Abstract:
A remote mining system utilizes extensible belt conveyor supported by belt support units and is suitable for operation in very low mining seams. The launch platform contains sufficient storage of conveyor belt for deep penetration into a very low seam. The mining machine is retrieved onto the platform but remains connected to the extensible belt conveyor at all times.

Description:
CONTINUITY DATA  
       [0001]     Priority is hereby claimed by provisional application 60/595,241 filed on Jun. 17, 2005. 
     
    
     Field of the Invention  
       [0002]     The present invention relates generally to mining and specifically to remote mining of bedded mineral deposits.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Known methods of remote mining in bedded mineral deposits such as coal seams employ a mining machine that excavates mine openings to some distance from the seam exposure on the surface and means of conveying are required to transport the excavated material to the surface. In most of the present systems, conveying machines consisting of multiple conveyors are advanced into the mine openings from the surface. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,112,111, 5,232,269 and 5,261,729 to Addington at al. disclose an assembly of conveyors and a mining machine advanced into the seam without interrupting the flow of aggregate material by separate means designed to pull at the forward end and push at the rearward end. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,397 to Marshall at al. discloses an assembly of conveyors interconnected with a mining machine and a driving device located outside the seam and consisting of rack and pinion or, alternately, reciprocating cylinders, linear tracks, linear or rotary drives, chains, cables or other mechanical devices. The U.S. Pat. 5,692,807 to Zimmerman discloses a guidance assembly for extending and retracting an assembly of conveyors in and out of the seam. The U.S. Pat. 3,497,055 to Oslakovic at al. discloses a multi-unit train of conveyors having a self-propelled unit at each end coupled to intermediate units, each end unit being capable of towing the intermediate units. The U.S. Pat. 2,826,402 to Alspaugh at al. discloses a train of wheeled conveyor sections pulled into the mine opening and pushed out of it by a self-propelled mining machine. Buckling of the train is avoided by the grooves made by the mining machine in the floor, said grooves spaced the same distance as the treads of the wheels carrying the conveyor sections. The U.S. Pat. 6,220,670 to Mraz discloses a train of self-propelled conveying units capable of advancing or retreating in the seam on its own power. The U.S. Pat. 5,299,674 to Cusitar discloses belt support cars for an extensible belt conveyor system which are connected by horizontally pivoting joints and being movable from tangential direction to an axial position for the support of the upper and the lower strands of the extensible conveyor.  
         [0004]     In the present systems that utilize multi-unit trains of conveyors, the interconnected combination of the mining machine and a conveying assembly comprising a plurality of conveyors is advanced into the seam from a launch vehicle located on the outside. When the present mining hole is completed and the train of conveying units retreats from the seam, it is gradually disassembled and the mining machine is moved onto the launch. The launch with the mining machine then moves to the next mining hole. As the conveying assembly consists of a plurality of conveyor units, each of the individual conveyors requires a substantial headroom space for transfer of material from each conveyor unit to the next. This makes it impractical to design a belt conveyor system that would fit into seams that are less than 34 inches thick. It would be therefore desirable to utilize an endless extensible belt conveyor supported by belt support units. Such system would allow mining seams that are, at minimum, 24 inches thick or less. However, in the system proposed by Cusitar Pat. No. 5,299,674, the belt support cars would have to move to the side without entering the platform and the mining machine would have to move on its own power to the next mining hole on the highwall mining bench. The soft and muddy highwall mining bench would make such a system impractical in most mining environments. Even on exceptionally firm highwall mining bench, handling of the belt support car assembly and the mining machine on the highwall mining bench would require excessive time and manpower. Such arrangement would also require disconnecting and reconnecting the mining machine with the extensible belt conveyor, which would further reduce productivity of the operation. It would be therefore desirable to utilize an endless belt conveyor supported by belt support units that could be assembled and disassembled similarly as the present conveyor units. It would be also desirable to move the mining machine onto the launch utilizing an endless extensible belt conveyor and move the launch as required with the mining machine on it. And, it would be desirable for the mining machine to remain connected to the extensible belt conveyor at all times.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for connecting the mining machine to the endless extensible belt conveyor without the need of disconnecting the belt from the mining machine during the repositioning of the highwall mining launch.  
         [0006]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for retreating or advancing the mining machine on the launch without disconnecting the belt from the mining machine.  
         [0007]     Another object of the present invention is a method and apparatus of aligning the belt with the mining machine while retreating or advancing the mining machine on the launch and using the same apparatus for steering the mining machine while advancing the mining machine into the mining hole.  
         [0008]     Another object of the present invention is a method and apparatus of adding and removing belt support on the launch.  
