US2670072A - Shaker conveyer - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 23, 1954 E. R. BERGMANN ETAL 2,670,072

SHAKER CONVEYER Filed March lO, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 L Javea fors i 7i/ms! jz fefgma/Wf Mii/iam Z0'. loane y? arizefy Feb. Z3, 1954 E. R. BERGMANN ETAL 2,670,072

SHAKER CONVEYER 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 10, 1951 E. R. BERGMANN ET AL 2,670,072

Feb. 23, 1954 SHAKER CONVVEYER 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March l0, 1951 fans lfm/m Feb. 23, 1954 E. R. BERGMANN ETAL 2,670,072

SHAKER CONVEYER 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March l0, 1951 Feb 23, 1954 E. R. BERGMANN ETAL 2,670,072

SHAKER CONVEYER Filed March 10, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 406 45 44 z'l/za'm Mjloane KW if; q: fiar/geg E. R. BERGMANN ETAL Feb. 23, 1954 Filed March 1o, 1951 s wm. QR @u www@ Qu. MN

E 1: 0N. Nk NN @n www mw www mmm@ Patented Feb. 23, 1954 SHAKER CONVEYER' Ernst R. Bergmann and William W. SloanaChicago, Ill-.,assignorsf to Goodman Manufacturing Company; Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application'March` 10, 1951,Y Serial-No. 214,934

. 4 Claims. l This invention relates to improvements in. ex-

tensible feeding heads for shaker conveyors,y and more particularly to sluing mechanisms for Vsuch devices.

The principal object of the invention is to prof vide a simple, efficientA and positively' actuated draft mechanism associated with the. conveyor and operated by the shaking motion of the lat.- ter, for selectively drawing inflexible cables suit?- .ably anchored to. abutments at-` opposite. sides ofV tion at all times, regardless of whether: thefeeds ing; head is being actuated.

Other objects of theinventionwill appeaztfrom time to time as the following, description pro-1V ceeds'.

The invention may be bestV understood by ref;-l erence to the accompanyingv drawings',` in which:

Figure 1 isa plan view showingv ashaker con.- veyor installed in the working room of a mine, and illustrating t-he method of use of a sluin-g mechanism in accordance with, the invention;.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side View ofV the front end of the conveyor shown inFigu-re l, with parts broken away;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detailed section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2;

, Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan View of the main parts of the sluing mechanism; Y Y,

Figure 5 is an enlarged plan view ofv therdrum`- windingmechanism forming; aprincipal; part of the invention, with parts broken awayvgto show' certain details thereof;

Figure 6 is a. detailedv sectiontaken-online. 6-6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is an` explodedperspective View of. partof theclutch employed. in the mechanism;

Figure 8 isan enlarged end View ofthe Ymanuali control and guide meansadapted for attachment` to the conveyor;I

Figure 9 is a plan view of the attachment shown in Figures, withzparts showninsection; and A,

Lil

Figure 1G is a fragmentary section of the one-- Way clutch mechanism.

Referring now to4 details of the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, Figure 1 shows a main trough Ill of a shaker conveyor, connected through a swivel or articulated joint I I to a trough section I2 having a loader head indicated at I 3 connected at its forward or inby end. The trough ID .is reciprocably driven as usual by a shaker drive generally indicated 9.

The swivel or articulated joint I I is of the kind commonly employed in shaker conveyors, including a base I4 having sockets I5, I5 at opposite4 ends of` a cross bar I6 for reception of mine jacks (not shown) to anchor said base to the ground. The cross bar IS also has a pair of roller supports I'I, I'I onV which the swivel joint II is slidably mounted, as usual, to permit the usual shaking motion of the main trough I0 and its swivel connection relative to the anchored base IE. Further details of the swivel II and its base I4 and roller supports I'I, Il need not be shown nor described, as they form no part of the present invention, excepting to point out that a bracket I9 is fixed to the cross bar I6 of the base, having a link 20 pivotally connected thereto, which extends forwardly to form part of the actuating means for the sluing mechanism, as will presently be described.

The loading head I3 is also of a well-known type commonly known as a duckbill, wherein an extensible trough 2I having a shovel 22 xedon its front or inbyend, is telescopically mounted with respect to the trough I2. A feeder head 23 is secured to the front end of the trough I2 and. is adapted to ride on the extensible trough 2I intermediate its ends during telescopic movement of the two troughs. The extensible trough 2I is supported on the ground at its front end by the shovel 22 and at its rear end by an upright support 24 on a shoe 25. The latter trough is thus. supported in frictional engagement with the ground, so as to tend to remain stationary excepting when engaged by grip blocks 2E, 25 carried on the feeder head 23. The relative extension or retraction of the two troughs I2 and 2I is controlled as usual by manipulation of the grip blocks 26 in proper timed relation to the shaker motion of trough I2. The gripping action of blocks 26 may be manually controlled through any well-known linkage mechanism von the feeder head,V which need not be described nor shown in further detail as it forms no part of the present invention.

