US3805420A

US3805420A - Elevating conveyor mechanism

Info

Publication number: US3805420A
Application number: US00303854A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Crum
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-11-06
Filing date: 1972-11-06
Publication date: 1974-04-23
Anticipated expiration: 1991-04-23

Abstract

An earth moving carryall having a tractor, an open top carrying body, a bucket elevating mechanism and a moldboard with a cutting edge. The bucket elevating mechanism is positioned behind the carrying body, and comprises a series of spaced buckets transversely affixed to a pair of endless chains hydraulically driven through up and down flights by a pair of drive sprockets. Each of the buckets has two wall components which fit together to form a bucket of V-shaped cross section, but are hinged to spread apart to an open position. The wall components have end flanges with edges which meet when the buckets are closed to define the bucket shapes. One of the wall components of each bucket is fastened to the endless chains and the end flanges of the other wall component of that bucket are shaped to provide a pair of support lugs for two laterally extending rollers. A pair of outboard rails flank the buckets on the upward flight of their travel, and these rails are positioned to provide rolling surfaces for the rollers and help bring the bucket closing pressure to bear on the wall components of the buckets. Positioned at the upper turn of the bucket elevating mechanism are a pair of curving rails adapted to receive the rollers and guide them in such a way as to cause the buckets to open as they round this turn. These curving rails feed the rollers to the under surfaces of a pair of down rails positioned to hold each bucket open during a portion of its downward flight on the bucket elevating mechanism. At the bottom of the mechanism are two idler wheels which receive the rollers from the down rails and guide them around the bottom turn of the mechanism while exerting bucket closing camming action thereon. These idler wheels feed the rollers to the outboard rails, at which point the buckets are closed. The buckets pick up earth at the bottom turn of the bucket elevating mechanism and dump this earth into the carrying body of the carryall after they round the top turn of the mechanism. A plate with a scraper edge is positioned to clean the open buckets of any sticky material left behind after they have dumped their loads.

Description

United States Patent 1 Crum [ Apr. 23, 1974 ELEVATING CONVEYOR MECHANISM [76] lnventorz William N. Crum, 3511 E. 20th St.,

Highland, Calif. 92346 [22] Filed: Nov. 6, 1972 [21] Appl. No.2 303,854

[52] U.S. Cl 37/4, 37/8, 198/145, 198/147, 37/69 [51] Int. Cl B60p 1/00 [58] Field of Search 37/4, 8, 60, 69, 83, 84, 37/85, 89, D16. 2; 198/140, 141, 143-145, 147-152, 229

[5 6] Referencesv Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 923,290 6/1909 Mundale 37/89 X 2,153,037 4/1939 Chaffins 37/8 191,484 5/1877 Stafford 37/8 915,963 3/1909 Hovland 37/83 867,047 9/1907 Junkin 37/85 3,133,365 5/1964 Davis et al.. 198/141 X 1,922,970 8/1933 McKenny.... 198/141 X 239,358 3/1881 .Wilson 198/141 1,434,601 11/1922 French.... 198/141 740,499 10/1903 White 198/141 X 1,187,036 6/1916 Bunnell 37/DIG. 2

Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfre-y Assistant Examiner-Eugene l-l. Eickholt Attorney, Agent, or FirmJohn H. Crowe s7 ABSTRACT An earth moving carryall having a tractor, an open top carry'ing body, a bucket elevating mechanism and a moldboard with a cutting edge. The bucket elevating mechanism is positioned behind the carrying body, and comprises a series of spaced buckets transversely affixed to a pair of endless chains hydraulically driven through up and down flights by a pair of drive sprockets. Each of the buckets has two wall components which fit together to form a bucket of V-shaped cross section, but are hinged to spread apart to an open position. The wall components have end flanges with edges which meet when the buckets are closed to define the bucket shapes. One of the wall components-of each bucket is fastened to the endless chains and the end flanges of the other wall component of that bucket are shaped to provide a pair of support lugs for two laterally extending rollers. A pair of outboard rails flank the buckets on the upward flight of their'travel, and these rails are positioned to provide rolling surfaces for the rollers and help bring the bucket closing pressure to bear on the wall components of the buckets. Positioned at the upper turn of the bucketelevating mechanism are a pair of curving rails adapted to receive the rollers and guide them in such a way as to cause the buckets to open as they round this turn. These curving rails feed the rollers to the under surfaces of a pair of down rails positioned to hold each bucket open during a portion of its downward flight on the bucket elevating mechanism. Atthe bottom of the mechanism are two idler wheels which receive the rollers from the down rails and guide them around the bottom turn of the mechanism while exerting bucket closing camming action thereon. These idler wheels feed the rollers to the outboard rails, at which point the buckets are closed. The buckets pick up earth at the bottom turn of the bucket elevating mechanism and dump this earth into the carrying body of the carryall after they round the top turn of the mechanism. A plate with a scraper edge is positioned to clean the open buckets of any sticky material left behind after they have dumped their loads.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures MEN'I'EHAH: 2 3 mm;

