Patent GB-824053-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to transporting apparatus, for example for underground mining
IPC: E21F13/02
Filed: 1957-07-04
Abstract: 824,053. Articulated transporter carriages for use in mines; endless conveyers. HEIDEMANN, W. July 4, 1957 [July 5, 1956], No. 21221/57. Classes 78 (1) and 78 (4). In an articulated transporter for use in mines of the kind composed of wheeled sections 7a, 7c articulated together to form a continuous trough in which travels an endless scraper chain 9c, the section 7a at the loading end of the transporter includes a reciprocable stuffing member adapted to engage material fed into the trough and move it along the trough to compact it. The material is fed to the trough by a swinging shovel loader (not shown) which deposits it on an endless scraper chain 11 travelling in a trough 15 secured to the section 7a. The material is delivered by the chain 11 into the front end of the section 7c where it is engaged by the stuffing member. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 12, the stuffing member is a push plate 36 hinged at 35a, 35b to a cross-member 34 slidable longitudinally within the section 7c. The member 34 forms a stop to prevent rearward swinging of the plate 36 beyond the vertical depending position. Guide shoes 37a, 37b formed on the ends of the member 34 engage guideways in the sides of the section 7c to guide the sliding movement. Reciprocating movement of the member 34 is effected by a pair of pneumatic cylinders 32a, 32b arranged side-by-side and having their piston-rods 33a, 33b anchored to the member 34 by a cross-rod 40 which is trapped between the front face of member 34 and a cover-plate, 41 secured to the latter. A clamp 44 is also secured across the piston-rods so that they move together. A plate 43 extends from member 34 over the cylinders 32 to protect them from falling material. Air under pressure is alternately supplied to opposite ends of the cylinders 32 via a shuttle valve 76, Fig. 12, whose piston 76a is reversed at each end of the stroke by air fed to its opposite ends under the control of respective valves 72, 73, the former being operated by the member 34 at the end of its rearward movement and the latter being operated by a projection 83 on the plate 43 at the end of the forward movement of the member 34. In operation, the plate 36 engages the falling material during each forward movement and compacts it, and pivots during the rearward movement to trail over the material which fell behind it during the forward movement. A tensioning device is also provided for the scraper chain 9c comprising an hydraulic cylinder 56 whose piston-rod 55 is connected via a plate spring 54 to a lever 52 carrying the tension drum 25. The cylinder 56 is supplied with hydraulic fluid by a hand pump 57 and is relieved of pressure by manipulating a valve when it is desired to move the conveyer. In a second embodiment, Figs. 7 and 13, the stuffing member is a plunger formed by the crossmember 34 together with upper and lower plates 64 having lateral flanges which are guided on rollers 65 journalled on stub axles fixed in the sides of the section 7c. The plunger slides in an aperture formed between upper and lower wall portions 66 and 50. In this embodiment the control of the supply of air to opposite ends of the cylinders 32 is effected through a manually-operated reversing valve 93 having three positions of its operating arm 92, 92a, 92b. In the intermediate position 92a both ends of the cylinders are sealed off so that the plunger cannot move. A modified form of tensioning apparatus for the scraper chain 9 consists in an hydraulic cylinder 28 the piston of which is connected by a length of chain with a carriage 26 on which the tension wheel 25 is mounted. Hydraulic fluid is supplied to the cylinder 28 by a gear pump 30 under control of a manuallyoperated pressure relief valve 31.