US3095988A - Unit handling single load hoisting system - Google Patents

Description

J. E. FIQTRGUSON ETAL 3,095,988

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 2, 1963 Filed Oct. 3. 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DW/GHT R/CHARDS ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,938

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 5. 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DWIGHT RICHARDS ATTORNEY y 1963 J. E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,988

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 5. 1960 INVENTORS M5 0 R m mm FR NH 6 MM JD ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J. E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,988

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 5. 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DWIGHT RICHARDS A TTORNE Y July 2, 1963 .1. E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,983

UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 3 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E FERGUSON DW/GHT R/CHA R05 ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J. E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,095,938

uurr HANDLING SINGLE LOAD HOISTING SYSTEM 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Oct. 5. 1960 INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON DW/GHT R/CHARDS ATTORNEY July 2, 1963 J. E. FERGUSON ETAL 3,

UNIT HANDLING swam LOAD uozs'rmc SYSTEM Filed Oct. 3. 1960 '7 Sheets-Sheet 7 r- INVENTORS JOHN E. FERGUSON (EL 33 DWIGHT R/CHARDS A TTOR/VE Y United states 3,095,938 Patented July 2, 1963 3,095,988 UNIT HANDLING SINGLE LGAD HGISTIN'G SYSTEM John E. Ferguson, Beaverton, and Dwight Richards, Portiand, Greg, assignors to Guy F. Atkinson Company, South San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Filed Get. 3, 1960, Ser. No. 60,456? 8 Claims. (Cl. 214-38) This invention relates to a load hoisting system wherein loaded truck bodies are removed from their trucks, conveyed to a distant dumping station and returned empty for replacement on other trucks and reloading in continuous cycles of operation.

The present system is of particular advantage in removing ore and waste from an open pit mine in mountainous country where conventional transportation facilities, such as railroads, cannot be brought close to the mine, but the invention is not limited to mining operations.

"In an open pit mine, for example, vast quantities of ore and waste material must be removed. The waste material must be conveyed to a dump for disposal and the ore must be carried to a processing plant, such as a smelter, usually .at a great distance. In most cases, the ore is carried out of the mining region by railroad so there exists the problem of getting the ore from the mine to the nearest railroad facility in the most expeditious manner. Such facility may be a thousand feet above or below the level of the mine and several thousand feet distant in horizontal measurement.

Heretofore, conventionm skip hoists have been used for this purpose. This necessitates numerous separate operations such as trucking the ore to a loading station, dumping the ore in a storage bin, loading skip buckets from the storage bin, unloading the skip buckets at the end of the line in a second storage bin and then loading railroad gondola cars or the like from the second storage bin. Installing, maintaining and operating such equipment is an expensive undertaking because of the great amount of equipment required and the repeated rehandling of the material. Both equipment and manpower requirements are excessive and costly.

The general object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide an improved hoisting system for transporting material more quickly, efiiciently and at a lower cost than conventional hoisting systems.

Other objects are to provide an improved hoisting system which would eliminate such conventional equipment as storage bins, skipway skips and other skipway components which require both excessive maintenance and excessive manpower to operate, to provide a hoist system which is inherently simpler, more economical, more reliable and safer than conventional hoist systems, to provide a hoist system which limits the handling of the ore to the loading of the trucks in the mine by the excavating shovel, to provide a system in which the material is never rehandled after the trucks are loaded until the truck bodies are dumped into the final transportation receptacle and to provide a system of the type described which may be operated by one man in addition to the necessary truck drivers.

The present hoisting system comprises a pair of inciined carriage tracks for carriages capable of conveying loaded truck bodies. At one end of the carriage tracks are loading stations having automatic equipment for removing a loaded truck body and transferring it to a waiting carriage and having other automatic equipment for placing an empty body on the truck. The truck driver himself controls this equipment and then, having exchanged a loaded body for an empty body, proceeds immediately back to the mine for another load. During this time, the loaded truck body travels on a carriage to a dumping station Where the loaded body is removed from the carriage .and transferred to a dumping mechanism which dumps the load into an available facility. Such facility may be, for example, a railroad gondola car, an ore crusher, or a belt conveyor. Alternatively, instead of being dumped at the terminal station, the loaded body may be transferred to another truck chassis for continued trucking. After dumping, the empty truck body is returned to the loading station on the carriage to take the place of a loaded body on another truck.

