US1491788A - Method and apparatus for excavating and loading materials - Google Patents

Description

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H. M. CHANCE ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOREXCAVATING AND LOADING MATERIALS Filed July 8, 1918 April 29 1924.

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April 29, 1924. 1,491,788

' H. M. CHANCE ET AL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EXCAVATING AND LOADING MATERIALS Filed July 8, 1918 2 SheetsSheet 2 N PRU N y flan/41,

Patented Apr. 29, 1924.-

[TED STATE 1,491,738 PATENT oFFicE.

HENRY- M. 'cHANcE, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AND THOMAS m. cHANcE, 4

or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EKCAVATING AND LOADING MATERIALS.

Application filed July 8,

To all whom it may concern:

Be is known that we, HENRY M. CHANCE and THOMAS M. CHANoE, citizens of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, and at Baltimore, State of Maryland, respectively, have invented a certain new and useful Method and Apparatus for Excavating and Loading Materials, whereof the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide means for mechanically loading coal, rock, ore or other materials, especially, but not exclusively, for use in mines or other places where the space available for the operation of a machine is restricted, and where the use of loaders like the steam shovel, or clamshell, or bucket excavators, elevators or other types of loaders, is inconvenient or impossible. A further object of our invention is to excavate certain classes of material as well as to load it, the invention being applicable to the excavation of materials such as can readily be mined with a pick. Our invention is especially applicable to the loading of coal, or ore, underground where the head-room or height from the floor t0 the roof of the working place or chamber in which the material is mined, is relatively small, so that mechanical loaders of the types now in use either cannot be operated or are operated at a great disadvantage, but its use is not limited to work under such conditions as it can also be used where the space in the vicinity of the material to be loaded is large.

In coal mines or other mines in which the bed of coal or other material to be mined is horizontal, or nearly horizontal, the excavated material commonly lies at the working face in a pile, the top of the pile reaching up to within a short distance of the roof of the working chamber. Mechanical loaders heretofore developed to load materials under such conditions, operate upon the same principle used in loading materials by hand, that is to say, by forcibly driving a shovel, scoop or bucket into (or under) the material to be loaded, thus completely or partially filling the implement with the material then raising the implement and dump ing the material either directly into a mine car or upon a conveyor, which in turn dis-' charges it into a mine car. All mechanical loaders operating upon this principle must 1918. Serial No. 243,912.

be built to resist the severe stresses and strains to which they are subjected when the shovel strikes a large or tightly wedged lump of material, and must therefore be of massive and heavy construction, and must be anchored in place to act as a fulcrum to resist the reactive thrust when the shovel is driven into the material to be loaded. The stresses to which these machines are subjected are therefore compression stresses in the arms or parts of the machine to which the shovel is attached and these must be stifi enough to prevent buckling or bending under the stresses to which they are thus subjected.

In carrying out our invention we avoid or overcome these'difliculties by employing an entirely different principle of operation which may be described as a method whereby the material is raked from the pile either directly into a mine car, or upon a conveyor and thus discharged into amine car. In employing the principle of a rake or hoe in loading material, the parts which are subjected to stressare in tension, and the reaction developed thereby tends to drive the machine up to or into the material to be loaded, and not to push it away, as is the case with loaders in resent use. Machines are known and have een used in which the material ismoved in practical imitation of the use of a hoe'or rake by hand, the material being scraped by such rake or hoe into a bucket or receptacle or into or upon an elevator or conveyor. I

In attempting to use an implement simi lar to a rake or a hoe of ordinary and relatively light construction, for the purpose of dragging loose material into a car or upon a conveyor, the implement will engage the larger lumps or the projecting arts of the top of the material to be loaded ut will not penetrate the mass or move a large uantity of material at each stroke or cycle 0 operation, unless, some mechanical means is used to force the implement into the material to be loaded. If the rake or hoe be forced down into the material in order to engage a large quantity, the same trouble will develo which is found in the operation of mechanical loaders of the shovel type, because the implement if driven forcibly into the material, will strike lumps that are too large to be moved without damage to the machine.

