Tunnel excavator with S-shaped soil plate

Details Tunnel excavator with S-shaped soil plate Tunnel excavator with S-shaped soil plate

1999-05-26

2001-10-23

Bagnell, David (Department: 3673)

Mining or in situ disintegration of hard material

Hard material disintegrating machines

Rotary cutter head with advance direction coincident or...

C299S059000, C405S138000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06305754

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tunnel excavator for tunneling into the ground, such as in coal mines, and more particularly to such a tunnel excavator which is improved in gathering of the excavated ground for disposal.
2. Description of the Related Art
One type of known tunnel excavators used in excavating ground such as in coal mines generally includes rotary cutters located at a front portion of the excavator for excavating the ground, and a chain or belt conveyor located behind the cutters for conveying the excavated ground toward the rear of the excavator (Japanese Patent Application, Laid-Open Publication (Kokai) No. 9-209693).
However, the conventional tunnel excavators can be improved with respect to their capability of gathering the excavated ground and conveying it to the rear of the excavator. Specifically, there is a need for an improved excavator which can gather and convey the excavated ground in a more efficient manner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tunnel excavator which can gather and convey the excavated ground in an effective way.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tunnel excavator including a pair of horizontally and laterally spaced rotary cutters adapted to rotate in opposite directions for excavating the ground and gathering the excavated ground toward a center area between the rotary cutters, a screw cutter extending generally along and behind the rotary cutters at a lower level and having a plurality of flights spirally arranged in opposite directions toward the center from ends of the screw cutter for gathering the excavated ground or soil toward the center of the screw cutter, a soil plate located behind the screw cutter generally along the screw cutter for pushing the soil as the excavator advances, and an opening formed in the soil plate at a lower center area thereof.
The ground excavated by the oppositely rotating cutters is gathered to a lower front center of the tunnel excavator by the opposite rotations of the cutters. The soil is also gathered to the lower front center of the excavator by the oppositely spiraling flights of the screw cutter. The soil is then pushed by the following soil plate upon advancement of the excavator, but the soil plate has the opening (soil outlet) at its lower center so that the soil is allowed to escape rearward through this opening. A conveyor extending to the rear of the excavator may be provided after the soil outlet to convey the soil rearward.
Since the excavated ground is gathered to the lower front center of the excavator by the rotary cutters and screw cutter and then conveyed to the conveyor through the soil plate opening, gathering and conveying of the excavated ground are performed efficiently.
The soil plate may have an “S” cross section to cover upper and side portions of the screw cutter. Such soil plate will perform as a casing for the screw cutter so that the screw cutter can also perform as an improved screw conveyor. Specifically, capability of the screw cutter as the screw conveyor will be enhanced and therefore efficient gathering of the excavated ground will be realized.
A rotatable soil paddle may be provided above the screw cutter for guiding (or promoting movements of) the soil to the soil plate opening. The soil paddle rotates to convey the soil to the soil plate opening in cooperation with the rotating screw cutter. Accordingly, the soil is gathered and conveyed to the conveyor in an efficient manner.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2823023 (1958-02-01), Hlinsky
patent: 2862700 (1958-12-01), Gonski
patent: 3086761 (1963-04-01), McWhorter
patent: 4226476 (1980-10-01), Fairchild et al.
patent: 4915453 (1990-04-01), Fiske
patent: 5921632 (1999-07-01), LeBegue

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