US1725681A - Apparatus for transporting concrete - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 20,1929. H. w. ST. JOHN v APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING CONCRETE Filed Jan. 19, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet WWW M M my WW I v r 0 Y B -Aug. 20, 1929. H. W. St JOHN APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING CONCRETE 5 Sheets-$heet Filed Jan. 19, 1929 [zVVE/VTOR. Hag W. 5/Jo/7/7 BY AT RNEYS.

Aug. 20 1929. w 511 JOHN 1,725,681

APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING CONCRETE Filed Jan. 19, 1929 SSheets-Sheet 3 [9&3

Patented Aug. 7 20, 1929.

UNITED STATES,

HENRY w. sr. JOHN, or nnrenrwa'rans, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR TRANSPOBTING CONCRETE.

Application filed January 19, 1929. Serial No. 833,586.

This invention relates to apparatus for transporting concrete, and said apparatus for pieces of stone or 1 gears and strip the tee may partake of various forms such as a wheeled vehicle or truck to travel on roads without tracks, or constitute, or form part of, a railway car adapted to travel on the tracks of either standard or narrow gauge as may be desired. In any event, the general purpose of the apparatus is to transport concrete and to a itate' it while it is being transported in or er to preclude stratification of the concrete within the cylmder in which it is contained during transportation.

It has heretofore been suggested to transport concrete from a suitable central mixing station to various construction-jobs by trucks embodying a chassis on which a cyllnder 1s mounted for rotation on a horizontl ax s. The cylinder which is adaptedto .contaln the concrete during transportation 1s generally supported on horizontal trunmons positioned at its opposite ends and these trunnions are journalled inbearin s su ported on a tiltable cradle, so that w en t e truck reaches its destination the cradle may be tilted in order to discharge concrete in a manner to be directly poured. In practically all trucks of this type suitable means is provided for rotating the cylinder during transit and this means has invariably partaken of the form of positive mechanical drive. The most common mechanism heretofore employed consists inprovidingthe cylinder with an annular toothed ring or gear adapted to mesh with the pinion driven from the truck motor or from any other suitable source of energy.

Another method of rotating the cylinder consists in applying power positively to one of the trunnions of the cylinder by means of gearing between such trunnion and a suitable source of power.

My experience with both of these well known methods has convinced me that they are ill-adapted for the purposes for which they are intended. I have found that in the handling of concrete, it is practically impossible to exclude. grit, stone and sandfromthe driving connections, such as have heretofore been used and under'prior practice, it is not uncommon, in fact, quite usual, gravel to get into the t so as to render the structure inoperative.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, the object of the present invention is to provide a construction wherein there is no gearing connection between the drive vmechanism and the cylinder, that is to say a construction wherein the cylinder is not required to carry any gear, nor is any gear mounted on either of the trunnions on which the cylinder is secured. In contradistinction, the present invention provides for a friction drive of the cylinder by engagement therewith of a suitable friction drive member, so mounted that it will engage di rectly with the cylinder or with a sultable bearing ring associated with the cylinder, and such engagement is with suflicient force, to produce proper driving action between the parts, whereby the cylinder is frictionally driven from a suitable source of power.

The friction member to which I have referred is resiliently mounted so as to be yieldably pressed in a resilient manner into driving engagement with the cylinder, by means of a suitable spring suspension or mountin associated with the drive element. In practlce, this mounting may partake of various forms, but in any event, it will serve to firmly hold the drivlng element in driving relation with the cylinder whereby rotation is frictionally imparted to the latter.

In the preferred, prjactical form of the invention, the drive element is preferably mounted on the truck chassis and independently of the tiltable cradle of the truck on which the cylinder is sup orted, so that the cylinder is driven only when in its'normal orizontal position. When the cylinder is raisgd, it will automatically be disengaged from cooperative relation with the dIlVG element to be re-engaged therewith when returned to horizontal position. Stones, dirt or gravel will not harm or break the driving mechanism of the present invensubject the operating mechanism to shocks s will be taken up through as such shoc sllght slippage between the parts and no such serious damage will be done as is the case with positive driving connections as heretofore employed.

Features of the invention, other than those specified, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. I

The accompanying drawings illustrate one practical embodiment of. the invention, but the construction therein shown, is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as spring mounting for the friction driving element.

Figure 5 is a fragmental section on the plane of the line 55 of Figure 1, showing a locking detent for securing the cylinderagainst rotation when tilted for discharge of the concrete.

