Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor section – Endless conveyor
Patent
1985-12-06
1987-07-21
Valenza, Joseph E.
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor section
Endless conveyor
B65G 1508
Patent
active
046812148
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to conveyors.
The conveyor proposed by this invention can be used for simple conveying and elevating through a range of angles up to and including vertical. It is a closed conveyor in its conveying zone and can be sealed closed in its conveying zone so as to make it waterproof and dustproof. Because it is closed in its conveying zone it can be used to convey materials without exposure to air from one non-oxidizing enviroment to another, which is important with the conveyance of oxidizing materials.
The conveyor could be used in many industries. It is envisaged that the conveyor could handle a range of products such as cement, flue dust, fly ash, gypsum, powdered metals, talcum powder, carbon black, sawdust, soap powders, wood shavings, pellets of rubber and plastics, wheat, rice, peanuts, beans, peas, barley and other discrete materials, starch, soils, clay, coal, sand, ores, and even high viscosity materials such as glues, pastes, honey, fruit concentrates, and inks for printing.
The conveyor as proposed by this invention is an endless belt on a pulley system, the belt is rendered tubular for at least that part extending between a feeding station and a discharge station. Such conveyors are not new, see for example Australian Pat. Nos. 70 669/81 and 75 072/81. The above patented conveyors and other like conveyors have a major disadvantage namely that they cannot convey vertically. It is in this area that the present invention provides an improvement in the art of conveying.
The improvement is achieved by feeding the material to be conveyed into the tubular portion between the feed station and the discharge station is such a way that the tubular portion runs completely full thereby permitting positive conveying at all angles up to and including vertical. The conveyor can also convey around corners thereby allowing a complex conveying system to be threaded through a factory installation.
The invention can be broadly said to comprise a conveyor comprising an endless belt supported on pulley means, means to form said belt as it moves over said pulley means into a closed tube which extends at least between a feed station and a discharge station, said tube comprising a filling section which lies adjacent said feed station and has a direction of movement when the conveyor is operative which is different to the direction of movement of the preceding section of said tube, said feed station includes a feed means which discharges into a feed end of the filling section of said tube at an elevation which is no higher than said feed end, which is above said preceding section and which is located above the position where a line at the angle of repose of material to be conveyed would be tangent to the inner face of the tube at the change of direction between said filling and preceding sections thereof.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a side elevation showing an empty flexible tubular element pulled tightly around the bottom of a pulley,
FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation showing the components of FIG. 1 when the tubular element is filled with material,
FIG. 3 is a sectional side elevation of a typical conveyor according to the invention using a tubular element slit longitudinally,
FIG. 4 is a sectional end view of a slit tubular element showing one form of a closure arrangement to maintain the edges of the element adjacent the slit together,
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing an alternate closure arrangement and
FIG. 6 is a schematic view to illustrates certain theoretical aspects of the invention.
By way of explanation of the basis of the invention, if a tube 1 as shown in FIG. 1 of flexible material was passed around a pulley 2, the tube 1 would flatten out where it passed around the pulley, as indicated by reference number 3.
If the tube 1 was filled with a flowable particulate material 4, such as wheat, prior to the tube passing in the direction of the arrow around the pulley 2, then the material 4
REFERENCES:
patent: 3013499 (1961-12-01), Hubert
patent: 3338383 (1967-08-01), Hashimoto
patent: 3384219 (1968-05-01), Leach
Holmes Jonathan D.
O'Brien Anthony A.
Valenza Joseph E.
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