TRAVELING BRIDGE WITH POWER-CABLE REEL ROTATED IN RESPONSE TO BRIDGE MOVEMENT, SLIPLESSLY AND WITH UNIFORM TENSION

摘要

Uniform tension is kept on a power cable leading to a bridge-type sludge collector. The traveling bridge carries a cable reel which winds the cable thereon with a substantially constant but non-slip tension by rotating the reel in response to bridge movement. The apparatus preferred for most installations uses a second cable on a companion section of the reel but extending from the reel in the opposite direction and oppositely wound so that the bridge movement away from the end at which this actuating cable is anchored turns the reel, by the pull of the unwinding actuating cable, to reel in the power cable. To compensate for minute discrepancies and maintain a uniform tension the anchoring of the actuating cable includes a weight and pulley arrangement.