DEVICE TO MOVE SKIPS IN A SCRAP CHARGING ZONE

Abstract: Device to move skips in a scrap charging zone providing at least one charging station (3l) and a station (32) to press the scrap within the skip (25), the skip (25) being borne by an independent support with legs (24) in the charging station (3l) and being supported on a cradle in the press station (32) and comprising containment housings (26) in diametrically opposite positions, the median vertical plane of the press (27) being substantially normal to the lengthwise axis of movement of the skip (25), the device being of a trolley type (l0) with two side frame members (ll), each of which comprises an upper bar (l2) able to move vertically (l3) at least between an inactive position and a working position, the upper bars (l2) cooperating with the containment housings (26). Method to move skips in a scrap charging zone providing at least one charging station (3l) and a station (32) to press the scrap within the skip (25), the skip (25) being borne by an independent support with legs (24) in the charging station (3l) and being supported on a cradle in the press station (32) and comprising containment housings (26) laterally for the opening of lower hinged discharge flaps of the skip, the me­ dian vertical plane of the press (27) being substantially normal to the lengthwise axis of movement of the skip (25), a skip (25) full of scrap being lifted and withdrawn from its support with legs (24) by a trolley device (l0) and taken by such device from the charging station (3l) or from a parking station (33) for skips and placed on a cradle comprised in cooperation with a press (27) for the pressing of scrap.

Description: This invention concerns a device to move skips in the scrap charging zone and also concerns a method, arising from the employment of such device, for the movement of skips. Steelworks have for some time now been practising a method of charging skips with scrap which enables the skips to be filled to the maximum extent possible, the purpose being to speed up the operations of charging smelting furnaces. To obtain this, a press for scrap has been adopted which enables the scrap to be compacted when it has been introduced into the skips. To make the compaction action possible, a cradle has also been pre-arranged which accommodates the base of the skips, holds them and positions them. In this description the word "cradle" covers a very wide range of supports for skips undergoing press action. Such cradle serves also to move the skips within a given limited scope. During introduction of the scrap the skip is normally borne on an appropriate support or pallet with legs, which also serves normally for the weighing of the charge. Such support with legs enables the skip to be moved along long tracts by means of appropriate vehicles having substant­ ially one single surface with a vertically movable platform. Such vehicles are introduced between the legs of the support, raise their platform, lift the support with the skip thereupon and move this assemblage wherever it is required. At the required position such vehicles lower their platform, let the legs of the support rest on the ground and depart to move another skip. Appropriate cranes then transfer the skip from its support to a cradle, which then conveys the skip below the press. This is the system used now and requires the presence of a crane of a great capacity to move the whole. Moreover, the known system makes it necessary to move the skip under the press by means of a cradle. This entails a considerable immobilization of working equipment and therefore of finance and also very long working times. When one single press has to serve six or more areas employed in the preparation of skips, such working times become very long with long waiting queues due to the transfer times. US 4,470,580 discloses a press for scrap with a two-­ dimensional press die and a means to position and support the skip. The means to position and support the skip is a movable carriage with means to transfer the carriage itself, which runs on its own runways. US 3,4l6,436 discloses a scrap press cooperating with at least one charging and discharging station, the skip holding the scrap being moved on guides from that station to the press and back; the press is equipped with an extractor jack. US 4,568,236 discloses a trailer with a movable platform to move heavy loads on roads and highways. EP 0.035.568 discloses a press to make briquettes, in which a carriage holding a mould cooperates with the press itself. By means of this invention the present applicant has over­ come the problems linked to the known art and has obtained many advantages. The invention enables the yard employed for the movement of skips to be kept free of cranes or other transport means; it enables very short handling times to be obtained and permits the required skip to be conveyed to the press zone and to be pressed as needed; it enables the working cycle to be simpli­ fied in the zone of charging and pressing the skip. According to the invention a trolley device with two side members is provided. Such trolley device comprises two side frame members with vertically movable bars able to cooperate with the base of containment housings which contain, for instance, the mechanisms for opening the lower hinged discharge flaps of the skip. This enables the trolley device to be introduced below the skip and at the same time to contain a support with legs between its two side frame members, to raise the movable bars until they lift the skip by thrusting against the above containment housings and then to move to the place where the skip is to be deposited, thereafter repeating the operation in the reverse order. According to the invention a cradle remains stationary under the press and the trolley device handles the skip. According to the invention the trolley device may comprise rubber wheels for its movement or wheels suitable for running on rails. Moreover, the movement of the trolley may be carried out by independent means or by cables, that is to say, a pair of endless cables on the trolley device serve to move it to-and-­ fro. The invention is therefore embodied with a device to move skips in a scrap charging zone providing at least one charging station and a station to press the scrap within the skip, the skip being borne by an independent support with legs in the charging station and being supported on a cradle in the press station and comprising containment housings in diametrically opposite positions, the median vertical plane