US2661088A - Elevator casing and close fitting adjustable feed chute - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 1, 1953 s. M. MERCIER ELEVATOR CASING AND CLOSE FITTING ADJUSTABLE FEED CHUTE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct. 5, 1946 //v vE/vTo/Q; STANLEY M. MERGER,

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Deal, 1953 s. H; MERCIER 2,661,088

ELEVATOR CASING AND CLOSE FITTING ADJUSTABLE FEED CHUTE Original Filed Oct. 5, 1946 2 Sheets-Sh et 2 I I l I II: I I: I J1 l I I" II :II :I

III I I 39 'II II I I I I 'II I I I |I I I I II /Nl/ENTO 1E; STAN LEY M. MERCIEIg .BY

ATTY.

Patented Dec. 1, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELEVATOR CASING AND CLOSE FITTING ADJUSTABLE FEED CHUTE Stanley M. Mcrcier, Bexley, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corpora tion of Ohio Original application October a, 1946, Serial No. 700,928. Divided and this application January 10, 1951, Serial No. 205,380

7 Claims. (01. 198-55) This invention relates in general to housings and feed chutes therefor, and it finds particular application in housings and feed chutes of bucket elevators or conveyers such as are employed in ticles which tend to lodge in or between them.

' Another object of the invention is to provide an improved connecting mechanism by which, for example, an elevator or conveyer housingmay be slidably connected with a feed chute or feed housing therefor and in which provision is made whereby abrasive materials that tend to lodge between and damage the connecting parts of the mechanism may be cleaned or removed from between the members by fiuid under pressure.

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

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of an elevator embodying features of the invention showing a portion of the guiding and supporting superstructure therefor;

Fig. 2 is a View on a larger scale of the lower portion of the elevator seen in Fig. l; v

A Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view on a larger scale through the feed chute seen in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View on a larger scale, the view being taken on line 44 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, the view being taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and I Fig. 6 is a sectional view on a larger scale, the view being taken on line 66 of Fig. 1.

This application is a division of my co-pending application, Serial No. 700,928, filed October 3, 1946, now Patent No. 2,570,363, dated October 9, 1951, for a Bucket Elevator. It is to be under- :stood that the construction and operation of the apparatus of this application follows that of my parent application above identified, and that only subject matter pertinent to the present invention is described hereinindetail. v

In Fig. 1 of the drawings there is illustrated an elevator or conveyer 10 that is employed for eleas compared with when it is shut down, and par- :ticularly in view of the fact that the casing has appreciable height-for example, in one installaing I I, particularly along its length.

vating or conveying upwardly hot catalyst material that is fed into the elevator housing or casing H through a feed chute or feed housing I2 adjacent the bottom thereof. The catalyst flowing into the elevator housing or casing I l is received by buckets of a chain and bucket conveyer ap paratus, not shown, and is conveyed upwardly and discharged from the housing or casing H through a discharge chute 13 at the top thereof.

The chains of the conveyer mechanism travel over, and are driven by, a head shaft assembly including spaced wheels, not shown, that are carried upon ashaft I5 supported on bearings 16. Shaft l 5 is driven from a motor and speed reducing drive mechanism indicated at IT. Within the ;bottom of the housing or casing II there is a I floating foot shaft assembly l8 around which the chains of the conveyer travel and which is supported by the chains which travel in and are guided by guides l 4.

It may be mentioned that in the complete elevator unit the exterior surface of the housing or casing llincludes a layer of insulating material which has not been shown in the drawings. This high temperature within the housing or casing I I when the elevator is in operation. Because of thetemperature differences which exist within the housing or casing Ii when it is in operation,