Referring now more particularly to' the details 3 of the sluing mechanism, a pair of take-up or winding drums 21 are mounted at opposite sides of a supporting frame 28, fixed to an intermediate trough section 23. In the form shown herein, the latter trough section forms part of the trough l2 and is interposed in the conveyor trough line between the upper swivel joint i l and that forward portion of the trough I2 on which the extensible trough 2l is telescopically mounted. The intermediate trough section 29 is detachably connected at its rear end to the swivel joint H by eyes 3i) and bolts 3 i and at its front end to the main part of the trough section i2 by eyes 32 and bolts 33, in the manner usually employed for connecting adjacent trough sections.

The supporting frame 28 for the winding drums 21 includes a bottom plate 34 in spaced relation beneath the intermediate trough section 29 and extending beyond the latter at opposite sides thereof, and a top plate 35 fixed to and extending from the opposite sidewalls of said trough section.

Details of the winding drums 21' and their actuating meclianism are shown in Figures 3 to '7. Each winding drum has a sluing cable 36 wound thereon, with a free end adapted to be extended for anchoring to a xed abutment at one side of the conveyor, so as to swing the front end of the feeder head and associated parts of the conveyor bodily about the swivel joint il when said drum is driven positively in the proper direction.

The link 26 which is pivoted at its rear end to the anchored cross bar i6 of swivel il, as previously described, has its front end pivoted to an elongated rack bar 31, slidably mounted longitudinally of the supporting frame 26 beneath and centrally of the intermediate trough section 29. Said rack bar has a pair of racks 3d, 538 along opposite sides thereof, having toothed engagement with idler p-inions 39, 39 pivotally supported on frame z at opposite sides of the rack bar 31. Each of the pinions engages similar gear sectors 46 on a drive disc ida surrounding a hub portion 136D of an annular drive member 3i, keyed on the lower end of a drive sleeve 32. The drive member 4I is driven from drive disc da through a loadlimiting device, herein consisting of an adjustable friction band im carried by the drive disc and engaging the periphery of said drive member.

Each drive sleeve is rotatably mounted on bearings t3, 46 at the upper and lower ends of an upright supporting shaft 45, suitably xed at its upper and lower ends in the top plate 35 and th bottom plate 3ft of frame 28. i

The drive sleeve of each of the two winding mechanisms at opposite sides of the frame 2B has a clutch sleeve l5 rotatably mounted thereon with a pair of vertically spaced bearings 41, 41. The clutch sleeve d has winding drum 21 rotatably mounted on its upper end, with annular bearings d8, i8 interposed therebetween.

The clutch sleeve @d is driven from drive sleeve 42 by a one-way clutch i9 located between the spaced outer friction bearings 41, 41. This oneway clutch may be of any suitable construction; in the form shown in Figure consisting of a plurality of sprags 55 surrounding the drive sleeve 42. These sprags are arranged to be rocked into frictional driving engagement with the clutch sleeve 46 only when the drive sleeve d2 is being rotated in the direction to wind its sluing cable 36 on the drum 21. The sprags 56 are normally held in approximate circumferential alignment by a pair of continuous annular coil springs 5I passing through grooves 52 on the upper and lower faces of the sprags. The form of one-way clutch mechanism including sprags 50 is of a type well known in the art so further details thereof need not be described herein.

The clutch sleeve 46 has a plurality of elongated clutch teeth 53 projecting axially at its lower end which engage in apertures 54 formed in a clutch disc 55. The latter disc has vertical sliding movement on the upper hub 56 of the drive member 4I. Said clutch disc has a plurality of clutch teeth 51 on its upper face adapted for engagement with clutch teeth 58 on the lower face of drum 21 when said clutch disc is shifted to its uppermost position, through a clutch shifting mechanism which will hereinafter be more fully described.

The clutch sleeve 46 also has an annular collar 59 formed integrally therewith of slightly less diameter than the clutch teeth 58 on the drum. A friction disc of suitable material, such as asbestos ber, is interposed between the collar 59 and the under face of the drum, so that said drum is frictionally engaged by disc 60 at al1 times.

Yielding brake means are also provided for holding the drum against unwinding and urging the latter into frictional engagement with the friction disc 68. In the form shown, this brake means consists of friction pads 6l, herein two in number, each carried on a stem 62, yieldably urged against the upper face of the drum as by a coil spring 63 in an auxiliary housing 64 mounted on the top plate 35.

