US570429A - Purposes - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 4 ASheets.Shet H.LOCHER.

CABLEl WAY FOR DUMPING PURPOSES.

No. 570,429, Patented Oct. 27, 1896l ck s l LEM #I E h: P* L 15 d E m Y Y Pfl L m ,q

ry u

ggxgggm @y M;

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. C. H. LOGI-IER. CABLE WAY POR DUMPING PURPOSES.

Patented 001;. 27, 18916.

(NovModel) l{Sheetzs--Sheet 3.

, 0.H.L0GHBR.

CABLE WAY POR DUMPNG PURPOSES.

No. 70,429. Patented Oct. 27, 1896.

TH: News pas@ co., wom-UND WMHFWWN' D' c' (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet r4.

C. H. LOCHER.

CABLE WAY POR DUMPINGPURPOSBS. No. 570,429. Patented Oct. ,27,.1896l Kw/5.055%, 'b @5MM/LW@ im: mms PETERS oo., PNcTaLlTHo., wAsulNuwmmA- UNITED STATES PATENT muon.

CHARLES I-I. LOGI-IER, OF ROOKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

CABLEWAY FOR DUMPING PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,429, dated October 27, 1896. Application filed November l, 1894. Serial No. 527,613. (No modeL T0 LZ whom t may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES H. LocHER, a resident of the county of Rookbridge and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oableways forDumpin g Purposes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

- My invention relates to the construction of cable or like ways for dumping purposes and the apparatus for controlling the movements of the carriage traveling thereon and carrying the skip or bucket.

In an application for patent filed by me on January 9, 1894, Serial No. 496,246, I have described a eableway for dumping purposes in which the carriage is operated by apparatus at the end of the way, which controls the movement of the carriage and of the skip or bucket, so that the carriage can be brought to any desired point, the skip or bucket lowered from or raised to the carriage and carried with the carriage along the cableway, and the load dumped in mid-air therefrom at any desired place along the cableway. The present invention relates to apparatus of the same general nature, though it is applicable to any cable or like way employed for the carrying of loads. In the apparatus heretofore employed for these general purposes it has been found necessary to employ means for supporting the operating-ropes which travel out with the carriage so as to hold them from sagging between the carriage and the operating tower or frame, it having been found that unless such means for preventing the sagging of the rope are employed the weight of the rope will materially interfere with the operation of the skip or bucket on the carriage, because when such skip or bucket is removed from the carriage, such as in changing from one bucket to another, the weight of the rope between the tower andcarriage is greater than that depending from the carriage, and therefore operates to draw up that rope and blocks toward the carriage. To prevent this sagging of the rope and the entanglingof the operating-ropes with each other when slack, suitable hangers have been employed on the cableway, which were controlled by what was termed a buttonrope, which extended parallel to the main supporting cableway and had a series of buttons of different sizes on it, which buttons engaged with different hangers, so that as the carriage was moved from the tower the hangers would be caught by the buttons on the rope, which were placed at suitable intervals, and these hangers would support the operating-ropes an d prevent the sagging thereof, and when the carriage was drawn toward the tower the several hangers would be taken up by a hook upon the carriage and carried therewith toward the tower. Such apparatus has been found objectionable, because the carriage was necessarily run at a slower speed than desirable to prevent too great jar to the whole apparatus, and especially the carriage, the hangers, and the buttons on the button-rope as the hangers were paid off from or taken up by the carriage, and, further, because these parts were very liable to get out of order and it required a stoppage of the whole apparatus until they were repaired.

hy the apparatus described in the present application I am enabled to hold the several ropes taut, so that all lia-bility of sagging thereof is overcome, and the ropes depending from the carriage always remain in the position to which they are naturally brought by the movement of the apparatus, while I do away entirely with the button-rope and hangers and am enabled to operate the whole apparatus at a much increased speed.

To these ends my invention comprises, generally stated, a cableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon,and a drive-rope for moving the carriage, and a rope extending from the end of the way to the carriage and having both ends thereof. connected to winding means, said rope in this way being held taut, so that'there is no sag therein, while the rope controls the movements of the skip or bucket hanging from the carriage.

It also comprises the employment, with such rope controlling the movement of the carriage, a supplemental or loop rope connected thereto and directly supporting the skip or bucket upon the carriage, so that by the movement of this rope along the cableway` the bucket maybe lowered or raised or dumped at any point desired.