We overcome these ,dilficulties, and are able to construct a machine involving the principle of operation as above described, by using a plurality of fingers, each of which constitutes an inde endent hoe or rake, and each of which is independently free to engage with the material to be excavated. In a general way the construction of such a series, or plurality, of fingers is not unlike that used in some forms of what are known as finger chutes, in which bent bars of iron are used to-control the flow of material down a ..chute or from ore bins as is practised in feeding crushers and the like in the crushing and handling of ores and other materials. These fingers, however, when used as rakesin the operation of our invention differ from those used in finger chutes, because they are attached to apparatus by which they can be reciprocated, that is, advanced over and above the material to be loaded and drawn back dragging the mamaterial moved by other strokes of the machine will move it to such point of discharge) which, as already stated, may be a mine car, conveyor or other receptacle. In the development of our invention we have found'that it may often be desirable to have the fingers equipped with movable claws, that is, claws movably attached to the fingers, so that in advancing the fingers over a pile of, material to be loaded, claws striking the top of the pile or lumps projecting from the top of the pile may fold up and thus be advanced to the required position without pushing material away-from-the point toward which the material is to be moved.

The claws should be so constructed as to fall into proper position to engage with the material to be loaded after having passed over this material. Having been advanced upon or beyond the pile, ortop of the pile, of the material to be loaded, the claw attached to each finger, and the finger itself, will then fall by gravity, or by other force applied to each finger, so that each claw independently engages in the material to be moved, finding its way into any nearby crevice, or sinking into loose material; excepting that those claws which strike upon large lumps and thus are prevented from falling further, will upon passing or being dragged over such lump, immediately engage with other material to be loaded. Those claws that catch behind the upper portion of the larger lumps of material, but that do not sink behind the body of such larger lumps a sufficient distance tomove them bodily forward, either tend to pull such lumps out from the mass of material to be moved, thus loosening them and bringing them into a position to be more readily engaged by succeeding tant advantage secured by the operation of our invention when the material to be loaded contains relatively large lumps. The same rolling of the larger lumps also occurs when the lumps lie in or at thebottom of the pile of material, for claws catching near the top of such lumps roll them over and thus assist in moving them in the desired direction. In this way nearly all of the claws are continuously engaged in doing useful work either in scraping or rolling material, and the mechanical cooperation of all the claws insures the movement of a relatively large quantity of material with relatively small expenditure of mechanical energy. In carrying out our invention the plurality of fingers and claws which constitute the excavating or loading device must be given a reciprocating motion by some suitable mechanical means, must be elevated during the out-stroke, so that the claws will pass above and over material to be loaded, and must fall or descend during the in-or loading-stroke.

A further detail of that part of our invention which relates to the use of movable claws (each finger and claw or claws constituting a separate rake or hoe) is the holding up to its work of each of the claws by a force resiliently applied, as through a spring, or any suitable elastic cushion, so that if the claw catches upon a lump which is too large to be dra ged or moved, or upon any inequality in t e floor of the mine, or upon any obstruction such as a projecting steel rail, it can move under such stress with a limited motion, such limited motion being sufficient to permit the claw to rotate backwardly until it reaches an angle at which it will slide over, or become detached from, I

such lump or other obstruct-ion.

These improvements in the construction of this type of loader, enable us to build a durable machine of light weight and relatively small size, so that it can readily be moved about in the place in which it is working and can easily be transported from one such working place to another.

Some forms of apparatus by which the described method may be carried out are illustrated by drawings of two types of ma chines suitable for the purpose; Fig.1 is a vertical cross-section and elevation and Fig. II is a plan View of apparatus illustrating the use of a plurality of independently movable fingers free to fall by gravity during a portion of the working cycle and with hinged or movable claws; Fig. III is an enlarged cross-section and elevation showing the construction of such a hinged claw with resilient means for protecting it and other parts of the machine from damage Fig. IV is a vertical elevation and Fig; V is a plan view of apparatus illustrating the use p of a plurality of independently movable fingers raised and lowered by power separately applied and also illustrates the use of fingers with fixed claws. Figs. I and II illustrate one method of imparting a reciprocating motion to the fingers and Figs. IV and V illustrate another method of reciprocation. Reciprocation can of course be effected by any of the means in common use for converting rotary motion into reciprocat ing motion.

