US2709312A - Side collector for mobile loader - Google Patents

Description

May 31, 1955 E. J. SEIFERT 2,709,312

SIDE COLLECTOR FOR MOBILE LOADER Filed July 26, 1951 INVENTOR. Edwin Joseph Seifert SIDE COLLECTOR FOR MOBILE LOADER Edwin Joseph Seifert, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Pettibone Muiliken Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application July 26, 1951, Serial No. 238,691

1 Claim. c1. 37-190 A very popular type of mobile loader has comprised a vehicle having a short bucket-type conveyor at its front end which digs up the material to be loaded and dumps it onto a belt-type conveyor of considerably greater length, the belt-type conveyor extending over a truck or other receiver to be loaded. For reasons of economy and to confine the material ultimately dumped to a desirably small area, both conveyors are of only moderate width. It is desirable, nevertheless, that this vehicular loader be capable of picking up everything within its path as a vehicle. Heretofore this has been accomplished by a large cross-blade in the nature of a scraper and by providing propeller blades on a cross shaft, the blades being disposed to push the material toward the centrally located bucket-type conveyor. Conveniently, the cross shaft may be the same shaft on which the bottom sprockets of the bucket-type conveyor are carried. The scraper blade is preferably arcuately shaped to correspond to the path of the propeller blades.

According to the present invention, this loader which has heretofore been highly satisfactory for loose material has been made highiy satisfactory also for compacted and fairly hard material. This is accomplished by a general increase in the digging power of the front end equipment. The main increase has been accomplished by applying arcuate picks to the bottoms of the propeller blades. As each such blade rotates, its pointed pick chops or prys or both chops and prys the compacted or hardened material, breaking off chunks of it so that it can be pushed sideways by the remainder of the blades or picks. In addition the arcuate outside edges of the picks are provided with teeth, successive teeth preferably being axially spaced from one another so that they may chew gradually at the remaining hardened material. Furthermore, the buckets themselves are provided with increased digging ability by virtue of providing teeth on each bucket which are staggered with respect to the position of the teeth on the preceding bucket.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawings.

Designation of figures Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the loader chosen for illustration of this invention.

Figure 2 is an approximate face view of one of the picks shown in Figure 1.

Figures 3 and 4 are views looking at the bottom edges of the two forms of pick shown in Fig. 1.

Although the law requires a full and exact description of at least one form of the invention, such as that which follows, it is, of course, the purpose of a patent to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how it may later be disguised by variations in form or additions of further improvements; and the appended claim is intended to accomplish this purpose by particularly pointing out the parts, improvements, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

General description In the illustrated form of the invention, the loader is in the form of a vehicle which may include a main frame or chassis 11 carried by wheels 12 or other mobility means. Preferably there are four wheels, at least two of which are driven. The vehicle may be steered and operated from a cab 13. A belt conveyor 14 carries the material upwardly and dumps it in a truck or other receiver. In many instances, the truck and loader will move along together slowly While the truck is loaded.

In the use of the illustrated form of the invention, the material is dug up and dumped on belt conveyor 14 by a bucket-type of conveyor 16. This conveyor may include buckets 17 carried by a pair of endless chains 18 which may be carried by upper sprockets 19 and lower sprockets 21. The lower sprockets 21 are carried by a shaft 22 which is carried by a conveyor frame 23. Preferably sprockets 21 may be raised or lowered by a hydraulic cylinder 24 operating through arm 26 forming an extension of the conveyor frame 23. Arm 26 rocks the conveyor frame 23 about a shaft 25 on which sprockets 19 are mounted.

The shaft 22 is preferably provided with a plurality of propeller blades 27 which rotate with the shaft 22. It may be noted that the shaft 22 is driven through the sprockets 21 by the chains 18 which in turn are driven by the upper sprockets 19 through a gear box 28 and drive shaft 29.

The outer portions of the blades 27 are disposed angularly so that as they rotate they will propel loose material toward the conveyor buckets 17, thus forming a cross collector. Their action in this regard is improved by a large cross blade 31 which is preferably in the nature of a scraper blade and which is shaped arcuately in vertical cross section to conform to the paths of the propeller blades 27, although being slightly spaced from them. The cross blade 31 may be carried by a separate pivoted frame, not shown, and its elevation may be controlled independently or by means of the frame 23 acting through pulleys 32 carried by the frame 23. For example, its lower limit or operating level may be independently set and it may be raised from this level by cables 33 raised by pulleys 32 when frame 23 is raised for high-speed travel.

