GB2064461A - Chain conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

A chain conveyor displaceable in a housing, is made up of pivotable links (5) with flight attachments (6) made from a synthetic resin arranged on the chain to project below the chain links (5). The use of a synthetic resin for the material of the flight attachments (6), being the only parts coming into contact with the housing, reduces friction, wear and noise. <IMAGE>

Description

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GB 2 064 461 A 1 .DTD:

SPECIFICATION Chain conveyor .DTD:

The invention relates to a chain conveyor comprising a housing and a chain displaceable in said housing and provided with flight-attachments 70 arranged on both sides of the chain.

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Chain conveyors of the kind set forth have already been used for many years for transporting granular and/or powdery material through said housing from a supply point towards a delivery point or the like. Generally the chain as well as the flight-attachments have been made of metal, whereby during use of the conveyor the chain and the flight-attachments slide over the metal bottom of the housing. In such an arrangement there has 80 to be sought a compromise with respect to the material for the chain in view of the fact that on the one the chain has to be strong enough for taking up the forces during working and on the other hand the chain has to be wear-resistant. 85 Now, according to the invention, the flight attachments have been made from synthetic resin and project below the links of the chain. By using such a structure it can be prevented that the chain comes into contact with parts of the housing or 90 the like. So the chain can be made from material which is especially suited for the tensile load exerted in the chain during use. Only the flight attachments will come into contact with the housing; however, as said flight-attachments have 95 been made of synthetic resin they will have a low coefficient of friction so that there will be hardly any wear and further, less energy will be required for displacing the chain than in the known structures. A further advantage at the structure 100 according the invention is that the displacement of the flight-attachments made from synthetic resin with respect to the housing will cause hardly any noise.

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The invention will now be described more fully 105 with reference to an embodiment of the construction according to the invention shown schematically in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

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Fig. 1 schematically shows one embodiment of 1 10 a chain conveyor.

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Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of two links and flight-attachments of the chain of a conveyor.

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Fig. 3 is an elevational view in the direction of the arrow III in Fig. 2.

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Fig. 4 shows on an enlarged scale and schematically in plan part of a chain conveyor at the level of a delivery port.

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Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line V-Vin Fig. 4. And Fig. 6 is a side elevation in the direction of the arrow VI in Fig. 5.

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The chain conveyor shown in Fig. 1 comprises a housing 1, near the ends of which are arranged guide wheels or drum or sprockets 2 and 3 adapted to rotate about horizontal rotary shafts. Around these drums or guide wheels 2 and 3 is trained an endless chain 4. The chain 4 may be composed of relatively pivotable links 5 (Fig. 2), on both sides of which are fastened approximately L-shaped flight- attachments 6. These flightattachments are made from an appropriate synthetic resin or plastic and the height of the attachments 6 is preferably greater than the height of the links 5, as will be seen from Fig. 3, as a result of which the relatively parallel chain runs or branches, supported, for example, by plates 7 and 8 arranged in said housing beneath said chain runs or branches, slide, during operation, along said plates only by the synthetic resin parts. It has been found that the noise level is considerably lower than that of the conventional chains and catches entirely made from metal, whilst the drive of the chain requires less power. A further advantage resides in that in the event of fracture of the flight-attachments the fragments carried along by the material to be conveyed will generally not damage machines further processing the material, in contrast to metal flight-attachments.

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As is furthermore shown in Fig. 1, the housing 1 may be provided with one or more feeding ports 9 for feeding the material to the conveyor and one or more delivery ports 10 for conducting away the displaced material.

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Figs. 4 to 6 show that at the level of a delivery port 10 a plate 8 has an aperture 1 1, along which the chain is slidable for displacing the material. This aperture can be closed by a plate 12, which is displaceable transversely of the direction of the length of the housing 1. For displacing the plate 12 a hydraulic ram 13 is arranged beneath the plate 12 and connected at one end with a supporting structure 14 fastened to the housing 1. The piston rod 15 of the hydraulic ram is pivotally coupled with ears 16 fastened to the bottom side of the plate 12. Strips 17 are fastened at right angles to the plate on the bottom side for cooperating with lugs 18 fastened to the supporting structure 14 in order to guide the slide.

