Improvements in Conveyer Trough Bottoms.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 25th Apr., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Conveyer Trough Bottoms.
I, JAMES MAPES DODGE, of Clapier Street and McKean Avenue, Germantown,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Mechanical Engineer; do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My invention has for its object to provide the bottoms of troughs for conveyors
with means for delivering material at various points as required and consists
primarily in constructing the trough bottom of a ribbon or strip of sheet metal
suitably supported at the sides and arranged to be adjusted lengthwise of the
conveyor, so that the end of the ribbon or a discharge opening in the body of the
ribbon, can be moved back and forth to suit the required location for the discharge
of the material. The metal ribbon may be composed of comparatively short strips
of metal connected together as hereinafter described so as to form the long ribbon
required and in combination with the longitudinal adjustment of the discharge
opening a shifting discharge spout or chute may be provided as hereinafter more
fully described.
In the construction of conveyors running over a series of bins, where it is desired
to discharge the material into different bins or compartments at different times, as
for instance in storing coal, ores and the like of different sizes or grades it has been
customary to arrange slides or gates of various kinds in the bottom of the trough.
and adapted to be opened and closed as occasion demanded. These were however,
permanent in their location and a separate slide or gate was required for each
discharge point. The expense and inconvenience of the arrangement often led to
the use of but one discharge opening for each bin, and considerable labor, in so
called "trimming" by hand, became necessary when it was desired to fill the bins
above the angle of repose of the pile of material as discharged.
A discharge opening or end the position of which is readily adjustable lengthwise
of the conveyor according to my invention dispenses with much of the necessity for
hand trimming" in bins or the holds of vessels, as the discharge can be made
Successively at different locations in the length of the bin or hold covered by the
conveyor.
The employment of this device is especially desirable in cases where the material
would be injured commercially or otherwise, by breakage, and where care is
required to be taken to prevent as far as possible an abrupt fall. In such cases
arrangements are often made for forming the initial pile in the bin by sliding the
material down an incline and then the balance of the material can be deposited on
the inclined sides of the pile, which in turn can be extended lengthwise of the bin
by successive readjustment of the position of the discharge opening.
It is
The conveying machinery is supported by a truss structure of a piling apparatus
for coal or the like and the metal ribbon, supported at the sides on ledges in this
structure acts as an antifriction plate interposed between the charges of coals or
the like and the pile over which they are carried up to the receding apex.
evident that a ready adjustability of this intervening plate is very desirable, and in
the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one of the methods of adjustinent,
which I have successfully employed:
To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates, to understand
and practice the same I will now proceed to describe my invention with reference
to the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 of which is a longitudinal cross section through the middle of a double
row of bins provided with a reversible conveyor located over the partition between.

page_text: the rows, the said conveyor trough being provided with a steel ribbon bottom
according to my invention and a tilting discharge plate suspended under the opening
in the ribbon for the purpose of directing at will the discharge into the bins on
either side of the partition. This figure also illustrates hoppers at both ends of the
partition for feeding the material to the conveyor, to be carried thereby to the
discharge opening.
Figure 2 is a cross section on the line of Figure 1, looking in the direction of
the arrow and showing the suspended tilting discharge plate and the hopper at the
left hand end of Figure 1, all being illustrated on an enlarged. scale.
Figure 3 illustrates one method of forming the long steel ribbon out of shorter
strips showing the ends lapped and rivetted together, also illustrating details of
the discharge opening in the ribbon.
Figure 4 shows on an enlarged scale, the depression made in the metal, to
accomodate the head of the rivet.
Figure 5 is a cross section of Figure 4 on the line y y ;
Figure 6 is a longitudinal cross section of a portion of a sheer truss coal piling
apparatus provided with my steel ribbon as an intervening anti-friction plate;
Figure 7 is a top view of a portion of Figure 6, illustrating the ribbon with its
supports and the devices by which it is moved in the truss structure;
Figure 8 shows on an enlarged scale the ribbon and its relations to the supporting
sides, where it enters the truss structure.
Figure 9 shows details of arrangements for adjusting the location of the end of
the ribbon lengthwise of the truss leg, it being a cross section similar to that
shown in Figure 6, but on a larger scale and including no machinery, but that
used in adjusting the ribbon.
•
Figures 10 and 11 illustrate different positions of the ribbon relative to the
inclined sides which support the conveyor flights when the ribbon is not extended
the full length of the truss leg, Figure 10 showing the ribbon resting on ledges
formed by turning the inner edges of the inclined sides of the truss for the purpose,
and Figure 11 showing the ribbon resting on ledges which are supported by the
truss structure underneath the inner edges of the inclined sides.