The present invention may be incorpo rated in either truck construction or in railway rolling equipment. For the purpose of illustration, however, I have shown the in vention as associated with a motor truck having a suitable internal combustion engine (not shown) for propelling the truck and for also furnishing the power whereby the cylinder is rotated. The truck chassis, designated 1, is provided with the usual wheels and running gear, and the motor drives the rear wheels through a suitable transmission gearing housed within a gear case or transmission box 2. i

Positioned above the chassis frame 1 is a cradle or platform 3 of strong and rugged construction, which platform is pivoted near its rear end to the rear end of the chassis frame to allow of tilting movement of the platform 3 on a horizontal axis extending transversely of the frame. The platform normally occupies the horizontal position shown in Figure 1, but it may be tilted *up as stated by means of suitable hoisting mechanism such, for example,as indicated at 4 in F igure' 1. The hoisting mechanism shown is a hydraulic piston hoist of well known construction, the cylinder of which is supported on the chassis frame 1 and the piston of which is secured to the platform 3. Power is delivered to the hoisting mechanism through the connection indicated at 5,

.this power being derived from the transmission of the truck. I wish it understood,

however, that I do not limit the present in.

' ed to revolve.

vention to any particular type of hoist as either mechanical or hydraulic mechanism of any suitable kind may be employed in this connection. It is suflicient that means is provided to tilt the cradle and more particularly the cylinder mounted thereon and adapted to contain the concrete.

The cylinder designated 6 is of strong and rugged construction, of hollow cylindrical shape enclosed at both ends by suitable end plates, the rear one of which is provided with any appropriate discharge gate, for normally closing the discharge opening 7 shown in Figure 5. The 'cylinder is supported on a platform .3 for rotation on a horizontal axis in any suitable manner, but, for thepurpose of illustration, said cylinder is shown as having axial trunnions 8 mounted in antifriction bearings 9, supported on standards 10, which are rigidly permanently secured to the platform to provide a tiltable' and rigid mounting for the bearings 9 in which the cylinder trunnions are adapt- The cylinder is shown as rovided with a charging door 11, although, in practice, this cylinder may be filled through a door in either the front or rear ends thereofas may be desired.

An important feature of the present invention consists in the manner in which the cylinder is rotated through a friction drive embodying a friction wheel 12 mounted to engage either directly with the. surface of the cylinder or with a suitable bearing ring embracing saidcylinder. The fundamental principle involved in this feature of the invention is to maintain a suitable driven friction wheel in engagement with the cylinder in order to frictionally drive the cylinder from said wheel. In practice, a plurality of these friction wheels may be employed without departing from the invention, but my experience has shown that one wheel is sufficient to give thoroughly practical results. Thus, inthe showing of the accompanying drawings, a single friction wheel 12 is positioned directly below the cylinder so as to bear against the under side thereof. This .wheel 12 is preferably faced with a suitable friction material susceptible of sustaining proper frictional engagement with the cylinder and of withstanding wear through long periods.

The wheel 12 is mounted upon a shaft 14 and is anchored at its opposite ends to channel beams which are parallel to one another and extend transversely of the chassis frame 1 and are rigidly secured to the latter. Through the coils 18 at the other ends of the springs extends a rod 21 and this rod also extends through the eyes of two eye bolts 22 which pass upwardly and through one flange of an angle beam 23 supported on and above the two channel beams 20. The eye bolts 22 have threaded shanks and nuts 24 are screwed on to these shanks and rest upon the upper face of the horizontal flange of the angle beam 23 and thus provide forsuspension of the ends of the springs whereat the coils 18 are located. .The coiled ends 17 of the springs are anchored on the stationary rod 20, but the other ends of the springs can be raised and lowered by manipulating the nuts 24 in order to cause the friction wheel 12 to lesser pressure as may be appropriate to secure the desired driven relation between the parts. By thus manipulating the bolts 24, the driving relation between the friction wheel and the cylinder may be initially adgusted and wear subsequently compensated It will be noted that I have shown lea-f springs of the multi-semiclliptical type as constituting the resilient supporting means for the friction wheel, but I wish it understood, however, that if desired coil. springs or springs of any other suitable type may be used for the same purpose without departing from this invention, since the fundamental purpose of these springs is to hold the friction wheel in engagement with the cylinder in a resilient and yielding manner.

The friction wheel is, according to the present invention, adapted to be driven from any suitable source of power through any appropriate driving connections which}. of

course will vary depending upon the nature" of the prime mover and the speed at which the latter operates. For the purpose of illustration, however, I have shown the parts as driven from he truck motor, with thepower take-off at t e transmission. Such being the case, the driving connections shown are such as are appropriate to the particular speed ratio between theparts. Worms and worm wheels or other appropriate speed reduction gearing may be employed, but, in the illustrative showing of the drawings, a series of shafts, sprockets ,and sprocket chains are illustrated as appropriate for the purposes stated.