Thus, the cycle of transfer, transportation, dumping and return repeats continuously for .a succession of trucks to maintain a substantially steady flow of material from the mine to a terminal facility without re-handling of the material from the time it is shovel loaded into the truck until the truck body is dumped at a remote point. By using one carriage on each of the two tracks, the carriages counterbalance each other and separate out of phase with each other so that one or the other is always available at short intervals to receive a new load at one of the loading stations.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages will become apparent and the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated on the accompanying drawings. Various changes may be made, however, in the construction and arrangement of parts and certain features may be used without others. All such modifications Within the scope of the appended claims are included in the invention.

*In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a general perspective view of the present hoisting system, showing the loading stations at the lower ends of the carriage tracks, the dump stations and hoist house at the upper ends of the carriage tracks and one typical intermediate pair of support towers for the carriage tracks with the rest of the carriage tracks broken away;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view with parts broken away of one of the loading stations showing a loaded truck approaching the station and a hoist carriage just arrived in the station with an empty truck body;

FIGURE 3 is a similar perspective view showing the empty body removed from the carriage and the loaded body in the process of being removed from the truck;

FIGURE 4 is a similar view showing the empty body being placed on the truck while the loaded body is carried away by the carriage;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective View, with parts broken away, of one of the dump stations, showing an empty truck body waiting for placement on the carriage while the loaded truck body from FIGURE 4 is being transferred from the carriage to a dumping mechanism;

FIGURE 6 is a similar view showing the empty body being deposited on the carriage .and showing the loaded body on the dumping mechanism;

FIGURE 7 is a similar view showing the loaded body being dumped into a waiting gondola car while the empty body returns on the carriage to the loading station;

FIGURE 8 is a similar view showing the body which has just been dumped about to be removed from the dumping mechanism and lifted to waiting position in the dumping station;

FIGURE 9 is a vertical sectional view through one of the dumping stations, including a hoist carriage in the station in a phase of operation intermediate between the events of FIGURES 5 and 6;

FIGURE 10 is a side elevation view with parts broken away, showing a truck in one of the loading stations;

FIGURE 11 is a front elevation view of the truck in FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 12 is a rear elevation view of the truck in FIGURE FIGURE 13 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing a body latching device on the truck; and

FIGURE 14 is a fragmentary sectional view showing how the truck body isconstructed for lifting by grapple arms in the stations and carriage Referring first to the general View in FIGURE 1, the track T extends up an incline from loading station L to dump station D The track T is parallel, extending up the incline from loading station L to dump station D In a typical case, this system is installed on a mountain side with the dumping stations a thousand feet, more or less, higher than the loading stations and severalthousand feet distant in a horizontal direction. The loading stations are accessible to the mine (not shown) by trucks 10 having removable and interchangeable dump bodies B. The dumping stations in the present example are erected over a railroad track 11 carrying gondola cars or the like 12 to transport the ore to a smelter.

In the operation of the system, the loaded truck bodies B are removed from the trucks in loading stations L and L and carried up the incline to the dumping stations by two carriages C and C which also return the empty bodies back to the loading stations. The carriages are pulled up and lowered by pairs of cables 13 leading into a hoist house 14 beyond the dumping stations. The two cables 13 for one carriage are overwound on a pair of cable drums and the two cables 13 for the other carriage are 'underwound on a pair of cable drums, all on a common shaft driven by a suitable prime mover such as an electric motor. Thus, the carriages always move in opposite directions up and down the incline and counterbalance each other except for the weight of the live load moving up on one of the carriages. In FIGURE 1, the carriage C is at the bottom of the incline in loading station L and the carriage C is at the top of the incline in dumping station D At intervals along the incline the carriage tracks T and T are supported on towers 15, one pair of typical towers being shown, and suitable means, such as sheaves 16, are also provided to support the cables 13 at intervals in order to prevent objectionable sag or whip.

The special construction of the truck bodies to facilitate removability and transfer as above described is shown in FIGURES 10-14. Each body B is equipped with front and rear transverse beams which rest'on suitable supports 21 on the chassis. When a truck body is lowered onto the chassis, the beams 20 are guided into place in a fore and aft direction by sloping ramp surfaces 22 on the chassis. Similarly, the body is guided into proper position in a transverse direction by inclined surfaces 23 on the body beams 20 which project down between two longitudinal chassis frame members 24. The body is latched to the chassis by four pivotal latch members 25 actuated by suitable means such as hydraulic cylinder and piston units 26. Latch members 25 engage recesses 27 in the body beams 20.

