US3519146A - Jib crane construction having a vertical conveyer - Google Patents

Description

July 7, 1970 B. MOELLER' 3,519,146

JIB CRANE CONSTRUCTION HAVING A VERTICAL CONVEYER Filed Jan. 25, 1968 MM 5M1 W United StatcsrPatcnt O."

Int. Cl: B65g 67/58 US. Cl. 214-14 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A jib crane carries a vertical conveyor such as a chain conveyor or bucket elevator for bulk goods or loose flowable material. The crane frame comprises parallel upper and lower jibs, one of the jibs being mounted for pivoting movement in a vertical plane, about a horizontal axis on the crane frame. The other jib has its inner end hingedly connected to an inner yoke beam itself hingedly connected to said horizontal axis of the first mentioned jib, and its outer end is hingedly connected to an outer yoke beam itself hingedly connected to the free end of said pre-mentioned jib. The vertical conveyor is rigidly connected to said outer yoke beam. The two inner and outer yoke beams also are parallel and, together with the two parallel upper and lower jibs, form a link parallelogram for transmitting movement to the vertical conveyor.

This invention relates to jib cranes in which the jib supports a vertical conveyor, particularly for conveying piece goods or loose flowable material, having a pick-up or delivery nozzle at its lower end for loading or unloading the material to be conveyed. Cranes of this type are advantageously used in port installations for unloading or loading ships moored along piers. The goods to be transferred into or out of ships can include coal, grain, bananas and other materials, as long as such materials can be conveyed by usual vertical conveyors, such as chain conveyors, bag or bucket elevators and the like.

For the mentioned use of jib cranes having a vertical conveyor it is of particular importance to provide for a wide range of adjustment of the pick-up or nozzle end of the vertical conveyor carried by the jib of the crane, to be able to adapt the nozzle end to the type of the ship to be loaded or unloaded or to the water level along the pier where the ship is moored. Such jib cranes also may be used to transfer coal heaps, for moving Wheat and corn or fertilizer in silo compartments, and for many like applications.

It is a main task of such cranes to be able to rapidly move and adjust the conveyor nozzle to any point of an extended operating area, and the requirements are that the conveyor nozzle, when moved to a certain point, travels along a path which is as direct and straight as possible.

According to the present invention, the crane construction comprises a crane frame, two jibs carried by said frame and arranged one above the other for pivoting movement about horizontal axes, the pivoting axis of one of said jibs being adjustable with respect to said frame, and an outer yoke beam rigidly carrying said vertical conveyor, said yoke beam being hingedly connected to said upper jib and to said lower jib for relative pivoting movement about horizontal axes, whereby the one jib forms a carrying arm for said vertical conveyor and the other jib forms an adjustable supporting arm therefor.

The invention will now be more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing illustrating by 3,519,146 Patented July 7, 1970 way of example and diagrammatically a crane construction according to the invention having a vertical conveyor for use in port loading or unloading installations.

A conveyor crane 1 is positioned on a pier 8 along which it is movable on rails 9 and 10. A crane frame comprising upper and lower frame portions 14, 14' above the rails is mounted on crane- travel gearing 15 and 16. An upper jib 3 is mounted on a horizontal pin 22 of the frame 14 for pivoting movement in a vertical plane. The jib 3 carries at its forward end a journal pin 21 on which is mounted an outer yoke beam 4 which in turn carries the vertical conveyor unit '6 rigidly fixed thereto and having an intake or pick-up nozzle 13. For balancing the weight of the parts of the crane at the left hand side of the journal pin 22, the rear end of the upper jib 3 carries a counter weight 11.

The means for tilting the upper jib 3 about the axis of the pin 22 in a vertical plane are conventional and are indicated by way of example diagrammatically only; a cable winch 17 may be mounted on the frame 14 with the cable 18 attached to the rear end of the jib 3.

A lower jib 2 extends parallel to the upper jib 3 and is pivotally connected by one end to the outer yoke beam 4 and by its other end to an inner yoke beam 5. The lower and upper jibs 2 and 3 form two opposite sides of a parallel link motion, the two other sides of which are formed by the yoke beams 4 and 5, respectively. The lower points of articulation of the parallelogram are formed by a journal pin 23 connecting the outer end of the jib 2 to the yoke beam 4, and by a journal pin 24 connecting the inner end of the jib 2 with the yoke beam 5.

The operation of the crane is effected from a control cabin 12 by an attendant who can watch the position of the intake nozzle 13 of the vertical conveyor 6 in almost any position of the boat 7 to be unloaded. The highest position of the boat depending on the water level and on the loading of the boat is drawn in dash-and-dot lines in the figure.

It is visible from the drawing that the described crane operates with four principal movements of its component parts. On the rails 9 and 10 the crane as a whole moves rectilinearly along the pier 8. The jib 3 and the parts of the crane carried thereby can be made to turn about a vertical axis 25 in any conventional manner, for example by providing a rotary platform 19 carrying the upper portion 14 of the frame and the necessary equipment for rotating the upper portion of the frame with respect to the lower portion 14 resting on the travel gearing 15 and 16, as is well known in tower cranes. For vertical movement of the vertical conveyor 6 the jibs 2 and 3 can pivot upwardly and downwardly about their inner journal pins 24 and 22, respectively.

