US2324769A - Load weighing and totaling device for cranes, hoists, and the like - Google Patents

Description

S. H. DAVIS m 1 e u. u 3 h. 2 a e LOAD WEIGHING AND TOTALING DEVICE FOR CRANES, HOISTS, AND THE LIKE Filed July 24, 1940 R v m Mm A ifomeys S. H. DAVIS LOAD WEIGHING AND TOTALING DEVICE FOR CRANES, HOISTS, AND THE LIKE Filed July 24, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor A itorneys S. H. DAVIS July 20, 1943.

LOAD WEIGHING AND TOTALING DEVICE FOR CRANES, HOISTS, AND THE LIKE Filed July 24, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jfe/oben H. Dan:

A iiorneys Patented July 20, 1943 LOAD WEIGHIN G AND TOTALING DEVICE FOR CRANES, HOISTS, AND THE Stephen H. Davls,Ghicago, Ill., assignor of onefourth to W.

0. Bevls and one-fourth to J. H.

Davis, both of Chicago, Ill. Application July 24, 1940, Serial No. 347,287

Claims.

My invention relates to a combined load weighing and totaling device for cranes, hoists, and the like, and an important object of my invention is to provide an arrangement of this character which is simple and efilcient and can be readily incorporated or connected with the crane, hoist, or the like so that the operator thereof has available an accurate and convenient means showing the weight of each load as it is handled by the crane, and the total weight of a number of loads handled consecutively.

Other important objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description taken in connection with the drawings, wherein for purposes of illustration I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a general side elevational view of a railway crane showing adaptation of the present invention thereto.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevational and sectional view of the hydraulically actuated components.

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken through Figure 2 approximately on the line 3-3 and looking downwardly in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is an enlarged side elevational view of the dials and operating mechanism thereof.

Figure 5 is an end or edge elevational view of Figure 4 looking from left to right.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view taken through Figure 4 approximately on the line 6-.6.

Figure 7 is a transverse vertical sectionalview taken through Figure 5 approximately on the line 1-1 and looking toward the left in the direction of the arrows.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 5 generally designates a suitable supporting surface such as a platform, and in the present instance, the platform of the crane, on which the boom 6 of the crane is mounted in connection with the hoist cable I which may be trained over a winch or other handling and winding means 8 on the platform 5, with a winch operating lever 9 mounted on the platform in a convenient position for operation by the operator of the crane. As ordinarily obtains, the hoist cable I is trained over a block ill on the outer end of the boom 8 and depends and is trained around the sheave'l I on the hook 12. The upward flight l3 of the cable 1 returns toward the outer end of the boom 6 and passes through a hook pornange 33 is on the lower end tion It on an S-shaped part IS on the upper end of the heavy bar I6 which declines in a direction away from the platform 5 and is secured to extend from one side of the middle of the top of an annulus ll to which is substantially concentrically connected the cup-shaped form l8 which has a receptor l9 formed in one end of its top to couple the lowerend of the hydraulic fluid pipe 20 thereto. The cup-shaped element has a laterallyprojecting flange 2| which is abutted to the rubber or other suitable material diaphragm 23. Bolts 22 pass at circumferentially spaced intervals through an annular retainer 24 which abuts the outer side of the diaphragm, through the diaphragm and thread into the iiange 2:. 111B retainer 24 has a step out central opening 25 in which works the plunger 26. The plunger has an annular shoulder 27 which is limited in its right hand movement by engagement with the shoulder on the retainer 24. A relatively heavy helical spring 23' is positioned between the end of the cup l8 and the diaphragm 23 to take up the dead weight so that the scales can be easily balanced. The larger and inner end of the plunger 26 is smaller in diameter than the interior diameter of the cup-shaped element so that the plunger is free to press the diaphragm 23 to a position inwardly of the right hand edge of the cup-shaped element. The plunger has a U-shaped lug 28 whose arms extend on opposite sides of the flight l3 of the hoist cable 1, with the inverted U-shaped portion of the S-shaped part l5 suspended on a peg 29 projecting laterally from one side of the boom 6 as illustrated in Figure 2. The upper end of the hoist cable night I3 is looped over the hook portion l4 and returned and secured to the main portion of the flight by means of a clamp 30. The hydraulic tube or hose 20 is brought along the boom 6 to the platform 5 where it is connected in communication with the central opening in the bottom of the annulus 3| which has the lateral annular nange 32 which is opposed to a similar flange 33, with a rubber or similar material diaphragm 34 disposed tnerebetween, and with bolts 35 traversing all three to eifect their assembly. The of a cylinder 36 which passes upwardly and snugly through an accommodating opening'3l in a horizontal support member 38 which includes a locking screw 39 which is adapted to engage the side of the cylinder as shown in Figure 2 to lock the same in place. Inserted into the upper end of the cylinder 36 isthe vertically adjustable tubular nut 40 which is arranged to adjust the compression 1.1 asaacee of the helical spring ill which works in the bore of the cylinder between the lower end of the nut flil and the top of the plunger head 62 which is directly engaged with the upper side of the diaphragm 3d. The plunger head has a relatively small rod 63 connected thereto and extending through the spring di and the nut to and rising above the nut to engage a radial arm G which projects from a mutiliated gear 35 which is mounted on a shaft 36 supported by and between the side members ill and Gil which rise from the base 36 at one side of the cylinder 86. The unmutilated toothed portions of the gear 65 are in mesh with a pinion 39 on a shaft or which is journaled through portions of the side members 67 and 38 and located above theshaft 36 and to one side thereof as clearly illustrated in Figures 2 and 5. The base 38 may be a part of or may be mounted on the platform close to the position of the operator of the crane, and preferably at one side of the platform as generally indicated in Figure l of the drawings.