When all four latches are withdrawn from recesses 27, the body is removable from the chassis either by lifting it vertically off the chassis or by supporting the body in a grapple and lowering the truck away from the body. The upper edges of the sides of the truck body are outwardly flanged and channeled as shown at 28 in FIGURE 14 for engagement by the lower hooked ends of grapple arms 30-. The truck bodies are otherwise conventional dump bodies except that the usual dumping mechanism is not used. In the present system the bodies are not required to dump while they are on the trucks.

At each loading station L and L the loaded truck drives on an elevator platform which is supported by hydraulic rams 36 so as to be level with the entering roadway buthigher than the exit roadway. The loaded body is removed from the truck and transferred to a carriage in a manner presently to be described, whereby the body is grasped and supported by grapple arms 3% on the carriage, the latches 25 retracted, and the truck lowered on platform 35 to the level of the exit roadway. The platform rises again after the truck has left the station, and before the next truck arrives, whereby the rams are never required to lift a truck, either loaded or empty.

In driving onto the platform, the driver is guided by a pair of longitudinal side rails 37 which will place the body in the proper position laterally for engagement by the grapple arms 30 and also center the chassis within the range of lateral movement that can be effected by the inclined surfaces 23 in FIGURE 12 when an empty body is lowered onto the chassis. The truck driver is assisted in spotting the truck in the proper fore and aft position by an electric eye device 38 having a pair of horizontal transverse light beams arranged in a well-known manner to operate a signal when the truck interrupts only the first beam as shown in FIGURE 10. In this way, the truck is spotted within the range of longitudinal adjustment which can be accomplished by ramp surfaces 22 when an empty body is lowered on the chassis.

it is to be understood, of course, that the rails 37 and electric eye device 38 are merely representative of any suitable means for spotting each truck in a predetermined position in the loading stations, both laterally and longis tudinally. The interchangeability of the bodies on all the trucks used in the present system makes it possible for a truck to relieve itself of a loaded body and then proceed back to the mine with a different empty body without waiting for the load to be dumped and the original body to be returned.

Each loading station L and L is further equipped with a grapple unit 40 and a hoist unit 41 as shown generally in FIGURES 2-4. The details of these units are shown in the dumping station in FIGURE 9, the units being the same in both stations. Grapple 40 comprises a rectangular frame on which the grapple arms 39 are pivotally mounted at 45 for actuation laterally by hydraulic cylinder and piston units 46. The grapple arms may be 'engaged or released by a hydraulic system having solenoid valves controlled remotely by an electrical system in a well-known manner.

Each loading and dumping station comprises a vertical framework or tower 47 supporting on its top one of the hoist units 41. Each hoist unit 41 is equipped with power driven cable drums 48 having cables 49 for raising and lowering the grapple 40. The grapples 40 are used in the loading stations L and L to transfer an empty truck body from one of the carriages C or C to a truck. In the dumping stations D and D the grapples are used for transferring empty truck bodies from the dumping mechanisms to the carriages. Thus, the hoist units are never required to lift a loaded body.

The carriage which is identified generally as C in FIG- URE 9 has a frame 55 connected with two of the cables 13 and equipped with wheels 56 running on [the t ack designated generally at T. Pivo tally mounted'at 57 on the under side of frame 55 are pairs of grapple arms 30 actuated by hydraulic units 46 as in the case of the grapple 40. The carriage grapple arms, however, can only carry a truck body along the track T; they cannot raise or lower a truck body in a stat-ion. These grapple arms are preferably equipped with side boards 58 as shown in FIG-' URES 2-5 to avoid spilling a heaped load. On the upper s1de of frame 55 is a rack or holder 59 for carrying a body on top of the carriage. This rack is used for returning empty bodies down the incline While grapple arms 30 under the carriage are used for carrying loaded bodies up the incline.

FIGURE 9 also shows the dumping mechanism. An elevator frame 69 may be raised and loweredon the tower frame 47 of the station by means of hydraulic ram units 61. Pivotally mounted on the lift frame 60 is a platform 62 which may be tilted up to near vertical position asshown in FIGURE-7 by a pair of hydraulic rams 63 to dump the load out of a body B (B in FIGURE 7) into the waiting gondola car 12. Platform 62 is equipped with suitable retention means to secure the truck body while the load is being dumped. The purpose of lift rams 61 is to raise the elevator frame 66 with the platform 62 up to a position to receive the truck body from the carriage grapple arms 39 and then to lower the tmck body to clear the carriage so that the carriage can return to the loading station. Thus, these rams never have to lift a loaded body except for the slight vertical distance necessary to disengage the body from the carriage grapple arms.

