Patent GB-286748-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to distant control for dirigible self-propelled machines
IPC: E02F3/348
Filed: 1926-09-09
Abstract: 286,748. Peale, R., Davies, W. S., and Wallace, W. S. Sept. 9, 1926. Controlling from a distance by fluid pressure.- For controlling a. self-propelled dirigible machine from a distant station by fluid-pressure, a number of separate conduits are arranged between the control-device at the station and devices on the machine for controlling the various operations ineluding backward and forward travel and steering. The invention is described in connection with a machine provided with a shovel for taking up material at the working face in thin coal seams, transporting it, and discharging it by means of a pusher-plate the machine being manoeuvred by driving endless treads at either side independently from the motor through either forward or reverse driving connections. The motor may be driven by compressed air or other fluid supplied from the distant station, and the machine is then particularly suitable for use in gas-laden mines. The hose a, Fig. 13. connecting the machine to the distant control station comprises a central conduit 345 for the air-supply to the motor on the machine and five conduits 312 for the air supply to the clutch-operating devices on the machine. The hose is coiled on a drum 314 at the control' station and uncoils against the pull of a spring 336 as the machine moves away from the station. The conduits 312 are connected with annular passages 311 in one end-plate of the drum, and this plate works in contact with a fixed plate 303 with similar passages connected with the control valves. The air supplies to the motor and to the cylinder operating the clutch for the shovel-discharge mechanism are controlled by stop valves. The supplies to the cylinders operating the four clutches for the propelling mechanism are controlled so that two clutches for driving the same tread oppositely cannot be thrown in together, but either of the clutches for one tread may be thrown in with either of those for the other tread, there being a separate valve device A and B, Fig. 12, for each tread. The two conical plug valves are connected to bevel sectors 371 which may be turned in opposite directions, for driving the treads oppositely by twisting the handle 402 so as to rotate the bevel pinion 401, and they may be turned in the same direction, for driving both treads forwards or backwards, by swinging the handle about the spindle 404. By a combined twisting and swinging movement of the handle, the clutches are set so that one tread is stationary and the other driven forwards or backwards. Alternatively, one or other of the sectors or valves may be locked with the valve in the neutral position, and the handle manipulated to rotate the other valve in either direction, or stop valves may be provided in the supply pipes to the two valves. In a modification, Fig. 21, a spring drum 410 is mounted separately from the control device C and heeps taut a cable connected to the middle point of the hose at 414, the part of the hose between 414 and the control station lying slack as the machine is moved about. Specifications 219,033 and 219,629 are referred to.