US3754790A

US3754790A - Self-propelled vehicle for a rock working machine

Info

Publication number: US3754790A
Application number: US00198365A
Authority: US
Inventors: H Mappin; J Gaskell
Original assignee: Dobson Park Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Joy Global Industries Ltd
Priority date: 1970-11-18
Filing date: 1971-11-12
Publication date: 1973-08-28
Anticipated expiration: 1990-08-28
Also published as: GB1334543A; AU3575271A; DE2155531C3; PL70950B1; DE2155531A1; CA939422A; SE398145B; ZA717579B; ES397090A1; DE2155531B2; FR2114787A5; BE775430A; HU162392B; NL7115762A; AU462610B2

Abstract

A vehicle carries an extensible boom rotatable about a horizontal and vertical axes. The end of the boom arm carries a universally articulated rock breaking tool mounting means. The vehicle has two ground engaging sole plates carrying hydraulic rams for raising the remainder of the vehicle from the floor to enable the vehicle to be advanced by a pair of advancing rams which are independently operable to enable the vehicle to be steered. The raising rams act on pivotal links which have rollers at their free ends to bear on an underneath surface of the chassis. The sole plates are in open-bottomed channel-like parts of H-section beams whose upper parts are sealed and act as sumps for hydraulic fluid and as radiators to dissipate heat. Control of the boom is from either side of the vehicle by means of a changeover valve. Control of advancing and reversing movement of the vehicle is from the front or rear of the vehicle.

Description

United States Patent [1 1 Mappin et al.

[ SELF-PROPELLED VEHICLE FOR A ROCK WORKING MACHINE [75] Inventors: Henry Mappin,

Ashton-in-Makerfield; Joseph Gaskell, Wigan, both of England [73] Assignee: Dobson Park Industries Limited,

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England [22] Filed: Nov. 12, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 198,365

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 18, 1970 Great Britain 54,722/70 56] 7 References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,306,663 2/1967 Webster 299/31 51 Aug. 28, 1973 Attorney-Berman, Davidson & Berman [57] ABSTRACT A vehicle carries an extensible boom rotatable about a horizontal and vertical axes. The end of the boom arm carries a universally articulated rock breaking tool mounting means. The vehicle has two ground engaging sole plates carrying hydraulic rams for raising the remainder of the vehicle from the floor to enable the vehicle to be advanced by a pair of advancing rams which are independently operable to enable the vehicle to be steered. The raising rams act on pivotal links which have rollers at their free ends to bear on an underneath surface of the chassis. The sole plates are in openbottomed channel-like parts of I-I-section beams whose upper parts are sealed and act as sumps for hydraulic fluid and as radiators to dissipate heat. Control of the boom is from either side of the vehicle by means of a changeover valve. Control of advancing and reversing movement of the vehicle is from the front or rear of the vehicle.

9 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Patented Aii'g. 28,1973

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SELF-PROPELLED VEHICLE FOR A ROCK I WORKING MACHINE The present invention concerns self-propelled vehicles for use in mines and quarries.

It is known to attack rock, for example, when drilling a roadway in a coal mine, by means of a rock breaking tool carried on a self-propelled vehicle. It is this type of vehicle with which the present invention is particularly concerned.

in view of the uneven floors encountered in quarries and mines, wheeled vehicles are unsuitable. Various forms of propulsion have been proposed including a.

form of propulsion in which hydraulically extensible legs push down on the floor of the mine working to take the main weight of the vehicle which is then advanced by a further hydraulic ram.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a vehicle for a rock breaking tool comprising at least three floor engaging-members, each extending in a fore-and-aft direction, two of said members being displaceable relative to the plane of the third member (i.e up and down), and in the fore-and-aft direction independently of each other, and a universally moveable boom surmounted thereupon for supporting the rock breaking tool.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a vehicle comprising a chassis, two open-bottomed beams attached below said chassis and extending in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, a boom mounted on said chassis for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis and about a vertical axis, hydraulic means for moving said boom about said axes, the boom being telescopically extensible and having a universally articulated rock breaking tool mounting means at the free end thereof and drive means for positioning said mounting means in any desired orientation,

' a sole plate disposed in each of said beams, each of said sole plates carrying a plurality of hydraulically extensible members which bear on an internal downward facing surface of the respective beam through the intermediary of rollers, and a horizontally extending ram connecting each of said sole plates to the respective beam and serving for the relative advance of the sole plate in I relation to the respective beam.

By horizontally extending is meant that the ram imparts a horizontal component of force and does not imply that the ram cannot be inclined.

Preferablyeach beam is of H-cross-section-with the tops of the uprights joined together so as todefine a closed tank-at the top, and at the bottom a downward facing channel in which the sole plate is disposed. The two tanks can serve simultaneously as a sump for the hydraulic fluid and also as cooling radiators.

Preferably the vehicle has on it a pump for circulating the hydraulic fluid under pressure. This pump can be driven by an electric motor (for underground working) or by a prime mover such as a diesel engine (for quarry or other open-air use).

