Improvements in the Process of and Apparatus for Conveying Material.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 21st Sept., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Process of and Apparatus for Conveying
Material.
I JAMES MAPES DODGE, of McKean Avenue and Clapier Street, Germantown
in the County of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania one of the 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 relates to improvements in the art of conveying materials, and
more particularly of conveyance by impact of air or other fluid under pressure and
the objects of the invention are to minimize friction and wear, and to effect the
conveyance of material at a moderate expense of power, by means of simple and
durable apparatus, applicable where other forms of conveyor cannot be used to
advantage, if at all.
The invention consists in subjecting the materials to be conveyed, in an
unconfined state, to the action, at successive stages in their path, of air or other
fluid under pressure, in a manner substantially as hereinafter described, whereby
the said fluid exercises upon the material being conveyed, a lifting or buoying
action, and may, at the same time, if desired, be made to propel the material.
The invention further consists of certain mechanism hereinafter fully set forth, for
carrying out my improved method of conveying materials.
I will now describe with reference to the accompanying drawings one form of
apparatus for carrying the invention into practice, and in which air, freely escaping
from pressure, is caused to simultaneously propel by impact in an open conveyor in the
desired direction, and to tend to lift or buoy the material being conveyed. It will
be apparent, however, that the invention may be carried out by means of many
different forms of apparatus, and it will be understood that I do not, in this
application, desire to confine myself to any particular form or construction of
mechanism.
Figure 1 is a plan view, and
Figure 2 a longitudinal sectional view of an apparatus for carrying out my
invention.
Figure 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-3, Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view, drawn to an enlarged scale, of a portion
of the conveying bed or trough;
Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view, through the body of the trough or bed,
on the lines 5-5, Figure 4;
Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view of a modified form of conveying trough
or bed;
Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a conveying trough or bed
made of a series of underlying plates ;
Figure 8 is another modification illustrating a trough made of a series of
overlapping plates;
Figure 9 is a view showing a plain bed with a series of air nozzles above
the bed;
Figure 10 is a view illustrating a conveying trough provided with a hood
or roof;

page_text: Figure, is a transverse section of the conveyor shown in Figure 10;
Figures 12 and 13 are longitudinal sectional views showing apparatus in which
the material is conveyed by mechanical means and buoyed by the action of air
escaping from pressure.
Referring in the first instance to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, A is an open
conveyor trough or bed, preferably.concaved, as shown, and underneath this trongh
or bed is a conductor B, for air under pressure. Air is forced through this
conductor by means of an ordinary fan blower BI, and in the conductor is a valve b,
by which this blast or current of air may be regulated.
At a suitable point above the conveyor bed or trough, istarhopper.C, to contain
coal, or other material to be conveyed; this hopper having a chute or pipe C¹, in
which is a valve c whereby the flow of material from the hopper to the trough may
be regulated.
In the bottom of the trough A, is a series of slots or perforations a forming
communications between the air conductor B, and the trough or bed A, so that air
forced into the conductor in the direction of the arrow 1, will escape through said
slots or perforations, as indicated by the arrows 2, and will act upon material on
the trough or bed to impel it in the desired direction, and at the same time tend to
lift or buoy it.
The slots or perforations a a which are more clearly shown in the enlarged
views, Figures 4 and 5, may be formed by simply making transverse slits in the
bottom of the trough, at suitable intervals, and depressing the metal at one edge of
these slits, thereby forming channels or passages a¹, through which the fluid under
pressure, from the fluid conductor B, is forced out in the direction of the arrows.
The fluid conductor B is in the present instance larger at the inlet end than at the
opposite end.
have obtained good results by using apparatus such as above described, and
having a conveying trough one foot wide, with slots in the bottom thereof three
inches long, one inch apart, and presenting openings for the escape of air, of a
width of one-sixteenth of an inch at the widest point, and the motive fluid
conductor being one foot in diameter at the inlet end. With apparatus of these
proportions about fifteen tons of material, such as pea coal, may be conveyed, per
hour, with a working air pressure of about two ounces.
The conveying trough or bed being open, the air, after acting upon the materials
to be conveyed, is free to escape and to reassume its normal condition. It will be
understood, however, that to allow of this escape of the air, after acting upon the
material, it is not essential that the trough or bed should be absolutely open. For
example, the conveying trough or bed may, without materially interfering with
the desired action, be provided with a roof or hood, as illustrated in Figures 10
and 11, so as to prevent the escape, over the sides, of light materials, and at the
same time allowing for the free escape of air
By means of apparatus such as above described, material such as ashes or hard
rock may be conveyed without undue wear of the conveying trough or bed, and in
the conveyance of hot materials, such as ashes, the air blasts will act, to a certain
extent, to cool the material during its passage through the conveyor.
For the conveyance of delicate or friable materials, my improved apparatus
presents the advantage of reduced frictional contact between the conveyor and
the materials being conveyed, which latter are therefore subjected, during the
conveyance, to the least possible liability to be broken or otherwise injured.
My invention may be used to advantage for the conveyance of materials to
places which would not be accessible, using any of the ordinary forms of
mechanical conveyors known to me, and in the handling of materials such as coal,
the invention may be utilised to effect the automatic piling of the material at any
desired point, or points. For example, the coal may be carried to the end of the
trough or bed, and allowed to form a pile from that point outward by gravity, this
pile being increased in length by simply increasing the strength of the air blast

