US2889913A - Swivel connection for conveyors - Google Patents

Description

June 9, 1959 R. F- BOERSMA ET AL SWIVEL CONNECTION FOR CONVEYORS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 2a. 1956 gulll v m m M R. S r E mm E NP 3 T 7 h m Y N H J 1 I l R m 2, N 3 4 M 3 m fi m r Y 0 9w 7 mm a o m 3H @R r A N g 7 M June 9, 1 959 R. F.'BOERSMA ETAL SWIVEL CONNECTION FOR CONVEYORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed am 2a. 1956 INVENTOR. Richard F. Boersma Roy F Lo Presci ATT RNEY June 9, 1959 R. F. BOERSMA EIAL 2,889,913

- SWIVEL CONNECTION FOR CONVEYORS Fi led June 28. 1956 s'sheets-sneet' z Fig. INVENTOR.

1 Richard F.' Boersma BY Roy F Lo Presti ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,889,913 SWIVEL cornvnc'rrorr FOR CONVEYORS Richard F. Boersma, Blue Island, and Roy F. Lo Presti, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application June 28, 1956, Serial No. 594,409 Claims. (Cl. 198-95) This invention relates generally to improvements in endless conveyors and to an improvement in an articulated connection between a pair of cascading conveyors.

Modern mining practices have been dictating the use of endless conveyors disposed in the room behind a continuous miner, the continuous miner discharging upon the room conveyor, and the room conveyor in turn discharging upon an entry conveyor. It is possible with such continuous miners to mine a room of such width that the discharge boom of the miner cannot conveniently reach the inby end of the room conveyor, even though such room conveyor may be of extensible type and arranged to follow closely the advance of the miner. Accordingly the distance between the outby end of the discharge boom and the room conveyor is spanned by what is known as a bridge conveyor.

Since such miners may be operated off to either side of the room conveyor, a swiveling connection must be afforded between the discharge boom and the bridge conveyor, and a second swiveling connection must also be afforded between the bridge conveyor and the room conveyor. Such a swiveling connection is especially necessary where the continuous miner is employed for making cross cuts in the rib.

Heretofore such swiveling connections have been provided between the outby end of the bridge conveyor and the inby end of the room conveyor, but in some cases the amount of swiveling movement has been greatly limited, and in some other cases the swiveling connection has not been entirely satisfactory because of its tendency to bind.

Certain types of swiveling connection at the room conveyor include a dolly mounted for translational movement longitudinally of the room conveyor, and as the swiveling angle changes, the dolly moves along the room conveyor correspondingly. In some cases the continuous miner may be operating at substantially right angles to the room conveyor, and when retreating, the swivel joint at the dolly does not provide the proper amount of swiveling action with the result that the dolly is forced off the room conveyor laterally, instead of being shifted translatively thereof.

With the foregoing considerations in mind it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved swiveling connection between a bridge conveyor extending between a continuous miner and a gathering conveyor, said swiveling connection being characterized by providing as much as 180 of swiveling movement.

Another object is to provide a swivel connection for a pair of cascading conveyors, which connection is characterized by freedom from binding or sticking, so that the support structure for the swivel connection may freely move translatively along the room or gathering conveyor.

Still another object is to provide a swivel connection between a pair of cascading conveyors, which swiveling connection will at all times provide a component of force longitudinally of the gathering conveyor, so that the sup- 2,889,913 Patented June 9, 1959 ice port for the connection can freely move longitudinally of such gathering conveyor.

Other objects and important features of the invention will be apparent from a study of the specification folloW-.

ing taken with the drawings, which together describe and illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, and what is now considered to be the best mode of practicing the principles thereof. Other embodiments of the invention may be suggested to those having the benefit of the teachings herein, and such other embodiments are intended to be reserved especially as they fall within'the scope and purview of the subjoined claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation View of the head section of an extensible conveyor having an improved bridging conveyor cooperating therewith, said bridging conveyor having the improvements according to the present invention embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view of the tail or inby section of the extensible conveyor, showing the bridging conveyor in position with its discharge or outby end in position for discharge onto the extensible conveyor;

Fig. 3 is'a side elevational view of intermediate framing portions of an extensible belt conveyor of the type where the conveying reach is supported upon the spaced flexible strands;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a bridging conveyor having the improvements according to the present invention embodied therewith, certain parts being broken away to show details of the support frame thereof;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation view thereof;

Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken along the lines 6-'-6 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 7 is a section to an enlarged scale taken along the lines 7-7 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows, showing details of a swivel connection between the bridge conveyor and the tail section;

Fig. 8 is a view taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows, showing details of rollers mounting the support dolly of the swivel connection for translative movement at the inby end of the tail adapted for use with an extensible conveyor indicated generally by the reference numeral 20. Such an extensible conveyor includes an outby or head section 21 mounted for movement on endless crawler treads 22, an inby or tail section 23 likewise mounted for movement upon endless crawler treads 24, and intermediate framing sections referred to generally by the reference numeral 26. The extensible conveyor may be of the type as more completely disclosed in an application of Hardy et' all, Serial No. 541,162, filed October 18, 1955, for ExtensibleConveyor, now U.S. Patent No. 2,858,933, issued November 4, 1958. Such a conveyor includes an endless belt having a conveying reach 27 and a return reach 28, the reaches being reversed in direction about an idler pulley 29 at the tail section 23, and also being reversed about an idler pulley 31 at the head section 21, the belt beingsnubbed tion, the return reach 28 may be reeved about a hiredcluster of idler pulleys 37 and about a movable:

cluster of idler pulleys-38, the distance between the fixed cluster 37 and the movable cluster 38 varying in accordance with the distance between the head section 21 and the tail section 23:

The extensible conveyor ZO may alsobe of the-type where the conveyingireach 27 is supported. upon spaced flexiblestrands39; thest'rands' 39'being' spanned'at in tervalsiby'troughing roller assemblies -41, and the strands 39 being-supported at intervals upon standards 42 having feet 43 resting upon amine'flooror the'like. The standards 42 are alsoprovidedwith return idler rollers 44 for guiding the return reach 28.

The description; thus far is merely for the purpose of showing a"possibleaenvironment for a bridging conveyor referred to generally by reference numeral 45, and seen particularly with reference to Figs. 4 and of the drawings;

Refcrringinow' to'FigZ 5 of the drawings, particularly, the bridging:conveyor*45'has its 'inby or material receiving: end'disposed beneath a discharge boom 46 of a continuous miner, not shown, the discharge boom 46 having extending longitudinally thereof an endless conveyor, which may be of chain flight type. The outby end of the. bridging conveyor 45 is arranged to rest upon the inby end of the tail section 23, and the bridging conveyor 45 has an'endless conveyor belt consisting of a conveying reach'47 and a return reach 48, whereby the endless belt can convey material-from the dischargeboom 46 to the conveying reach 27 at the inby end of the tail section 23.

The bridging conveyor 45 includes a pair of laterally spaced-side frame members 49and 51, these being maintained in laterally spaced relationship by spreader mem hers 52 extending between the'conveying reach 47 and the return reach 48, see also Fig. 6, and by means of an end spreader53 at the inby end thereof.-

The endless beltconsisting of the conveying reach 47 and the return reach'48-is reversed in direction about an idler pulley 54 at the inby end of the bridging conveyor 45, and abouta driving .pulley 56 at the outby end thereof. The driving pulley 56 is supported upon a dead shaft 57 held at each end inbrackets58 supported upon the respective side frame members 49 and 51. The pulley 56 may be of the type where the driving motor therefor is wholly enclosed therein, but the pulley 56 may be driven by means of an hydraulic motor supplied with motive fluid from either the tail section 23 or the continuous miner at the working face.

As seen in Fig. 5, the tension in the endless belt is ad justed by moving the idler pulley 54 upon support blocks 59, the position of the support blocks being adjusted by means of a screw 61'. Additionally, the return reach 48 may be guided about a snubber pulley 62 extending between the spaced frame members 49 and'51.

Referringnorw to Fig. 6, the conveying reach 47 of the bridging conveyor 45 is supported upon a plurality of troughing roller assemblies consisting of a central load supporting idler. roller 63 and inclined wing rollers 64, the central load supporting roller being articulately connected at 66 to its adjacent wing roller 64, and the outer end of each wing roller beingarticulately connected at a bracket 67 to the top flanges of the side frame members 49 and 51. Details of construction of such a troughing roller assembly may be as shown in an application of Craggs et al. Serial No. 521,355, filed July 11, 1955, for Rope Frame Conveyor and Troughing. Roller Assembly Therefor, now abandoned.

The return reach 48 of the bridging conveyor 45 is guided upon return idlers 68 support at each end on brackets 69 mounted to thelower flange of the side frames 49 and 51.