The grapple arms 3% in the carriages and stations may be operated by a linkage and screw mechanism instead of the hydraulic cylinder and piston units 46, if desired.

Operation FIGURES 2-8 show successive phases in a cycle of operation of one of the carriages. During this cycle the other carriage is going through an identical cycle in an out of phase relationship since one carriage is always at the top of the incline when the other carriage is at the bottom. In the following description of the operation, the carriage and stations are not identified particularly with reference to FIGURE 1 but, instead, are identified generally by using the lettered reference characters without subscripts. Numerical subscripts are used in connection with the truck body B to designate the sequence in which the empty bodies are made available at the loading station, the subscripts making it possible to follow the movements of each particular body step by step through the cycle.

In FIGURE 2, as the truck carrying the loaded body B approaches the loading station, the carriage C has just arrived with the empty body B on top of the carriage. As the driver proceeds to spot the truck in proper position as described in connection with FIGURE (shown in broken lines in FIGURE 2), the grapple 4t) descends from hoist unit 41 to its broken line position and lifts the empty body B from the carriage. Truck platform 35 is in raised position level with the approach roadway.

In FIGURE 3, the empty body B has been lifted clear of the carriage and the carriage grapple arms have grasped the loaded body B on the truck. While this is taking place, the truck driver has unlatched the truck body from the chassis. The next step is to lower truck platform 35 to the level of the exit road-Way as shown in broken lines.

As shown in FIGURE 4, the loaded body B now proceeds up the incline clear of the loading station and the empty body 13 is lowered onto the truck chassis and latched thereto. Grapple 4! then releases the body and returns to its upper broken line position and the truck driver proceeds out of the station for another load as indicated in broken lines. As loaded body B travels up the track, spillage is prevented by side boards 58 on the grapple arms. Even if some spillage does occur, it cannot fall on the track or cables by reason of the pendant position of the load under the carriage.

When the loaded body 3;, reaches the dumping station, there is an empty body B waiting in the grapple 40 as shown in FIGURE 5. Lift frame 69 is moved up to support body B on the dumping platform 62, as shown in broken lines.

FIGURE 6 shows grapple 4i lowering empty body B on the top of the carriage while the carriage grapple arms are releasing the loaded body B which now rests on dump platform 62. As shown in broken lines, grapple 40 is then raised and lift frame so lowered to clear the carriage for its return to loading station.

In FIGURE 7, body B is being dumped into the gondola car 12 by the tilting of dump platform 62 while empty body B proceeds down the incline to the loading station.

In FIGURE 8, loaded body B has been dumped and returned to horizontal position on platform 62. Grapple All has been lowered and is about to lift the body from the platform. The body is then liftedto the top of the tower as shown in broken lines, clearing the way for the return of the carriage with another loaded body on its next trip up the incline. These events overlap with the events taking place at the loading station in FIGURE 2 whereby the cycle is completed.

This system is controlled by a single operator in addition to the truck drivers. The operator stations himself between the two dumping stations to control the dumping and transfer operations at the top of the incline. As previously explained, the events taking place at each loading station may, if .desired, be controlled by the truck driver who is in the station at the time, or, preferably, they may be initiated automatically in proper sequence by the electric eye device by the mere act of spotting the truck in its proper position in the loading station.

The foregoing description of the operation deals only with the handling of the ore from the mine. No mention is made of the waste material which is to be discarded. For this purpose, an additional dumping station or stations may be installed at any convenient point along the incline. Such waste dumping stations ordinarily would not require the train track 11. When the Waste dumping stations are not in use, the carriages will merely pass through without interference to carry the ore up to the railroad.

In a similar manner multiple loading stations may be installed along the same track system and the lower ends of the tracks may be extended from time to time to accommodate new loading stations as the mining operation or pit recedes from the lowest existing loading station. The extension of the track and addition of new loading stations does not require the removal of existing station towers since the loaded carriages will pass freely through any stations not in use.

When different loading or dumping stations are brought into operation certain adjustments are made in the cable hoist system 13. The effective lengths of the cables are lengthened or shortened as required and the cable drums for the two carriages are adjusted rotatively relative to each other so that one carriage will be in its dumping station when the other carriage is in its loading station. In order to make such adjustments the cable drums for the two carriages are interconnected by a clutch which permits the cables to be wound or unwound on or from one drum at a time.

