Improvements in Conveyors, Elevators, and the like.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 20th May, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 29th Dec., 1892-Accepted. 18th Feb., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Conveyors, Elevators, and the like.
I, GILBERT LITTLE, of 1 Metal Exchange Buildings, Whittington Avenue, in
he City of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in conveyors, elevators, and the like.
The object of my said invention is to improve and simplify the construction
and facilitate the operation of conveyors, elevators and the like appliances for the
transport of coal, grain and other material, and to enable such appliances to be
worked with less noise than that made by apparatus of the kind as heretofore
constructed.
According to my said invention I secure the plates or blades of the conveyor, or
the buckets of the elevator, to a wire rope or to wire ropes passed over suitable
driving and guiding pulleys. The use of wire rope enables the conveyor or elevator
to work very smoothly and with a minimum of noise, but its employment has been
hitherto impracticable owing to the absence of suitable and efficient means for
securing the blades, buckets or other attachments to the rope. Improved means
for this purpose form an important feature of this invention, and will now be
described:
I provide suitable metal attachments, preferably of malleable cast iron, which
comprise a collar or clip divided in the direction of its length and provided with
a pair of arms extending radially therefrom at each side of the division; a suit-
able recess extends through the length of the clip, and the rope is introduced
thereinto. The arms, by the application of sufficient force, are afterwards
brought together so that the rope is gripped and compressed in the recess; the
said arms may be held together to retain their grip by a screw or bolt or by screws
or bolts, passed through both arms, or by bands sprung over the arms, or by other
suitable means.
Upon the said clips I form arms plates or brackets, suitably strengthened when
necessary by ribs or flanges, and to the said arms plates or brackets I rivet, or
otherwise attach, the blades or buckets. To render the grip additionally secure
I may, when necessary, place a packing of brown paper, for instance, or other
suitable material, between the clip and the rope before closing the clip.
I form the collars or clips with bevelled ends, or I may otherwise suitably shape
the ends so that the said collars or clips may "take" the guide pulleys without
injurious shock or noise, and I may form notches or recesses in the driving pulleys
or the other grooved pulleys which the conveyor or elevator travels round, to
receive the said clips and thus to enable the rope to lie closely to the grooved
portion of their circumferences.
Where guide rods or bars or channels are employed, I preferably make the clips
or the arms plates or brackets formed thereon, of such a shape that they will slide
smoothly upon the said rods or bars, or in the channels, or I may so shape them.
that they will engage with the rods, bars or channels, so that in addition to sliding"
thereon or therein, they may serve to prevent or to reduce any vibration of the
conveyor or elevator.
In one example of an improved conveyor constructed according to my invention
two parallel endless ropes are employed, each lying in a vertical plane and passing
over parallel pairs of guide pulleys and over a parallel pair of driving pulleys, each
plate or bucket being attached at its opposite sides or ends to the aforesaid plates
arms or brackets, upon the collars or clips, which in turn are attached to the ropes
in the manner herein before set forth. The trough of sheet metal along which the

page_text: material is conveyed has standards supporting the guide pulleys placed at opposite
sides thereof, and opposite pairs of the said standards are braced together by
suitable tie-rods, and by plates to which the lower ends of the standards are
secured and which pass under the trough which may be secured to the said plates
or to the standards.
I wish it understood that I do not limit this invention to the particular details
or arrangements of parts herein before described, which are given by way of example,
as it is obvious that these may be varied to suit different requirements without
departing from the main features of my invention.
Dated this 20th day of May 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Conveyors, Elevators, and the like.
I, GILBERT LITTLE, of 3 and 4 Lime Street Square, formerly of 1 Metal
Exchange Buildings, Whittington Avenue, both in the County of London, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be perforined to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
My invention relates to improvements in conveyors, elevators, and the like.
The object of my said invention is to improve and simplify the construction and
facilitate the operation of conveyors, elevators, and the like appliances for the
transport of coal, grain and other material, and to enable such appliances to be
worked with less noise than that made by apparatus of the kind as heretofore
constructed.
According to my said invention I sécure the push-plates or blades of the conveyor
or the buckets of the elevator to a rope or ropes, of wire, hemp, or other suitable
material, passed over suitable driving and guiding pulleys. The use of rope
enables the conveyor or elevator to work very smoothly and with a minimum of
noise.
In order that my said invention may be clearly understood I will now proceed to
describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a perspective view of one end of an improved conveyor constructed
according to my invention.
Figure 2 is a cross-section on the linear of Figure 1, and
Figure 3 is a plan of the push plate shown in Figure 2.
Figures 2 and 3 are drawn to a larger scale than Figure 1.
A is a trough, along which the push-plates or blades of the conveyor will propel
the material operated upon; B, B, are standards which support the said trough
and support also guides C, C, provided for a purpose hereinafter set forth.
At each end of the trough and guides is a shaft D which is rotatable in bearings E
carried by suitable supports E.
Fixed upon each said shaft are two wheels F, situated on each side of a pulley D¹,
which, also, is keyed to the shaft. The said wheels F are of a diameter approxi-
mately equal to the vertical distance between the under-side of the guides and the
upper side of the trough.
"
An endless rope G to which the conveyor push-plates are secured in the
manner hereinafter explained is passed round the said pulleys D₁ and is driven
thereby, one of the two shafts D being rotated by any suitable gearing. The said
rope is kept properly stretched by the screws E, which can be operated at any
time to move the bearings E and with them one of the two shafts D, in the usual
and well-known manner. The periphery of each of the pulleys D is suitably
grooved to receive the aforesaid rope and also the portions of the push-plates which
embrace it.