By reference to the drawings, it will be noted that I utilize a side take-off of power from the transmission case, this side take-off being indicated by the reference character 25, and the primary stub shaft of the drive being designated 26m, This stub shaft is shown as connected by universaljoints 27 and 28 and by a shaft 29 to a countershaft 30 mounted in suitable bearings 31 supported on the side of the chassis frame and the rear end of this countershaft carries a sprocket gear 32. v

A sprocket chain 33 connects this sprocket with a second sprocket wheel 34 fixed on a shaft 35 mounted in suitable bearings 36 supported on the under sides of the channel beams 20. Alsofixed to the shaft 35- is a sprocket 37 with which cooperates a sprocket chain 38 encircling a fourth sprocket 39 fixed on a shaft 40. This shaft is mounted on bearings 41 positioned on the tops of thechannel beams 20 and said shaft also has fixed thereto another sprocket 42. A

sprocket chain 43 encircles the sprocket 42 I and also a sprocket 44 fixed on the shaft 14 to which the friction wheel 12 is secured.

It will thus be apparent that the power derived from the motor of the truck is taken off from the transmission and applied through the shafts 26, 29 and 30 to the sprocket 32, thencethrough the chain33 and sprocket 34 to the shaft 35 and thence through the sprocket 37 and chain 38 to the sprocket 39 which rotates the shaft 40 and thus drives the sprocket 42 which is con heated by the sprocket chain 43 to the sprocket 44 to drive the shaft 14 to rotatethe friction wheel. By this sprocket chain gearing I "obtain the desired speed reduction with relatively compact mechanism, although, if desired, worms and gears or other suitable speed reduction mechansim may be used for the samepurpose.

I wish to lay particular stress upon the fact that the cylinder is fri'ctionally driven b a driving element which is resiliently and yieldably. held to its work. This feature of the invention has proved to be of great'practical importance and it is a wide departure from any manner of drive hereinbefore utilized in the art to which the present invention pertains. Ever since concrete has been transported in trucks, gearing connections have been employed between the cylinder and the driving mechanism. These connect-ions are frequently out of order andare subject to breakage and wear which. it is practically impossible to overcome or compensate for. When' the friction drive of the present invention is, however, employed, all the disadvantages heretofore met with in the geared constructions of the prior art are totally eliminated and a thoroughly reliableconstruction results.

Practical employment of the invention has demonstrated beyond peradventure that this method of driving the cylinder has pro- ,nounced practical advantages aside from the H question of breakage or wear. .The drive is simpler than with the geared connection and sudden strains or stresses on the driving connections or mountings of the respective parts are also wholl eliminated. Furthermore, when the ,cy der is tilted to discharge the concrete, the cylinder automatically becomes disengaged from the friction wheel and may beturned a little one way or the other to properly line up the discharge opening with a pouring chute with the discharge opening in its lowest position, When the cylinder again lowered to horizontal position after discharge it automatically comes into engagement with the frictionwheel. There are no gears to mesh or unmesh and absolutely no driving connections whatever need be mounted on the platform or cradle'as are necessary with practically all piston gear drives heretofore emploved.. J

In practice, the sprockets and chains may be completely .housed'within a suitable casnism well adapted for this purpose is shown in Figure 5. Here the side bar of the cradle or platform 3 is shown as provided thereon with a bracket 45.0arrying the plvot 46 for a latch 47 having a nose 48; to the heel of the latch is secured a 'rod- 49 carrying a weight 50 and belowthe lower end of the rod is a stop bracket 51. This bracket 51 is supported on a spacer 52 positionedon the upper edge of one of the side bars of the chassis frame 1. 'On the periphery of the drum of the cylinder are positioned two spaced apart stops 53.

With this arrangement 'of the parts, it will i I be noted that so long as the cradle is lowered into horizontal position, the lower end of the rod 49 will engage with the bracket 51 to lift the heel of the'latch 47 and retract the nose 48 intothe full lineposition of Fig. 5.

However, as soo as the platform is tilted to tilt the cylinder, the lower end of the rod 49 'will be lifted away from the stop- 51 and the weight 50 will thereupon depress the wheel of the latch and cause the nose 48 to be moved into the dotted line positionillus trated in this figure. When in this position the nose will lie between the stops 53 and thus lock the cylinder against rotation with the outlet opening 7 in its lowermost position.

