US1833102A - Assigitoe - Google Patents

Description

" N 1 31- JAM. AMSDEN 1,833,102

MATERIAL HANDDING APPARATUS Filed July 50', 1950. 2 Sheets-Shee'x 1 INVENTOR. 7ay M, Awdm BY A TTORNEY. J.

Patented Nov. 24, 1931 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE JAY M. Amsnnmor snrABnLA, oHIo, ASSIGNOR TO'THE M. A. HANNA COMPANY, on

. CLEVELAND, on o, A conroBA'rIoN or 01110 7 'MATERIAL HANDLING APPARATUS Application filed July 30,

My invention relates .to ,material handling apparatus, and more especially to apparatus adapted to be employed for. the purpose of conveying material such as coaland the like from an elevated bin or chute into the hold of a boat or to any other bin or receiving means. The usual practice in loading coal on to boats, as is wellknown to those familiaiwith the prior art, is toprovide a hoist- 0 ing means or elevating means for the railroad cars so that such cars may be brought to a level considerably higher than the deck of the boat which is to receive the coal. The cars are then tipped over todischarge the coal therefrominto a bin or chute, or such cars may be positioned over such bin or chute and the bottoms thereof opened to permit the coal to .run therefrom. The bin or chute which'receives the coal or other material from the railroad cars and the like is pro;

vided with a chute which leads the coal down- Wardly into the hold of the boat. The vertical distancethrough which the coal'travels is usually great enough so that 'thecoal, if permitted to run freely into the hold of the boat, will gain suflicient velocity so that when striking the bottom of the hold' or the pile of coal therein,'su'ch incoming coal will be broken up and pulverized. This breaking up and pulverizationfof some orall of the coal is usually referred to as degradation. Some means must, therefore, be provided to control the flow of thefcoal'into the boat so that degradation will be eliminated. i I g Any means which is employed for the purpose of controlling the flow of the coal or other material must effect the proper reduction in the velocity of the down-flowing'coal before the same is permitted to be, discharged onto the hold bottom, without incidentally effecting a degradationfwhich would be as harmful as if the coal were permitted to flow .freely into the boat." 1

In order that the flow. control meansfor the coal may eifectivel prevent all degradation, it is necessary 1; at'suchcoal be permitted torfiow as nearly fas possible in a, straight line, ,due to; the fact that when the flow of coal is caused to' sharply change as 1930. Serial No. 471,706.

course the mutual impact of the chunks will cause a severe degradation which is in many instances of a degree equal to the degradation resulting when the coal is permitted to flow freely into the boat. 7 VVhenthe coal or material delivery chute is introduced through the hatch Way of a boat some means must be provided in association with the delivery end of such chute so that as the coal .piles up in the hold and approaches the hatchway, some of the coal ma be projected laterally so as to completely fi l the hold under the deck. This lateral direction of the line of flow of the material is commonly referred to as trimming, which is indicative of the. true nature of the opera tion,'i. e., trimming the pile of coal so that thesame will conform to the bin in which it-is contained.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide ameans for controlling the flow of coal as the. same is introduced to the hold of a boat'or other bin which will prevent all degradation of the material due to the above. enumeratedcauses and others, whieh'means shall also be capable of being employed as a trimmer for thepile of coal without effecting a'degradation of the material during such trimming operation.

A To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of. the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the annexed drawings and'the following description setting forth in detail certain mechanism'embodying the invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but one of various mechanical forms in which the principleof the invention may be used.

In said annexeddrawings e h Fig. 1- is a fragmentary elevational view of a 'materialdelivery chute showing in asso-' ciation therewith the apparatus comprising my invention; Fig. 2 is an elevational view illustrating the apparatus disclosed in Fig. 1 with the several elements thereof so positioned as to effect a laterally directed flowfof the material discharged fromthe material chute; Fig. 3 is a side elevationalview ofrthe apparatus illustrated in Fig. l and Fig. 4 is a part sectional plan view of the apparatus, taken on a plane substantially indicated by the line 41- 1 in Fig. 3.

Referring more specifically to the draw ings, the material chute 1 herein illustrated as being substantially rectangular in form, may assume any desired cross sectional form, depending upon the use to which such chute is put and further depending upon numerous other reasons which may influence the size or shape of such chute, it being noted that the principles of my invention are equally applicable to any form of material chute,

The material chute 1, as above indicated, leads the material such as coal from an overhead bin or other means adapted to receive the material to be conveyed into the boat or like means; The upper bin from which the chute 1 leads and any other material handling equipment usually employed in connection with such bin forms no part of this invention and, consequently, is not illustrated or described.