page_text: H are the push-plates or conveyor-blades. On the backs of the same are riveted
strengthening-pieces of malleable cast iron, or other suitable material, which are
extended so as to bear on the edges of the trough A, in order that the push-plates
may not scrape upon the bottom thereof. The said strengthening-pieces are also
provided with blocks or projections I¹ which bear against the inside of the trough
at its upper edge, and against the guides C, as the push-plates travel with the
rope G.
Where the conveyors are of unusual length I may provide rollers, instead of
rubbing-surfaces, on the said extensions, so arranged that they will roll upon the
guides and upon the edges of the trough.
Each strengthening-piece I is formed with a portion I extending therefrom at
right angles to the back of the push-plate. A depression is made in the said
portion to receive the rope G which is clamped between the bottom of the said
depression and the clip J as shown, the said clip being adjusted and retained in
place by screws J' which pass therethrough and into the said portion I⁹.
To render the grip of the clip on the rope additionally secure I may, when
necessary, place a packing of brown paper, for instance, or other suitable material
around the rope before tightening up the clip.
In the operation of the said improved apparatus the plates H are drawn along
the guides C by the rope G and, as the ends of the strengthening-pieces I leave
the said guides they are received upon the peripheries of the wheels F, by which
they are supported until the plates enter the trough A, at which time the said ends
are received upon the edges of the said trough, along which they travel. Owing
to the support afforded to the ends of the strengthening-pieces by the wheels F the
plates are prevented from twisting upon the rope as they descend from the guide
to the trough, or ascend from the trough to the guides, as the case may be.
Instead of employing a single rope in conveyors and elevators constructed
according to iny invention, two or more such ropes can be employed, running upon
suitable pulleys.
As an alternative means for securing the rope to the push-plates or the like I
employ attachments, preferably of malleable cast iron, which comprise a collar or
clip divided in the direction of its length and provided with a pair of arms
extending radially therefrom at each side of the division; a suitable recess extends
through the length of the clip, and the rope is introduced thereinto. The arms, by
the application of sufficient force, are afterwards brought together so that the rope
is gripped and compressed in the recess; the said arms may be held together to
retain their grip by a screw or bolt or by screws or bolts, passed through both arms,
or by bands sprung over the arms, or by other suitable means.
Upon the said
clips I form arms, plates, or brackets, suitably strengthened when necessary by ribs
or flanges, and to the said arms, plates or brackets I rivet or otherwise attach the
push-plates blades or buckets.
may
I form the collars or clips with bevelled ends, or I otherwise suitably shape
the ends so that the said collars or clips may "take" the guide pulleys without
injurious shock or noise. I may so shape the buckets or plates of my improved
conveyors or elevators or attachments thereto, that they will engage with the
guide rods, bars or channels and the trough edges, so that in addition to sliding
thereon or therein they may serve to prevent or to reduce any vibration of the
conveyor or elevator.
In one example of an improved conveyor constructed according to my invention
two parallel endless ropes are employed, each lying in a vertical plane and passing
over parallel pairs of guide pulleys and over a parallel pair of driving pulleys, each.
push-plate or bucket being attached at its opposite sides or ends to the aforesaid.
plates, arms, or brackets upon the collars or clips, which in turn are attached to
the ropes in the manner hereinbefore set forth. The trough of sheet metal, cast
iron, or other material, along which the material is conveyed, has standards
supporting the guide pulleys placed at opposite sides thereof, and opposite pairs of
the said standards are braced together by suitable tie-rods, and by plates to which

page_text: the lower ends of the standards are secured and which pass under the trough, which
may be secured to the said plates or to the standards.
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, clevator, or the like, in which the push-plates or buckets are
secured to a single rope, and supported at the sides by suitable guides, substantially
as hereinbefore described, for the purpose specified.
2. The improved conveyor, substantially as herein before described and illustrated
with reference to the accompanying drawings, for the purpose specified.
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.