Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor frame or casing – Adjustable conveyor frame or casing
Patent
1996-11-08
1999-07-20
Bidwell, James R.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor frame or casing
Adjustable conveyor frame or casing
1988615, 1986265, B65G 2102
Patent
active
059245514
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a belt-type continuous conveyor and a conveying system comprising a plurality of similar conveyors.
It is usual practice with all small scale building work, both professional and DIY, to move materials around in buckets and wheel barrows, even though this is laborious, slow and sometimes inconvenient. It is also known to use dump trucks and cranes, but these are not always practical or convenient.
However, GB2271543-A discloses a rigid and lightweight conveyor unit which can be easily handled on site to suit any particular application. This conveyor unit comprises a frame supporting a roller at each end over which a conveyor belt passes in a continuous loop, and one of which is driven by a motor. The frame comprises a box-section structure with upright side walls and lateral upper and lower bed plates over and along which the conveyor belt slides in use. The box-section frame is filled with a rigid structural foam that increases the strength of the structure and serves to encapsulate the power circuit components within the frame. The side walls themselves incorporate longitudinally extending box sections to increase their strength and provide guide rails or feet top and bottom. Furthermore, the side walls extend beyond the bed plates so as to form channels top and bottom in which the conveyor belt runs between the rollers.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved conveyor unit, and another object is to provide a conveyor unit which is especially adapted to convey material upwards at a steep angle or vertically.
According to one aspect, the invention consists in a pair of conveyor units each comprising a frame supporting a roller at each end over which a conveyor belt passes as a continuous loop in a channel defined by side walls of the frame, the frames of the two conveyor units being connected together with respective runs of the conveyor belts opposed face-to-face so that they and the respective side walls along both sides define an enclosed conveying channel, at least one roller of the frames being driven by a motor so that the opposed runs of the conveyor belts move in the same direction to convey material therebetween, and a plurality of projections being provided across the surfaces of the conveyor belts so as to engage and support material vertically within the conveying channel.
Preferably, the two conveyor units are offset longitudinally relative to one another so that one conveyor unit extends downwards beyond the lower end of the other conveyor unit and exposes the run of its conveyor belt at the lower end for the infeed of material against it. Said other conveyor unit then preferably extends upwards beyond the upper end of said one conveyor to ensure that material is discharged from this upper end on that side of the conveyor unit opposite the lower infeed. A hopper may be provided at the lower end and/or upper end to collect material handled by the conveyor units.
The projections on the face of the conveyor belt may take the form of lateral bars or ribs, or pegs or fingers depending upon the material being conveyed. In one embodiment, ribs may extend laterally across the full width of the conveyor belt. In another embodiment, pegs may be evenly distributed across the face of the conveyor belt so as to avoid any significant bunching or alignment of the pegs and to ensure that the vertical lifting action is spread as evenly as possible across the width of the conveying belts and the pick-up action at the lower input end of the conveying channel occurs at a substantially even rate.
The height of the projections above the face of the conveyor belt is selected to give the required vertical lifting action. This height may be selected to avoid overlap or interference between the projections on the runs of the conveyor belts either side of the conveying channel. Alternatively, in some applications it may be preferred that the projections overlap in height so as to better handle particular materials.
Preferab
REFERENCES:
patent: 3581876 (1971-06-01), Keith
patent: 3978971 (1976-09-01), Lonrow et al.
patent: 4013167 (1977-03-01), Bourgeois
patent: 4036355 (1977-07-01), Valli
patent: 4203314 (1980-05-01), Vandlik et al.
patent: 4382471 (1983-05-01), Peterson
patent: 4650067 (1987-03-01), Brule
patent: 4798281 (1989-01-01), Egger
patent: 5131531 (1992-07-01), Chambers
patent: 5178263 (1993-01-01), Kempen
patent: 5186310 (1993-02-01), Winchester
patent: 5435433 (1995-07-01), Jordan et al.
Bidwell James R.
Rako Products Limited
LandOfFree
Conveyors does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Conveyors, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Conveyors will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1314430