According to the present invention, each of the propeller blades 27 is provided with a pick 34 or 36. Preferably these blades are shaped as seen best in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. Thus they may all have a pointed toe portion 37 at their front ends. In each instance the remainder or body portion of the pick assumes the angularity of the body portion of the blade to which it is secured. In most cases the pointed toe portions 37 of the picks are angularly disposed to the bodies of the picks 36 so that they can slice through or tear up hard material with the least possible resistance.

The two picks 34 which are at opposite ends of the shaft 32 preferably have their toe portions 37 in alignment with the body of the picks so that they will reach out and gather in material from a maximum width, at the same time clearing a path for the passage of the vehicle.

Each of the picks 34 and 36 preferably is provided with notches 38 which form teeth 39. The provision of these teeth along the portions of the picks which exert an inward thrust has been found to greatly increase their ability to loosen and scrape inwardly hard material occasionally encountered. At the same time, the end portions 41 of the blades 27 may advantageously be unnotched with the result that they tend to scrape more clean the residue of material which might otherwise be left by teeth 39.

Each of the buckets 19 is provided with a plurality of teeth 51. As seen in Fig. 1, however, the teeth are staggered with respect to one another when adjacent buckets are compared. Thus the uppermost bucket shown has four teeth 51, while the next bucket has five teeth. The teeth greatly increase the ability of the bucket to dig through hard material and the staggering of the teeth further increases this ability and decreases the amount of material which may he left. The teeth 51 together with points 37 and teeth 39 of the picks 34 and 36 extend substantially the full width of the vehicle. Necessarily thereare some gaps, but they are narrow.

The picks 34 and 36 are preferably manganese steel castings bolted to the blades 27. The bolts are relieved from shearing force, however, by ribs 44 which engage the forward edges of the blades 27. The side faces of each toe portion preferably converge upwardly so that most of the upper edge 46 of each toe portion is fairly sharp to facilitate cutting through hard material. The picks should of course be readily replaceable when they become excessively worn.

The front or leading faces of teeth 39 all preferably. slope outwardly and rearwardly so as to present a sharp leading edge to the material they strike.

Each pick is preferably considerably thickened at 52, a zone opposite the leading edge of arm 27, where the greatest strain occurs. Rearwardly of this, they may have panels 53 of reduced thickness, shown only in Fig. 1.

The picks have also been found to be very satisfactory when turned about and operated in the reverse direction. Thus, with a machine in which the bucket conveyor illustrated is replaced by scoops which slide the material rearwardly along the ground and upwardly on an inclined trough dumping it on a conveyor such as conveyor 14, the bottom shaft 22 would rotate in the opposite direction. Here the arms 27 would be interchanged, those shown on the left being on the right, and

vice versa. The picks 33 and 36 would be turned about to point in the direction of rotation (rearwardly at the bottom of the cycle) and to lie on the inside of the arms 27.

Both arrangements provide a very desirable chewingup action on the material being loaded, greatly improving its quality as a fill or as top soil.

From the foregoing it is seen that a loader is provided which is very satisfactory in cleaning off a wide layer of compacted material, as on the shoulder of a road, as well as'loading loose material into a truck moving with the loader.

I claim:

A mobile loader including a mobile chassis, a conveyor carried by the chassis and including spaced pairs of upper and lower sprockets, chains extending around the sprocket pairs, material movers carried by the chains, a shaft for the lower sprockets extending axially therefrom, and cross-collector means carried and rotated by the shaft and including arm means each having at its end as a separate member a pick having a point near the outer orbit of the arm means pointing approximately in the direction of rotation and a trailing portion extending at least to the rear side of the arm, having tooth-forming notches and otherwise extending approximately to the same distance from the axis as said point, but sloping axially whereby the notches provide successive staggered teeth- 3 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,766,689 Besteland, Mar. 26, 1929 1,810,069 Bosworth June 16, 1931 1,812,292 Haiss s June 30, 1931 1,882,629 James Oct. 11, 1932 2,032,911 Brown Mar. 3, 1936

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