The'inby or material receiving. end of the bridging conveyor 45 is. provided with a material receiving trough or hopper" 71"consisting' of a. generally conical shaped end portion 72"which-isfl'aired downwardly toward the conveying-reach 47, the inner edge being continuous with 4. resilient material suchlas rubber 73 to protect .theconveying reach 47 against impact. The conical shaped end portion 72 is continuous with similar longitudinally extending plates 74 having a rubber apron 76 extending therefrom to protect the conveying reach 47 against impact, and also to direct the material discharged at the discharge boom 46 on to the central portion of the conveying reach 47.

The inby end of the bridging conveyor 45 is mounted for swiveling movement beneath the discharge boom-46, there being a hanger 77 extending down from the discharge boom 46 as seen in Fig. 5. The'inby end of the bridging conveyor 45 has the inby ends of its side frames 49 and 51 extending downward as at 78 as seen in Fig. 5, the side frames being additionally stiffened by ribs 79. The side frame extensions 78 are connected by a plate 81 having a socket member 82 to receive a ball joint 83' mounted at the end of the hanger 77-. Bythe arrangement described" it is possible for the bridge conveyor 45. to have swiveling movement in vertical'as well as horizontal planes with respect to the discharge boom 46.

The discharge end of the bridge conveyor 45 has a swivel connection to the tail section 23 indicated generally by the reference numeral 80. The swivel connection includes a support dolly 84 having a single guide-means 96 thereon, see also Figs. 8 to 10 inclusive, which'is movably mountedto the tail section 23 'by' mounting and' The dolly 84'also has guide or second roller elements 83 turning on generally vertical axes to transmit the thrusts against the dolly 84 into the side frames 23,- see also Fig. 5.

Thebridge conveyor 45 is provided with a connector means for connecting the bridge conveyor to the guide means 96 and the connector means includes brackets 91 extending'from the outby end thereof to each sideof the conveying reach 47. Each of the brackets has journaled therein guided means which includes a swivel block 92 rotatable about avertical axis as seen more clearly in Fig; 7. The lower end of the swivel block 92 receives stub shafts-93 each having freely rotatable thereon a-guidero'ller- 94, the two'guide rollers-94 being arranged toengage each side of the guide means 96 form ing a guidefor the-swiveling movement of the bridgeconveyor 45.

As seen more particularly in Figs. 9 and 10, the guide means 96 includes a continuous rail having an arcuate intermediate portion 97 disposed generally centrally relative to the longitudinal axis ofthe tail section 23 and extending generally laterally therefrom with the end portions having a slightly more pronounced curvature than the central portion. Each end portion of the arcuate intermediate portion 97 is continuous with a tangent portion 98, the two tangent portions extend longitudinally and converge towards each other and terminate in laterally spaced relationship relative to the tail section 23. As seen in Fig. 7, the rail of the guide means 96 is supported on the dolly 84' by means of a web member 99. A stop 101 is provided at each end of the tangent portion 98 remote from its point of connection to the arcuate portion 97.

As has been described, the bridge conveyor 45- may at times be required to swing to a position to either side of the tail section 23. Under certain conditions an endwise thrust may-be imposed upon the bridge conveyor through the hanger 77 and such endwise thrust has heretofore been suflicient at times to cause the swivel connection at the discharge end of the conveyor to be displaced laterally of the material receiving conveyor.

Such a possibility is'obviated by. the invention herein, and the guide rneans96 is so arranged that such axial thrust on the bridge conveyor45 creates a-com'p'onent" of force to cause shifting of the dolly 84 translatively of the tail section 23.

Referring now to Fig. 10, there is shown a condition where the bridge conveyor 45 is swung to substantially a 90 position with respect to the tail section 23. The rollers 94 engaging the rail of the guide means 96 will under such condition operate to furnish the translative component previously discussed. Under such condition the left hand pair of rail engaging rollers 94 may be considered as a pivot point, whilst the other pair to the right operate to provide at such point a (force vector V This force vector V can be resolved into a component V tangent to the guide means 96 and a translative component V in a direction corresponding to the longitudinal axis of the tail section 23. This latter component is suflicient to cause the translative movement of the dolly 84 to the left, as seen in Fig. 10, and to prevent any dislodgement of the dolly 84 from the rails 87.

As has been explained above, previous forms of such swivel connections also tend to hang, especially when the bridge conveyor is in a straightaway position with respect to the tail section 23. In such types of swivel connections, the bridge conveyor, instead of swiveling with respect to the tail section 23 tends to swivel the support therefor, instead of swiveling with respect to the support, thereby dislodging the support from its position on the tail section.

