Patent GB-749127-A (GB)
Title: Automatically operating loading apparatus
IPC: B66C23/36
Filed: 1953-08-20
Abstract: 749,127. Automatic loading systems employing grab buckets. ROMLOV, L. S. H. Aug. 20, 1953 [Aug. 21. 1952; June 27, 1953], No. 23026/53. Classes 78 (3) and 78 (4). A grab carried by a vertically or horizontally swinging jib is opened or closed automatically in accordance with the position of the jib which is moved from one extreme position to the other after operation of the grab. In the construction of Fig. 1 a jib 16 is swung in a vertical plane through gearing which includes a worm 216 driven from a gear 204 which may be driven in one direction by contact of a friction disc 208 with a driving disc 212 and in the other direction by a larger gear 202 fast with a friction disc 206 which may also be engaged with the driving disc 212, the friction discs 202 and 208, with their associated gears, being mounted in a frame 200 slid vertically by an eccentric 239 to engage the proper friction disc with the driving disc 212. From the position illustrated in Fig. 1 the jib 16 is driven anti-clockwise until the opened grab, which is mounted by guides 248, 94, Fig. 2, in a frame 78, rests on a heap of material so that a pulley 95 at the top of the guide rod 94 tightens a wire 98 which is guided along suitable pulleys to control the position of a lever 238, Fig. 1. The lever 238 first acts through a link 236 to remove a pawl 234 from a notch 232 in a member 230 thus permitting a lever 228 to move an eccentrically mounted pulley 30 into engagement with the driving wheel 212 under the influence of a spring 226: the spring 226 is tensioned during the movement of the jib by a lever 224 engaging in a notch 222 in a sliding member 220 connected at 218 to the jib. The pulley 30 is consequently driven to wind a cable which closes the grab and raises it in its guides. The rising motion of the grab causes the pulley 95 further to tension the wire 98 so that the lever 238, Fig. 1, acts through the eccentric 239 to raise the frame 200 so that the friction wheel 208 is brought into engagement with the driving wheel 212 to return the jib to its initial position. At the beginning of this movement an abutment 260 on the lever 238 pushes the member 220 out of engagement with the lever 224 so that the tension in the spring 226 is relieved and the winch 30 is drawn by a spring 240 into engagement with a brake 242 by which the grab is held closed. At the end of the return motion of the jib an abutment 248 acts through a link 246 to withdraw the brake block 242 from the winch 30 so that the grab is allowed to fall slightly from the frame 78 and then open. The initial fall of the grab permits the pulley 95 to slacken the wire 98 so that the lever 238 is moved to place the frame 200 in a position in which the drive to the jib is interrupted. At the end of the opening movement of the grab a chain 254 on a cross-head of the grab releases a pawl 252 engaging a notch 250 in the guide rod 248 so that the grab is allowed to fall further from the frame 78 to cause the lever 238 to move the frame 200 to replace the friction wheel 208 in engagement with the driving wheel 212 so that the jib starts on a further cycle. As indicated in Fig. 2 the carriage 78 is mounted to move along a beam suspended from the ends of two parallel members forming the jib 16. Means for driving the carriage 78 along the beam may be automatically operated intermittently to vary the position at which material is picked up and deposited. The apparatus may be mounted on a vehicle and may be driven from the engine of the vehicle or from the engine of a tractor drawing it. The jib may telescope. The jib may be swung by a trolley 410, Fig. 3, travelling on a track 402 supported by wheels 406 from tracks 400 on a vehicle 10.