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The direction of movement of the run of the conveyor chain across the plate 8 is indicated by the arrow A. Viewed in this direction of movement the up-stream boundary edge of the aperture 1 1 is provided with a horizontal pivotal shaft 19 at a level lower than the plate, two relatively spaced plates 20 and 21 being fastened to the ends of said shaft. Near the end remote from the pivotal shaft 19 each of said plates 20 and 21 is provided with two ears 22, in which a shaft 23 extending parallel to the pivotal shaft 19 is journalled. The shaft 23 is furthermore passed through holes in the ends of arms 24, whose ends remote from the shaft 23 are fastened to a rod 25 extending parallel to the pivotal shaft 19. The ends of the rod are slidably arranged in U-profiled members 26 fastened to the housing 1 so that the rod is slidable parallel to itself in the U-members.

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Viewed in plan, midway between the two plates 20 and 21, the rod 25 has pivoted to it the end of the piston rod 27. The piston rod 27 forms part of a hydraulic ram 28 (which may be of variable stroke) fastened to the housing 1.

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By reciprocating the piston rod 27 the plates 20 and 21 can be moved from the position shown in 2 GB 2 064 461 A 2 Fig. 5 by full lines, in which the plates partly project above the plate 8, into a position in which said plates are located beneath the plate 8. In the latter position of the plates 20 and 21 the slide 12 5 can be displaced out of the position shown in Fig. 4 with the aid of the ram 13 to the right for closing the aperture 11, so that also the plates 20 and 21 are covered by the slide 12.

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If material has to be delivered through the aperture 1 1, the slide will be moved with the aid of the ram 13 into the position illustrated in Fig. 4 and subsequently the plates 20 and 21 can be turned upwards with the aid of the ram 28 into the 60 position shown in Figs. 5 and 6 by solid lines.

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It will be obvious that in operation the flight attachments 6 will be lifted by the plates 20 and 21, whilst, viewed in plan, the links 5 are located between the plates 20 and 21. After having left the plates 20 and 21 the flight attachments and the links connected herewith will drop down so that at the level of the delivery aperture 1 1 a jolt like upward and downward movement is produced in the conveyor chain. In practice it has been 70 found that material tending to stick to the conveyor chain is effectively loosened from the chain so that it is effectively conducted away through the aperture 1 1. Consequently, a solution for a many-years old problem is obtained by simple means. The length of a link 5 is preferably such that after having passed by the aperture 1 1 and after having covered the downward path the flight-attachments 6 can come into contact with the bottom plate 8 not until it has reached the other side of the aperture 11. In this way damage of the edge of the aperture and additional wear of the flight-attachments 6 are avoided.

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In a preferred embodiment of the flightattachments 6 in conjunction with the chain links 5 the height (h' 1) of the flight-attachments is greater than that of a chain link 5 as is indicated in Fig. 3 so that the flight-attachments 6 of synthetic resin will move along the bottom plate 8 or the plate 7 respectively and the wear involved will be appreciably reduced as compared with the case in which metal flight-attachments 6 are drawn along the plates 7 and 8 by the chain.

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By disposing the chain link 5 so that its lower side does not come into contact with the plates 7 and 8, wear of the chain is completely avoided and even if the flight-attachments 6 have worn off to an extent such that the chain links 5 can come _ into contact with the plates 7 and 8, the whole chain can be turned over so that the other side of the flight-attachments will move along the plates 7 and 8 respectively.

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The plates 7 and 8 may, as an alternative, be formed wholly or partly by rollers along which the flight-attachments or links are moved.

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As a matter of course, variants of the described embodiment of the invention are possible within the spirit and scope of this invention. For example; other means may be employed for setting the plates 20 and 21 in a direction of height and, if desired, even stationary guide plates could be used. However, since a chain conveyor usually has several delivery ports, the latter solution is less advantageous, since usually only one delivery port at a time is used for conducting material away, so that in the case of stationary plates the chain would be moved up and down at each delivery port without any use.

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Claims (4)

CLAIMS .CLME:

1. A chain conveyor comprising a housing and a chain displaceable in said housing and provided with flight-attachments arranged on both sides of the chain, the said flight-attachments being made from a synthetic resin and projecting below the links of the chain.

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2. A chain conveyor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the links and flight-attachments are constructed so that the flight-attachments extend beyond the chain on both sides of the chain.

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3. A chain conveyor as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein at least some of the said flight attachments are each substantially L-shaped, one leg of said flight-attachment situated behind the other leg, when seen in the intended direction of movement of the chain, having been fixed to a link of the chain.

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4. A chain conveyor substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

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Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office by the Courier Press, Leamington Spa, 1981. Published by the Patent Office, 25 Southampton Buildings, London, WC2A tAY, from which copies may be obtained.

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