SHEET 3 OF 3 ELEVATING CONVEYOR MECHANISM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to bucket-type elevating conveyors, and more particularly to such conveyors especially suitable for use in a new type of elevating scraper having buckets which automatically open to permit them to be cleaned of sticky material after they dump their loads.

Elevating scrapers of conventional type are pieces of heavy equipment used by contractors for earth grading and leveling purposes. Such an elevating scraper typically has a tractor, a loading bowl with a pivoting floor having a cutting edge at its forward end positioned behind the tractor; an inclined elevator with flights of paddles which travel around a loop of sprocket-driven chains positioned at the open forward end of the loading bowl; and the necessary frame, rear wheels, gooseneck, draft tube, and other structural components serving to complete the elevating scraper assembly. The elevator with paddles is positioned so that its lower turn brings the paddles into contact with the earth being turned by the cutting edge of the floor of the bowl as the elevating scraper moves ahead, so that each of the paddles picks up a load of this earth. The paddles then discharge their loads into the bowl of the elevating scraper. At first, before the bowl is very full, the paddles dump their loads quickly. As the bowl fills up, the paddles must carry their loads higher before dumping them. This results in more and more paddles being loaded as the bowl fills up, so that more and more power is required to run the elevator as the load in the bowl increases. Where the earth being loaded is a sticky clay, or the like, the material becomes compacted by the paddles on the elevator, as a result of which it builds up under the elevator assembly and actually lifts the latter as the paddles travel over the compacted mass. This naturally cuts down on the loading efficiency of the elevating scraper, as well as increasing the power requirements of the elevator.

It is, of course, necessary to tilt the floor of the bowl of the aforesaid elevating scraper downwardly soas to permit its cutting edge to work into the ground and dig up material for transfer by the elevator paddles into the bowl. When the bowl is full, the material can be ejected in any of various ways, depending upon the particular machine involved. All of these methods of dumping require combinations of moving parts which add to the operator's maintenance difficulties, and involve raising and lowering of the bowl with accompanying power requirements.

While presently conventional elevating scrapers serve their purpose after a fashion, they have certain shortcomings. For example, sticky material cannotbe easily and efficiently handled by such scrapers for the reasons given above. Moreover, no prior art elevating scraper is effective for downhill travel or loading because any material in the bowl would tend to fall forwardly, out of the bowl. This is true because the front end of the bowl is enclosed onlyby the elevator. The pivoting floor of such an elevating scraper must be shifted up or down during various phases of use, and this results in a substantial power demand, particularly when the fully loaded bowl must be shifted. Another disadvantage of the presently conventional elevating scraper is the increasing elevator power requirement with increasing bowl load discussed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 1 have now, by the present invention, provided an elevating conveyor mechanism uniquely adapted for various applications, and particularly suitable f0 use as a component of an elevating scraper of new and unique design which functions in a more efficient and effective manner than presently known elevating scrapers. The elevating conveyor mechanism (sometimes referred to herein as a bucket elevating mechanism, bucket conveyor or bucket elevator) has a plurality of buckets dispsosed transversely across endless chain means, preferably two chains, so as to travel an inclined path upwardly with full loads. Each of the buckets comprises two wall components hinged to fold between a V- shaped bucket configuration and an open, generally flat configuration. The elevating conveyor mechanism has built-in means for automatically controlling the opening and closing of these buckets so that the buckets are closed when they convey a load upwardly, open up as they round the upper turn of the endless chain means,remain open until they approach the bottom turn of said endless chain means, and close prior to making this bottom turn This control is accomplished by means of a pair of flanking rollers outboard of each bucket, and a system of guideway rails and idler wheels arranged to guide the rollers in such a way as to exert opening and closing force on the buckets, through properly timed and directed lever action thereon.