of the press being substantially normal to the lengthwise axis of movement of the skip, the device being characterized in that it is of a trolley type with two side frame members, each of which com­ prises an upper bar able to move vertically at least between an inactive position and a working position, the upper bars cooperating with the containment housings. The invention is also obtained with a method to move skips in a scrap charging zone providing at least one charging station and a station to press the scrap within the skip, the skip being borne by an independent support with legs in the charging station and being supported on a cradle in the press station and comprising containment housings laterally for the opening of lower hinged discharge flaps of the skip, the medi­ an vertical plane of the press being substantially normal to the lengthwise axis of movement of the skip, the method being characterized in that a skip full of scrap is lifted and withdrawn from its support with legs by a trolley device and taken by such device from the charging station or from a parking station for skips and placed on a cradle comprised in cooperation with a press for the pressing of scrap. The attached figures, which are given as a non-restrictive example, show the following:- Fig.l shows a device according to the invention; Fig.2 shows a variant of the device of Fig.l; Fig.3 gives a side view of the method of working of the device; Fig.4 gives a view from above of the zone for the handling of scrap and preparation of skips. A trolley device l0 comprises two side frame members ll on which are included two vertically movable bars l2. The vertical movement of such bars l2 is obtained with jacks 35 contained, for instance, in the side frame members ll. The bars l2 can therefore be raised and lowered according to the arrows l3, thus taking up an inactive position when they are lowered and a working position when they are raised. When the bars l2 are lowered, the trolley device l0 can pass beneath containment housings 26 of skips 25 when the skips 25 are rested on supports with legs 24, the housings 26 protruding substantially from the skips. When the bars l2 are raised and lift the containment housings 26, the skips 25, being integrally fixed to the hous­ ings 26, are lifted from the supports with legs 24. The trolley device l0 comprises a main frame member l5 which connects the two side frame members ll, thus stiffening the trolley device l0. The trolley device l0 comprises also wheels l7 and a control and driving cab l6. The inner width l9 of the trolley device l0 is greater than the outer width of the support with legs 24, the support having a substantially square floor plan, so that the trolley device l0 can pass completely with its side members ll running outside the sides of the support 24 since the height 36 of the main frame member l5 is greater than the height of the support 24. The outer width of the trolley device l0 is smaller than the inner width of a press 27, so that the trolley device l0 can run between side frame members of the press 27. The trolley device l0 can move to-and-fro as required according to the arrows l4, and the inclusion of the cab l6 facilitates operations. In a variant the side frame members ll of the trolley may be arranged so that their height l8 is less than the height between the support surface of the support with legs 24 and the lower surface of the mechanism containment housings 26. In such a variant the side frame members ll will comprise advantageously a portal shaped as an inverted "U" and having a free vertical height 36 greater than the height of the support with legs 24 and a free width l9 greater than the width of the support 24 (see Fig.2), so that the support with legs 24 borne on a vehicle 30 can pass between the legs of the side frame members l8 of the trolley l0. In the variant of Fig.2, therefore, the support with legs 24 can be displaced sideways according to the arrows 37 and thus can be removed crosswise through the side frame members ll of the trolley by a vehicle 30 having a movable platform. According to the invention a press 27 is provided substant­ ially on the same axis as the skip charging station 3l. In an area for the charging of skips 25 various charging stations 3l may be comprised and be equipped with a support with legs 24 cooperating with a weighing machine 23. The supports with legs 24 are able to move and can be moved anywhere; they may be stationary in the charging stations 3l alone. Each of the charging stations 3l cooperates with a pit 2l for scrap and is equipped with charging grabs 22. When a skip 25 in the charging station 3l has been charged with the required value of scrap, it is taken by a trolley device l0, lifted and conveyed to a press station 32, where it is placed on an appropriate cradle. In a variant the skip 25 is delivered in the press station 32 to a lifting system 29 of a type protected by a parallel application filed by the present applicant. Such lifting system 29 cooperates with eyelets 38 provided at the sides or top of the skip 25. When the scrap in the skip 25 supported on the cradle of the press 27 has been pressed, the skip 25 is taken once more by the trolley device l0 and moved thereby to a parking station 33 for skips, where a support with legs 24 is ready to accommodate it. As soon as the skip 25 with its scrap pressed is placed on the support with legs 24 of the parking station, a vehicle 30 arrives to withdraw the support 24 together with the skip 25. According to the invention the support with legs 24 may already be ready in the parking station 33. In the variant of the device l0 according to Fig.2, when the device l0 is in the parking station 33, the vehicle 30 holding the support 24 passes through the device l0 crosswise and has the support 24 ready and positioned for delivery of skips 25. So as to be able to free the parking station 33, the device l0 then moves to a parking station 34 whenever it includes the main frame member l5. When a skip 25 arrives at the parking station 33, it may be full of scrap to be pressed or may be empty so as to replace a skip 25 already present in the skip charging station 3l or already pressed and removed. If the trolley device l0 is of the type of the variant of Fig.2, a support 24 freed of a skip may be removed by the vehicle 30 even if the device l0 is in the parking station 33. In a further variant the device l0 may not comprise the main frame member l5; in such an event the two side frame members ll are self-aligning in relation to each other.

