US2427114A - Loading apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 9, 1947. 1.. F. ARNETT 2,427,114 LOADING APPARATUS Filed ma sj 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet i Inventor- LOTEN FLOYD ARNET'I @Maai'ia. M

SeP-t' 1947- L. F. A RNETT 2,427,114

LOADING APPARATUS Filed May 8, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet Inventor Lo'ran FLoyo ARNETT Patented Sept. 9, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOADING APPARATUS Loten Floyd Arnett, Ontario, Calif.

Application May 8, 1945, Serial No. 592,576

2 Claims.

My invention relates to loading apparatus, and more particularly to improvements in so-called drag line conveyors such as are used in loading grain, and the like, from piles of the same onto trucks, railway cars, or other conveyances, or unloading such material from conveyances, the primary object in View being to provide an efficient, simply constructed apparatus of the type indicated which is easy to move from place to place and adapted for lengthening or shortening and also for Vertical adjustment to meet different operating requirements.

Other and subordinate objects, also comprehended by my invention, together with the precise nature of my improvements, and the manifold advantages thereof, will be readily understood when the succeeding description and claims are read with reference to the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification.

In. said drawings:

Figure 1 is a View in side elevation, partly broken away, of my improved loading apparatus in a preferred embodiment thereof,

Figure 2 is a view in rear elevation,

Figure 3 is a view in vertical transverse section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a View partly in elevation and partly in section illustrating the manner in which the pusher blades are connected to the conveyor chain,

Figure 5 is a view in perspective of one of the locking pins, and

Figure 6 is a View in transverse section taken on the line 66 of Figure 1 and drawn to an enlarged scale,

Figure '7 is a fragmentary view in perspective illustrating one of the independent wheel mountings with the wheel omitted to avoid confusing the parts.

Reference bein had to the drawings by numerals, my improved loading apparatus, as illustrated, comprises an elongated, rectangular frame l including pairs of opposed side channel bars 2, 3, t, with channeled sides facing, in each pair. The pairs of side bars 3, 4 succeeding the pair 2 located at front, discharge end of the apparatus are slidably fitted in preceding pairs for extension and retraction to lengthen or shorten the overall length of the frame I. The bars 2, 3, 4, as the case may be, of each pair are suitably connected together, parallel, by cross bars 5, as shown in Figure 6. The pairs of side bars 2, 3, 4 are adapted to be locked together in extended, or retracted, positions by means of longitudinally spaced keyhole-shaped apertures 6 therein adapted to be registered, in each pair, with selected ones in the preceding pair with locking pins I inserted in the registering apertures. The locking pins 1 are of rod-like form with a diametrical key lug 8 on one end, and an overbalancing larger lug 9 on the other end diametrically opposite the key lug B. Said pins 1 are inserted through pairs of registering apertures 6 with the larger lug 9 uppermost, in which position the end with the key lug 8 thereon will pass through said pairs of apertures B. When the key lug 8 has passed through said apertures 6, the pin may be released and the lug -9 will overbalance the pin to rotate the same into a position in which said lugs 8, 9 will block withdrawal of the pin, for instance, as shown in Figure 6.

An endless chain'conveyor, or drag line, is provided in the frame I including a pair of sprocket wheels H), H fast on a pair of transverse shafts l2, l3. One shaft, l2 as shown, is suitably journaled at its ends in the front ends of the pair of bars 2 terminating at the discharge end of the apparatus, said shaft extending outwardly of said bars. The other shaft l3, as shown in Figure 3, isjournaled at its ends in bushings I4 slidably mounted in elongated, longitudinally slotted, extension guides l5 bolted, as at Hi, to the outer ends of the rear end pair of bars 4. Shoulders l! on said bushings I4 on one side of said guides l5, and nuts l8 on said bushings on the other side of said guides provide for slidably adjusting said bushings in said guide into different set positions to tighten a sprocket chain l9 trained around said sprocket wheels l0, II in the longitudinal center of the frame I and provided with suitable, rectangular pusher blades 20 centered thereon and extendin edgewise therefrom. The pusher blades 20 are provided with a center crosspiece 2|, respectively, preferably formed integrally therewith and spanning the outer edges of opposed pairs of links 22 of said chain [9 with screws 23 extending through the cross-piece into said links.

A motor 24 conventionally shown, and which may be of any suitable type, is suitably mounted at the discharge end of the apparatus on top of a pair of skeleton brackets 25 extending across the pair of bars 2 and upstanding therefrom. The brackets 25 are secured, as by bolts 26, on a platform 21 extending across said bars 2 and suitably secured to the bars 2 on top thereof, the arrangement being such that the chain l9 and blades 20 run over said platform and under the same, and through said brackets 25. A pulley 28 on the armature shaft 29 of the motor 24 is connected by 3 a belt 30 to a larger pulley 3| fast on one extending end of the shaft I2.