In Figs. I and II the fingers 1, of which four are shown, are mounted upon, but free to rotate upon, the carrier shaft 2, which is carried on bearings by a cross-head 3 at both ends of said carrier shaft 2, said cross heads 3 being connected together by the channels 4 to form a rigid structure; this double cross-head is shown as framed of structural steel and adapted to travel upon the channels 5 as guides, thus providing for a reciprocatory movement of the carrier shaft 2 and fingers 1. The carrier shaft 2 is keyed, or otherwise rigidly attached to the connecting rods 6, and the levers or arms 7 are also keyed to, or rigidly attached to, the carrier bar or shaft 2, so that any change in the angular position of the connecting rod 6 affects a corresponding change in the position of the arms 7, bracket arms 8 and plate 9. This plate 9 runs across underneath the fingers 1, and when in the position shown by the drawing it supports the fingers in a horizontal or other desired position, but when due to change in the angular position of the connecting rod 6 the plate 9 drops, the fingers 1 are free to drop by gravity. The connecting rods 6 are actuated by the drive-bar 10, which drive-bar is connected at each end to a link in one of the drive-chains 11, the connection being made on the outer side of the chain that is, on the side farthest from thecenter of the drive-sprockets 12, so that the motion of the drive-bar 10 is along the path of travel of the drive-chains 11. In other words, this motion is a reciprocating horizontal motion combined with a vertical motion. equal to the diameter of the drive-sprockets 12 and idler-sprockets 13. It is therefore evident that at or near the end of each reciprocation, those ends of the connecting rods 6 which are attached to the drive-bar 10 are raised or lowered by a distance equal to the pitch diameter of the point of connection of 4 connected arm 30 connected by this bar 10 to the drive-chains 11, and that the angular position of the connecting rods 6 is thus changed at each end of th reciprocatory motion, thus raising the fing rs 1 and permitting them to fall by gravity as already explained. The driving-sprookets 12 are mounted upon shafts carrying t e ex terior driving-sprockets 14, actuated through drive-chains 15" by sprockets 16, which are 17, actuated by drive-chains 18, which are v operatively connected to any suitable source of power for operating the apparatus. The operation of this apparatus is sufiiciently simple and can readily be understood from the preceding description of the way in which'the individual claws engage the material to be moved or loaded and rake it forward, dragging it upon and over the apron 19, from which it is discharged into or upon conveyor 20 for delivery into mine car or other desired receptacle, this conveyor being shown as a scraper conveyor but being intended diagrammatically to illustrate the use of any type of conveyor suitable for the purpose. The working parts of this apparatus are shown mounted upon a steel frame 21 designed to run upon wheels or rollers 22, which of course may or may not be used as the conditions require.

Fig. III shows an enlarged section and view of the type of movable claw in which the claw 23 is connected by the pin 24 to the movable finger 1; movement of the claw in one direction being restrained by the- .thrust cylinders 29 which are adapted for use of any desired fluid medium under pressure as a source of power for the reciprocatory motion of the cross-head 3 and fingers 1'. It will be noted that the fingers 1 are provided in this case with fixed claws, but movable claws may be used in this type of machine as in the type shown by Figs. I and II. This drawing shows the operation of the fingers 1 by power directly applied, and illustrated in this particular type of construction by the use of thrust cylinders, which are intended to diagrammatically illustrate the application of power from any source or by any means for the independent and individual operation of the plurality of fingers used in the carrying out of our invention. drawing are each provided with .a rigidly pin connection to a piston rod 31 of thrust cylinder 32,-which is connected by pin connection or otherwise revolvably mounted upon a bar 33, which through bracket or pedestals 34 is connected to the cross-head'3'. The thrust cylinders 32 are each connected by flexible pipes or tubes 35 and 36 to pipe manifolds 37 and 38, which are supplied with a fluid The fingers 1' as shown in the medium under pressure through pipes 39 and 40, which are free toslide through the stufiing boxes or packing glands 41 and. 42

. and thus are in operatlve relation to the source of fluid under pressure supplied from any suitable source of such supply thropgh the pipes 43 and 44 and valves connected therewith. The operation of apparatus of this type will be easily understood.

