Belt conveyor wire rope support system for wire rope mounted roller idlers

An intermediate assembly for supporting parallel cables stretched between end frames in a conveyor. The assembly including rigid cross members maintaining the cables a fixed distance apart, first and second posts each connected at its top end to one of the cables and at its bottom end to an anchor, and a third post connected diagonally of the first two posts, all of the posts are adjustable in length and the connection of the first and second posts to the anchors is pivotal to enable movement of the posts transverse to the cables.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Wire rope support stands conventionally shaped like an H with two parallel 
columns with a fixed horizontal attachment sit on floors or prepared flat 
surfaces such as a road bed. In some instances they are attached to 
railroad ties or concrete bases which in turn sit on a prepared flat 
ground surface. These set-ups used in some instances for years are 
considered by some people as temporary because the attachments to the 
ground are not permanent and the stands may drift. The object of this 
invention is for a permanent wire rope support system having good 
attachment to the ground. In addition, the support system being such that 
somewhat level ground need not be leveled for the conveyor and the ground 
need not be disturbed thus the contour of the ground need not be changed, 
and the conveying of material over plant life may be done with a minimum 
amount of trimming or removal of the natural foliage. Such a system is 
desirable to minimize the environmental impact which a conveyor system 
will have for the moving of coal and ores in areas of the United States 
where materials movement must be powered by coal or nuclear power electric 
plants to relieve the present method of petroleum powered vehicles. 
The invented wire rope supports consist of independent singular adjustable 
vertical support columns which are attached at both ends, one end to the 
wire rope and the other end to the ground by means of a suitable anchor or 
other ground attachment. The columns are prevented from side swaying 
transverse to the cables by adjustable length diagonal braces, the bottom 
of which also attach to ground attachments. 
The ground attachments are driven in or embedded or poured in place below 
ground surface structures which can secure a conveyor without settling or 
drifting. The securements would typically be made as sub-surface concrete 
cylinders poured in place in holes bored into the ground. An angle iron 
used as a reinforcement would be cast in and left protruding for 
connecting to a column and or a diagonal brace. The ground attachments 
should be of minimal area and may be at varying ground elevations which 
locations may also have broad tolerances in that the column need not be 
nearly vertical, or may thus lean substantially to miss particular foliage 
or rocks, etc. This system would thus be of minimal installation cost. 
This invented support system divides a conveyor into sections. The typical 
lengths of these sections being from 500 to 1000 feet with wire rope 
support columns between, these being spaced at ten foot intervals and the 
carrying idlers at five foot intervals. These typical sections are ended 
by frames secured to the ground which hold the wire ropes in tension. The 
multiple series arrangement of sections approximately neutralizes the 
shear load at these securements. A typical maximum length for a fabric 
belt conveyor is 3500 feet, and over 15,000 feet for a steel cable 
reinforced belt.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
An overland belt conveyor system has a head discharge end which has a head 
pulley and is the end where power is normally applied to pull the 
conveying belt 1 which is made of a flexible material usually rubber. The 
conveyor has a tail loading end where the material being carried is loaded 
onto the belt 1. The head and tail are not shown in the drawings. Between 
the head and tail the carrying idlers 2 and return idlers 3 are supported 
by two parallel wire ropes 4,5 suspended above the ground 6. The wire 
ropes 4,5 are held in tension from the head to the tail. In a long 
conveyor system these wire ropes 4,5 are not one coninuous rope. Also for 
ease of installation, the wire rope pairs 4,5 are in a series of segments, 
each segment having wire rope 4,5 ends being attached to secured frames 7. 
These frames 7 would usually be steel structures firmly mounted to the 
ground 6 surface being attached to concrete footings 8. These frames 7 
would be of a structured height to establish the proper height of the 
pairs of wire rope 4,5. 
Between the secured frames 7 the wire ropes 4,5 are secured at properly 
spaced, regular intervals. Each rope 4,5 is held up by vertical adjustable 
length attachment columns 9,10. These columns are secured to the wire rope 
4,5 by an attachment 11 and to the ground by another attachment 12 such as 
a bolt to a protruding reinforcement 13 cast in a concrete footing 8 in 
the ground 6. Other types of ground 6 securements 8, would include a 
buried post in the ground or a pile driven into the ground. These ground 6 
securements or concrete footings 8 would normally be sub-surface, i.e. 
below the surface of the ground 6. The columns 9,10 holding up the wire 
ropes 4,5 are in pairs, each in the pair being opposite along the two 
parallel wire ropes 4,5. One of the pairs of the columns 9 holding up one 
of the wire ropes 4 is supported to prevent swaying by an adjustable 
length diagonal brace 14 secured near the top of the column 9 and 
extending in a normal direction from the wire rope 4 to a lower ground 6 
attachment 12 near or to the bottom of the opposing mating column 10 which 
has the other wire rope 5 held up. With one wire rope 4 being held from 
swaying by the brace 14, the other wire rope 5 is prevented from swaying 
by its attachment to the first column 9 thru the horizontal connection of 
carrying idler 2 frame and return idler 3 which established the parallel 
relationship between the two wire ropes 4,5. This will necessitate that 
the upper part of the column 9,10 and the wire rope 4,5 be reasonably 
stiff, i.e. the wire rope 4,5 being in tension. 
By adjusting the lengths of the upright columns 9,10 and the length of the 
elongated diagonal brace 14 correctly, the wire ropes 4,5 will be in their 
correct parallel positions. Note that wire ropes 4,5 have extablished 
positions which will probably not be directly above the ground attachment 
12 location. In other words, the adjustable length attachment columns 9,10 
will actually need be only approximately vertical. The adjustments in the 
rope 4,5 support members 9,10,14 shall have means of fixing 15 such as a 
clamping bolt which shall be secured after adjusting of the members 
9,10,14 to their correct lengths. Before fixing all of the attachments 11, 
12, the uprights and diagonals are capable of pivoting transversely to the 
wire ropes. 
Having the adjustable length diagonal brace 14 between the pairs of columns 
9,10 minimizes the number of concrete footings 8 to two per pair or one 
continuous footing. An alternate approach though not as desireable because 
the footings required become more, would be an external brace 16 attaching 
to an outboard securement 17.