         [0009]     Another object of the present invention is a method and apparatus of advancing the mining machine into and retrieving it from the mining hole. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a plan view of the highwall mining launch according to the preferred embodiment of the present invetion with the mining entering the mining hole.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a cross sectional view taken along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 , with the mining machine located on the launch before it enters the mining hole.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a cross sectional view taken along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 , with the mining machine located at the start of the mining hole.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view taken along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 , with the mining machine located at the start of the mining hole and the first belt support structure unit inserted onto the launch.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view taken along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 , with the mining machine located at the start of the mining hole and the first belt support structure unit connected to the mining machine.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view taken along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 , with two belt support structure units connected to the mining machine.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  is a side view of the mining machine and the belt support structure units in the mining hole.  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  is a side view of the belt support structure unit.  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  is a view of the belt support structure taken along the line B-B of  FIG. 8  with a cantilever support bracket in a closed position.  
         [0019]      FIG. 10  is a view of the belt support structure taken along the line B-B of  FIG. 8  with a cantilever support bracket in an open position. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 7 , a highwall mining launch  1  operates in the vicinity of a highwall  2  containing a seam  3  on a highwall mining bench  4 . A mining machine  5  is advanced from the launch  1  into the seam  3 . The launch  1  includes the launch deck  6 , means of propel  7 , an assembly of belt storage magazines  8 , a hydraulic power unit  21 , an electrical substation  22 , a power cable winder  23 , a water hose winder  24  and a control cable winder  24 . An endless conveyor belt  8  is wound trough a belt drive  9  around deflection rollers  16 ,  17 ,  17   a  and  17   b,  through the belt storage unit assembly, around the tail roller  32  and through telescopic idlers  13 . The tail roller  32  is mounted within a tail piece  18  connected to the mining machine  5  with cylinders  19 . When a belt support unit  20  is inserted onto the lauch deck  6 , the upper belt  8   a  runs over the telescopic idlers  13  and the lower belt  8   b  runs through the belt support unit  20 .  
         [0021]     When the mining machine  5  is retrieved from the seam  3  onto the launch  1 , the belt  8  remains wound around the tail roller  32  and the telescopic idlers  13  are contracted at the far end of the rail  14 . When the launch  1  moves to a new mining position, pusher plates  26   a  on the tail piece  18  are engaged by pushers  25  connected to endless chains  27  engaged with the chain drive sprockets  28  and the tail sprockets  29 . The mining machine  5  is moved toward the highwall  2  and begins excavating in the seam  3 . The excavated material is transferred from the mining machine  5  into the tail unit  18 . As the mining machine  5  advances into the seam  3 , the telescopic idlers  13  are spaced along the path of the upper belt  8   a.  The hydraulic cylinders  19  that connect the tail unit  18  with the mining machine  5  are actuated as required to steer the mining machine  5 .  
         [0022]     When the mining machine  5  clears the launch deck  6 , the belt deflection roller  17   b  is lifted and this lifts the lower belt  8   b  to provide room for the insertion of the belt support unit  20  onto the launch deck  6 . After the belt support unit  20  is inserted onto the launch deck  6 , pusher bars  26  on the belt support unit  20  are engaged by pushers  25  connected to endless chains  27  engaged with the chain drive sprockets  28  and the tail sprockets  29 . The deflection roller  17   b  is lowered to allow the passage of the belt support unit  20 , which is pushed toward the tail unit  18  and connected to the tail unit  18  with connectors  35 .  
         [0023]     As the mining machine  5  is advanced into the mining hole  3   a  within the seam  3  by forward motion of pushers  25 , the cylinders  19  connecting the tail unit  18  with the mining machine  5  are actuated as required to steer the mining machine  5  in the desired direction. The upper belt  8   a  gradually settles onto the top of the belt support unit  20 .  
         [0024]     When the mining machine  5  is advanced into the seam  3  by the length of one belt support unit, the belt deflection roller  17   b  lifts the bottom belt  8   b,  another belt support unit  20  is inserted onto the launch deck  6  and connected to the previous belt support unit  20  with the connectors  35 .  
         [0025]     Referring to  FIGS. 8 through 10 , the belt support unit  20  consists of the frame  20   a,  the cantilever beams  20   b,  main beams  20   c  and support wheels  36 . The cantilever beams  20   b  carry troughing belt idlers  33  and the frame  20   a  carries return belt idlers  34 . The structural pockets  37  provide means for handling the belt support unit  20  with a fork lift or a front-end loader. During the insertion of the belt support unit  20  onto the launch deck  6 , the swingable support brackets  38  are lifted out of the way in order to insert the bottom belt  8   b  between the frame  20   a  and the cantilever beams  20   b  and than re-engaged in order to support the upper cantilever beams  20   b  during the operation. The upper belt  8   a  is supported by the troughnig idlers  33  mounted on the cantilever beams  20   b  and the lower belt  8   b  is supported by the return idlers  34 .  
         [0026]     The foregoing preferred specific embodiment has been shown and described for the purpose of illustrating the functional and structural principles of this invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.