The fourth movement is essential and consists in that the vertical conveyor 6, with the upper jib 3 remaining stationary, can effect a pivoting movement about the axis of rotation 21 of the yoke arm 4, this pivoting movement being effected by a shifting of the inner journal pin 24. In the example shown, the arrangement is such that the inner yoke beam 5 is pivotally mounted on the upper journal pin 22, whereby the lower journal pin 24 of the parallelogram may be brought for example into a position 241. The vertical conveyor 6 and the outer yoke beam 4 then move into positions drawn in dash-and-dot lines. By a combination of the two last named movements, namely an angular movement of the jibs 2 and 3 about the journal pins 24 and 22, an extremely convenient resulting movement of the vertical conveyor 6 and its nozzle 13 for loading and unloading ships is obtained.

It is not required that the pivoting axis for the inner yoke beam 5 coincides with the pivoting axis 22 of the upper jib 3. The pivoting axis of the yoke beam could be situated at a position somewhat displaced with respect to the axis 22.

The inner yoke beam 5 also could be omitted and replaced by a guideway or the like provided in the framing 14, along which guide-way the journal pin 24 could be movable. Also, the members 2, 3, 4 and 5 need not form a parallelogram. When the yoke 5 is omitted, the distances between the axes of rotation 21 and 22, on the one hand, and 23 and 24, on the other hand, can be different, and moreover, the connecting lines between the axes 21 and 22, and between the axes 23 and 24 have not to be parallel. It is to be remarked that when the four members 2, 3, 4, 5 form a trapezoid instead of a parallelogram, or with any other shape of the combination four hinge jib (hinges 21, 22, 23 and 24), the vertical conveyor is no longer displaced parallel to itself upon a pivoting movement of the upper jib 3 about the axis 22, but in addition to the translatory movement imparted thereto when the members 2, 3, 4, 5 form a parallogram, the conveyor will also effect a pivoting movement. For certain particular applications of the crane, such a composite movement of the vertical conveyer 6 may be desirable.

For moving the parallelogram or trapezoid structure 2, 3, 4, 5, or any general four hinge jib (hinges 21, 22, 23, 24), when the jib 3 remains stationary, the journal pin 24 at the inner end of the lower jib 2 must be displaced relatively to the frame 14. For effecting such movement of the lower jib known mechanical or hydraulic power transmission means can be used. It is particularly convenient to provide a cable winch in proximity to the control cabin 12 on the frame 14 for moving the lower jib 2. In this case it is advantageous to locate the center of gravity of the combined outer yoke beam 4 and vertical conveyor 6 outside of a vertical plane passing through the journal in 21 with respect to the frame 14, whereby always a compression force is transmitted by the jower jib 2 on the journal pin 24 which force is tending to move the jib 2 towards the right in the figure, the jib being maintained in its position by the cable of the winch 20 and being movable towards the left by winding up the cable on the winch.

A displacement of the parallelogram 2, 3, 4, 5 would also be possible by a further cable winch acting between the journal pins 21 and 24. This manner of displacing the parallelogram, however, would have the inconvenience that the supplemental charge of the upper jib 3 would be unduly increased. With the winch 20 situated close to the control cabin 12 on the crane frame 14 for moving the journal pin 24, a corresponding counter torque is transmitted by the lower jib 2 and the yoke beam 4 on the upper jib 3, causing only an increase of the tensile stress in the jib 3.

All parts of the jib crane, such as for example the jibs 2 and 3 and the yoke beams 4 and 5 can be made in conventional manner as a web girder or lattice girder construction.

Conventional means can be provided for transfer of the material conveyed by the vertical conveyors 6 to or from a horizontal conveyor carried by the lower jib 2. By reducing the length of the lower jib 2 with respect to the upper jib 3, it is possible to obtain a desirable more linear movement path of the intake nozzle 13 of the vertical conveyor in a certain limited range when the upper jib is swung about the axis 22. This movement of the nozzle 13 can be of interest when this latter has to be lowered through a vertical shaft or into the hold of a ship.

I claim:

1. In a jib crane for conveying material to or from a ship, the combination comprising a frame, a vertical conveyor means for conveying material and for extending to and having swinging movement within the ship, a first jib pivotally mounted on said frame for turning in a vertical plane about a first horizontal axis, a second jib spaced vertically from said first jib and mounted on said frame for transverse movement relative to said frame, a yoke beam pivotally mounted on said first jib for swinging about a second horizontal axis, said yoke beam carrying said vertical conveyor means and raising and lowering the latter with pivotal movement of said first jib about said first horizontal axis, said second jib being connected to said yoke beam for pivoting the same about said second horizontal axis and an adjusting device for shifting said second jib independently of said first jib to swing said yoke and said vertical conveyor means about said second axis relative to said first jib to swing said vertical conveyor means across said material without causing a substantial change in force at the surface between said material and said vertical conveyor means.

2. A crane in accordance with claim 1 in which guide means are provided for mounting said second jib and in which said adjusting device engages said second jib at said guide means.

3. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which holding means are provided on said frame for holding said first jib against being pivoted downwardly by said yoke beam and said vertical conveyor means which depend from said first jib.

4. A jib crane in accordance with claim 3 in which said holding means includes a winch and a pulling member extending from said winch to said first jib.

5. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which said second jib is mounted at an end thereof at a pivot point to said frame and is adjustable through said pivot point relative to said frame.

6. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which the ad justing device is mounted at an end thereof to said frame.

7. A jib crane as defined in claim 1 in which said adjusting device includes a winch and a pulling member extending from said winch to said second jib.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,357,919 11/1920 While et al. 19822'0* XR 1,421,787 7/1922 Kininmonth 198-418 XR 2,425,342 8/1947 Palmer 214-14 XR 3,387,721 6/1968 Ludwig 214--14 ROBERT G. SHERIDAN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 19894, 96

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