Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Endless conveyor
Patent
1994-08-09
1995-11-14
Bidwell, James R.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Endless conveyor
198812, 4141422, B65G 1512
Patent
active
054658306
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a conveyor for feeding out or feeding in goods within an elongated area, said conveyor comprising a tower movable along a path located at a long side of the elongated area, an arm mounted on the tower and having a free end which extends into said area, and a feed-out device or a feed-in device mounted at the free end of the arm.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART
Conveyors of this type are, among other things, used for loading and unloading ships moored alongside the quay, in which case the elongated area is the ship's hold. Such conveyors are also used for conveying coal to and from coal depots, in which case the depot, of course, is the elongated area. In both instances, use is commonly made of a first conveyor for conveying the goods along a long side of the area, e.g. the quay, and from the first conveyor the goods is reloaded to a second conveyor which transports it up through the tower and out to the feed-out device located at the free end of arm. The reloading site then has to move together with the tower, which is difficult and involves the risk of dusting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to obviate the inconveniences of reloading when conveying goods as described above.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by a conveyor which is of the above type and which is characterised by a single endless conveyor belt which is closed but can be opened for feeding out or feeding in the goods, belt-guiding means for guiding the conveyor belt from a first terminal point of the path, along this and up to the tower, up along the tower and out along the arm to the feed-out device or the feed-in device, back along the arm and the tower down to the path, further along this to the second terminal point thereof, and in a return path back to the first terminal point, and a feed-in or feed-out station arranged at one of the terminal points or at a point along the return path.
According to the invention, use is thus made of a single conveying belt operating along a long side of the area, thence along the tower and the arm to, and from, the free end of the arm. The reloading hitherto required has thus been completely eliminated.
When the tower is moved along the path, the belt on one side of the tower is thus lifted into the tower, while the belt on the other side of the tower is laid out from the tower. To perform this in the simplest possible manner, the belt-guiding means disposed along the path between the terminal points conveniently only comprise supporting rollers arranged beneath the conveyor belt. If the belt employed would need e.g. pressure rollers on the upper side to remain closed, it must be possible to remove the rollers to permit lifting the belt.
To drive the conveyor belt, use is conveniently made of a terminal roller at one or both of the terminal points of the path. The belt is thus not driven along the arm, for which reason the weight of the arm can be kept low.
The driving force required of the terminal roller or rollers varies according to the location of the tower along the path. In order to reduce this variation, a driven belt can be arranged in frictional contact with the conveyor belt in the area where this changes from moving up to the tower to moving up along the tower.
Further, adjusting means may be arranged to minimise the tractive forces acting on the belt by varying the distribution of the driving forces applied according to the position of the tower along the path. These adjusting means might also operate depending on other factors that may influence the distribution of tractive forces.
The conveyor belt employed is advantageously of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,787, hereby incorporated by reference. When used for conveying certain types of goods, e.g. cement, the conveyor belt must be of the type described in WO 92/12076, hereby incorporated by reference.
A belt of the type described in PCT/SE92/00733, also incorporated by reference, is especially advantageous, requir
REFERENCES:
patent: 4565285 (1986-01-01), Koistinen
patent: 4732523 (1988-03-01), Antikainen et al.
patent: 5060787 (1991-10-01), Tingskog
patent: 5320471 (1994-06-01), Gratgoff
patent: 5351810 (1994-10-01), Tingskog
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