With thigarrangemnt, the cylinder cannot possibly rotate while being emptied. Moreover, since the latch will be immedioperation or, the

ately retracted upon lowering of the cylin der, it necessarily follows that breaking of the parts cannot occurthrou h inadvertent cylinderwit the latch in looking position.

The foregoing detailed description sets forththe invention in its preferred practical form, but the invention is to be understood as fully claims. I

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an apparatus for transporting and agitating concrete, a vehicle having a supporting frame, a cradle mounted on the frame for tilting movement on a horizontal axis, a vessel, means for supporting the vessel on the cradle for rotation on a horizontal axis when the cradle is in non-tilted position, a friction. drive wheel mounted'on and carried commensurate with the appended vessel to engage therewith when the cradle is in normal n0n-tilted position, and means for rotatingthe friction wheel to rotate thevessel.

2. In an apparatus for transporting and agitating concrete, a vehiclehaving a supporting frame, a cradle 'mounted ,on the frame for tilting movement on a horizontalv axis, a vessel, means for supporting the vessel on the cradle for rotation on a horizontal axis when the cradle is in non-tilted plsition, a shaft positioned arallel to the axis of rotation of the vesse a friction wheel carried on said shaft contiguous to the vessel,

bearings for said shaft, springs supporting thebearings on the frame of the vehicle independently of the cradle, means for tensioning the springs supported on the frame independently of the cradle-to cause the friction wheel to engage the vessel with sufiicient friction to rotate the vessel from the friction wheel, a suitable source of power, and reducing gearing between the source of power and the shaft to drive the shaft and thus impart rotation to the friction wheel for the purpose of rotating the vessel.

3. In an apparatus for transporting and agitating concrete, a vehicle having a supporting frame, a cradle mounted on the frame for tilting movement on a horizontal axis, avessel supported on the cradle forrotati'on ona horizontal axis when the cradle is in non-tilted position, a shaft positioned parallel to the axis of rotation-of the vessel, a friction wheel carried on said shaft contiguous to the vessel, bearings for said shaft, semielliptical springs, one end of each of which is secured to the frame on a fixed.

. ed on the frame,

ends in the direction of the vessel to place' the springs under sufficient tension to force the friction wheel into frictional driving engagement with the vessel, a suitable source of power, and speed reduction gearing between said source of power and the shaft for the purpose of driving the friction wheel to impart rotation to the vessel as long as the vessel is in non-tilted position with the axis of its rotation substantially parallel to the shaft.

4. In an apparatus for transporting and agitating concrete, a vehicle having a supporting frame, a friction drive wheel mountand means for rotating said friction drive wheel, in combination with a cradle mounted for tilting movement on the frame, a vessel mounted for rotation on the cradle and for tilting movement therewith, said vessel being positioned to engage with the friction wheel when in non-tilted position, to be rotated by said friction wheel and to be disengaged from said frictionwheel when in tilted position.

5. In an apparatus for' transporting and agitating concrete, a vehicle having a frame, a friction drive wheel mounted on the frame, and means for rotating said friction drive wheel, in combination with a vessel mounted for tilting movement with respect to the frame and also for rotation, said vessel being positioned to engage with the friction wheel when in non-tilted position, to be rotated by said friction wheel and to be disengaged from said friction wheel when in tilted position, and means for locking the vessel against rotation while disengaged from the friction whee 6. In an apparatus for transporting and .said friction wheel and agitating concrete, a vehicle having a frame, a friction drive wheel mounted on the frame, means for rotating said friction drive wheel, in combination wit a vessel mounted for tilting movement with respect to the frame and also for rotation, said vessel being positioned to engage with the friction wheel when in non-tilted position, to be rotated by to from said friction wheel when in tilted position, and a locking latch cooperating to lock the vessel against rotation when it is tilted free from the friction wheel and to release the vessel for rotation when it is re-engaged with the friction wheel.

7. In an apparatus fortransporting and agitating concrete, a suitable frame, a cylinder mounted on the frame for rotation and tilting movement, a pivoted latch contiguous to the cylinder and tiltable therewith, and a stop on the cylinder to cooperate with the latch, said latch engaging with the stop when the cylinder is tilted and disengaging from the stop when the cylinder is moved into non-tilted position.

8. In an apparatus for transporting and agitating concrete, porting frame, a vessel, and means for mounting the vessel for rotation on the frame, a friction wheel separate from and independent of the means for mounting the vessel and frictionally engaging with the vessel, means for driving the friction wheel to impart rotation to the vessel, and a spring for yieldably maintaining the friction wheel in driving engagement with the vessel.

In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing speclficatlon.

HENRY W. ST. JOHN.

be disengaged a vehicle provided with' a vehicle having a sup-

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