As previously mentioned, the dumping stations may be provided with an ore crusher or belt conveyor to receive the ore the same as shown in FIGURE 7, in place of the gondola car 12. If it is desired to transfer the loaded body B to another truck chassis at the upper terminal station Without dumping, a truck elevator platform 35 as used in the loading station in FIGURE 2 may be substituted for the lift frame 60 and dump platform 62 in FIGURES 5 and 6. By such means the loaded body may be placed on a waiting truck chassis in the same manner it was removed from the truck chassis Id in FIGURE 3. An empty body from the truck at the upper terminal would previously have been transferred to grapple 49 and held in waiting the same as body B in FIGURE 5. Then, while the loaded body is being placed on the truck chassis, the empty body (B would be placed on top of the carriage as shown in FIGURE 6.

The invention is also applicable in an obvious manner to transportation downhill to a railroad or other facility at a level below the source of material which is to be carried. The present system is also of advantage in transporting loads across a river, canyon or ravine where there may or may not be a great difference in elevation between the loading and dumping stations. In such installations the track may comprise a cableway with the carriage traveling on the catenary. In such cases most of the advantages of the invention may be obtained by single track system using a single carriage.

Thus the facility with which the present system may be adapted to different needs and conditions makes it inherently more flexible and advantageous as well as more etlicient and economical than conventional skip hoists for many and varied purposes.

Having now described our invention and in What manner the same may be used, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A load handling system comprising a loading station and a dumping station, a carriage arranged to travel between said stations, means for carrying a loaded truck body under said carriage, means for carrying an empty truck body'on top of said carriage, means in said loading station for lifting an empty body off said carriage and lowering said body .onto a truck chassis, a dumping mechanism in said dumping station arranged to receive a loaded body from the under side of said carriage and dump the load, and means for lifting an empty body from said dumping mechanism and lowering said body onto the top of said carriage.

2. In a load handling system, a loading station, a carriage arranged to travel into and out of said station, means on said carriage for carrying an empty truck body on top of the carriage, means on said carriage for grasping and carrying a loaded truck body under the carriage, a truck having a removable dump body, a roadway for said truck beneath said carriage in said station, means for lowering said truck when its loaded body has been grasped by said grasping and carrying means on said carriage to transfer said loaded body from said truck to said carriage, and means for lifting an empty body from the top of said carriage and lowering said body onto said truck.

3. In a load handling system, a dumping station, a carriage arranged to travel into and out of said station, means on said carriage for carrying an empty truck body on top of the carriage, means on said carriage for carryinga loaded truck body under the carriage, a dumping mechanism in said station, means to raise said dumping mechanism to receive a loaded body from the under side of said carriage and then lower said body to clear the carriage, and means to lift an empty body from said dumping mechanism and lower said body'on top of said carriage.

on said grapple arms arranged to extend upward from the sides of the truck body to reduce spillage of a heaped load from a truck body in the grasp of said arms.

6. In a system as defined in claim 1, an elevated track for said carriage interconnecting said stations, said hfing means in both stations comprising a cable hoist having a grapple mechanism arranged for lifting engagement with the truck body.

7. In a system as defined in claim 2, an elevated track for said carriage in said station, said grasping and carrying means on said carriage comprising a grapple mechanism on the under side of said carriage.

8. In a system as defined in claim 3, an elevated track for said carriage in said station, said dumping mechanism comprising an elevator, a truck body platform pivotally mounted at one end on said elevator, and means for tilting said platform.

' References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Claims (1)

1. A LOAD HANDLING SYSTEM COMPRISING A LOADING STATION AND A DUMPING STATION, A CARRIAGE ARRANGED TO TRAVEL BETWEEN SAID STATIONS, MEANS FOR CARRYING A LOADED TRUCK BODY UNDER SAID CARRIAGE, MEANS FOR CARRYING AN EMPTY TRUCK BODY ON TOP OF SAID CARRIAGE MEANS IN SAID LOADING STATION FOR LIFTING AN EMPTY BODY OFF SAID CARRIAGE AND LOWERING SAID BODY ONTO A TRUCK CHASSIS, A DUMPING MECHANISM IN SAID DUMPING STATION ARRANGED TO RECEIVE A LOADED BODY FROM THE UNDER SIDE OF SAID CARRIAGE AND DUMP THE LOAD, AND MEANS FOR LIFTING AN EMPTY BODY FROM SAID DUMPING MECHANISM AND LOWERING SAID BODY ONTO THE TOP OF SAID CARRIAGE.

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