The vehicle will normally-be controlled by an operator alongside the vehicle. For this purpose two banks of control valves are provided one on each side of the ve- The control valves are preferably ganged so that for example the control valves for causing the boom to pivot about a vertical and horizontal axes are actuated by a single control handle or lever in the manner of a 5 joy-stick control.

Filters will be disposed in the hydraulic circuit and an advantageous feature of the present invention resides in that these filters are mounted in a carriage along one edge of the chassis. The carriage is pivotable about an axis parallel to said edge so that the filters can be swung about said axis for ease of replacement and servicing. Conveniently the filters are held in their normal position by means of a bar which can be slid out to allow the filters to be pivoted and then slid back behind the filters to hold them in their servicing position.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a simplified side elevation partly in section of a self-propelled vehicle omitting some components mounted above a chassis,

FIG. 2 isa plan view of the vehicle showing alternative positions of a rock-breaking tool carrier boom.

The vehicle shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a chassis or base plate 11. Two beams 12 are carried immoveably on the underside of this chassis. These beams extend, one on each side of the vehicle, in the fore-andaft direction of the vehicle and are floor engaging members. On the upper side of the chassis, there is a turntable 14 pivotal about a vertical axis 14a, and having a bracket 18a supporting a boom 15 for movement about a-horizontal axis 15a. A hydraulic ram 16 is disposed to cause movement about the horizontal axis and a hydraulic ram 17 (FIG. 2) is disposed to cause movement about the vertical axis. The boom is telescopically extensible and retractable (by means not shown) and carries at its free end a universally articulated mounting means 18 for a rock breaking tool 19. The end of the boom is rotatable about the axis of the boom by a motor 170. A pair ofjhydraulic rams 20 operating in push-pull are arranged to move the rock breaking tool about an initially vertical axle 21 and a further hydraulic ram 22 is arranged to move the rock breaking tool about an initially horizontal bearing 23. The rock breaking tool is preferably a reciprocating chisel member, so mewhat akin to a pneumatic road breaker. Each beam 12 is of H-section closed at the'top by means of a closure plate or by means of the chassis itself. The

these bottom halves. Baffles are provided in the sumps.

so that the contents of the sumps are kept in motion by the circulation of the hydraulic fluid without any dead spaces and thus so that the hydraulic fluid loses heat to atmosphere over the entire wall area of the sumps.

inside each of these bottom halves there is a moveable and retractable floor engaging member or sole plate 27 carrying a pair of spaced apart hydraulic rams 28 which during their extension push on links 29. Each link 29 is pivoted at one end to a support 30 carried from the sole plate and carries, at its other end, a roller 29a which engages on the under surface of the top of the respective channel-like section. interconnecting each sole plate and the respective beam there is a horizontally extending ram 31 which is pivotally connected to the respective beam by a pivot 31a. This ram causes relative movement of the sole plate and the beam, the one which moves depends on whether the sole plate or the beam is engaged with the floor. The two rams 31 are independently operable. Steering of the vehicle is by causing one side of the vehicle to move faster than or in the opposite direction to, the other.

Also on the upper surface of the chassis there is mounted an electric motor 32 driving a pump 33. The motor is electrically driven from an intrinsically safe electrical supply at NO volts. The output of the pump is delivered to a pressure accumulator 34 from which the various hydraulic rams are supplied. The input to the pump is taken from the sumps through a bank of filters 37. Each of these filters is of the type with a screwon casing enclosing a replaceable filter element. The

filters depend from a carriage which is pivotable about' an axis parallel to an edge of the vehicle adjacent the filters and are trapped in position by a horizontal bar (not shown). On removing the bar it is possible to pivot the carriage about its axis and then to replace the bar to hold the carriage so that the filters are in an inclined position for ease of screwing off the casings and replacing the elements as desired. The leads to the filters are so disposed that they donot have to be dismantled to enable the filter element to be replaced.

Disposed on the forward end of the vehicle there are two banks of control valves 38, one each side of the vehicle, and means for operating a valve for changing over control from one side of the vehicle to'the other. There is of course, a separate valve for each mode of adjustment of the boom, or of the mounting means at the end thereof. However the two valves for controlling pivoting of the same component about two axes at right angles are ganged together for operation by a single control handle or lever. A pair of double acting valves 38 are associated with a universally pivotal joy-stick handle 39. The axes of the valves are parallel to the neutral position of the joy-stick handle and the valve spools are connected to the handle for pushing and pulling. I

Preferably the handles and valves are so disposed on the chassis that the operator moves the handle in the same direction as he wishes the component to move.

Preferably the chassis is provided with a number of emergency stop points so that in an emergency further actuation of the valves is prevented.

it is of course obvious that this form of rock breaking tool finds other applications such as breaking up roadways, demolition, or digging trenches. in use in mines this too] would cut slits in to a face to enable the rock to be broken away in lumps as this saves dirt and dust. The tool could be transversed taking a light cut to give the final roadway profile.