Mounted preferably to the laterally outward side of the assembly consisting of the side member 41% and the base 38 is a laterally outwardly evident vertical frame member Si which may conveniently be of the irregular shape indicated in Figure 4 and has secured to the upper part of the inner side thereof the U-shaped supplement 52 and to the laterally outward side the circular totaling disk 53 containingon its exposed face indicia 55. A manually adjustable pointer shaft 55 extends rotatably through the bight portion of the supplement 52 and through the frame member 5i and the totaling disk 53 and has fixed thereto the hand or pointer '56 which swings across the face of the totalling disk. The pointer 56 is arranged to hemoved as each load is released so as to indicate the total weight of the loads already handled.

Loosely mounted on the shaft 55 between the frame members 52 and M is the relatively large pulley wheel 5i which has trained thereover the belt 58 which is also trained over the smaller pulley 59 provided with a spring pressed dog 56c engaging a ratchet wheel 5% keyed, as at 5630, on the shaft 50 and wherebysaid shaft when rotated clockwise, as viewed in Figure i, similarly drives the pulley and the shaft 50 is permitted to idle in a reverse direction counter-clockwise relative to said pulley 59. A fixed stop 60 on the shaft 55 is adapted to engage one side of the larger pulley 5! while the opposite side of the pulley is enerased by one end of an expanding spring 55 which has its opposite end engaged with a stop 1 62 which has the horse-shoe shape illustrated in Figure 7 for non-rotatable engagement with a straight sided portion 53 on the shaft 55. This arrangement provides a frictional driv between the spring 6i and the pulley 5? which permits manual rotation of the shaft 55 by means of the knob 64, to turn the pointer 56 to zero after operation thereof, without disturbing the position of the pulley 5i and hence of the other mechanism with which it is operatively connected.

The shaft 50 has fixed thereto outwardly of the smaller pulley 59 a relatively large gear wheel 65 which is in mesh with a smaller gear wheel 65 which is fixed on the shaft 61. The shaft 6? extends laterally outwardly to pass through the segmental shaped scale plate 68 which is fastened to the frame member 5!. Keyed as indicated by the numeral 69 to the shaft S'i outwardly of the scale plate 68 is the relatively small gear wheel 10., A bushing 7i freely rotatable on the shaft "zero position, to which the pointer returns afteractuation.

