Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Conveyor section folds to facilitate transportation or...
Patent
1990-10-01
1992-02-11
Valenza, Joseph E.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Conveyor section folds to facilitate transportation or...
198313, 1988613, B65G 2110
Patent
active
050869116
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention concerns a linkage arrangement for a foldable framework which is inteded for use with troughed-belt conveyors.
Troughed-belt conveyors are commonly used to transport and to elevate bulk materials such as coal, soil, gravel and mineral ores, and the plant used for processing such bulk materials commonly incorporates such troughed-belt conveyors. When a processing plant which contains one or more troughed-belt conveyors is intended to be capable of being readily movable from place to place either upon a site or between different sites, it is frequently found that size of the conveyors renders the plant unwieldy and difficult or impossible to move, especially if the plant is to be moved along public roads where there are legal limitations to the maximum overall dimensions of vehicles. Accordingly, there is a need for types of troughed-belt conveyor which are readily foldable.
Hitherto, manufacturers of portable processing plant have used various means for constructing foldable frameworks for troughed-belt conveyors, each more or less suited to the particular item of plant into which it was intended to be incorporated, and typically employing a telescopic or a hinged portion or a means for folding the conveyor sideways. However, such conveyors are often awkward or dangerous to fold and deploy, and they frequently require assistance from a loading shovel or a crane.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a foldable framework for a troughed-belt conveyor which is exceptionally simple and safe to fold and to deploy.
It is a second object of the invention to provide a foldable framework which does not necessarily require assistance from an operative or an external lifting means when folding or deploying.
According to the invention there is provided an endless conveyor having a foldable framework and which comprises:
a supporting structure;
a tail conveyor framework which is hingedly connected at one end to the supporting structure;
a head conveyor framework hingedly connected to the other end of the tail conveyor framework;
tail and head conveyor drums mounted on the tail and head conveyor frameworks respectively, and around which an endless belt is taken; and,
at least one supporting link hingedly connected at one end to the supporting structure and at its other end to the head conveyor framework at a point adjacent to the hinged connection of the tail conveyor framework to the head conveyor framework;
in which the supporting structure, the tail conveyor framework, the head conveyor framework and the supporting link form a four-bar type linkage having proportions arranged so that when the two conveyor frameworks are aligned end-to-end, they are constrained to slope upwardly; and an actuator is coupled with the linkage and is operable to alter the angular relationships between adjacent members of the linkage in order to adjust the foldable structure between an operative condition of the endless conveyor and a folded inoperative position suitable for transport of the endless conveyor.
Preferably, the arrangement is such that the tail conveyor framework and the head conveyor framework slope upwardly at an angle of between 10.degree. and 30.degree. to the horizontal when in the operative position.
The supporting link which is hingedly connected at one end to the supporting framework and at its other end to the head conveyor framework may be arranged to operate as a compression strut or as a tensile tie, depending upon whether its mounting on the supporting structure is below or above the hinged connection of the tail conveyor framework to the supporting structure respectively.
Conveniently, the endless belt which is taken around the tail and head conveyor drums is of a type suitable to enable the endless conveyor of the invention to operate as a "troughed-belt" conveyor.
The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following descriptions of embodiments thereof, given by way of example only and without prejudice to the invention, and to the following illustration
REFERENCES:
patent: 275453 (1883-04-01), Anderson
patent: 311137 (1885-01-01), Miller
patent: 311317 (1885-01-01), Hasselman
patent: 1441851 (1923-01-01), Hartley
patent: 3051295 (1962-08-01), Moy
patent: 4591432 (1986-05-01), Hartl
patent: 5044484 (1991-09-01), Douglas
Extec Screens and Crushers Limited
Valenza Joseph E.
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