In the construction disclosed herein, the rollers 94 are always free to swing on the arcuate portion 97, and once such swinging movement has taken place along such arcuate portion, the rail engaging rollers 94 are free to move onto the tangent portions 98.

In the embodiment of the invention shown herein, the swivel connection consists of a rail engaged by the laterally spaced pair of rollers. It is conceivable in another embodiment of the invention, that such a rail may be substituted for a groove of the same general or similar configuration formed in a plate or the like, with guide rollers moving in such groove. Whatever the form of the guide for the swivel connection may take, the translative vector component previously described will still be had. Such other forms of a swivel connection are accordingly intended to be resenved especially as they may be covered by the claims here appended.

We claim as our invention:

1. A swivel connection for a pair of conveyors arranged in cascading relationship to each other to enable one of the conveyors to swingably move between opposed extreme positions that are each substantially normal to the other conveyor, said connection including a dolly having guide means thereon, mounting means for mounting and guiding the dolly on said other conveyor for longitudinal movement relative thereto, said guide means including an elongated arcuate portion disposed generally centrally relative to the longitudinal axis of the said other conveyor and extending generally laterally therefrom with the end portions having a more pronounced curvature than the central portion thereof, and an elongated tangent portion extending from each end portion of the arcuate intermediate portion with the tangent portions converging longitudinally of the said other conveyor and terminating in laterally spaced relationship to each other, and connector means for connecting the said one conveyor to the guide means, said connector means including guided means carried by the said one conveyor, said guided means being pivotal relative to the said one conveyor and movably supported by the guide means, whereby a thrust on the said one conveyor that is generally lateral relative to the said other conveyor may cause the said movement of the dolly generally longitudinally relative to the said other conveyor.

2. The connection as set forth in claim 1 wherein said guided means includes a pair of swivel blocks journalled on the said one conveyor for rotation about generally vertical axes, and a pair of guide rollers rotatably mounted in opposed relation to each other on each swivel block, each pair of guide rollers engaging opposed sides of the guide means at space intervals therealong.

3. The connection as set forth in claim 1, wherein said mounting means includes first roller elements rotatably journalled on the dolly for rotation about generally horizontal axes, said first roller elements engaging support means disposed generally longitudinally on the said other conveyor for guiding the dolly during the longitudinal movement thereof, and second roller elements rotatably journalled on the dolly for rotation about generally vertical axes for engaging a part of the said other conveyor to transmit generally lateral thrusts which may occur against the dolly to the said other conveyor.

4. A swivel connection for a pair of conveyors arranged in cascading relationship to each other to enable one of the conveyors to swingably move from an intermediate position that is generally longitudinally aligned with the other conveyor to laterally opposed extreme positions that are each substantially normal to the said other conveyor, said connection including a dolly mounted on the said other conveyor for movement generally longitudinally relative thereto, said dolly having a single continuous elongated guide means thereon having only the intermediate portion thereof arcuate, said arcuate intermediate portion being disposed generally centrally relative to the longitudinal axis of the said other conveyor and extending generally laterally therefrom with the end portions having a more pronounced curvature than the central portion thereof, the remaining portions of the guide means being tangential to the end portions of the arcuate intermediate portion and extending generally longitudinally therefrom and terminating in laterally spaced relationship to each other relative to the said other conveyor, and connector means for connecting the said one conveyor to the guide means, said connector means including a pair of spaced guided members pivotally mounted on the said one conveyor and movably supported by the guide means, one of said guided members being supported by one of the tangential portions of the guide means with the other guided member being supported by the arcuate portion of the guide means when the said one conveyor is in the extreme positions, whereby a thrust on the said one conveyor that is generally lateral relative to the said other conveyor may create a force component to urge the dolly to move in the said longitudinal direction relative to the said other conveyor with the said one conveyor, in effect, pivoting about the guided member that is on the tangential portion of the guide means with the other guided member on the arcuate intermediate portion of the guide means creating the desired force component.

5. The connector as set forth in claim 4 wherein said guide means is a rigid rail upwardly spaced from and secured to the dolly by a generally vertically upwardly projecting web.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 315,404 Good Apr. 7, 1885 1,818,168 Smith Aug. 11, 1931 2,214,359 Cartlidge May 6, 1941 2,747,721 Long et al May 29, 1956 2,789,682 Laskauskas Apr. 23, 1957

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