pointer plate 13 is elongated polygonal in shape and teates at its lower end in a tapered finger M which has reference to the weight scale distributed along the curved lower edge 75 of the scale plate 68 as shown in Figure 4, the edge if; being concentric with the axis of the shaft er. Pivoteol as indicated by the numeral ill to the upper corner of the pointer plate 73 is the T- shaped armature ill whose cross head comprises the arm l9 and the laterally directed dog 8B, the latter being engageable with the teeth of the wheel it! to operatively connect the pointer and the wheel lid. A contractile spring 3i is stretched between the arm 39 and the plate 73 to normally maintain the armature 718 with its magnetizable button '88 retracted from the core of the electro-magnet M which is mounted on the lower part of the plate 33 below its pivotal point. The electromagnet 82 is located on the pointer plate 33 below the axis of the shaft ti to act as .a weight to assist in returning said pointed plate 53 to zero indicating position when the dog 881s disengaged from the gear ill. The terminal end of the standard portion of the armature is beveled as indicated by the numeral 83 to cooperate with an oppositely beveled free end portion of the latch or detent '86 which is pivoted as indicated by the numeral $35 on the upper part of the finger it below the main body of the plate 713 and in a position offset with respect to the longitudinal extension of the armature. A contractile spring 83 is stretched between the upper part of the latch or detent 8t and a point above it on the plate 113 so that the beveled end is normally engaged wih the beveled terminal of the armature so as to hold the armature up in a position away from the magnet 82. A further function of the latch 86 is to limit swinging of the armature 58 under the urge of the spring 811 and thereby establish a normal position of said armature. A stop 94' on said armature it limits it 1:: of the latch 8Q under the urge of the spring 86. The bevels on the mentioned ends serve to produce a cam action displacement of the latch 8% when the armature is attracted to with the teeth of the wheel 70 in a manner to operatively connect the pointer with the wheel id during such time as the operator of the crane or the like contracts the switch handle 81, on the upper end of the lever 9 in a manner to engage the insulated contact 68-. with the rounded portion 8S1 of the lever and thereby close the n wet energizing circuit. The contact 88 is cected to one side of a suitable source of electrical energy at which is, in turn, connected to one terminal of the coil of the electro-magnet 82, with the opposite terminal of the coil of the magnet being grounded, so that the operator can, upon the completion of each lift, and without disturbing the usual method of operation of the lever il in efiecting the lifting operation, provide for advancement of the finger it along the weight scale l5 from zero to indicate the weight of each load as it is picked up by the lifting member II on the crane hook l2. When the operator releases the switch handle 81 and thereby de-enersizes the electromagnet 82, the pointer plate 19 rotates back to zero indicating position on the scale under the influence of gravity. In the present instance the object 9| may be itself the load or may be an electro-magnet lifting member such as is used for lifting and carrying iron and other magnetizable materials.

The mutilated gear 45, whose operation originates all of the movements described above, is given its motion by reason of the rise of the plunger rod 43 as the diaphragm 34 is deflected upwardly due to hydraulic pressure coming through the hydraulic fluid pipe 20 as a result of deformation in the diaphragm 23 in th left hand direction, as viewed in Figure 2, due to a movement in the same direction of the plunger 26. This movement of the plunger 25 is produced by the movement in a right hand direction of the lower part of the member 16 as the cable flight l3 tightens under the load of the lifting operation and draws downwardly on the hookshaped part I4, thereby swinging the member 46 as described while at the same time the flight l3 maintains substantially its original position and acts as an abutment for the plunger 25. Thus in reality the plunger 26 remains stationary, while the diaphragm is carried by its supporting media toward the left and is thereby deformed so as to expel the fluid from the cupshaped element i8 and pass the same under pressure through the hydraulic fluid pipe 2i) so as to raise the plunger rod 63 with the consequences already pointed out. Because of these arrangements, the proportionate pressure which will be exerted on the diaphragm 34 and consequently the height to which the plunger 43 will be lifted, depend on the weight of the load lifted by the crane and imposed on the hoist cable 1. It is thus possible by watching the positions of the pointers 56 and 14 on the scales 54 and 15, to know at any instant of the operation or the crane the approximate weight of the load being lifted, and the total weight of the loads which have already been lifted by the crane. The latter information is available, of course,- only in the event that the Operator of the crane has pressed the switch arm 81 each time that a separate load was handled.

It will be understood that as the plunger 33 moves upwardly it rotates the gear 45 clockwise, as viewed in Figure 2, and said gear rotates the gear 49 clockwise together with the shaft 61, gear 66 and gear 10. The gear 66 rotates the gear 65 and the shaft 50 counter-clockwise, as viewed in Figure 4, and said shaft 50, through the ratchet wheel 50b and ratchet dog 50a rotates the pulley 59 clockwise and said pulley 59 through the belt 58 and pulley 51 rotates the pointer SB'clockwise to move the same from zero, or, to successively higher value number'symbols of the scale 54.