It also comprises certain other improvements, which will be hereinafter set forth and claimed.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which IOO Figure l is a view of a cableway having the apparatus embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view showing the ends of the towers an d the carriage and operative mechanism, illustrating-one form of apparatus. Fig. 3 is a like view illustrating another view of same. Fig. 4; is a plan view of the winding mechanism preferably employed in the invention. Fig. 5 is a side view, partly broken away, of such winding mechanism; and Fig. 6 is a detail diagram perspective, illustrating the arrangement of the ropes in the carriage.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.

illy invention .is illustrated in connection with a cableway for dumping purposes, though it is to be understood that it may be employed with any suitable track supported at a suitable height for carrying on the operations desired-namely, the lifting or lowering of the load to any desired position, the carrying of said load along the cableway or track, the dumping of the load, the return of the carriage and its skip or bucket to receive another load, or other desired movements.

In the apparatus illustrated, A is the operating-tower on the one side of the excavation B, and C is the supporting-tower on the other side of the excavation. Said towers are supported on suitable trucks a. and c, respectively7 which are preferably arranged to run on tracks a c by suitable wheels, as shown, so that the cableway system may be moved along the excavation to any point at which it is desired to employ it. The two towers are connected by the main cable D, which is a heavy wire cable extending between the upper ends of the towers, the outer ends of the cable being carried from the tops of the towers down to the outer ends of the trucks and anchored there. This-cable serves as the track on which the carriage E travels, the carriage supporting the skip, bucket, or dirt-carrier L.

For the purpose of moving the carriage upon the cableway D, I employ the drive-rope F, which extends from the operating-drum f up over a pulley f to one end of the carriage, as at f2, and from the other end of the carriage at f3 to a pulley f4 in the supportingtower C, and thence around the pulley f5 in the upper end of said tower over the pulley f at the upper end of the operating-tower,

and thence down to the drum f, passing onto the drum at the opposite side from that at which it started, the rope being coiled for several coils around this drum f, which serves to drive it.

I will irst describe the preferred arrangement of the ropes in connection with the operation of the skip or bucket L, stating that for that purpose I employ what I term a hoisting-rope K, a dumping-rope P, and what I term the slack-rope l-I, these three ropes extending down to different drums, the hoisting-rope winding on the drum k, the dumping-rope on the drum p, and the slack-rope on the drum 71. These ropes extend up over separate pulleys at the upper end of the operating-tower, the pulley k for the hoisting-rope and pulley p for the dumping-rope being shown, while the pulley for the slackrope is back of the pulley p for the dumprope, and the three ropes extend to the carriage E. The hoisting-rope and dump-rope each then pass around a loose pulley h', mounted on the carriage, having a face for each rope, and are united to the slack-rope, as at h2, the single slack-rope in this case acting to hold both the hoisting-rope and dump-rope taut. It is to, be understood, however, that, if desired, a separate slack-rope foreach one of these ropes may be employed, as illustrated with the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 3, and that throughout the description the slackrope may be considered the equivalent of separate ropes to take up the slack in each. As so constructed, it is evident that when the carriage is stationary, by winding up the hoisting-rope and dump-rope and braking up the drum carrying the slack-rope the lines may be held taut while feeding off from the drum h and being taken up on the hoist and dump rope drums k and p, and when it is desired to move the ropes in the opposite direction, by winding up the slack-rope H and braking up on the drums k and p, carrying the hoist and dump ropes, the several ropes can be held taut while moving over the pulley 7L.

The skip or bucket L is supported from the blocks m n by suitable chains Z Z Z2, and these blocks are supported from the carriage by what I term supplemental7 or loop ropes, the hoisting-loop M extending from the block m around a pulley m2 on the carriage, thence around a pulley on the block m and around the guide-pulley m3, whence it extends to the hoisting-rope K, and is spliced or united thereto at m'. The dumping-loop N extends from the block n around the pulley oon the carriage, and thence around a pulley in the block a and around another pulley on the carriage back of the pulley n2, extending to the joint n', where it is spliced to the dumping-rope I).