'tion it is approximately one hundred seventy-five feet high, it is necessary to provide for the free expansion and contraction of said housing or cas- The supporting or suspending mechanism for the housing or casing II is in the form of a peripheral frusto-conical petticoat, skirt or flange 19 which is located near the top of said elevator and adjacent the bottom of the head section 20 thereof. The top of the skirt I 9 is rigidly attached, as by welding, preferably around its enterconnecting cross-beams that form a part of, or are attached to, a building or other independeent supporting structure. V The entire load or Weight of the casing ll, including the head section 29 of the elevator this supported by the superstructure 22 through the skirt I9 and ring 2i. As a consequence of this fact, it is evident that the casing I I, including the head section 2% is rigidly connected to the external supporting superstructure 22 in only one horizontal plane which is the plane of connection of the skirt I9 and the ring 2I, and consequently the casing ii is free to expand without strain under the conditions of varying temperature which occur particularly between operating and non-operating conditions. For example, if the head section 23 expands it will expand upwardly from the ring 2!. low the ring 2i expands, it can expand downwardly therefrom since it is hanging free except for its connection to skirt I9 through ring 23.

In view of the hei ht of the casing II it is desirable to provide guide means 23 at spaced vertica1 intervals to guide and brace said casing'il against excessive lateral movement which, for example, may be caused by the wind, since in most installations these elevators are built outdoors and are merely supported by open frames, of which the superstructure 22 is a part. Details of one of these guide or anti-sway means 23 are shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings.

The guides 23 are below the supporting skirt I9, and they are provided by forming circumferential bands or belts 24, preferably constructed of angles, which belts 24 are rigidly attached to the casing II by welding. It may be pointed out that the casing II is preferably formed of a plurality of interconnected tubular sections which are bolted or welded together by top and bottom section flanges 25.

At spaced intervals around each belt 24 are upstanding guide bars 26 which are welded to the outwardly projecting legs of the angle belts 2d and which slidably extend into notches 2! formed in brackets or clips 28 mounted on channel members 29 of the superstructure 22, there preferably being guides 23 located at 90 degree intervals around the periphery of the casing II adjacent each of the belts 24. It is thus evident that the bars 26 are rigidly attached to the casing I E and are free to slide upwardly and downwardly in the notches 2'! of the brackets 28 which are rigid with the superstructure 22. These guides, of course, help brace the casing I I and prevent undesirable lateral movement or twisting thereof under atmospheric influences or under the influence of the high temperature gases within said casing i i. It is to be noted that there is a small space or clearance between the outer edges of the bars 26 and the bottoms of the notches 2'! of the brackets 28 that permits diametrical expansion of the ca"- ing H. The above described support and guide means for the casing is claimed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 164,771, filed May 27, 1950, for a Bucket Elevator.

It may be mentioned that the elevator illustrated is employed in a hot catalyst oil cracking system and that the conveyor mechanism of it includes multiple compartment buckets carried between chains that convey both spent and regenerated catalyst, all as described in my parent application, Serial No. 700,928, now Patent No. 2,570,363, above identified.

Attention is now directed to Figs. 2 through 5 of the drawings and to the construction of the loading or feed chute 12. A number of problems have to be considered in connection with the construction of this feed chute. First of all, since the casing or housing I I is subject to temperature variations, there is relative movement between it If the casing ll beand said feed chute or housing I2 in a substantially upright plane. In addition, the feed chute i2 is in effect three feed chutes or is a three-way or three-compartment chute, since the material flowing to the elevator is divided into three paths by said feed chute and delivered into three series of buckets or bucket compartments at the bottom of the elevator mechanism. In addition, individual control valves are provided for each of the separate chutes or chute compartments.

Said chute I2 includes laterally spaced and downwardly sloping side walls 30 between which is a pair of partitions 3I. Adjacent their tops the partitions 3i converge so that they split the feed pipe or conduit 32 which carries the spent catalyst to divide it into two outside ways, troughs, chutes, or compartments in the multiple way feed chute I2. The central compartment, trough or way of said chute i2 is fed by a regenerated catalyst pipe or conduit 33 and thus the regenerated catalyst flows centrally through the feed chute i2, with spent catalyst flowing on both sides thereof. The troughs or compartments of feed chute 52 are each provided with an individually operable control valve 34, each of which is controlled by an individual operating shaft and handle, not shown, which projects through the adjacent side of the trough. The central trough of feed chute I2 is provided with an individually controlled valve 35 also provided with an operating shaft and lever, not shown, that projects through one side wall of feed chute I2.