The electromagnet 82 being energized by movement of the switch handle 81 to engage the insulated contact 88 with the grounded lever 9, and during the act of operating said lever 9 to pick up a load, said electromagnet attracts the armature 18 disengaging the same from the latch 84. The consequent swinging of the armature 18 on the pin 11 engages the dog 80 with the gear 10, whereupon the armature 18 is swung counterclockwise, as viewed in Figure 4, likewise the pointer plate 13 and finger 14, so that said finger is swung from zero indicating position on the scale 18. Movement of the switch handle 81 to disengage the contact 88 from the lever 9 results in deenergizing the electromagnet 82, the return of the armature 18 to normal latched position, and disengagement of the dog from the gear wheel 10, The pointer plate 13 and finger 14, being thus released from the gear wheel 10, swing clockwise, under the influence of gravity, back to starting position in which the finger 14 registers with zero of the scale 15. Under clockwise rotation of the shaft 50, the pulley 59, the ratchet wheel 50d, and ratchet dog 50a impart rotation to the pulley 51, through the belt 88, to thereby swing the pointer 56 clockwise in degree corresponding to the degree of movement of the finger 14. When the load on the cable 1 has been released, hydraulic pressure against the plunger head 42 and rod 43 ceases, and said head and rod are returned by the spring 4i. If, at this point, the switch handle 81 is still held by the operator so as to maintain the contact 88 in engagement with the lever 9, thus maintaining the electromagnet 82 energized, and consequently the dog 80 engaged with the gear wheel 10, the pointer plate 13 will gravitate hack to starting position and in so doing, since it is locked to the gear wheel 10, will rotate said wheel, the shaft 61, gears b6, 49, 45 and 65 back to starting positlon leaving the pointer 56 in its previously operated position. It has already been described how the pointer 53 may be returned to zero registering position. As will now be seen, th pointer 56 and scale 54 may be used to totalize weights and by successive operation of the pointer 58 from previously set positions.

Although I have shown and described herein a preferred embodiment, of my invention, it is to be definitely understood that 1 do not desire to limit the application to the precise structure and arrangement of parts disclosed, except as may be required by the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new is:

l. .A device of the character described for use with hoisting apparatus including a hoisting cable loop one side of which terminates in a free end. said device comprising a lever adapted for pivoting on and suspension from said apparatus and having a lateral upper end arm for connection of said free end of the cable loop thereto whereby a load on the cable tends to swing the lower end of said lever toward said one side of said loop, a fluid containing housing fixed on the lower end of said lever to swing therewith, a plunger working in said housing and adapted to be pressed against said side of the cable loop by swinging of said lower end of the. lever and housing toward said one side of the loop whereby said plunger forced inwardly of the housing to create hydraulic pressure in the latter, and weight indicating means comprising a scale, a pointer movable over said scale, and hydraulically operated means to move said pointer operative by hydraulic pressure created in said housing.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein said hydraulically operative means comprises a cylinder, a fluid pressure line establishing communication between said cylinder and said housing, a piston rod working in said cylinder, and operating connections between said piston rod and pointer including a gear train.

3. A- device according to claim 2, wherein said hydraulically operative means comprises a cylinder, a fluid pressure line establishing communication between said cylinder and said housing, a piston rod working in said cylinder, operating connections between said piston rod and pointer including a trainof gears, and means to operato operatively connect one of said gears to said pointer including a dog on said pointer operative to engage said one gear, electromagnetic means for operating said dog, and means to energiz aid electromagnetic means at will.

5. In combination, a support, a lever pivoted on said support to depend therefrom and having a lateral arm at the upper end thereof, a

hydraulic ram cylinder fixed on the lower end of said lever, a, weight lifting cable having an upper end fixed to said arm to swing the lower end of the lever and said cylinder toward an intermediate portion of the cable under the pull of the weight on the cable, a piston projecting from one end of the cylinder for swinging against said portion of the cable to be moved inwardly of the cylinder .under pressure exerted against the same through said portion, such inward movement-oi said piston creating hydraulic pressure in the cylinder, and fluid pressure responsive means connected to said cylinder for operation by hydraulic pressure created in said cylinder and including indicating devices.

STEPI-EN H. DAVIS.

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