Patent GB-920781-A (GB)
Title: Mineral mining machine
IPC: E21C27/24
Filed: 1960-01-01
Abstract: 920,781. Mineral-mining machines. LEENORSE CO. Jan. 1, 1960 [March 2, 1959], No. 31/60. Class 68 (1). A mining-machine comprises a conveyer 10 which drags mined mineral up a sloping platform and away to a rear discharge position, two cutter jibs 57 arranged symmetrically relatively to a middle line of the conveyer, positioned between the upper and lower surfaces of the body of the machine, and swingable horizontally about vertical axes, and telescopic rotary disc cutter means rotatable about vertical axes at the outer ends of the jibs, and arms 28 having oscillatory horizontal movements beneath each cutter jib to sweep cut mineral into the reach of the conveyer. The machine is manoeuvred by crawler tracks 5 and comprises a gathering section B pivoted at 14a to the main chassis section A and adjustable relatively thereto by jacks 40, and a discharge section C pivoted at 126 to the section A for vertical swinging adjustment by jacks 127 and pivoted at 129 for horizontal swinging by jacks 130. The cutting is effected by simultaneous inward swinging, by jacks 119, of the cutter arms 57, the crawlers 5 being operated to feed the cutters into the coal at the end of the simultaneous outward movement of the arms. The cutter head at the end of each cutter arm, and the gathering arm at that side of the machine, are driven by a motor 6A or 6B, through universal couplings 71, 72, shaft 70, gearing 69, 68, 66, 65 and a shaft 48 which is splined and keyed to a chain-cutter sprocket 74 and to a crank 47 having a crank-pin 45. The gathering arms 28 having two sockets 31, 32 in which blades 34a, 34b are secured by pivot pins 35 to permit slight vertical accommodations of the blades. A limb 36 is slotted to receive a stationary pin and sleeve 26, so that when the crank-pin 45 rotates the blades 34a, 34b move in the dottedline orbits P1, P2 to sweep the coal towards the drag-conveyer 10. The limbs 36 also act to kick coal through gaps 49 in the side plates of the conveyer, into the return run space of the conveyer, from which it is raised to the active zone at the front end of the conveyer ramp. In Fig. 5, the cutter arm 57 has an adjustable end part 76, adjustment being permitted by elongated slots 60 and a screw 77a. The chain cutter 114 passes around a sprocket 94 and drives top, bottom and intermediate rotary cutters 95, 105, 108, and breaker bits 100, 110, 112 arranged between them. The top cutter 95 is on a shaft 92 splined for vertical movement in the sleeve 83, and hydraulic pressure is admitted at 85 to below a piston on the lower end of the shaft 92, to adjust the operative height of the cutter 95. In a modification, the extension 76 is pivoted to the arm 57 so that it is swung upwards or downwards by a jack to adjust the operative height of the whole of the cutters. The conveyer chain 10 is driven by an hydraulic motor coupled to the sprocket shaft 135 and the tension of the chain is maintained by a jockey 138 urged to tighten the chain by a jack 139 which is supplied with pressure fluid by a pump driven by the conveyer. The motors 6A, 6B drive pumps for supplying the other jacks, including jacks 144 for raising the chassis if repairs are to be effected. The machine being designed for seams of low vertical thickness, i.e. 28 to 40 inches, the operator lies or crouches beside a control panel 157.