GB404804A - Improvements in mechanical shoveling devices - Google Patents

Abstract

404,804. Power shovels. FINLAY, J. S., and ROYLE, E. B., Eureka, Utah, U.S.A. Dec. 28, 1932, No. 36678. Convention date, Dec. 28, 1931. [Class 68 (i).] A mechanical shoveller comprises a shovel attached to one end of a rocker which has a curved base and can be rolled on a flat supporting member so that the shovel is lifted from the digging position into a position for dumping its contents. The coacting surfaces of the rocker and the supporting member may be smooth or provided with teeth and the radius of curvature of the curved base of the rocker increases towards the end remote from that to which the shovel is attached. The shoveller is driven by an electric or air motor 1 which also drives through bevel gearing, clutches &c. a rotary table 3 mounted on ball bearings 6 on the frame 5. Two I-shaped supporting members 7 are attached to the table 3, the upper flanges having integral side boards 9 and upwardly projecting guide frames 10. A rocker 14, to one end of which a shovel 15 is attached, is formed with two curved contact surfaces the radius of curvature of which increases towards the end remote from the shovel and, on rotation of a drum 12 carrying cables 13 attached to the rocker, the curved surfaces of the rocker roll on the supporting members formed by the upper flanges of the members 7 to raise the shovel from the digging position. Two parallel grooves 11 are formed in each of the upper flanges of the members 7 and corresponding grooves 16 in the contact surfaces of the rocker. In the inner groove on each side is accommodated a guiding cable 17 with its rear end attached by a spring connection 18 to the member 7 and its front end adjustably connected to the rocker at 19, and in the outer groove on each side is a guide cable 20 attached at one end to the front end of the member 7 by a spring connection 21 and at the other to the rocker at 22 by an adjustable connection. These cables guide the rocker in its rolling motion and prevent sliding. A block 23 on the rocker abuts the front ends of the members 7 when the shovel is in digging position, and the shovel is filled by driving the machine into the material, power being then momentarily applied to the drum 12 to cause the rocker to pivot on the ends of the members 7, this operation being repeated until the shovel is full. The rocker is then rolled on the members 7 until the shovel reaches the position shown in Fig. 8 when an abutment 26 on the rocker strikes spring bumpers 25 carried by a cross member 24 between the frames 10, and the material is ejected from the shovel. Power is preferably cut off from the drum 12 just before the contact of the members 26 and 25, the shovel being returned to the digging position by the force of the recoil and by gravity.