US799376A - Feeder for stamp and other mills. - Google Patents

Description

No. '799,376.- PATBNTED SBPT12,1905.

vc. G. HAMEL. FEEDER POR STAMP AND OTHER MILLS.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 21, 1903. Rmmwnn APB. 3.1905.

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Uz'zn Pases In venzor CHARLES C. HAMILL, OF BARSTOV, CALIFORNIA.

FEEDER FOR STAMP AND OTHER MILLSl Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1905.

Application filed January 2l, 1903. Renewed April 3, i906. Serial No. 253,628.

To @ZZ whom, t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. HAMILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Barstow, in the county of San Bernardino and State of California, have invented a new and useful Feeder for Stamp and other Mills, of which'the following is a specification.

An object of this invention is to provide superior means for automatically feeding the appropriate amount of ore to the battery of the stamp-mill or to the rollers or other crushing devices of the mill, the same being adapted for accurate adjustment and being automaticallyr regulated to meet the requirements of the mill in accordance with variations in the character of the ore during the operation of the mill. This automatic feed `is adapted for use regardless as to the character orcondition of the ore, whether hard or soft, fine or coarse, wet or dry.

A further object of this invention is to provide the conveyer-belt of the feeder with armor to protect it against erosion by the conveyed material.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure I is a side elevation of an ore-feeder embodying this invention. Fig. II is a plan of the same, the hopper being omitted. Fig. III is an end elevation. Fig. IV is a detached detail of the belt-operating pulley, its shaft, and the pulley driving clutch mechanism. Fig. V is a detached detail, in side elevation, of the pulley-driving clutch mechanism. Fig. VI is a cross-section of the belt. Fig. VII ios la fragmental longitudinal section of the In constructing an ore-feeder in accordance with my invention I make aframe 17 of suitable size and strength, within which I mount a hopper or'receptacle 6, preferably with inclined walls,.in which a suliicient quantity of material can be stored before being fed to the mill. The bottom of the hopper is open, and directly below it is arranged a .belt or conveyer 2 in position to support the contents of the hopper and gradually carry it forward. The belt is passed around pulleys 3 and 5 at its ends, and its intermediate portion is preferably supported on pulleys 4. It is moved forward by any suitable means, one form of which is a clutch and which will be hereinafter more fully described. The upper surface is preferably provided with protectingshields, and each edge is provided with a barrier or flange 2, which may be beveled or inclined upon its inner face. The edges of the belt extend out beyond the sides of the hopper, so that the lips may project above the bottom of thev hopper and prevent the escape of material. The pulleys 3 and 5 are each longer than the width of the belt and provided at each end with a shoulder or Hange which will ac t as a guide and automatically hold the belt in position to cause it to run true longitudinally relatively to the hopper and prevent the ianges 2 from becoming unnecessarily worn by coming in contact with the sides of the hopper, the shoulders on the ends of the wheel being preferably inclined. In addition to this the belt is of a greater length than the length of the hopper and eX- tends beyond the ends of the bottom thereof to keep the ore from spilling out at the rear end and to deliver it to the spout or other receptacle at the other end. By constructing the hopper and belt in this manner the belt can be arranged in a substantially horizontal position without danger of the ore escaping at the sides or at the rear end of the bottom of the hopper, for the only portion of the ore that can possibly make its way between the hopper and the belt will be very fine, and it cannot escape beyond the lips or iianges 2 at the sides of the belt. It will also prevent the ne material from cutting or grinding the belt, as would be the case if the edges of the belt were within the hopper, for the reason that the weight of the material will have a tendency to separate the belt from the hopper instead of forcing it into greater contact, as would be the case if the belt were inside. It also permits of the ore being carried'such a distance through a substantially bottomless hopper as to be spread evenly over it without danger of its loss or escaping at the sides of the hopper.

A suitable form of clutch is provided for driving the belt-driving pulley, and means are provided for intermittently operating said clutch. The clutch device should be constructed to operate with great exactness and without any slip or loss of motion, and I have ktherefore devised for this purpose a contrivance, illustrated in the drawings, in which 7 is a friction-wheel, which serves to drive the belt-driving pulley 3, being connected therewith by the shaft 8.

