Patent GB-643003-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in loading machines
IPC: B65G41/00
Filed: 1944-03-25
Abstract: 643,003. Endless conveyers. JOY MANUFACTURING CO. March 25, 1944, No. 5588. [Class 78 (i)] [Also in Groups XXXI and XXXII] Relates to machines for loading material, especially at the working face in a coal mine to deliver the coal to mine cars or conveyers for transport to the surface, of the kind comprising a traction base with traction mechanism, a gathering head at the front end of the machine provided with gathering arm mechanism including one or more power-driven oscillating-reciprocating gathering arms, and an endless loading conveyer extending rearwardly from the gathering head and to which the gathering arms feed the material. According to the invention a motor for driving both the traction mechanism and the gathering arm mechanism transmits its driving power through a gear- and-clutch assembly comprising three clutch-members all coupled to and driven by the motor, the first clutch-member being driven at low speed, the third clutch-member being driven at relatively high speed in an opposite direction to the first member, a fourth clutchmember coupled to the traction mechanism and engageable with the first and third clutch-members selectively, and a fifth clutchmember coupled to the gathering arm mechanism and engageable with the second clutch-member independently, the arrangement being such that engagement between the third and fourth clutch-members gives a rapid drive to the traction mechanism, engagement between the first and fourth clutchmembers gives a slow drive to the traction mechanism and engagement between 'the second and fifth members drives the gathering arm mechanism. In the embodiment shown, the loader comprises an endless-chain conveyer 20, Figs. 1 and 2, and a gathering head 16 of the kind described in U.S.A. Specification 1,306,064, mounted on a frame 11 comprising front and rear sections pivotally connected about an axis 11a and being mounted on driving-wheels 13 and steering-wheels 14. The conveyer is driven by a sprocket 25 having its shaft 26 connected through gearing including a clutch with the driving-shaft of an electric motor 39. Rollers 41, 42 hold the chain 20 in engagement with the sprocket 25. Reversible electric motors 60, Figs. 1, 5, are provided for selectively driving the wheels 13 and the driving-shaft of the gathering arms 50 or for driving both the wheels and the shaft at the same time. Each motor drives through pinion gearing 61, 62 and worm gearing 65, 66, Fig. 6, a clutch element 67 loosely mounted on a shaft 68, and through bevel gearing 72, 73 a clutch element 74 loosely mounted on a shaft 75 and connected by a sprocket chain 78 to a clutch element 79 loosely mounted on the shaft 68. A clutch 80 splined to the shaft 75 may be engaged with the clutch element 74 to drive the shaft 75 and through gearing 76, 77 drive the shaft 55 of the gathering arms. The wheels 13 are normally driven through chain and sprocket gearing 69, 70, 71 by the shaft 68 connected to the clutch element 67 by the clutch element 82. Should the gathering arms become overloaded as the result of a fall of coal over the front end of the machine, the clutch element 82 may be thrown into engagement with clutch element 79 so that the shaft 68 may be rotated at a high speed and in the opposite direction and the loader backed from underneath the coal. The steering- wheels 14, Figs. 2a, 2b, are each supported by an axle 15a projecting from a cast member 15b having a collar 15c slidable on a shaft 15d which is supported in the legs 15e, 15f of a U-bracket 15g secured to the frame 11. The lower end of the member 15b is connected to a piston 15h operating in a cylinder 15k, the bottom of which is secured to a plate 15l pivoted on the bottom of the shaft 15d. An extension 15n of the plate 15l is connected by rods 15o, 15p to a piston 15r which is operated in a cylinder 15s by fluidpressure to effect steering of the wheels. The frame 11 may be raised relatively to the wheels 14 by admitting fluid under pressure to the top of the cylinder 15k, the frame pivoting about the axle 12 to adjust the elevation of the discharge end of the loader. A spring 15t in the cylinder 15k serves as a spring suspension for the frame 11. The gathering head 16 may be raised or lowered by jacks 17.