It will be understood that the several drums at the end of the way in the truck a are driven in any suitable way and are located in any suitable position, so that they can be turned at the same speed or operated separately, or freed from the operative mechanism and held by brakes, as desired. I find the arrangement illustrated the most convenient for the purpose, and I will describe the same only brieiiy, as such drums are well known. The engines Q are connected to a driving-shaft Q', which carries a pinion cf, which meshes with gear-wheels q2 Q3 on drum-shafts Q4 qi", turning such shafts in the same directions. Suitable clutch mechanism on the faces of the gear-wheels qgqs, and upon the drums on each side thereof, respectively, act to connect the drums with the gear-wheels, so that they are turned with the gear-wheels and their ICO IIO

drum-shafts, the drums f and connecting with the gear-wheel g2 and the drums h and p connecting with the gear-wheel It is not considered necessary to illustrate or describe the clutch mechanism. The several drums carry brakes i', r', r2, and r3, respectively, and levers extend from the operating-bench R to operate the clutches and brakes, such mechanism being well known, so that it is not necessary to illustrate it in detail. The several ropes extend to the several drumsin such way that they may all be wound up or paid ont therefrom at the same speed in order to obtain the necessary movements hereinafter described.

In the apparatus constructed as above described, the operation of raising, transporting, and dumping the load is practically as follows: The connections of the loop-ropes M and N with the hoisting and dump ropes K and P are such as to provide a full length of the loop-ropes necessary for lowering the skip into the excavation or pit. supposing, then, that the carriage is brought over the pit, while it is so held the operator winds up the slack-rope H, which draws the hoisting and dump ropes K and P toward the carriage and enables the loop-ropes M and N to lower the bucket into the excavatiomwhere it is filled, or another bucket which has Vbeen filled is connected to it. As all slack of the hoisting and dumping ropes is taken up during this operation by the draft upon the slack-rope ll, the loop-ropes M and N remain in the position to which they have been lowered, all liability of sagging of the hoisting and dump ropes which might cause the raising of the blocks m n being overcome. Then the skip is connected to the loop-ropes, the operator then causes the Windin g of the hoisting-rope K and dump-rope P, permitting the unwinding of the slack-rope H under the friction `of the brake on the drum h, which raises the load to the desired height. To move it with the carriage away from the excavation and to the desired point above the spoil-bank B, he Winds up the endless or drive rope and at the same time winds up all the other ropes, that is, the hoist-rope K, the dump-rope P, and the slack-rope H, and in that way holds the skip at the desired height, and by winding on the slack-rope at the same time that he winds on the hoisting and dump ropes he holds all three of these ropes taut and prevents the entanglement thereof. When it is desired to dump the load, he can stop the movement of all the ropes and then wind on the slack-rope H, holding the dumping-rope P and its loop N taut by means of a brake, but freeing the hoisting-rope K, leaving it free to permit the slackening of the looprope M, so as to lower the front of the skip and discharge the load;A and after the load is discharged he can free the dump-rope P from the brake, so that the weight of the skip Will draw on the loop-rope N and` draw the skip back to normal position. `If he `desires to dump in transitas the carriage is moving toward the operating-tower, he simply loosens the hoisting-rope and permits it to slacken, but continues to wind on all the other ropes, so permitting the front of the skip to lower and discharge the load. He then stops all the ropes and can wind up the hoisting--rope to bring the skip to its normal position, or when the carriage is returned to the excavation by reversing the movement of the driverope F and paying out all the other ropes while holding them taut by the brakes at their respective drums, he takes up the slack of the hoisting-rope.

The apparatus illustrated in Fig. 3 is capable of performing practically the same operations and it is of the same construction, except that I have illustrated it with the hoisting and dump ropes each extending to the supporting-tower C, and thence back over pulleys in the upper end of the operating-tower A to the ope rating-drums. The hoisting-rope K extends to and through the carriage E and thence, as at K', to the pulley s in the supporting-tower and back to the pulley s in the operating-tower and to an operating-drum, the loop-rope M being mounted in the manner described in connection with Fig. 2 and united to the hoisting-rope at m. In like manner the dumping-rope P extends to and through the carriage E, and thence, as at P, to the pulley 32 in the supporting-tower, and thence over the pulley s3 in the operating-tower to an voperating-drum. If desired, the extensions of the hoisting and dump ropes may be united and carried as a single slack-rope to the drum on the truck, the extensions K P, which form the slack-ropes, being illustrated in Fig. 3 as separate ropes to show that it may be employed either way. The operation of this apparatus is practically the same as that above described, except th at in the movement of the carriage along the main cable the rope is either being wound onto the hoisting and dump-rope drums and wound off the slackrope drums, or, if the carriage is moving the opposite direction, it is being Wound onto the slack-rope drums and wound off the hoisting and dumping rope drums, being, of course, held taut by the brakes as above described.