9 is a clutch-arm, preferably pivoted coaxially of the wheel, being desirably pivoted on the shaft 8 and bifurcated, having two parts a and which straddle the wheel 7, so that So-i IOO

the arm has a bearing on each side of the wheel. Said arm is also provided with a tangential way lO--that is to say, a way which is tangential to an arc described from the axis of the wheel 7. Said way is desirably open at the top to receive a carrier or steel facing 11 for the way 10, which is to serve the double purpose of a bearing and a retainer for a detached body, preferably a friction-roller 12, which may be inserted into the way after the member 11 has been partially inserted, and together with the member 11 will be allowed to fully seat in the way 10, as shown in Fig. V, in which the roller 12 is shown in dotted linesv resting against the rim of the wheel 7, so that when the clutch-arm 9 is lowered the roller 12 will slip along' the wheel 7, so that the arm 9 can be moved downward without rotating the wheel; but on the reverse movement of thearm 9 the roller 12 engages between the' wheel 7 and the face c of the member 11, thus instantly gripping the wheel and partially rotating' it as the lever moves upward. The facing-piece has an inturned upper end or part projecting toward the wheel, so as to serve as a retainer for the roller 12.

13 designates the stamp, and 14 a shoulder thereon, desirably a collar mounted on the stamp-stem, which operates the lever 15, that is pivoted at 16 to the frame 17 of the orefeeder.

18 is a link or connecting-rod connecting the lever 15 with the arm 9.

19 is a spring to draw the lever 15 and the connecting-rod 18 and clutch-arm 9 positively downward.

2O is an adjusting-screw for limiting the downward movement of the arm of the lever which carries the connecting-rod 18.

21 is an ore-chute for feeding the ore in approximately appropriate quantities to the hopper 6. The lower front end of the hopper is desirably recessed or cut away, as at 22, immediately above the belt 1, as illustrated in Fig. III, to allow the ore to be carried out freely by the belt. The part of belt1 which forms the bottom of hopper 6 is horizontal, or substantially so. Ore-chute 21 is at the opposite end of the elongated hopper from the outlet 22, so that the material falling from said chute will pile up on the belt adjacent to the chute, and on account of the horizontality of the belt such material will not slide or crowd to the outlet, but will be carried toward samea little at a time by the movement of the belt. Such movement, together with the jarring action, will cause the material to spread out on the belt to a fairly thin and uniform layer before it gets to the free opening 22, and the feed through this opening is therefore dependent only on the amount of movement of the belt.

In machines of this character it has been customary to use a gate at the outlet to regulate the discharge to the stamp, and if such a gate be set to feed properly with a given iineness of ore it will fail to feed properly when ore of a different lineness reaches the gate; but by dispensing with a gate and providing a free outlet between the belt and the hopper, through which all the material carried by that'part of the belt which is next the outlet will be delivered to the stamp at a rate proportional to the feed of the belt, I avoid all such variations and uncertainty in action, as well as the excessive friction and liability of clogging' incident to the use of a gate, and I enable the rate of feed to be exactly proportional to the requirements o'f the stamp irrespective of the fineness of the ore, the movement of the stamp and the resulting movement of the belt being dependent on the quantity of pulp between the shoe and the die.

ln practical operation the ore or other material to be crushed may be introduced into the hopper 6 in suitable quantities through the chute 21, and the stamp13 being operated will act upon the free arm 23 of the lever 15, thus operating the clutch mechanism through the medium of the connecting-rod 18. At each downstroke of the stamp the clutch-arm 9 will be raised and the roller 12, engaging the wheel 7, will rotate the same a determined distance, thus driving the belt forward and depositing' in the trough 24, which leads from the end of the belt` a determined quantity of the ore. As the stamp rises the spring 19 draws the lever 15 down to rest on the screw 20, thus bringing the friction-roller 12 into position to operate the wheel 7 at the next downstroke of the stamp. The length of the stroke, and consequently the travel of the belt, at each downward movement of the stamp may be regulated by adjusting the screw 2 0 tostop the lever 15 at one or another place, as required for the work in hand. When the screw 2O is adjusted to stop the lever 15 at an early period of its movement, the travel of the belt is more limited, and when the screw is lowered the travel of the belt at each stroke of the stamp will be greater.