The wall components of each of the buckets have substantially flat inner surfaces, and are preferably provided with end flanges by means of which they can be folded into buckets of V-shaped cross section. A first one of thesewall components is fastened flat across the conveyor chainmeans, while the other (second) component is hinged to the first so as to rotate backwardly away from the trailing edgeof the latter under the influ-.

a loading bowl; an elevating conveyor mechanism of the above-described type; a moldboard with a cutting edge; and wheel, frame, power and other parts and components necessary to functioning of the scraper as described below. The loading bowl is disposed to the rear of the tractor, and the elevating conveyor mechanism is mounted rearwardly of this bowl in such position as to permit its buckets to dump their loads into the bowl. Disposed below the upper turn of the elevating conveyor is a plate with a scraper edge positioned to scrape any adhering or sticky material from the open bucket wall components as they pass downwardly after having dumped their loads.

The aforesaid moldboard is mounted so that its cutting edge can be adjusted to cut into the earth behind the bucket conveyor assembly to a desired depth and provide a traveling wave of material just forward of the moldboard as the elevating scraper moves ahead. The position of the elevating conveyor mechanism is such that the closed buckets rounding the bottom turn of the assembly come into the proper position to pick up loads of material from the traveling wave of earth ahead of the moldboard. The moldboard pushes the material into the bucket, which normally does little or no digging itself. The filled buckets proceed upwardly, at an inclined angle, to the topturn of the conveyor mechanism, and as they make this turn they automatically open, then dump their loads into the elevating scraper bowl. After the loads are dumped, the inner surface of the wall components of each bucket pass close by the aforesaid scraper blade, which substantially removes any material clinging thereto.

The bowl of the elevating scraper is mounted to rotate on lateral pivot bearings to dump its load. It is thus never necessary to lower or raise the bowl, empty or loaded, but only to rotate it, for loading or dumping purposes. The buckets on the elevating conveyor mechanism require the same power throughout the loading process, since their loads are merely dumped into the load-carrying bowl, not pushed past previously-loaded material as are the elevator paddles in a conventional elevating scraper. Unlike any of its conventional counterparts, my novel elevating scraper has no paddle elevator at the front of its bowl (its bucket conveyor loadsthe bowl from the rear), hence it can easily load or travel downhill without danger of spillage. In fact, the machine works more efficiently when moving downhill because gravity acts in its favor there. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the dumping process is much simpler with my novel elevating scraper than with any elevating scraper of the conventional prior art type, and there are fewer moving parts to require maintenance in my bowl dumping mechanism (essentially only the bowl itself) than in any of its prior art counterparts.

It is thus a principal object of the present invention to provide an elevating scraper with self-cleaning conveyor buckets which can be effectively used at full efficiency in clay-bearing and other sticky soils.

It is another object of the invention to provide such an elevating scraper which can load and travel downhill effectively without loss of material from its carrying bowl.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such an elevating scraper capable of loading and dumping material without any necessity of lowering or raising its carrying bowl in the manner required for the loading and dumping of conventional elevating scrapers.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such an elevating scraper capable of loading material faster and with lower power requirements than is possible with any presently known elevating scraper.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such an elevating scraper having a load dumping mechanism of simpler construction, and fewer parts, than any presently conventional elevating scraper.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an elevating scraper of preferred form in accordance with this invention, an alternate position of a carrying bowl comprising one of its principal parts being shown in dashed lines for better illustrative effect. 1

FIG. 2 is a top view of the elevating scraper.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view, in enlarged scale, of the elevating scraper, taken along line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the scraper, taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Considering now the drawings in greater detail, with emphasis first on FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown generally at S an elevating scraper of preferred design in accordance with this invention. Elevating scraper S has a tractor 10, with the necessary controls for operating hydraulic equipment, to be described, on the scraper; a carrying bowl 12; an elevating conveyor mechanism 16; a cleaner plate with a cleaning edge 62; a moldboard 18, with cutting edge 20; a frame 22 which supports the carrying bowl and elevating conveyor assembly; and a pair of rear wheels 24,24 mounted on an axle 25. Frame 22 is connected with tractor 10 by means of a goose-neck 14, to which it is secured. Goose-neck 14 serves also as a conduit for fluid lines leading from the tractor to various hydraulic rams mounted on the elevating scraper to serve its power requirements.

The elevating coveyor mechanism 16 is the heart of the elevating scraper and comprises a pair of

endless chains

26,26, mounted on a pair of equally

sized drive sprockets

28,28 spaced laterally on an axle 29, at their upper ends, and a pair of equally sized

idler sprockets

30,30 spaced laterally on an axle 31, at their lower ends (see FIGS. 3 and 4, which best show these parts). Fastened transversely across the pair of

chains

26,26 are six elongate buckets 32. Buckets 32 are each formed from two

wall components

34 and 36, fastened together along proximal edges by a pair of

hinges

37,37 to permit their movement between first (closed) positions in which they form a bucket and second (open) positions in which they are swung widely apart. The wall component 34 of each bucket is fixedly secured to

chains

26,26 so as to lie flat thereacross, by screw, nut and bracket fastening means, as indicated generally at 39 in FIG. 4. Perpendicularly affixed to the ends of

bucket wall members

34 and 36 are pairs of

flanges

38, 38 and 40,40, respectively. These flanges have inner edges designed to meet in such a way as to define the closing limits of

wall component members

34 and 36 so that those components form a bucket of V-shaped cross section. See FIG. 4, where the meeting inner edges of these flanges are shown at 43. The meeting flanges, additionally, serve as end enclosures for the closed buckets.