' from the operation of the thrust cylinder The fingers 1 receive a reciprocatory motion by the drawings can be summarized briefly,

as follows: 1. As the movable claws attached to the fingers are free to rotate it is possible to drive these fingers in over the top of a pile of material which may be almost in contact with the roofof the mine, or even actually in contact with the roof, b' cause the movable claws automatically will fold up against the fingers when these are driven forward over or, into such pile of material, :for any claw which strikes an obstruction will be partly closed or raised by such contact, but

'whenthe fingers have been advanced to the end of the stroke of the loader, the fingers are free to fall (by gravity, suppl'niented by the pressure of a spring or the like, or by power mechanically applied) and the claws will thus tend to sink into the coal, rock or ore, each claw falling (or being forced) into interstices between'lumps which may be adjacent to it; upon a reversal in the direction of the motion of the fingers, these claws will tend-to open automatically, so that as the fingers are moved towards th delivery end of the loader each claw Zutomatically becomes buried to some coniderable depth in the pile of material to be loaded, and in its travel towards the loader thus rakes or drags a certain quantity of material with it; this advantage due to the automatic opening of the claws of the movable claw type would of course not obtain with the fixed claw type shown by Figs. IV and V.

2. The construction of this raking apparatus embodying a plurality of independent movable fingers with claws, each free to fall by gravity and to become engaged with material lying in the path of travel of the claws insures the performance of a very much larger quantity of work, or greater efiiciency of the machine as a whole, than can be realized by the use of a rake in memeswhich theindividual claws or teeth are fixed V in their relation each to the other, because in such rake or hoe the whole scraping structure will frequently become hun [up upon a lump of material, and sliding own or riding over the lump as the stroke of the loader-is made, will move little or no material towards the point at which it is to be"- loaded. It is'alsoevident thatrakes or hoes with scraping blades or with claws rigidly connected together could not be,

drivrn into material lying in close proximity to the roof, andthat if an attempt were made to drive such apparatus forward to get the raking device behind the pile of material this would merely. push the loose coal against the face of the unmined coal. Such operating conditions would'in many cases produce destructive stresses in the excavating member. v

3. It is therefore evident that this combination of elements makes it possible to drive the fingers with their raking claws into, above, on top and behind a pile of.

material and that each finger can adjust itself automatically to the best advantage in scraping or raking the material towards the point of delivery.

4. It is evident that the type of our invention in which the movable fingers have fixed claws, may be employed to advantage in loading material where there is sufiicient head room above the pile of material to be moved to permit the claws of the fingers to be lifted over the top of the pile, and that the advantages derived from .the use of the independently movable fingers are not necessarily confined to movable fingers equipped with movable claws, but may, when there is sufiicient headroom, be realized with movable fingers equipped with fixed claws.

5. When the material to be loaded is soft and easily penetrated by the claws, the weight of each finger andclaw may be sufii cient to cause the claws to sink a suficient distance into the material, the force of gravity being relied upon to perform this function, but where it is desired to use fin gers and claws of relatively light construction or when the material to be loaded is of such nature that it is not easily penetrated by the claws, the fingers may be independently actuated by power applied by any convenient means, such as a spring or other form of accumulator or by a prime mover, such means being illustrated diagrammatically by the thrust cylinders and connections of Figs. IV and V1 It will of course be understood that apparatus of the type in which the claws are mechanically forced into the material to be moved, may be built to operate with the fingers and claws moving in a plane at any desired angle from the vertical, because in apparatus of this type it is not necessary to rely upon gravity,

to effect penetration of the material to be excavated or moved.

The drawings Figs. I to V inclusive show types of apparatus in which the fingers are equipped with relatively sharp and narrow claws similar in shape to an ordinary mining or excavating pick. It is evident that claws of this shape if spaced a considerable distance apart could not be used for loading material consisting of lumps appreciably smaller in diameter than the open space between the claws, but if the material to be loaded contains a substantial or large percentage of lumps greater in diameter than the space between the claws, the apparatus will load the fine material as well as the coarser lumps. It is of course evident that pick shaped claws will more readily sink into the material to be moved and will more readily penetrate crevices between the lumps of material, than claws with broader or hoe shaped edges, but a pick shaped claw is separately and individually able to move or transport but little if any material; that is, as a loading or scraping tool its efliciency is almost nil. The successful operation of our invention therefore does not depend upon the efliciency of the claws as individual tools for conveying or loading materials, but upon the efiect of co-action between two or more claws and the larger lumps of the materials to be moved or loaded, the larger lumps spanning the open spaces between the claws so that the claws combine with these larger lumps to form a scraper capable of scraping and dragging along the finer material. During the operation of each cycle therefore the larger lum s which thus become engaged in doing t liis work, may be considered as an essential part of the oper ating mechanism. It will be understood that while the construction shown by the drawings does not provide for lateral movement of the point of the claw, the elasticity of the material of which the fingers and claws are made and the clearances of the attachments of the claws to the fingers permit of a slight lateral movement of the point of the claws, and this enables the claws to penetrate into crevices and interstices between the lumps of material more readily than if merged with the claw so as to be a part thereof and constituting that part of the claw that furnishes the means for attachment to the mechanism whereby the claw is actuated.