Claims: l - Device to move skips in a scrap charging zone providing at least one charging station (3l) and a station (32) to press the scrap within the skip (25), the skip (25) being borne by an independent support with legs (24) in the charging station (3l) and being supported on a cradle in the press station (32) and comprising containment housings (26) in diametrically op­ posite positions, the median vertical plane of the press (27) being substantially normal to the lengthwise axis of movement of the skip (25),the device being characterized in that it is of a trolley type (l0) with two side frame members (ll), each of which comprises an upper bar (l2) able to move vertically (l3) at least between an inactive position and a working position, the upper bars (l2) cooperating with the containment housings (26). 2 - Device (l0) as claimed in Claim l, in which the highest point of the movable bars (l2) in their inactive position is lower than the lower resting surface of the containment housings (26) when the skip (25) is positioned on the support with legs (24). 3 - Device (l0) as claimed in Claim l or 2, in which the distance (l9) between the inner sides of the side frame members (ll) is greater than the width of the support with legs (24). 4 - Device (l0) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the side frame members (ll) are shaped as an inverted "U". 5 - Device (l0) as claimed in Claims l and 4, in which the inner sides of the legs of each side frame member (ll) are separated by a distance (l9) greater than the width of the support with legs (24). 6 - Device (l0) as claimed in Claims l and 4 or 5, in which the height of the lower side (36) of the two side frame members (ll) is greater than the height of the support with legs (24). 7 - Device (l0) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the height (l8) of the movable bar (l2) plus the upper cross piece of the side frame member (ll) is less than the distance between the upper surface of the support with legs (24) and the lower resting base of the containment housings (26). 8 - Device (l0) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, which comprises a main frame member (l5) between the two side frame members (ll). 9 - Device (l0) as claimed in any claim hereinbefore, in which the main frame member (l5) has a minimum height from the ground (36) greater than the height of the support with legs (24). l0 - Method to move skips in a scrap charging zone providing at least one charging station (3l) and a station (32) to press the scrap within the skip (25), the skip (25) being borne by an independent support with legs (24) in the charging station (3l) and being supported on a cradle in the press station (32) and comprising containment housings (26) laterally for the opening of lower hinged discharge flaps of the skip, the median vertical plane of the press (27) being substantially normal to the lengthwise axis of movement of the skip (25), the method being characterized in that a skip (25) full of scrap is lifted and withdrawn from its support with legs (24) by a trolley device (l0) and taken by such device from the charging station (3l) or from a parking station (33) for skips and placed on a cradle comprised in cooperation with a press (27) for the pressing of scrap. ll - Method as claimed in Claim l0, in which, when the scrap has been pressed in the skip (25), the latter is lifted and taken by the trolley device (l0) and delivered to the support with legs (24) present in the skip parking station (33). l2 - Method as claimed in Claim 9 or l0, in which an empty skip (25) in the parking station (33) is lifted and taken from its support with legs (24) by the trolley device (l0) and delivered to a support with legs (24) present in the charging station (3l).

Inventors: NONINI, GEREMIA
Applicants: DANIELI & C. OFFICINE MECCANICHE S.P.A.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B30B9
IPC codes: B30B9, B60P1