Flanges

40,40 extend rearwardly from the wall member 36 to provide mounting means for a pair of

rollers

42,42 which extend laterally outwardly from the tip ends of the flange extensions. The flange extensions for flanges 40 are shown at 41 on FIG. 4, and are shaped and sized to position the rollers 42 in such a way as to cause leveraged force (from sources to be described) to bear on the bucket wall components 36 so that the buckets 32 will open and close in properly timed sequence during operation of the elevating scraper. The same is, of course, true for the extensions of flanges 40, at the opposite ends of the member 36 from flanges 40, in that they position rollers 42 to properly assist rollers 42 in helping to open and close buckets 32 during operation of the elevating scraper.

The elevating conveyor mechanism 16 slopes upwardly and to the right, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, and the

endless chains

26,26 turn in the clockwise direction, again as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, to provide an upflight leg on the upper side, and a downflight leg on the underside, of the mechanism. Disposed at the edges of the upflight face of the elevating conveyor mechanism are a pair of upwardly inclined rails 50,50 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). These rails are positioned to provide rolling surfaces for the

rollers

42,42 when buckets 32 are being pulled upwardly on the conveyor mechanism. It will be noted that the buckets are in their closed positions during this upward flight, this being assured by the leveraged force on wall components 36 resulting from the downbeat-ing rolling contact of

rollers

42,42 o'n railsv 50,50. As will shortly be explained, the buckets are loaded during their upward movement on elevating conveyor mechanism 16, and the force of gravity pulling on these loaded buckets, acting through the point of contact between

rollers

42,42 and rails 50,50, serves to force the wall components of the buckets tightly together as they move upwardly.

As the loaded buckets come to the upper turn of the elevating conveyor mechanism,

rollers

42,42 leave the guide rails 50,50, which end just short of this turn, and swing clockwise, as seen in FIG. 2. As the rollers make this swing, they come into contact with the inner surfaces of a pair of curving

outer rails

52,52 and roll around these inner surfaces, which are disposed to swing wall components 36 away from wall components 34 and cause the buckets toopen. As the

rollers

42,42" of each bucket leave the curving rails 52,52, they roll onto the inner surfaces of a pair of straight down rails 53,53, properly positioned for this purpose. The positional relationship between

rollers

42,42 and rails 53,53 is such that each of the bucket wall components 36 is pulled away from the wall component 34 to which it is hinged, to maintain the buckets in open position as they traverse a portion of their downward leg of travel on the elevating conveyor mechanism. The straight down

rails

53,53 terminate short of a pair of

idler wheels

54,54 positioned to receive the

rollers

42,42 and cam them in such a way as to effect closure of the buckets 32 as they round the lower turn of the elevating conveyor mechanism. This is best illustrated in FIG.'4, which shows an open bucket just prior to the time its rails, are employed at the bottom of the mechanism.

As the loaded buckets start the upward leg of their travel on the elevating conveyor mechanism, their

rollers

42,42 are still in contact with the

wheels

54,54. These wheels then feed the rollers onto the guide rails 50,50. Each of the buckets isthen hauled to the top of the elevating conveyor mechanism and, as it makes the top turn, is urged to open position in the abovedescribed manner. At the back of the top turn the bucket dumps its load into the carrying bowl 12, which, as FIGS. 1 and 4 best show, is properly positioned to receive the dumped material.

The elevating conveyor mechanism is supported in position by means of four swiveling arms, two on each side, connecting a pair of side braces. 44,44 on the bucket conveyor with frame 22" and two reinforcing

side walls

66,66 integral with and extending outwardly and forwardly from the cleaner plate 60 in the belowdescribed manner. These side walls are fixedly secured, at the top, to a pair of

structural members

68,68 forming a part of the frame assembly 22. These four swiveling arms include an upper and lower pair, the

upper rollers

42,42 leave

rails

53,53, and the bucket ahead ofit which has already been cammed to closed position by the

wheels

54,54.