The two clutch discs 55 for the drums 21 on opposite sides of the conveyor are each shifted by a shifter fork 90, including arms 65, 65 xed to a pivot rod B6 and having shifter members 61, 61 at their ends engaged in a groove 68 in the periphery of said clutch discs. Each of said pivot rods 66 is mounted for rocking movement on ears 68., 69, herein fixed to the outer sides of the trough. In the form shown herein, the two pivot rods 66 are fixed at their forward ends to tubular torsion rods 10 which extend forwardly along opposite sides of the trough section I2 to a manual control mechanism 1| on the feeder head 23, adjacent the control devices for extending or retracting the extensible trough 2 I. The tubular rods 10 are suitably supported for rotation in bearing supports 12 mounted on said feeder head. Bell cranks 13 are fixed on the front ends of said tubular rods. Said bell cranks each has an outwardly extending arm 14 pivotally connected by a link 15 to an arm 16 of an upstanding control lever 11 pivotally mounted at one side of the feeder head. Said bell cranks also have downwardly extending arms 18, which are pivotally connected to opposite ends of a tie rod 19. The arrangement just described provides interlocking control means which permits actuation of the positive clutch discs 55 by manipulating either one of the two control levers 11, 11 at opposite sides of the feeder headybut insures unclutching of one winding drum whenever the other drum is in positive clutched engagement with its respective drive sleeve.-

Each of the sluing cables 36 is preferably trained from its respective winding drum 21 over two idler sheaves 8|, `8| mounted toward the front of frame 28 so as to lead said cable into an opening 82 cut away from the outer side of the tubular torsion rod 18. Each cable is then carried to the front end of its rod, and is trained over two idler sheaves 83, 84 on the feeder head, arranged to permit said cable to be extended away from the 'feeder head at any desired angle. Inl

'at opposite sides ofthe conveyor.

'connect said auxiliary frames together for Iadditional support.

The use and operation of the apparatus "-is as follows:

The conveyor is set upin a mine in the usual manner with the 'shovel 2'2 of extensible'trough 2| in position to load out loose material broken ldown Afrom the Working face, the base I4 of the swivel joint ll jacked to the mine floor,and`the main trough line Al leading to a suitable point of discharge. vThe sluingfcables -'36, 36 are anchored to suitable abutments, such as mine jacks, Said cables may be disposed at varying angles to lthe conveyor, depending upon mining conditions.

The feeder head 23 is operated as usual 'to gather up the loose material by gradual extension of the extensible trough 2|, controlled in the usual manner 'bythe manipulation of grip blocks 26 on said feeder head. During reciprocation of the conveyor, the rack bar 31 is held stationary due to its pivetal connection to the anchored cross bar I6, on which the swivel joint li is slidably mounted, while thefrarne 28 vcarried on the intermediate trough section 29 reciprocates with the main trough line of the conveyor. This relative motion between the rack bar and the trough section causes oscillation of the idler pinions 38 and, through said pinions, the gear sectors 40, drive discs 40a, drive members 4! and drive sleeves 42 are oscillated about their respective upright axes. The load limit devices 41a protect the drive mechanism against damage in case of excessive loads on the two drum driving mechanisms. The oscillating motion of the drive sleeves 42 is transformed by one-way clutches 49 into intermittent one-way rotation of the clutch sleeve 46, in the direction tending to wind the sluing cables 3G on their respective drums 21.

The brake pads 6l are set with relatively light yielding engagement with the drums 21 sucient to resist unwinding thereof, but the friction discs 66 carried on the clutch sleeves 46 are of larger area and are designed to exert greater torque on the drums, suicient to overcome the braking effect of brake pads 6I, and tend to rotate the drums with enough torque to take in any slack in the cables. This frictional torque effect on the drums is not, however, sufficient to slue the conveyor or interfere with the normal shaking motion of the latter.

Therefore, when the clutch discs at both sides of the sluing mechanism are in intermediate position, unclutched from positive driving connection with their respective drums, the sluing cables 36 will be automatically maintained in taut condition while the conveyor proceeds to operate with its loader head i3 disposed in one angular position relative to the swivel ll.

When it is desired to shift the loader head laterally in one direction or the other, the operator manipulates either one of the interlocked control levers 11 so as to engage the clutch disc 55 on the side toward which he desires to slue the V*louder ineen. Thereupon, ane cable drum 22.1 that side Will `be "positively fdriv'en y-throu' intermittent one-wafy'rtation of its fclutchsleeve 46, whilethe opposite drum'wouldstill be disengaged from positive' drlive. "I-heactuatinglink 250 with its rack bar 31 'swings laterally with fthe 'swivelling loading'e'n'd of the 'conveyor tola'cco'm'- modate itself to'all'angularpositions ofthe latter.

