Anvil assembly for vertical shaft centrifugal impact crushing machine

An anvil assembly 10 is described for a vertical shaft centrifugal impact crushing machine 11 for increasing the effective utilization of the assembly and for substantially reducing the cost to utilization ratio. The assembly 10 includes a wedge-shaped supporting base member 22 for attaching to a bracket 20 in which the base member 22 is cast of a high strength steel alloy material. The base member 22 has a wide longitudinal female dovetail groove 46 formed in an inclined front face 36 thereof extending between an upstream face 38 and a downstream face 40. The groove 54 has a shallow taper downward from the upstream face 38 to the downstream face 40. The assembly 10 includes a wedge-shaped wear resistant member 24 mountable to the base member 22 for receiving the particulate material from a central turntable. The wear resistant member 24 has a complementary wide male dovetail projection 82 formed on a back face 90 for slidably fitting into the female dovetail groove 46 to releasably secure the wear resistant member 24 to the base member 22. The base member 22 and the wear resistant member 24 have respective shoulder and abutment surfaces 67 and 88 for engaging each other to maintain a loose fit between the dovetail elements.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to vertical shaft centrifugal impact crushing 
machines and more particularly to anvil assemblies for such machines for 
crushing particulate material. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In a vertical shaft centrifugal impact crushing machine, the material is 
fed centrally onto a horizontal turntable that is rotated about a vertical 
axis at a high speed. Impeller shoes are mounted on the turntable causing 
the material to accelerate radially outward at increasing velocities from 
the central portion exiting from the turntable at very high velocities. An 
example of such machine is illustrated in the D. R. Warren U.S. Pat. No. 
3,606,182 granted Sept. 20, 1971. The high velocity material is then 
impacted against anvil assemblies that are mounted about the periphery of 
the turntable. When the material impacts against the stationary anvil 
assemblies, the deacceleration forces cause the material to break into 
smaller pieces thereby effectively crushing the material. 
One of the principal problems with the prior art anvil assemblies was the 
poor utilization of the wear resistant material before replacement was 
required. A large amount of the material of the anvil was unused. 
One of the principal purposes of this invention is to provide an anvil 
assembly that greatly increases the efficiency of the anvil assembly with 
respect to weight and cost. A further objective is to provide an anvil 
assembly in which the amount of usable wear resistant material is greatly 
increased, thereby providing extended life to cost ratio for the anvil 
assemblies. 
These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become 
apparent upon reading the following detailed description of a preferred 
embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 an anvil 
assembly 10 for mounting in a crushing machine generally designated with 
the numeral 11 in FIG. 6 in which the machine 11 has turntable assembly 
12. The turntable assembly 12 has a distribution disc 14 at the central 
portion thereof for receiving the material and for directing the material 
outward along radially oriented angularly spaced shoes 15. The shoes 15 
guide the material radially outward as the turntable assembly 12 is 
rotated at high speeds to accelerate the material and to throw the 
material at high velocities against the anvil assemblies 10 that are 
mounted peripherally about the turntable assembly as illustrated in FIG. 
6. The crushing machine 11 includes a bracket member or ring 18 that 
includes the plurality of angularly spaced bracket plates 20 (FIG. 4) for 
receiving the anvil assembly 10. In this particular configuration, the 
bracket plate 20 includes a mounting notch (not shown) to receive the 
anvil assembly. 
Each anvil assembly 10 includes a supporting base member 22 for mounting 
directly to the bracket plate 20. The base member 22 is wedge-shaped when 
viewed in plan view. The anvil assembly includes a wear resistant member 
24 that is also wedge-shaped when viewed in plan as illustrated in FIG. 1 
and 2 and 6. The wear resistant member 24 receives the thrown material 
from the turntable assembly 12 to cause the material to rapidly 
deaccelerate causing the material to break into smaller particles to 
thereby crush the material. 
The base member 22 includes a back face 26 that is adapted to bear against 
the bracket plate 20. The back face 26 has a stob 28 that extends 
outwardly therefrom to fit within the mounting notch to releasably mount 
the anvil assembly to the mounting bracket 20. The stob 28 has an enlarged 
head 30 to secure the anvil assembly 10 to the bracket plate 20. The base 
member further includes a top face 32, a bottom face 33, a front face 36, 
an upstream side face 38 and a downstream side face 40. The front face 36 
has upper and lower beveled surfaces 42 and 44 communicating with the top 
and bottom faces 32 and 33 respectively as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. 