It is evident by reference to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings that the valves 34 and 35 are swingable about horizontal axes provided by their operating shafts and that said valves may be respectively opened and closed in variable amounts, being swingable upwardly behind stationary partition means 36 (see Fig. 3). The bottom plate 37 of the chute i2 is provided with three removable wear plates 38, one for each chute, said wear plates being removable as a unit with the upper portion of said bottom plate 3?, said bottom plate 37 being split between its ends along the split line 39, as seen in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The feed chute I2 also includes a vertical or upstanding frame or seal plate til which is rigidly attached to and forms a part of said chute I2. The lower portion of the chute ways is of reduced height as compared to the upper or feed portion, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and this lower portion projects through a frame opening '4! formed in the foot or feed section of the casing II. This lower reduced height portion of the chute i2 is free to move upwardly and downwardly in the opening 4| which has appreciably greater height than the adjacent height of the feed chute I2, thus providing for relative movement of the casing II with respect to the feed chute I2 with changing thermal conditions within casing II.

The face of the opening M is provided with an upstanding seal or slide plate 42 having an opening 43 therein comparable in dimensions to the opening 4| through which the lower portion of chute I2 projects and with which it has relative up and down movement. Since the seal or slide plate 42 is fixed to and moves with the casing II and the frame or seal plate lil is fixed to the chute I2, it is obvious that they will have rela tive sliding movement in an upright or vertical plane as the casing I I expands and contracts and thus moves rectilinearly upwardly and downwardly with respect to chute I2.

To effectuate a seal for all relative positions of plates 40 and 42, the plate is provided along opposite sides'with upper and lower guide brackets 44 (see Fig. 4) which are provided on their insides'with'notches 45 which receive interlocking outer edges of the plate 42. In addition, a spring-pressed seal or packing .46 is carried in a groove around the periphery of the seal plate 40 and is pressed against the seal plate l2,-thus in suring an effective seal between the casing I] and the feed chute 12 for all relative positions thereof. In addition, to prevent abrasive material accumulating between the two plates 40 and 42 whichmight cause damage to .the seal 46 or cause undue wear on either of them, a blowout pipe or conduit 41, which may be" supplied with flue gas or other fluid or gas under pressure, communicates through spaced branch pipes or conduits 48;(sejev Figs; 4 and 5) to a'transverse groove or conduit 4l formed adjacent the bottom of the plate and above the bottom part of seal 46. By introducing fluid, such as air, flue gas and the like into the groove 4|, abrasive material, such as catalyst dust, may be blown upwardly from the space between said plates 40 and 42.

T o-assist in-the loading of the buckets, there is a loading plate 50*(see Fig. 3) located adjacent the discharge edge of the feed chute l2 which is essentially stationary with respect to casing H and is provided with three laterally spaced elongated windows or openings, one for each of the ways or compartments in the feed chute l2. The upper end of the loading plate 50 is rigidly connected to a bracket on the lower section of casing I I (see Fig. 2), and the bottom is provided with a pair of pins 52 which extend through holes in brackets 53 attached to the bottom of the lower casing section II, there being one adjacent each side. Since there may be some different in thermal expansion of the loading plate 50 and the casing II to which it is attached, the pins 52 compensate for this by being readily slidable in the holes in brackets 53, while at the same time the loading plate 50 is held essentially rigid with the lower section of easing ll.

Directly above the feed chute I2 is an observation window 54. This window 54 makes it possible for an operator to view the material within the buckets of the elevator mechanism to without disturbing the enclosing character of the casing ll.

As previously mentioned, the casing I l is made up of a plurality of vertically superposed and attached sections removably connected together by top and bottom flanges and is preferably provided with insulating material on its external surface. In the form of the elevator illustrated, the major portion of the casing II is suspended and hangs downwardly along an upright axis from its single support adjacent the belt 2| near its top, and it is guided at spaced intervals and held against lateral swinging by the guide or anti-sway means 23 which provide for its free expansion and contraction.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that by this invention there is provided an elevator or conveyer that includes an elongated casing or housing supported so that it may expand freely along its axis, particularly in response to temperature changes, which is connected slidably to a fixed feed chute or housing and that there is provided means for removing from between the parts that slidably connect the feed chute and elevator housing materials that would cause wear or otherwise damage them when the housing moves with respect to the feed chute.