As will be apparent from the foregoing, the elevating conveyor mechanism 16 serves primarily to load graded earth into the carrying bowl 12 of elevating scraper S. It thus functions only when the elevating scraper is performing a grading operation, at which time the moldboard 18, set to the proper depth of cut, is turning a wave of moving earth, not shown, just ahead of it. This wave of earth occupies the space between the moldboard and the lower end of the elevating conveyor mechanism, best shown in FIG. 4. As each of the buckets 32 makes the bottom turn on the elevating conveyor mechanism, it works its way into the wave of earth ahead of the moldboard. As the bucket continues to move around the lower turn of the mechanism, the moldboard urges the earth into the bucket, so that by the time the bucket has completed this turn, and is starting on the upward leg of its travel on the mechanism, it is loaded. The

wheels

54,54 have sealed bearings, so that they will continue to turn when exposed to the earth, mud, etc., through which the buckets must travel when being loaded. The

rollers

42,42 also have sealed bearings, but it is possible that these bearings might be prevented from turning by dirt, gravel, or the like, during the bucket loading cycles of pair being shown at 70,70 andthe lower one at 72,72 on the drawing (see FIGS. 1 and 4). The lower swiveling

arms

72,72 rest on a pair of symmetrically disposed bosses extending outwardly from the

side walls

66,66; the boss for arm 72' being shown at 71 in FIG. 1. These bosses are positioned to support elevating conveyor mechanism 16 at the proper elevation for normal grading operation of the elevating scraper. The swiveling arms permit upward movement of the elevating conveyor mechanism from its normal working position to give it sufficient flexibility to ride over rocks,-and similar obstacles, which it might encounter in service. While the working position of the elevating conveyor mechanism is normally such that its buckets clear the ground surface, and thus do no actual digging, it is within the scope of the invention to install this mechanism on an elevating scraper in such a way that its buckets can be made to actually dig into the ground at their lower turns.

It will be noted that the buckets of elevating conveyor mechanism 16 travel around. the

idler wheels

54,54 in the same direction as the direction of rotation of the elevating scraper wheels. Thus, when the rotational speed of these buckets around

wheels

54,54 is made to exceed the speed of the elevating scraper wheels, the buckets can actually assist in the propulsion of the elevating scraper on level ground, particularly if the elevating scraper is modified from its illustrated form. to permit the buckets to do some digging as they work. Among additional advantages in the use of my novel elevating conveyor mechanism on an elevating scraper such as described herein, is the ability of the mechanism to provide sufficient traction for extrication of the elevating scraper from soft ground in which it might otherwise become mired.

The cleaner plate is mounted with its cleaning edge 62 just ahead of elevating conveyor mechanism 16, so that the cleaning edge is in close proximity to the descending wall components of the buckets 32 in their open positions (see FIG. 4).-Thus, as each wall compo nent of the buckets comes even with the cleaning edge 62 of the cleaner plate, any sticky material clinging to that component is scraped therefrom by the cleaning edge. As this material is scraped loose, it falls downwardly into the carrying bowl 12, since cleaner plate 60 is inclined to the right, as seen in FIG. 4, over the bottom of the carrying bowl. By virtue of this position, cleaner plate 60 serves as a rear closure for the carrying bowl, when the bowl is in its loading position (shown in solid lines at least for the most part in FIG. 1). The width of the cleaner plate is slightly less than the length of buckets 32, and its position is centered with respect to the bucket wall components, to leave room for a pair of

rollers

92,92 mounted near its uppoer cornersto ride against the exposed surfaces of the open bucket wall components. The purpose of these rollers is to hold the wall component 36 of each of the buckets sufficiently coplanar with its cooperating wall component 34 to prevent jamming of the former on cleaning edge 62 of the cleaner plate. Without the presence of these rollers, the wall components 36 would tend to flop outwardly, away from the

conveyor chains

26,26, in the manner illustrated by the two downwardly traveling buckets in FIG. 4, to create a risk of such jamming. Cleaner plate 60 is fixedly secured in position through attachment to a pair of inturned flanges of the

side walls

66,66. These side walls serve also as mounting bases for the

rollers

92,92, and as side enclosures of the rear portion of carrying bowl 12 in its normal loading position.

