US3415471A

US3415471A - Vibrator mounting means

Info

Publication number: US3415471A
Application number: US644939A
Authority: US
Inventors: Carl G Matson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1967-06-09
Filing date: 1967-06-09
Publication date: 1968-12-10
Anticipated expiration: 1985-12-10

Description

Dec. 10, 1968 c. G. MATSON 3,415,471

VIBRATOR MOUNTING MEANS Filed June 9, 1967 :2 I8 F IG, 3 INVENTOR. w 2 i 28 '4 C.G.MATSO'N United States Patent 3,415,471 VIBRATOR MOUNTING MEANS Carl G. Matson, 401 E. Central Blvd., Kewanee, Ill. 61443 Filed June 9, 1967, Ser. No. 644,939 4 Claims. (Cl. 248-14) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vibrator mounting means for rigid, preferably permanent attachment to an object to be vibrated in connection with the unloading, settling, flowing, etc. of fluent, particulate etc. material, the mount being of substantial size as compared with the area of the container etc. wall to which it is attached and having one or more pairs of divergent clamp surfaces to which various types of vibrators or vibrator clamps may be attached.

Background of the invention The use of vibrators for the handling etc. of materials of the type and in the environments set forth above is of course old and well known. The problems in the general field are many, largely because of duty requirements, substantial forces involved etc., all of which lead to complications in attaching the vibrators to the object to be vibrated. The conventional railway hopper car is typical of an area in which these problems have become acute and in the past many systems of attachment have been devised and used, characterized mainly in using structural parts of the car as mounting ribs etc. for attaching the vibrators. It has been found that these parts lack strength, especially in heavy-duty operations and one attempt to solve the problem has relied upon the temporary welding of additional ribs etc. to the car. Each installation presents a special case and it becomes difiicult to match vibrators and/ or vibrator clamps with the various types of mountings. Further, the temporary weldments are often of such nature as to interfere with normal operation of the cars, especially in transit, because they present obstacles to free movement of the cars through narrow areas.

Summary of the invention The invention provides an improved vibrator mount in the form of a simple and inexpensive plate-like element having a flat medial part adapted to be attached, as by welding, to the wall or other structural component of an object to be vibrated, such as a railway hopper car or its equivalent, said medial part terminating at its opposite ends in turned up end or wing portions that extend outwardly in symmetrically divergent relationship to cooperate with comparably formed C-shaped clamp means on the vibrator for securing the vibrator rigidly but removably in place. A further feature is that each end or wing terminates in an outer flat edge that is normal to the plane of divergence, and each cooperative part of the clamp means has a clamping screw threaded therein on an axis normal to the outer fiat edge, each screw engaging its respective edge to provide an elfective clamping action.

Description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a vibrator mounted by means of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a smaller-scale view of an environmental use; and

FIGURE 4 is a reduced-scale perspective of the mounting element.

Description of the preferred embodiment A vibrator of the type shown, for example, in the US. patent to Peterson No. 3,134,272, is designated by the numeral 10 as being rigidly but removably mounted by means of an element 12 to a wall or the like 14 of a material-containing or handling object such as a convent-ional railway hopper car 16. As disclosed in the Peterson patent, the vibrator has an eccentric (not shown here) rotatable about an axis A-A that is perpendicular to a median plane BB through the vibrator. This median plane also passes medially through the element 12, as will be apparent from the drawing.

In the use of the element 12, it may be welded at 18 singly in multiples to the wall 14 of the hopper car as shown, or to any equivalent object, the present embodiment being designed especially to accommodate and solve roblems encountered in the unloading of hopper cars; although, it will be clear that the invention has wider application.

The element 12 may be typical plate-like metallic stock made up of a flat plate-like medial part 20 and integral or welded-on end parts 22 bent or turned up at equal divergent angles to the plane of the part 20 so that each part 22 lies at an angle of 45 to the plane of the part 20, thus giving an included angle of between the end parts. Because the element may be so simply and inexpensively formed, the savings may be utilized in improvements in the design of the vibrator clamp means, here designated in its entirety by the numeral 24.

This means, preferably an integral part of the vibrator 10, forms a structure of substantially Oshaped section, including an under portion 26 and a pair of opposed inwardly convergent arms 28 respectively matching and engageable with the plate wings 22. Thus, the clamp means enables endwise sliding of the vibrator 10 on and off of the element 12. However, the composite frictional and clamping effect of the clamping means 24 and wings 22, augmented by screws 30 threaded through tapped bores 32 in the arms 28, provides a full 360 resistance to forces tending to loosen the vibrator, which will be clear from recognition of the fact that, as the vibrator eccentric (not shown) rotates, the forces change throughout the full compass of 360; i.e., the cooperative surfaces 22-28 establish a double 90 resistance and the screws 30 complete the 360 because the axis of each screw is perpendicular to a terminal end edge 34 on the respective wing 22, which edge is perpendicular to its wing and the screw is centered on this edge. In other words, the arm 28 cooperates both frictionally and positively with its wing 22 and the associated screw 30 operates lengthwise of the wing to complete the clamping action.

Another feature of the construction is that the wings 22 are so related to the plate-like central part 20 as to give the element a channel shape, thus enabling accommodation of the depending part 26 of the vibrator 10, permitting the vibrator to be more closely associated with the object to be vibrated. Thus, the vibrator 10 is nested within the element 12.

One of the main features of the invention is that the winged element 12 is inexpensively produced and thus may be permanently welded to railway cars, hoppers, eontainers, chutes, etc. at slight cost, enabling the use of vibrators designed according to that shown at 10 to be used either interchangeably among several locations or in multiples at once, which is in accordance with the desirability of providing the use of the same vibrator or sets thereof from car to car without requiring that the vibrators be welded temporarily to one car after another as in prior constructions. Since the element per se is inexpensive, the more costly aspects of the design may be devoted to the vibrator itself, making the entire system more facile and efficient, especially in the area of enabling quick and easy installation, removal and replacement of the vibrator on ditferent parts of the same object to be vibrated.

I claim:

1. A vibrator and means for mounting same on an object to be vibrated, said means comprising a metallic element having a plate-like medial fiat part adapted to rest against and be rigidly secured to such object and a single pair of opposite plate-like end parts rigid with the medial part and diverging uniformly and symmetrically outwardly therefrom and terminating respectively in outer edges spaced uniformly outwardly from the plane of said medial part, each edge being normal to the plane of its divergent end part, and said vibrator having rigid thereon clamp means of substantially C-shaped section including rigid, inwardly convergent arms respectively conforming to and engaging with said end parts, and screw means engaging between the clamp means and the element for tightening the grip of said arms on said end parts.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which said element is of one-piece construction in which said end parts are bent outwardly from the medial part to give the element a channel section form.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the screw means is threaded through one of the clamp arms on an axis normal to the respective end part edge and said screw means engages said edge.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the screw means includes a pair of screws threaded respectively through the clamp arms on axes respectively normal to the end part edges and said screws respectively engage said edges.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 852,678 5/1907 Reist 248-19 XR 3,006,321 10/1961 Bailey 248-226 XR 3,107,889 10/1963 Peterson 248-14 3,333,799 8/1967 Peterson 248-14 JOHN PETO, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 248-19, 228