The controls for advancing the vehicle are valves mounted on the rear of the vehicle. Each of these valves is independent of the other in its control of its respective ram 31 but can be linked by a suitable control arranged for advancing, reversing or steering of the vehicle by a single operating member. It is advantageous to have the advancing controls duplicated on the front of the vehicle and to have an interlock so that the vehicle cannot be caused to advance from the front of the vehicle or to reverse from the back of the vehicle.

We claim:

1. A self-propelled walking vehicle for a rock work ing machine comprising a first floor engaging means, hydraulic jack means mounted on said first floor engaging means, a second floor engaging means mounted over said jack means for raising and lowering thereby relatively to the first floor engaging means, roller means interposed between said jack means and said second floor engaging means thereby to support said second floor engaging means on said jack means for movement in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, pressure fluid ram means connected between the first and second floor engaging means and operative alternately to move said second floor engaging means in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle when said second floor engaging means is raised by said jack means and to move the first floor engaging means in the fore-andaft direction of the vehicle when said second floor engaging means is lowered by said jack means to its floor engaging position, and a universally movable boom mounted on the vehicle for supporting a rock breaking tool.

2. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is a first and second floor engaging means and a pressure fluid ram means for affecting alternate movement thereof on each side of the vehicle, the pressure fluid ram means of the two pairs of floo'r engaging means being independently operable whereby the vehicle can be steered.

3. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1 in combination with a rock breaking tool in the form of a reciprocable chisel.

4. A self-propelled walking vehicle for a rock working machine comprising a chassis, two floor engaging open-bottom beams attached belowsaid chassis and extending in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, a boom mounted on the chassis for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, hydraulic means formoving said boom about said axis, the boom being telescopically extensible and having a universally articulated rock breaking tool mounting-means at the free end thereof and a drive means for positioning said mounting means in any desired orientation, a sole plate disposed in each of said beams, a plurality of hydraulically extensible members mounted on each of said sole plates and operative to raise and lower said beams, roller means interposed between said hydraulically extensible members and beams thereby to support said beams on said extensible members for movement in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, and a horizontally extending ram means connected between each of said sole plates and its respective beam and operative to move said beams in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle when raised by said extensible members and to move the sole plates in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle when said beam has been lowered by said extensibie members to its floor engaging position.

5. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4 wherein said roller means comprises rollers carried by links pivotally con nected to the sole plates and positioned so as to be engaged by the extensible members thereby to apply said rollers to said beams.

6. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4 having independent control means on each side of the vehicle.

7. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4 wherein each beam is of H-cross section with the tops of the side flanges and the hydraulic fluid returning to the pump through the tank.

9. A vehicle as claimed in claim 7 wherein said closed tanks contain baffles whereby to minimise dead spaces in the tanks to maximise heat dissipation.

Claims

1. A self-propelled walking vehicle for a rock working machine comprising a first floor engaging means, hydrAulic jack means mounted on said first floor engaging means, a second floor engaging means mounted over said jack means for raising and lowering thereby relatively to the first floor engaging means, roller means interposed between said jack means and said second floor engaging means thereby to support said second floor engaging means on said jack means for movement in the fore-andaft direction of the vehicle, pressure fluid ram means connected between the first and second floor engaging means and operative alternately to move said second floor engaging means in the foreand-aft direction of the vehicle when said second floor engaging means is raised by said jack means and to move the first floor engaging means in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle when said second floor engaging means is lowered by said jack means to its floor engaging position, and a universally movable boom mounted on the vehicle for supporting a rock breaking tool.

2. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is a first and second floor engaging means and a pressure fluid ram means for affecting alternate movement thereof on each side of the vehicle, the pressure fluid ram means of the two pairs of floor engaging means being independently operable whereby the vehicle can be steered.

4. A self-propelled walking vehicle for a rock working machine comprising a chassis, two floor engaging open-bottom beams attached below said chassis and extending in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, a boom mounted on the chassis for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, hydraulic means for moving said boom about said axis, the boom being telescopically extensible and having a universally articulated rock breaking tool mounting-means at the free end thereof and a drive means for positioning said mounting means in any desired orientation, a sole plate disposed in each of said beams, a plurality of hydraulically extensible members mounted on each of said sole plates and operative to raise and lower said beams, roller means interposed between said hydraulically extensible members and beams thereby to support said beams on said extensible members for movement in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle, and a horizontally extending ram means connected between each of said sole plates and its respective beam and operative to move said beams in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle when raised by said extensible members and to move the sole plates in the fore-and-aft direction of the vehicle when said beam has been lowered by said extensible members to its floor engaging position.

5. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4 wherein said roller means comprises rollers carried by links pivotally connected to the sole plates and positioned so as to be engaged by the extensible members thereby to apply said rollers to said beams.

7. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4 wherein each beam is of H-cross section with the tops of the side flanges joined so as to define a closed tank, the bottoms of the side flanges defining a downward facing channel in which the respective sole plate is displaceable.

8. A vehicle as claimed in claim 7 having a pump for circulating hydraulic fluid under pressure, said closed tank of each beam providing a source for said pump and the hydraulic fluid returning to the pump through the tank.