Moldboard 18 is essentially a cow dozer blade having a lower cutting edge 20, preferably toothed, supported on frame 22 by means of a pair of laterally spaced

arms

76,76 pivotally secured at their forward ends to a pair of downwardly depending

brackets

78,78 affixed to the

side members

68,68 of frame 22, as shown, in FIGS. 1 and 4. Moldboard 18 is fitted'with a pair of

dihedral guards

82,82 which extendupwardly therefrom at its outer corners. The outer edges of the moldboard are spaced just ahead of the two rear wheels 24,24 of the elevating scraper, and the purpose of the corner guards is to prevent the escape of large rocks from the area in front of the moldboard onto the ground ahead of these wheels, since passage of even one of the wheels over such a rock would cause the moldboard to rise and thereby disrupt the grading operation. Power control of the moldboard is accomplished through a pair of

hydraulic cylinders

90,90 mounted between the swiveling

arms

76,76 and frame 22 of the elevating scraper S, as best shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The moldboard slants upwardly to the rear to help prevent rocks from jamming between it and the buckets during operation of the elevating scraper.

The carrying bowl 12 is pivotally mounted on frame 22, by means of two

journals

86,86 mounted in pivot bearings (not shown) in

structural members

68,68 of the frame. The bowl is fitted with a pair of

hydraulic rams

88,88 by means of which it can be swiveled in counterclockwise direction, as seen in FIG. 1, for dumping purposes. The controls for the hydraulic rams, as well as for all other hydraulic systems on the elevating scraper, are located in the tractor, where the operator can easily reach them. These hydraulic controls are of conventional type, with conventional lines and fittings of the sort familiar to those skilled in the art.

A hydraulic motor for the elevating conveyor mechanism is shown at 94 in the drawings. When it is desirable to move the loaded elevating scraper to a dumping or spreading area, the elevating conveyor mechanism should be stopped so as to leave a space between buckets at the bottom turn of

chains

26,26 to provide good clearance between the conveyor mechanism and the ground.

While the above description has emphasized the use of my unique elevating conveyor mechanism as part of an elevating scraper, I wish to make it clear that this mechanism is not limited to this application, but can be employed for conveying material of any sort capable of such conveyance anywhere the unique capacity of the mechanism suits it for use. The elevating conveyor mechanism can, for example, be used to load a bottom opening dump truck, or the like, since it does not require downward adjustability of the vehicle being loaded as does the paddle elevator of a conventional elevating scraper. The mechanism is, of course, particularly suitable for use in conveying materials having a tendency to stick to the buckets of bucket-type conveyor systems.

While the novel elevating conveyor mechanism of this invention, and elevating scraper incorporating same, have been herein illustrated and described in what are considered to be preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention. Certain of these departures have already been mentioned, and others will occur to those skilled in the art in the light of present teachings. For example, a single flat-top chain similar to the track of a caterpillar tractor, a conveyor belt, or the like, could be substituted for the two chains of elevating conveyor mechanism 16, if desired. As another example, the end closuresof the buckets on the elevating conveyor mechanism could be eliminated if some other means of limiting the closure of the bucket wall components to the desired extent to form the necessary buckets were provided.

In summary, the scope of the present invention extends to all variant forms thereof encompassed by the language of the following claims. The term endless chain, or the equivalent, as used in the claims, should be broadly construed to include endless belt, or the equivalent, within its meaning.

I claim:

1. Elevating conveyor means of the endless chain type having endless chain means adapted to repeatedly travel an upwardly inclined path, round a top turn, travel downwardly to a bottom turn, and round a bottom turn to start upwardly again, and a plurality of material conveying buckets affixed in spaced apart relationship to said endless chain means, each bucket being adapted to pick up a load of material at said bottom turn, travel upwardly and around said top turn, drop its load, travel downwardly to the bottom turn, pick up another load to carry upwardly, and so on, each bucket comprising a pair of wall components fastened pivotally together to be movable between a closed position of generally V-shaped cross section and an open position and including stop means to prevent closure of the wall components beyond said closed position;

the elevating conveyor means having frame means and means interconnecting the frame means and the endless chain means so that the latter is supported by the frame means in such a way as to per- .mit it to follow the foregoing sequence of movements during operation of said elevating conveyor means; said elevating conveyor means including automatic bucket control means which holds each bucket closedwhen it is traveling upwardly, causes the bucket to open as it rounds said top turn, holds the bucket open as it approaches said bottom turn, and causes the bucket to close prior to the time it picks up its load at the bottom turn, and including cleaning means which substantially removes sticky material from the bucket wall components when they are in the open position in each cycle of travel on said endless chain conveyor means; said buckets being elongate, said stop means com-,

