GB496637A - Improvements in or relating to mechanical labourers - Google Patents

Abstract

496,637. Digging-apparatus; distributers for manures &c. COOMBS, J. A. May 25, 1937, No. 15435/38. Divided out of 496,547, [Group I]. [Class 68 (i)] [Also in Group I] A mechanical labourer comprises a carriage on which a frame in the form of a relatively long jib is adapted to be raised and lowered by a winch, the forward end of the frame carrying a tool rotatable about a horizontal axis, and capable of raking, scooping-up and holding the material to be handled, the tool being driven through worm gearing by a motor on the carriage through a shaft coaxial with the hinge of the jib. A wheeled or tractor carriage 15 with variable speed drive, carries a frame 19 pivoted at 20 to a bracket 21, which may be adapted to swing laterally, the frame 19 being raised or lowered by a winch 26 and a cable 24 passing over a swingable jib 22. A preferably hollow shaft 27 is journalled in the frame 19 and is reversibly driven from a motor 35, Fig. 5, on the carriage through worm gearings 33, 30. The motor 35 may also drive the carriage and winch. On either side of the frame 19, the shaft 27 carries interchangeable spade-like tools 36 each built up of several elements bolted together and to the driving worm wheel and preferably provided with renewable tips. The upper forward part of the frame 19 is sharpened to throw off deposited material, and the lower forward part may carry a wheel. The machine is controlled from a station 42. One or more tanks 44, according to the width of the machine, may be provided and deliver to spraying outlets 46 under control of valves 47. When used in fertilizer manufacture, by intermittent oscillation and forward and backward movement, the tools may be used for transferring material from one part of the plant to another or to a cart, or the tool, when held vertically, may be advanced to act as a rake, or the tool when rotating may be used for mixing. The machine may also be used in agriculture for spreading manures &c. More than two tools, staggered angularly, may be provided. For digging &c., the shaft 27 may be supported at both ends, and, if desired, at the centre, and rotated by a gear train at one end, and a jib 22 may be provided at each end. Specification 496,547 is referred to.