GB903119A - Apparatus for collecting samples from freely falling material - Google Patents

Abstract

903,119. Sampling freely falling material. STAMICARBON N.V. March 3, 1960 [March 3, 1959], No. 7617/60. Class 58. Apparatus for collecting a sample from freely falling loose solid and/or liquid material, such as coal, comprises an elongated samplecollecting trough 7 detachably secured, cantilever-wise, to a vertical shaft 6 mounted in bearings on a bracket 1. The shaft carries, at its upper end, a crank 5 connected to a piston actuated, pneumatically, within a cylinder and controlled by a clock mechanism, contained in a cabinet 3, to make, repeatedly, a complete stroke in one direction and then, after a desired time interval, a return stroke, so that the shaft is oscillated and swings the trough to and fro, e.g. in an arc of 180 or 110 degress, through the falling material. The sample may be discharged from the trough, through an outlet 17, by a conveyer driven by a motor 16, e.g. an endless belt conveyer 14 when the material is dry or a scraping conveyer when the material is very wet. In the case of a liquid, the trough is constructed with a base which slopes towards the outlet so that the sample can flow out. The trough may have a symmetrical, roof-like cover 12 pierced by apertures 13 and terminating in a ridge 21. The apertures may be equally spaced apart and their size may increase with their distance from the shaft 6. Alternatively, the apertures may be equal in size and separated by distances inversely proportional to their distances from the shaft 6. In another construction, a longitudinal slot is formed in the cover of the trough, which slot progressively increases in width in the direction leading away from the shaft 6.