Adjacent the front, discharge end of the apparatus, is a pair of suitable ground wheels 32 independently mounted at opposite sides of the frame I for swinging longitudinally of said frame to raise or lower said ends of said frame and to tilt the same sidewise. The independent mountings for said wheels 32 comprise, in each instance, an upright fork-forming bar 33 on the inboard side of the wheels having its upper end pivoted on a lateral stud 34 extending outwardly from the adjacent bar 2, the pivoted end of the bar 33 being fitted in a guide notch 35 in a bearing block 36 on said bar 2. An upright, hand lever 31 pivoted intermediate its ends on said stud 34 on the outboard side of the wheels 32 complements said bar 33 in formingthe wheel fork. A stub axle 38, for each wheel 32 is suitably fixed in the lower ends of each bar 33 and lever 31. By swinging the upper end of the hand levers 31, the described wheel forks may be swung on the studs 34 to adjust the wheels 32 forwardly or rearwardly and thereby adjust the height of the frame I, and the described drag line from the ground or other base. For locking the wheels 32 in different adjusted positions, sector-shaped detent bars 39 are provided between the Wheels 32 and one side of the described wheel forks to depend from the bars 2, concentrically of the studs 34, with right angled ends 40 suitably fixed in said bars 2 and connected between said bars 2 by cross rods H. The detent bars 39 are formed with keyhole-shaped apertures 42 therein with which a similar aperture 43 in the lower end of each lever 37 is designed to register in different adjusted positions of the wheels 32. The apertures 42, 33 are the same as the apertures 6 and are designed to receive locking pins fi l similar to pins 7 to lock the levers 31 to said detent bars 39 in different angular positions.

A yoke-like handle-forming ball 45 is suitably fixed at its ends on the shaft I3 in upright position to straddle the pair of guides I and said guides are provided with downwardly curving rests 46 for supporting the rear end of the frame I so that the blades 20 will clear the ground, or other base, at said rear end of the frame.

The described apparatus is designed to be pushed, or pulled, by the ball 45 into a pile, not shown, of material to be loaded, and the motor 24 then started to drive the chain I9 so that the lower run thereof, with the blades 20 hanging pendent therefrom, travels toward the front, discharge end of the apparatus. The ground wheels 32 are then adjusted, in the manner described, so that the blades 20 on the lower run of the chain I9 are lowered into the material. When thus lowered said blades 20 on the lower run of the chain I9 push the material in front of the same so as to load the material into a vehicle or other conveyance. By adjusting the wheels 32, in the manner described, the frame I maybe 1ower-ed, or elevated, or leveled, with the'rests 46 supporting said frame I at its rear end, to position said frame in accordance with requirements. The frame I may be lengthened, or shortened, to suit requirements in the manner already described, it

being understood that links 22 ar added, or removed, from the chain I9 to alter its length according to whether said frame I has been lengthened or shortened. The apparatus may be easily and conveniently moved from place to place on the wheels 32, using the ball 45 as a handle in pushing or pulling the apparatus.

The foregoing will, it is believed, sufiice to impart a clear understanding of my invention without further explanation.

Manifestly, the invention, as described, is susceptible of modification as regards structural details, and combinations of parts, without departing from the inventive concept, and right is herein reserved to such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In apparatus of the class described, an elongated frame embodying sides, a drag line conveyor in said frame extending lengthwise thereof, a motor drive for said conveyor including a motor mounted on one end of the frame, a pair of ground wheels adjacent said end of the frame at opposite sides thereof, independent mountings for said wheels swingable on the frame into different angular positions to vary the height of the frame from the ground and to level said frame laterally, and detent means for each mounting for holding the same in said different positions, said means comprising arcuate detent bars depending from said sides of the frame concentrically of the axes of swinging movement of said mountings, hand levers pivoted to said sides of the frame to be swung alongside said bars and operatively connected to said mountings to swing the same, and means to lock said levers to said bars in the different angular positions of said mountings.

2. In apparatus of the class described, an elongated frame embodying sides, a drag line conveyor in said frame extending lengthwise thereof and embodying a lower run having pusher blades depending therefrom, downwardly curved rests on said sides at one end of the frame for supporting said end in material to be conveyed at a level such that said blades at said end of the frame are lowered into the material, a pair of side wheels at the other end of the frame swingably adjustable lengthwise of the frame to lower said other end substantially level with the end first mentioned and thereby lower all of the pusher blades on said lower run into the material, and means for driving said conveyor.

LOTEN FLOYD ARNETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 60,025 Marshall et a1 Nov. 27, 1866 148,955 Howe Mar. 24, 1874 289,734 Welch Dec. 4, 1883 721,571 Kramer Feb. 2%, 1903 1,520,332 Connolly Dec. 23, 1924, 1,573,186 Nystrom et al Feb. 16, 1926 1,989,537 Wentz Jan. 29, 1935 2,334,304 Arnett et a1 Nov. 16, 1943

Images