The front face 36 further includes a wide female dovetail channel 46 that 
extends from the upstream side face 38 to the downstream side face 40 
forming an entrance opening 48 in the upstream face 38 and an opening 50 
(FIG. 2) in the downstream face 40. The wide female dovetail channel 46 
may be referred to as a horizontally oriented dovetail channel. The 
channel 46 forms a channel wall 52 and channel recesses 54 and 55 adjacent 
the top face 32 and the bottom face 33 respectively. The channel recesses 
54 and 55 form dovetail shoulders 57 and 58 with channel opening surfaces 
60 and 61 respectively. The channel 46 provides a nominal width 62 between 
the channel opening surfaces 60 and 61. 
In a preferred embodiment, the dovetail channel 46 is slightly tapered 
inward from the entrance opening 48 to the opening 50. Notches 64 and 65 
are formed in the shoulders 57 and 58 adjacent the upstream side face 38 
to form shoulder end surfaces 67. 
The wear resistant member 24 has a tapered back face 70 that is 
complementary to the tapered front face 36 of base member 22. Member 24 
further includes a top surface 72 and a bottom surface 74. The height of 
the wear resistant member 24 is less than the height of the base member 22 
so that the top face 32 of the base member 22 extends above the top face 
72 of the wear resistant member and the bottom face 33 of the base member 
22 extends below the bottom face 74 of the wear resistant member 24. The 
beveled surfaces 42 and 44 are formed to provide an incline ramp or 
surface from the surfaces 72 and 74 to the surfaces 32 and 33 
respectively. The wear resistant member 24 further includes an upstream 
side face 78 and a downstream side face 80. The back face 70 is at an 
inclined acute angle with respect to a front face 76 in which the acute 
angle is complementary to the tapered acute angle of the front face 36 
with respect to the back face 26 of the base member 22. 
In a preferred embodiment, the front face 76 of the wear resistant member 
24 is substantially parallel with the back face 26 of the base member 22. 
The back face 70 of the wear resistant member 24 is formed at the same 
acute angle, however, in an opposite orientation to the front face 36 of 
the base member 22 as illustrated in FIG. 1 and 6. 
The back face 70 includes a wide male dovetail projection 82 that extends 
substantially horizontal and is parallel to the back face 70 for sliding 
into and loosely fitting within the female dovetail channel 46. The male 
dovetail projection 82 has a slight taper from the upstream side face 78 
to the downstream side face 80. The male dovetail projection 82 has 
recessed channels 84 and 86 (FIG. 2) that extends from the downstream side 
face 80 toward the upstream side face 82 to receive the shoulders 57 and 
58 respectively. The recessed channels 84 and 86 terminate prior to the 
upstream side face 78 forming an end abutment surface or wall 88 (FIG. 2) 
for receiving and engaging the shoulder surface 67 of the base member 22 
to laterally orient the wear resistant member 24 with respect to the base 
member 22. The end abutment surfaces 88 and the shoulder end surfaces 67 
are located so that the wear resistant member 24 is centered with respect 
to the base member 22 to minimize wear of the base member 22 during 
ordinary operation and to maintain a loose fit between the interfitting 
dovetail elements. 
The male dovetail projection 82 has a central ridge 90 formed therein that 
is complementary to and extends into the wall indentation 53 to increase 
the thickness of the wear resistant element 24 and its effective life. 
It should be noted that the nominal width 62 of the dovetail channel 46 is 
greater than 50% of the height of the base member 22 from the top face 32 
to the bottom face 33. Preferably the nominal width 62 is greater than two 
thirds of the height between the top face 32 and 33. 
The anvil assembly 10 having the base member 22 receiving the wear 
resistant member 24 enables the user to dramatically increase the 
utilization of the anvil by merely replacing the wear resistant members 24 
rather than the entire assembly. Additionally, the supporting base member 
22 may be formed of a high strength, high impact cast steel such as a 8630 
steel alloy to minimize breakage and to provide high strengths support; 
whereas the wear resistant member 24 may be formed of a high wear 
resistant material such as a high chromium alloy iron which does not have 
the same strength but has substantially increased wear resistant 
properties. 
The shoulder end surfaces 67 and the abutment surfaces 88 are formed so 
that the male dovetail projection 82 loosely fits within the female 
dovetail channel 46. Because of the taper, the operator may merely tap the 
downstream side face 80 to loosen the wear resistant member 24 from the 
supporting base member 22 to replace the wear resistant member. This 
provides for easy removal and rapid change of the wear resistant members 
to expedite the operation of the machine and to minimize its down time. 
It should be understood that the above described embodiment is simply 
illustrative of the principals of this invention and numerous other 
embodiments may be readily devised without deviating therefrom. Therefore, 
only the following claims are intended to define this invention.