Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Endless conveyor
Patent
1995-09-18
1997-09-30
Bidwell, James R.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Endless conveyor
198846, B65G 1554
Patent
active
056718390
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to open webs of the type often referred to as continental webs, which are widely used in agricultural machinery for conveying and cleaning root crops and other farm produce, stone and clode separation etc.
Conventional webs 1, as shown in FIG. 1, generally comprise a plurality of rods or bars 2 mounted in parallel spaced apart relation across two or more parallel spaced apart belts 3. The rods 2 are of rounded section which is flattened 4 at connecting portions 5 which are provided with holes 6 through which extend rivets 7 which also pass through the belts 3 and clamping plates 8 so as to secure the rods 2 to the belts 3.
The above described form of construction is however plagued with numerous weaknesses which result in relatively poor web reliability. Thus for example breakages frequently occur at the junctions between the rounded and flattened parts of the bar, and within the flattened portions at the rivet holes, and the rivets themselves also lose their heads and/or break between their ends. The assembly of the rods and belts and riveting together thereof is relatively cumbersome and labour intensive. In addition the riveting process is susceptible to inaccurate positioning of the rivets and thereby the rods which results in incorrect spacing of the rods. This in turn leads to crop loss through over-sized inter-rod gaps, as well as strain on the rod-web inter-connection at the under-sized inter-rod gaps where the rods tend to be forced apart by the drive sprocket teeth which engage the bars to drive the web, thereby also increasing the risk of premature failure. Having regard to the dramatically increased intensity in the use of agricultural machinery with very large areas of land having to be harvested or cleared of stones and clods, in a short period of time, it will be appreciated that any down-time at all resulting from the abovementioned kind of failures can have serious economic consequences to the farmer or contractor.
It is an object of the present invention to avoid or minimize one of more of the above disadvantages.
The present invention provides an open web suitable for use in conveying and separating bodies such as root crops and stones and clods, which web comprises at least two elongate belts extending parallel to each other in substantially spaced apart relation, and a plurality of rods mounted in parallel spaced apart relation across said belts with connecting portions of said rods secured to said belts, characterized in that said connecting portions are substantially embedded within the body of said belts and secured thereto by bonding of said belts to said connecting portions.
In another aspect the present invention provides a method of manufacture of an open web suitable for use in conveying and separating bodies such as root crops and stones and clods, which method comprises supporting a plurality of elongate rods in regular spaced apart parallel relation in an elongate array and moulding at least two flexible elongate belts so as to extend in parallel spaced apart relation transversely of said rods and around connecting portions of said rods so as to embed said connecting portions within said belts and bond them securely to said belts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a preferred aspect the present invention provides a method of manufacture of an open web suitable for use in conveying and separating bodies such as root crops and stones and clods, which method comprises the steps of:
providing a plurality of elongate rods;
providing at least two elongate trough belt moulds with rod locating means for positioning the rods in regular spaced apart part parallel relation in an elongate array, with connecting portions of the rods supported within the moulds above the base thereof and below a predetermined fill level thereof;
introducing fluid uncured polymeric material into said moulds up to said predetermined fill level;
curing said polymeric material so as to form elongate belts of polymeric material in which are embedded and s
REFERENCES:
patent: 774560 (1904-11-01), Carlson
patent: 2324171 (1943-07-01), Paradise
patent: 2906395 (1959-09-01), Greer
patent: 3015381 (1962-01-01), Mohwinkel
patent: 5168981 (1992-12-01), Ruff
Bidwell James R.
Reekie Manufacturing Limited
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