When it is desired to slue'the Ifeeder lhead the opposite direction, theoperato'r manipulates either of the controllevers 11 1in lthe opposite vdirection. The levers are-.restored jitc theirintermediate unclutching position to discontinue -f'sluing rin either direction. v

It will no'w Abe understood "that the sluing cables 36 are automatically taken 11p-'and maintained in that` condition at all'times that the conveyor is beingreciprocated-,and also that oneo'r the Vother of saidfsluing cables-`can be `positively drawn in rat will to slue the swivelli'ng lloadi'n'g end of the conveyor in either direction fas 'desired. Power for this sluing 'action is 'derived directly from the 4reciprocating motion of the -conveyor trough as a whole. -A more positive sluing motion is assured than `in sluing V'devices kpreviously proposedwhereinthe sluing action is wholly dependent upon relative -telescopicmove- -ment between the extensible trough -2I and 'the adjacent trough section |52 fd-uringthe feeding/operation, which movement in turn fis "dependent upon the -frictional resistance of the `ex'tensible trough 2i with respectto the ground, when-itis released from the grip blocks of `fthe -fe'ederfhead during forward or.reversel'stroke'of"the conveyor. Accordingly, thesluing mechanismof fthe lp'resent invention is operable independently fof 'the 'feeder head; in fact, it `'can be employed withishaker conveyors having no extensible feeder head.

rThe arrangement whereby the Winding drums and their associated driving devices are mounted on the detachable intermediate trough section 29 facilitates the assembly of the sluing mechanism with a conventional shaker conveyor structure, and also permits the intermediate trough section with the sluing mechanism to be bodily removed from the trough line for repairs, or when said sluing mechanism is not needed in a particular shaker conveyor set-up.

The arrangement whereby the sluing cables 36 are led forwardly from the Winding drums to be paid out or drawn in from the feeder head 23 not only increases the emciency of the sluing cables but protects the cables against fouling where they pass along opposite sides of the trough. Moreover, the extension of the clutch control mechanism to the control levers 'I1 on the feeder head places said control levers closely adjacent the hand levers which control the operation of the feeder head, so as to facilitate all the feeding operations of the shaker conveyor by one operator.

rSince the windingdrums 21 and the frame 28, upon which they are supported, are mounted on the intermediate trough section 29, which trough section is detachably connectable in the trough line, as previously described. It will be noted that the entire intermediate trough section can be inserted in or removed from the trough line at will. Also the auxiliary frames 86, which carry the control lever 11, and the idler sheaves 83, 84, over which the sluing cables are paid out from opposite sides of the frame, can be attached to or disconnected from the feeder head 23 at will. Accordingly, the entire sluing mechanism disclosed herein may be readily applied as attachmentsV to a conventional shaker conveyor construction. Also the sluing mechanism can be removed from a conventional shaker conveyor when it is not required, Without affecting the normal operation of the conveyor.

Although we have shown and described certain embodiments of our invention, it will be understood that we do not wish to be limited to the exact construction shown and described, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1 In a shaker conveyor having a laterally swivelling reciprocable trough, an anchoring support affording reciprocable movement of the swivelled joint, an extensible trough telescopically mounted at the end of said reciprocable trough line having a slideable ground supporting shoe at its inner end. feeder mechanism for ccntrolling relative telescopic movement of said troughs connected to the reciprocable trough and slideably supported on said extensible trough intermediate the ends of the latter, the combination of a pair of winding drums mounted on the swivelling portion of the reciprocable trough intermediate the swivelling joint of the latter and the limit of inward telescoping movement of the extensible trough, each of said winding drums having sluing cables wound independently thereon adapted for connection to nxed abutments at opposite sides of said troughs, a rotatable drive member for each of said drums, a drive link means pivotally connected at one end to said .swivelling trough portion and at the other end to said anchoring support for rotating said drive members in response to movement of said swivelling trough relative to said anchoring support, and one-way clutch means affording selective positive driving connections between each of said drive members and their respective drums.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the means pivotally connected to the anchor support consists of a link connected at one end to said anchor support and having a rack bar pivoted on its other end and slideably.mount ed on the swivelling end of the reciprocable trough, for engagement with said drive members.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein manual control means for the clutch means includes manually operable levers mounted on the feeder mechanism, a pair of shafts extending longitudinally of the reciprocable'trough, and axially movable by said levers to actuate the clutch means.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3, wherein guide sheaves for paying out the sluing cables are mounted on the feeder mechanism, and the shafts are tubular, with the sluing cables threaded therethrough to provide guide means from adjacent the winding drums to the guide sheaves on the feeder mechanism.

ERNST R. BERGMANN. WILLIAM W. SLOANE'.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,043,747 Getty June 9, 1936 2,318,712 Pratt May 1l, 1943 2,358,416 Pratt Sept. 19, 1944 2,360,169 Sloane Oct. 10, 1944 2,362,844 Nyborg Nov. 14, 1944

Images