The operation can be briefly stated as follows: When the skip is above the excavation, it is lowered into the same, While the carriage is held from movement by winding up the slack ropes K and P and unwinding the hoisting and dumping ropes, which slackens up the loop-ropes M and N and permits the lowering of the skip. The load is raised by Winding up thehoisting and dump ropes and unwinding the slack-rope until the skip is brought to the desired height. The operator then moves the carriage by the movement of the endless rope, at the same time winding up the hoisting-rope and dump-ropes and unwinding the slack-rope, so holding the load at the desired height. If he desires to dump in transit, he simply loosens the hoist-rope,

ICO

IIO

continuing to wind on the dump-ro pe and the endless rope, which permits the front end of the skip to be lowered and discharge the load. If he desires to dump while the carriage is held stationary, he stops all the ropes and then winds up the slack-ropes while holding the dumping-rope taut and leaving the hoistingrope free, which permits the same to slacken so as to lower the front end of the skip and cause the dumping of the load. Ile then frees the dumping-rope and the weight of the skip will draw it into its normal position. Ile can then take up the slack of the ropes K and P and start the carriage back toward the excavation. If he employs separate slack-ropes, connected to the hoistingrope and dumping-rope, respectively, he can dump while the carriage is stationary by simply holding the d umpin g-rope stationary and winding up the slack-rope K/ while unwinding the hoisting-rope K, which would permit of the lowering of the front end of the skip and the discharge of the load.

I have described the apparatus in the different ways in which it may be constructed and operated, butit is to be understood that where the same result can be obtained in practically the same way by other constructions of drums or equivalent arrangement of ropes it is included in the invention; and also that any other suitable form of track is also included in the invention. My invention may also be employed for operating the eableway where a single rope for supporting the skip from the carriage is employed, such as where the dumping operation is obtained by other mechanism than that herein described.

As the button-rope and the carriers operated thereby are entirely dispensed with, I am enabled to operate the apparatus at much higher speeds than when such devices are employed, there being no limit to the speed of the apparatus except the power of the engines and the necessary control of the apparatus according to the operations to be performed. By dispensing with such carriers I also reduce the liability to breakage and cost of repairs, a very important item in connectionwith such dumping apparatus.

lVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a eableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a skip or bucket sustained by the carriage, a rope controlling the movements of the skip sustained bythe carriage, both ends of said rope extending from the carriage to the end of the way and connected to separate moving means, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a eableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a rope having both ends extending from the carriage to the ends of the way, and connectedto separate winding means, a skip or bucket, and a loop-rope connected to said latter rope and supporting the skip or bucket from the carriage, substantially as set forth.

The combination of a eableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a skip or bucket, ahoisting-rope and a dump-rope each extending from the end of the way to the carriage and winding means therefor, said ropes each having a loop-rope connected thereto and supporting the skip or bucket from the carriage, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of a cablewayor track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a skip or bucket, a hoisting-rope and a dump-rope, each extending from the end of the way to the carriage and having both ends of said ropes connected to winding means, and loop-ropes connected to said hoisting-rope and dumping-rope, respectively,and supporting the skip orbucket from the carriage, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of a eableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a skip or bucket, a hoisting-rope and a dumping-rope each having winding means at the end of the way, and extending thence to the carriage, said ropes being then united and extending to winding means at the end of the way, said hoisting and dumping ropes controlling the skip, substantially as set forth.

G. The combination of a eableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a skip or bucket, a rope extending from the end of the way to the carriage and thence around a pulley on the carriage and back. to the end of the way and connected to winding means, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination of a eableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a skip or bucket, a hoisting-rope and a dumping-rope each extending from the end of the way to the carriage and passing around a pulley on the carriage and thence back to the end of the way and connected to a winding means, substantially as set forth.

8, The combination of a eableway or track, a carriage traveling thereon and a drive-rope for moving said carriage and winding means therefor, a skip or bucket, a rope extending from the end of the way to the carriage and thence around a pulley on the carriage and back to the end of the way and having both ends connected to winding means, and a looprope connected to said rope and sustaining the skip or bucket from the carriage, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said CHARLES Il. LOCHER, have hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES H. LOCIIER. IVitnesses:

GEO. IVEIMER, JOHN T. DERBY.

IOO

IIO

Images