prising end flanges on the bucket wall components with edges which meet to fix the limit of closure of said wall components, said flanges serving, additionally, as end closures for said buckets in their closed positions; and said wall components having substantially flat inner surfaces and being fastened pivotally together by hinge means in such fashion as to be capable of opening to extreme positions in which said inner surfaces are in substantially coplanar relationship; said endless chain means comprising a pair of 25 sprocket chains mounted on a pair of axially aligned drive sprockets of equal size at said top turn and two axially aligned idler sprockets of equal size at said bottom turn; a first one of the Wall components of each of said buckets being fixedly secured to said sprocket chains in transverse relationship therewith, and the second of said wall components being hinged to the first wall component with a longitudinal edge adjacent 'the trailing edge of the latter to permit the second wall compo- 35 nent to swing backwardly away from the first wall component for the opening of each bucket by said automatic bucket control means; the second wall component of each of said buckets haivng a pair of flat, integral lugs extending backwardly away therefrom at each end and having a pair of outwardly extending rollers mounted in axially aligned relationship on said lugs, said elevating conveyor means including support and guidance means for said rollers; said lugs, outwardly extending rollers and support and guidance means for the rollers being adapted and positioned to serve as said automatic bucket control means through forces created by contact between said rollers and said support and guidance means when the elevating conveyor is operating; said support and guidance means comprising a pair of parallel support rails positioned to provide rolling surfaces on which said rollers bear when the closed buckets are traveling upwardly on said endless chain means, said support rails terminating, at their upper ends, near the top turn of said endless chain means; a pair of curving rails positioned to receive said rollers on their inner surfaces after the rollers leave said support rails and create opening forces on said buckets as the buckets round the top turn, said curving rails terminating at the approximate end of the top turn; a pair of straight downrails positioned to receive, on their inner surfaces, the rollers from said curving rails and maintain forces on said buckets adapted to keep them open, said downrails terminating short of the bottom turn of said endless chain means; and a pair of idler wheels sized and positioned to receive said rollers from said downrails and create closing forces on said buckets by camming action before they round said bottom turn, whereby the buckets are closed for loading as they come round the bottom turn, the lower ends of said support rails being positioned to receive the loaded buckets from said idler wheels and maintain forces on the buckets adapted to keep them closed as they travel upwardly on said endless chain means.

2. Elevating conveyor means :in accordance with claim 1 in which said cleaning means comprises a generally flat plate with a cleaning edge at the top, positioned so that said cleaning edge is disposed sufficiently close to the substantially flat inner surfaces of the open bucket wall components after the buckets dump their loads, to substantially clean these surfaces of any sticky material adhering thereto from said loads as said wall components pass said edge.

3. Elevating conveyor means in accordance with claim 2 including a pair of bucket wall contacting rollers positioned to hold the second of said wall components of each bucket substantially coplanar with the first wall component of said bucket, as it passes the cleaning edge of said generally flat plate, to prevent jamming of said bucket on said plate.

4. An elevating scraper comprising, incombination, a tractor; a load carrying bowl; elevating conveyor means in accordance with claim 3 disposed generally to the rear of said carrying bowl and inclined in such a way as to permit material from said buckets to fall downwardly into said bowl as the buckets come into their load dumping positions on said endless chain conveyor means; and a dozer blade situated behind said elevating conveyor means, said dozer blade having asso ciated means for adjusting the position of the cutting edge below ground level; i

said dozer blade serving to move a traveling wave of earth ahead of it when the elevating scraper is performing a grading operation and said endless chain means of said elevating conveyor means being so positioned relative to said dozer blade, and rotating in such direction, that the bucketsthereon travel around said bottom turn from a side nearer the front to a side nearer the rear of the elevating scraper and move into said wave of earth with their open sides facing in their direction of rotation, as they round said bottom turn; and are thereby loaded.

5. An elevating scraper in accordance with claim 4 including interengaging means on said frame means and said load carrying bowl forming pivot bearing con nections either side of the latter for rotatable support thereof, and including, also, associated means for powbackwardly and upwardly from its normal position of a use when obstacles are encountered to minimize the possibility of damage to the scraper at such times.