To increase the depth of ore over the die 25, the screw 20 may be lowered. To decrease such depth, the screw 20 will be screwed up. To support the belt and its load of heavy ore while it is traveling the distance necessary to cause the ore to spread out in this even and uniform manner, several rollers 4 are preferably journaled in the sides of the frame horizontally between the end rollers 3 and 5. As the belt is driven forward by quick impulses the mass of the ore, except that in direct contact with the belt, lags behind and prevents the bunching of the ore at the delivery end of the belt, but permits that which is carried forward to spread out in a uniform layer, from which it is delivered to the mill.

With the feeder which I have constructed in accordance with this invention atBarstow,

California, I find that the depth of pulp between the shoe and die has not varied over a quarter of an inch in a three-weeks run. The regulation of this depth has been wholly automatic and not dependent on any adjustment of the screw, said screw being used only for the purpose of starting the machine into operation and then determining the depth of pulp between the shoe and die.

The belt is desirably made of rubber protected from wear by round-headed or semispherical tacks 26, of iron, steel, or other suitable metal. These tacks are desirably driven through the belt with the heads in contact with the belt and set close together and their points clenched on the other side.

The tacks which I have used are about half an inch, more or less, in diameter and are set close together-for example, about an eighth of an inch, more or less, apart-so as to form an armor on the belt to protect'the body of the belt from wear. The stem or body of the tacks should be of as small diameter as possible, i

so as to avoid weakening the belt.

The arm 9 may be fastened to the shaft 8 by a collar 28, held in place on the shaft by a set-screw 29.

From the foregoing description it will be `seen that the member 11, together with the side pieces 9 and the face of the wheel 7 form a receptacle or pocket into which any suitable detached body may be placed, it being understood that I do not limit myself to the use of a roller to grip the wheel, although I at present deem that form of body preferable. It is understood that I may make the feederframe as a hanger, as well as a stand, and that various changes in the various parts may be made without departing from my invention. Nor do I limit the invention to feeding into the mortar 30 of the stamp-mill form of f Crusher.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an ore-feeder for crushing-mills, an open-bottomed hopper, a longitudinally-movable belt arranged to travel directly underneath the same, the edges of the belt extending beyond the sides of the hopper and each provided with a flange which projects above the Vbottom of the hopper, and means for moving the belt forward.

2. In an ore-feeder for crushing-mills, an

open-bottomed hopper, a iianged roller at each end of the bottom thereof, said anges being beyond the sides of the hopper, a belt over said rollers, the edges of which are flanged andV t between the flanges of the rollers and also extend beyond the sides of the hopper, means for supporting the belt between said rollers directly underneath the .bottom of the hopper with its flanges extending above the bottom edges of the sides of the hopper, and means for moving the belt forward.

3. In an ore-feeder for crushing-mills, an open-bottomed hopper, a series of rollers beneath the bottom thereof, the end ones being beyond the ends of the hopper and each provided with a iiange at each end, a belt on said rollers, the edges of which belt extend beyond the sides of the hopper, each edge of the belt being flanged and the portion of the surface between the flanges being provided with protecting-shields, and means for moving the belt forward.

4. In combination, a stamp, a mortar therefor, a wheel and ore-feeding mechanism operatively connected therewith, a member operatively connected to be moved by the movement of the stamp, a way formed in said member adjacent to the periphery of the wheel, a removable facing-piece in said way, inclined inward and downward toward said wheel,and a circular body between said facingpiece and the wheel.

5. In combination, a stamp, amortar therefor, a wheel and ore-feeding mechanism operatively connected therewith, a member operatively connected to be moved by the movement of the stamp, a way formed in said member adjacent to the periphery of theV wheel, a removable facing-piece in said way, inclined inward and downward toward said wheel, and a circular body between said facingpiece and the wheel, said facing-piece having an upper part projecting toward the wheel to act as a retainer for the circular body.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, this 24th day of December, 1902.

CHAS. C. HAMILL.

Witnesses:

JAMES R. TowNsnND, F. M. TowNsEND.

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