The claw may be of any shape or type suitable for the material to be moved; it may be shaped like a pick, mattock, hoe, shovel, rake tooth, and may have a sharp, cutting, serrated or rounded edge. Two or more claws may be attached to one finger,

two or more fingers may be coupled to act in unison, or the fin ers and the claws may be made of varying engths, without departing from the spirit of our invention.

The words loader and loading as used in the specification and claims hereof are intended to designate the excavating as well as loading of materials. The method and apparatus described are adapted to excavating and loading either separately or simultaneously. Even in loading loose material the loader acts as excavator, as it is continuously excavating material from the pile of material being loaded.

Having described our invention, we claim, 1. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group of independently movable fingers with claws projecting therefrom, an element upon which said fingers are independently and movably mounted, said element being so mounted that it can be given'a reciprocating motion and means for imparting a reciprocating motion to said element.

2. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group of independently movable fingers with claws projecting therefrom, an element upon which saidfingers are independently and movably mounted, said element being so mounted that it can be given a reciprocating motion, means for imparting a reciprocating motion to said element and means for raising and lowering said fingers.

3. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group of independently movable fingers with claws projecting therefrom, an element upon which said fingers are independently and movably mounted, said element being movably mounted so that it can be given 'a reciprocating motion, means for reciprocating said element, means for raising and lowering said fingers and an apron adapted to direct the material beingmoved towards the desired point of delivery.

4. In a mechanical loa'der, the combination which consists in a group of independently movable fingers with claws projectin therefrom, an element upon which sai fingers are independently and movably mounted, said element being movably mounted so that it can be given a reciprocating motion, means for reciprocating said I terial bein element, means for raising and lowering said fingers, an apron adapted to direct the mamoved towards the desired point of de ivery and a conveyor adapted to convey the material to the desired pointof delivery.

5. A mechanical loader comprlsing 1n combinationa group of independently movable claws so mounted as to be in mechanically cooperative' relation to pieces of the material to be loaded with which they are brought into contact and which are larger than the open spaces between said claws, whereby said claws in such co-operative relation with such larger pieces of material will combine with said pieces to form a scraping tool adapted to move the finer material to be loaded by scraping it towards the point of delivery, said group of claws thus coacting simultaneously as a single excavating and loading tool, and means for reciprocating said claws.

6. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group of inde-.

pendently movable fingersiwith claws at,- tached thereto, an element upon which said fingers are mounted, said element bein operatively connected with means where y it may be reciprocated, guides to control the path of travel of said element and means for raising said fingers during a portion of Y the reciprocation of said ele ent.

7. In a mechanical loader, the combination which consists in a group of independently movable claws so mounted as to be in mechanically co-operative relation to pieces in a direction of travel towards the desired point of delivery, means for recipro eating said claws and an apron adapted to direct the movement of said material towards the desired oint of delivery.

8. In a mechanical loader the combination which consists of a plurality of in dependently movable fingers "and claws revolvably attached to said fingers, said claws being free to fold up towards said fingers in the one direction but with their motion in the opposite direction restrained by resilient means adapted to limit the strain to which said claws can be subjected by the operation of the said loader.

In testimony whereof, we have set our hands, HENRY M. CHANCE, at Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, on the first day of July 1918, and THOMAS M. CHANGE at Baltimore, Marylandmn the fifth day of July 1918.

- HENRY M. CHANCE.

OMAS M. CHANCE. Witnesses as to Henry M. Chance:

J. H. QUINN,

CHAS. BUSH. Witnesses as to Thomas M. Chance:

RICHARD BLUE,

E. PAUL MASON.

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