page_text: and causing it to project the coal to a greater distance, and in this way; a long
pile may be made without adjustment of the trough or bed; or the reverse of this
method may be employed, the coal being first pilel at a given extreme point, this
pile may be built inward by a gradual decrease of the air blasts, until the pile has
reached the edge of the trough or bed.
The shape of the conveyor trough or bed, and the character and angle of the:
slots or apertures therein, may be varied in accordance with the varying
characters of the materials to be conveyed, and with the function or functions
which it is desired that the air, or other fluid under pressure, shall perform:
In some cases, the air or other fluid under pressure, may be used simply for the
purpose of exerting the lifting or buoying action upon the material, being conveyed.
by other known. means or processes, as, for example, by means of a flight con-
veyor, shown in Figure 12, or screw conveyor,. as shown in Figure 13, in which
case the direction of the air blasts or currents will, of course, be such as to bring
about simply this buoying or lifting action, or by a simple change in the direction
of the air blasts or currents, the latter may be caused to at once lift or buoy the
material, and at the same time act in conjunction with other means or power to
impel it in the desired direction.
In Figures 6 to 11 of the drawings, various modifications in the construction and
arrangement of the conveyor bed and motive fluid conductor are shown..
In Figure 7, I have shown a conveyor trough composed of a series of under-
lapping plates d, secured to the casing forming the air conductor, each plate having
a flat surface d' and a bevelled surface d, the bevelled surface extends under the
flat surface of the adjoining plate, as clearly shown in Figures 7 and 10, and the
plates are so spaced as to form air passages a: by this arrangement the bottom of
the conveyor trough is practically level.
In Figure 8, a series of plain plates d', stepped so as to form outlets for the
motive fluid are shown.
In Figure 9, I have illustrated a plain bed or trough with a motive fluid
conductor B mounted above the bed, and provided with a series of nozzles b¹ so
inclined as to direct a blast of air on to the bed. The air thus projected will
pass under the material and buoy it and at the same time propel it forward.
In the device shewn in Figures 10 and 11, the conveyor bed consists of a series
of cast sections a¹ separated by apertures, whose edges are inclined so as to form
inclined passages for the escape of the air, and the cast sections may be made so
as to be adjustable towards or from each other, according to the character of
material to be conveyed, or according as it be desired to change the angle at
which the motive fluid shall enter the trough or bed.
While I have shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the invention especially
for conveying granular material, such as coal and ashes, it will be understood that
the apparatus will convey other materials, such as loose boards, sheet metal plates
boxes, packages, liquids etc. The conveyor being designed for the special purpose
it is intended.
It will also be understood that instead of a fan blower as herein illustrated
and described, various other known forms of blast apparatus or accumulators may
be employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. As an improvement in the art of conveying material, which consists in feeding
the material to the conveyor, leaving it unconfined and subjecting it, at successive
intervals in its path, to the lifting or buoying action of air or other fluid escaping
from pressure, substantially as herein before described.
2. The process herein described of conveying material, the said process consisting
in feeding the material to the conveyor, leaving it unconfined and impelling the

page_text: material by the impact of fluid escaping from pressure at successive intervals in
its path, substantially as hereinbefore described.
3. The combination of an open conveyor bed, with a conductor for fluid under
pressure, the said conductor having a series of openings at different points along
the bed so that the material will be impelled by the impact of fluid which freely
escapes from the openings, substantially as hereinbefore described.
4. The combination in a conveyor, of the open bed having openings therein, a
conductor for fluid under pressure extending along the bed and communicating
with the said openings so that the material will be impelled along the bed by the
fluid which freely escapes through the openings, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
5. The combination in a conveyor, of the open bed having a series of openings
inclined in the direction of travel along the bed, a conductor for fluid under
pressure communicating with the said openings so that the material will be impelled
along the bed by the impact of fluid which freely escapes from the openings,
substantially as herein before described.
6. The combination in a conveyor, of the open trough having a series of openings
inclined in the direction of travel of the material along the trough, a conductor for
fluid under pressure communicating with the said openings so that the material will
be impelled along the trough by the fluid which freely escapes from the openings,
the conductor being larger at the inlet end than at the opposite end, substantially
as hereinbefore described.
7. The combination in a conveyor, of a bed composed of one or more plates
having slots therein, the plate at one side of each slot being depressed, with a
conductor for air so arranged in respect to the bed that fluid under pressure in the
conductor will escape through the openings in the bed, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
8. The combination in a conveyor, of the trough, a conductor for fluid under
pressure, the said trough having passages therein communicating with the conductor,
and a hood enclosing the trough, substantially as herein before described.
9. As a means for conveying material, the combination of a conveyor bed having
a series of openings along the length thereof, means for forcing fluid under
pressure through the said openings so that the Huid escaping from the openings
will impel the material by impact along the conveyor, and means for regulating
the pressure of such fluid so as to vary the blasts, whereby the length of the pile
of material at the discharge end of the conveyor may be increased, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
10. The combination in a conveyor, of a bed formed of a series of plates each
plate having a portion extending under a portion of the adjoining plate and forming
a passage for the fluid, with a fluid conductor connected to the bed and communi-
cating with the said passage, substantially as hereinbefore described.
11. The combination in a conveyor, of a series of sections, each section having a
flat surface and a bevelled surface, the bevelled surface of one section extending
under the flat surface of the adjoining section forming inclined passages, with a
conductor for fluid under pressure, the said conductor communicating with the
passages between the sections so that the material will be impelled by the impact
of fluid which freely escapes from the openings in the bottom of the bed, substantially
as herein before described.
12. The process herein described of conveying material, the said process
consisting in feeding the material to the bed, conveying it by mechanical means,
supporting it throughout its whole passage along the bed by the lifting or buoying
action of air or other fluid escaping from pressure, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
13. The combination in a conveyor, of the bed, a conductor for fluid under
pressure, the said bed having openings in its bottom communicating with the
conductor, with a mechanical conveyor for the material, the said material being

page_text: supported throughout its whole passage along the conveyor by the lifting action of
the air or other fluid escaping from the conductor through the openings in the bed,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 20th day of August 1895.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agentɛ.