It will, of course, also be seen that there is providedby this inventions; simple and effective seal or connector mechanism for connecting .two casings or housings so that one may move with respect to the other and which connector mechanism may be readily cleared or cleaned of abrasive materials which would cause wear or scratching of the parts of the connecting mechanism.

Obviously those. skilledin the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .as defined by the claims heretoappended, and applicant therefore wishes not to be restricted to the precise construction herein discloseda V V l Having thus described and shown an embodiment of the invention, what it is desired-to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: 5 -1.--An elevator for hot material including an longatedupstanding casing, means supporting said casing adjacent its top-with substantially the entire'casing hanging downwardly therefrom and suspended thereby, anendless elevator conveyer within said casing, a stationary feed chute 1 for "said conveyer including a chute extending into said casing near its bottom, means providing for vertical movement of said casing relative to said chute including a pair of relatively slidable frames, one connected rigidly to said chute, the other connected rigidly to said casing, a spring pressed seal between said frames, and conduit means for conducting fluid under pressure between said frames whereby material may be blown from between them.

2. An elevator for hot material including an elongated upstanding casing, means supporting said casing adjacent its top with substantially the entire casing hanging downwardly therefrom and suspended thereby, an endless elevator conveyer within said casing, a stationary feed chute for said conveyer including a chute extending into said casing near its bottom, means providing for vertical movement of said casing relative to said chute including a pair of relatively slidable frames, one connected rigidly to said chute, the other connected rigidly to said casing, and a spring pressed seal between said frames.

3. An elevator including an upstanding casing, means supporting said casing adjacent its top with the casing hanging downwardly therefrom and suspended thereby, an endless elevator conveyer within said casing, a feed chute for said conveyer including a chute extending into said casing near its bottom, means providing for relative vertical movement of said casing and feed chute including a pair of relatively slidable frames, one connected rigidly to said chute, the other connected rigidly to said casing, seal means between said frames, and conduit means for conducting fluid under pressure between said frames whereby material may 'be blown from between them.

4. An elevator including an upstanding casing, means supporting said casing adjacent its top with the casing hanging downwardly therefrom and suspended thereby, an endless elevator conveyer within said casing, a feed chute for said conveyer including a chute extending into said casing near its bottom, means providing for relative vertical movement of said casing and feed chute including a pair of relatively slidable frames, one connected rigidly to said chute, the other connected rigidly to said casing, and seal means between said frames.

ace 1, 688" r 5. In apparatus of the" class described, the combination of a. casing,' of achute extending into said casing, means providing for relative movement between said'chute and casing including a pair of relatively slidable frames, one connected rigidly to said chute, the other connected rigidly to said casing, a'spring pressed seal between said frames, and fluid means for blowing solid fine material from between said frames to prevent scratching thereof. j

6. A feed mechanism adapted to be connected slidably to a casing having a feed opening there in whereby said casing may-move with respect to said feed mechanism, said feed mechanism 111- eluding slide frame means adapted to be carried. by the casing in association with said feed openmg therein, a feed chute adapted to feed material into said casing through said opening, seal frame means carried by said feed chute adapted to cooperate with said slide frame means, seal means between said slide frame means and said frame means, and conduit means for conducting fluid under pressure between said slide frame means and said seal frame means whereby material may be blown from between them.

5' 7, A feed mechani sm adapted to be connected slidably to a casing having a feed opening therein' whereby saidcasing may move with respect to said feed mechanism, said feed mechanism includingslide frame means adapted to be carried by the casing in association with said feed opening therein, a feed chute adapted to feed material into said casing through said opening, seal frame means carried by said feed chute adapted to cooperate with said slide frame means, and conduit means for conducting fluid under pressure between said slide frame means and said seal frame means whereby material may be blown from between them.

-- I-YSTANLEY M. 'MERCIER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 573,913 Patterson et al. Dec. 29, 1896 783,129 7 Paterson Feb. 21, 1905 1,064,443 Chadwick June 10, 1913 2,360,345 Hilkemeier Oct, 17, 1944 2,444,211 Wager June 29, 1948

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