C is the conveyor chain or rope, F F are the laterally projecting flights or
scrapers attached to the same, W W are wheels for the chain or rope, B B are
bins on the front side of the partition in Figure 1, B' is a bin on the rear side of
the partition and shown at the right hand side of Figure 2, H is a hopper dis-
charging into the conveyor, R is the sheet metal ribbon, D D are drums around
which the ribbon passes, or is wound, are rods extending across the opening in
the ribbon, used to support the flights, when they run in troughs, having vertical
sides as in Figure 2, and arranged to be oblique to the line of travel of the flights
to distribute the wear on them, 1 are hangers suspended from the ribbon to carrying
tilting discharge plate 2, 3 are rivets for fastening the ends of the strips together
in forming the ribbon.
F.
In Figures 6, 7 and 9 the framework for connecting the adjusting rope (or chain) 5
with the end of the ribbon is marked 4; 6 is the small sheave around which the
rope 5 passes, at or near the apex of the truss, 7 is the winding mechanism for
operating the rope 5; 8 is the mechanism for operating the winding drum D which
carries the ribbon; 9 are the inclined sides which support the conveyor flights,
10 are the ledges on which the ribbon rests.
In Figures 1, 2 and 3 I have illustrated an endless ribbon R with a discharge
opening in the body of it, the ribbon passing around the drums D at each end of
the conveyor which drums are adapted to be revolved in either direction, so as to
move the position of the discharge opening in the band longitudinally in either
direction. A discharge opening in the body of the ribbon is particularly applicable
to use with a reversible conveyor:
In Figures 6, 7 and 9 I have shown the ribbon as being wound around a drum, a
portion thereof being extended under the conveyor, which discharges its load at
the end of the ribbon instead of through an opening in the band, provision being

page_text: made for unwinding and paying out the ribbon and winding it up again, as desired,
according to the required location of the discharge end of the ribbon. The
discharge over the end of the ribbon is applicable to conveyors which are not
reversible, the end of the ribbon in such a case serving as a discharge opening, and
hereinafter so designated.
These two general forms are of course capable of various modifications in the
details of arrangement, using at will one or two ribbons, and one or two drums, the
drums being located at convenient points for the particular purpose, whether at, or
near the ends of the conveyor, or so placed that the adjustable ribbon bottom shall
be used for only a portion of the length of the conveyor.
The ribbon is preferably supported on strips or ledges at the sides, or may be
carried on rollers suitably located for the purpose, but whatever support is used
arrangements should always be made for leaving room enough crosswise and
lengthwise for the proper discharge of the material. Various forms of inclined
tilting or swivelling discharge chutes, plates or spouts may be attached to the
ribbon, or arranged to co-operate with it for shifting the discharge into whatever
direction may be desired, thus affording lateral as well as longitudinal adjustment to
the final discharge of the material and reducing still more the necessity for "hand
trimming."
The conveying machinery may rest directly ou the ribbon bottom, as in
Figures 2 and 10, or it may be supported in any other suitable manner, for instance
as shown in Figure 11.
Various kinds of conveyors may be used with the adjustable trough bottom,
without departing from my invention. The ribbon can be made in one continuous
strip or a number of short strips may be welded together. A cheap method which
I have devised for connecting together by rivets the ends of the ribbon or a number
of short strips, is shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5 and consists in providing depressions
in the metal sufficiently deep to bring the tops of rivets below the surface of the
surrounding metal, the result being that I save them from wear and prevent the
flights catching on them. Where the conveyor is to be reversible, the end of
the strip, which laps over its neighbour, should be bevelled off, somewhat as shown
in Figure 5, to prevent the flights catching at the joint when motion is reversed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A conveyor having a sheet metal bottom adjustable longitudinally, to vary
the location of the discharge opening provided therein substantially as hereinbefore
described..
2. In a storage conveyor, a flexible sheet metal bottom adjustable longitudinally
to vary the discharge point as the pile accumulates substantially as herein before
described.
3. An adjustable conveyor bottom composed of sheets of flexible metal, provided
with depressions in the sheets at the joints to protect the rivets or bolts from wear
substantially as herein before described.
4. A longitudinally adjustable conveyor trough bottom provided with a shifting
discharge plate or chute substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore
described.
Dated thin outh day of tobory 1001
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.