Improvements in and relating to coal loaders, for use in coal mines and the like

摘要

466,894. Endless-chain conveyers. TAYLOR, E., and NEARY, R. B. Dec. 10, 1936, No. 34148. [Class 78 (i)] A loader for coal mines and the like of the kind comprising an endless-chain scraper in which the links are connected bv universal joints and have pivotally mounted thereon about longitudinal axes scraper bars which rest on a conveyer plate extending for a portion of its length at the level from which the material is t6 be taken and for another portion is inclined towards the conveyer to be fed, is characterized in that the driving gear of the loader is mounted on the lower or feed portion of the scraper conveyer. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the coal is conveyed by scraper bars 11 along a plate 4 and up an incline 5 to a conveyer 35, the scraper bars being pivotally mounted in lugs 10 on links 8 connected to one another by links 9, 9a hinged together about a horizontal axis but to the links 8 about a vertical axis. The scraper conveyer passes round tumblers 6, 7, the tumbler 7 being secured on a spindle 21 rotated through bevel gearing 19, 20 by a shaft 18 driven through a reduction gear 17 by a motor 16. The loader is fed along the coal face by a rope 26 connected at one end to a prop and guided round a pulley 27 to a drum 24 which may be driven through a clutch 25 by a shaft 23 itself driven from the reduction gear 17. A skid 28 secured to the plate 5 and abutting baulks of timber 29 alongside the props 14, guides the loader along the coal face. As the scraper bars leave the plate 5 they are raised by a cam bar 13 into a vertical position where they are retained until past the props 14 when they are guided downwards by a cam bar 15. The plates 4, 5 may be pivoted about an axis a-a into a vertical position to facilitate removal of the loader through a restricted passage. The loader is fed to or from the coal face by a rope attached at one end to a pit prop and wound round a drum 30 which is driven by the spindle 21 through a clutch 32. In a modification, the shaft 18 is at a lower level and drives the spindle 21 from beneath, and the loader is fed by a pair of feed screws engaging nuts mounted on stationary members such as jack props, the screws being driven from the shaft 18.