chain and said lining means being welded to the edges of the jib.

2. In a chain coal cutting or like machine, a

jib carrying the cutter chain, a guide channel in said jib in which the chain runs, and lining means inserted between the chain and the coacting surfaces of the guide channel and covering the entire bottom, sides and edges of the Walls of said channel and said lining means being welded to the jib by light welds.

3. In a chain coal cutting or like machine, a jib carrying the cutter chain, a guide channel in said jib in which the chain runs, retaining means secured to the bottom of said channel for holding the chain in the channel, and a lining member covering the bottom and sides of said channel and secured in the channel by said retaining means and by light welds at the edges of the channel sides.

4. In a chain coal cutting or like machine, a jib for carrying the cutter chain, a guide channel for the chain in said jib, a lining member covering one half of the bottom sufaceand one side surface of the channel and flanged over one edge of said jib, a second lining member covering the other half of the bottom surface and the other side surface of the channel and flanged over the other edge of said jib, welding securing the flanges of said lining members to the edges of the jib, and means for securing the lining members to the bottom of said channel.

5. In a chain coal cutting or like machine, an arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the flanges of said lining members are formed by separate portions Welded to the remainder of the lining members and to the jib.

6. In a chain coal-cutting or like machine, a jib formed from spaced side plates and transverse members secured between said side plates at a distance from the edges of said plates to form therewith a guide channel along the edge of the jib, lining means covering said side plates and transverse members at their surfaces which from the entire inside surface of said channel and said lining means being flanged over the edges of said side plates, and means for securing said lining means to said jib.

'7. The structure of claim 2., and said lining means being formed of a single piece of material.

OSWALD FLOYD LEWIS.

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