The chute 1 has an open bottom 2 through which the material may freely pass into the flow controlling apparatus comprising my invention, which is generally indicated by the ordinal '3. The flow controlling apparatus 3 consists of a conduit means 4 which is similar in cross section to the chute 1 and which may be telescopically engaged by the terminal of such chute and secured thereto in any well known manner. Pivotally mounted by means of pins 5 and 6 projectinglatera-lly from the element 4 are gates 7 and '8, which consist of side plates 9 and I0 and preferably arcuate end closure members 11 and 12. The gates 7 and 8 have pivotally secured thereto actuating arms 13 and 14, which at their other terminals are pivotally secured to spur gears 15 and 16, which are rotatably mounted on stub shafts projecting laterally from the element 1. It will be noted that actuating arms, such as 13 and 1'4. and spur gears such as 15 and 16, are positioned on opposite sides of the member 4, as most clearly indicated in Fig. 4, so that the gates 7 and 8 will be operated from both sides to increase the efliciency of operation thereof and further to prevent any twisting or binding of the mechanism which might result were such gates operated only from one side.

One of each pair of spur gears 15 and 16 is provided with a driving pinion 17 meshing therewith, which pinion is mounted on a shaft 18 which terminally carries a worm gear 19 meshing with a worm 20, which is mounted on a shaft 21 extending from a motor 22. Eachpair of spur gears 15 and 16 is interconnected by means of pinions 23 which are secured to shafts 24: extending transversely of the element 1 so that, as-a'bove indicated,feach pair ofsuch spur'gears may be driven from a single motor'so that the'gates 7 and 8 are independently operable for the reasons hereinafter more fully explained.

Then the material to be handled is permitted to flow downwardly through the chute 1, I prefer to open the gates 7 and 8 laterally from the line centrally of such chute on which such gates normally close, to such an extent that the'material is discharged at a rate substantially equal to the rate at which such material is fed to the bin from which the chute- 1 leads. By so controlling the rate of discharge of the material, the chute 1 will at all times be filled so that the material may he moved downwardly therethrough in a body rather than be permitted to fall with sufiicient velocity to cause a degradation of such material: The provision of gates, such as 7 and 8, which open laterally from a line centrally with respect to the material chute 1 presents advantages not found in any constructions heretofore employed. By moving such gates laterally from aline centrally with respect to the delivery chute the material will be permitted to flow downwardly through the chute and be discharged therefrom without being forced to change its direction of flow, which change always results in a degradation of the material due to the mutual impact of the chunks of such material as the same are forced to change their direction of movement. In this manner the flow of the material may be accurately controlled so that the same will simply drop from the lower end of the chute onto the pile of material or the bottom of the boat, rather than be violently projected therein as would be the case if the apparatus comprising my invention were not employed.

It will be noted that degradation can be reduced to an absolute minimum by providing a means association with the discharge chute 1 so that the discharge end thereof may be maintained at all times at'a given distance above 'the pile of material thereunder, whiclrd-ismme should never exceed the minimum required for free discharge of the material. I 7

After the pile of material in'the hold approaches the hatchway it becomes necessary, as above indicated, to direct the stream of material laterally so as to fill the corners of the bin; in other words, it becomes necessary to trim "the pileso that a maximum amount of material "can be placed in such bin. The above described apparatus operates efliciently-a's atrimme'r when'o'ne ofsuczh gates such as 8, as illustrated in Fig. 2, is completely open'eclandthe other gate, such-as 7 is moved arcuately so that the 'lowered'ge thereof is moved across the line centrally with respect to the'chute '1 on which such gates normally close. By moving the gate 7 'to the position illustrated Fig. 2, that is, with the lower edge thereof'acr'o'ss f'theline centrally of the chute '1, the material discharged by such gate 7 will be directed against the downwardly flowing material issuing from that portion of the chute normally closed by the gate 8, so that the entire stream of material delivered by the apparatus is directed laterally with respect to the axis of the chute so that such stream of material may be caused to flow into the corners or sides of the bintively, efl'ect a control over the flow of material in the manner hereinbefore described Without any degradation due to the gradual change in the direction of such flow.

A further description of the principles of my invention is believed unnecessary for those familiar with the art, sufiice it to say that numerous changes might be made in the specific form of construction here illustrated for purposes of description, and, further, numerous advantages are attained by the employment of the above described apparatus which are believed to be so obvious to those familiar with the art of handling fragile material such as coal so that a reiteration thereof is believed unnecessary.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employedinstead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and dis 7 tinctl claim as my invention 1. i1 apparatus of the character described,

a material delivery chute open at its bottom, and a pair of independently operable arcuate gates mounted for movement in arcuate paths or closing said chute, said gates adapted to open laterally from a line centrally of said chute, and each of said gates adapted when closed to direct the stream of material laterally when the other of said gates is opened.

2. In apparatus of the character described, a material chute open at its bottom, a pair of independently operable pivotally mounted arcuate gates, adapted to meet on a line centrally of said chute, either of said gates adapted to be moved across such line, when the other gate is opened, to direct the stream of material laterally of said chute.

V 3. In apparatus of the character described, a material chutehaving a rectangular discharge terminal, and a pair of independently operable gates having arcuate bottoms adapted to closesaid chute by meeting on a line centrally of said chute, each of said gates adapted to be moved across such line accordingly as the other of said gates is opened, to direct the stream of material laterally of said chute.

Signed by me this 28th day of July, 1930.

. JAY M. AMSDEN.

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