Claims

1. Elevating conveyor means of the endless chain type having endless chain means adapted to repeatedly travel an upwardly inclined path, round a top turn, travel downwardly to a bottom turn, and round a bottom turn to start upwardly again, and a plurality of material conveying buckets affixed in spaced apart relationship to said endless chain means, each bucket being adapted to pick up a load of material at said bottom turn, travel upwardly and around said top turn, drop its load, travel downwardly to the bottom turn, pick up another load to carry upwardly, and so on, each bucket comprising a pair of wall components fastened pivotally together to be movable between a closed position of generally V-shaped cross section and an open position and including stop means to prevent closure of the wall components beyond said closed position; the elevating conveyor means having frame means and means interconnecting the frame means and the endless chain means so that the latter is supported by the frame means in such a way as to permit it to follow the foregoing sequence of movements during operation of said elevating conveyor means; said elevating conveyor means including automatic bucket control means which holds each bucket closed when it is traveling upwardly, causes the bucket to open as it rounds said top turn, holds the bucket open as it approaches said bottom turn, and causes the bucket to close prior to the time it picks up its load at the bottom turn, and including cleaning means which substantially removes sticky material from the bucket wall components when they are in the open position in each cycle of travel on said endless chain conveyor means; said buckets being elongate, said stop means comprising end flanges on the bucket wall components with edges which meet to fix the limit of closure of said wall components, said flanges serving, additionally, as end closures for said buckets in their closed positions; and said wall components having substantially flat inner surfaces and being fastened pivotally together by hinge means in such fashion as to be capable of opening to extreme positions in which said inner surfaces are in substantially coplanar relationship; said endless chain means comprising a pair of sprocket chains mounted on a pair of axially aligned drive sprockets of equal size at said top turn and two axially aligned idler sprockets of equal size at said bottom turn; a first one of the wall components of each of said buckets being fixedly secured to said sprocket chains in transverse relationship therewith, and the second of said wall components being hinged to the first wall component with a longitudinal edge adjacent the trailing edge of the latter to permit the second wall component to swing backwardly away from the first wall component for the opening of each bucket by said automatic bucket control means; the second wall component of each of said buckets haivng a pair of flat, integral lugs extending backwardly away therefrom at each end and having a pair of outwardly extending rollers mounted in axially aligned relationship on said lugs, said elevating conveyor means including support and guidance means for said rollers; said lugs, outwardly extending rollers and support and guidance means for the rollers being adapted and positioned to serve as said automatic bucket control means through forces created by contact between said rollers and said support and guidance means when the elevating conveyor is operating; said support and guidance means comprising a pair of parallel support rails positioned to provide rolling surfaces on which said rollers bear when the closed buckets are traveling upwardly on said endless chain means, said support rails terminating, at their upper ends, near the top turn of said endless chain means; a pair of curving rails positioned to receive said rollers on their inner surfaces after the rollers leave said support rails and create opening forces on said buckets as the buckets round the top turn, said curving rails terminating at the approximate end of the top turn; a pair of straight downrails positioned to receive, on their inner surfaces, the rollers from said curving rails and maintain forces on said buckets adapted to keep them open, said downrails terminating short of the bottom turn of said endless chain means; and a pair of idler wheels sized and positioned to receive said rollers from said downrails and create closing forces on said buckets by camming action before they round said bottom turn, whereby the buckets are closed for loading as they come round the bottom turn, the lower ends of said support rails being positioned to receive the loaded buckets from said idler wheels and maintain forces on the buckets adapted to keep them closed as they travel upwardly on said endless chain means.

2. Elevating conveyor means in accordance with claim 1 in which said cleaning means comprises a generally flat plate with a cleaning edge at the top, positioned so that said cleaning edge is disposed sufficiently close to the substantially flat inner surfaces of the open bucket wall components after the buckets dump their loads, to substantially clean these surfaces of any sticky material adhering thereto from said loads as said wall components pass said edge.

4. An elevating scraper comprising, in combination, a tractor; a load carrying bowl; elevating conveyor means in accordance with claim 3 disposed generally to the rear of said carrying bowl and inclined in such a way as to permit material from said buckets to fall downwardly into said bowl as the buckets come into their load dumping positions on said endless chain conveyor means; and a dozer blade situated behind said elevating conveyor means, said dozer blade having associated means for adjusting the position of the cutting edge below ground level; said dozer blade serving to move a traveling wave of earth ahead of it when the elevating scraper is performing a grading operation and said endless chain means of said elevatiNg conveyor means being so positioned relative to said dozer blade, and rotating in such direction, that the buckets thereon travel around said bottom turn from a side nearer the front to a side nearer the rear of the elevating scraper and move into said wave of earth with their open sides facing in their direction of rotation, as they round said bottom turn, and are thereby loaded.

5. An elevating scraper in accordance with claim 4 including interengaging means on said frame means and said load carrying bowl forming pivot bearing connections either side of the latter for rotatable support thereof, and including, also, associated means for powering the load carrying bowl into swinging movement about the pivot bearing connections for load dumping purposes.

6. An elevating scraper in accordance with claim 5 in which said means interconnecting the frame means and the endless chain means comprises pivoted arms designed and positioned to permit the latter to swing backwardly and upwardly from its normal position of use when obstacles are encountered to minimize the possibility of damage to the scraper at such times.