Flexible auger conveyor
AssigneeRecover Energy Services Inc.
InventorStan Ross
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Auger conveyors most commonly employed in industries where the horizontal and/or vertical transfer of solids or semi-solid materials is required. Auger conveyors employ a rotating helical screw blade, commonly known as flighting, which rotates about on an inline axis within an inline conduit. Described herein is an auger conveyor which does not need to follow the traditional rule of rotating about on an inline axis. A flexible wire rope shaft is employed to rotate about on an infinite number of axes thereby facilitating an auger conveyor connected to the flexible wire rope shaft through buttons, to traverse a non-linear path.
Claims69
An auger conveyor apparatus particularly adapted for conveying materials from a first point to at least one additional second point comprising,
- at least one section of auger flighting attached to a rotation resistant flexible wire rope shaft section,
- an elongated conduit at least partially surrounding the at least one section of auger flighting creating a housing for the auger flighting, the conduit including at least one flighting inlet section and at least one flighting outlet section extending along the length of the conduit and at least one end wall,
- the conveyor capable of having more than one axis of travel over the entirety of the length of the conduit,
- at least one first bearing at or near the inlet and/or outlet section,
- the at least one bearing capable of being attached to a rigid drive shaft operatively attached to the flexible wire rope shaft section, and
- a mechanical rotation power source connected to the rigid drive shaft capable of causing the flighting and shaft to simultaneously rotate about the more than one axis of travel,
- including at least one button compressed against the flexible wire rope shaft section creating a solid point to which the auger flighting is attached,
- wherein the button is steel and is capable of being used as a point of contact for a hangar bearing to suspend the button and wire rope section within the conduit.
An auger conveyor apparatus particularly adapted for conveying materials from a first point to at least one additional second point comprising,
- at least one section of auger flighting attached to a rotation resistant flexible wire rope shaft section,
- an elongated conduit at least partially surrounding the at least one section of auger flighting creating a housing for the auger flighting, the conduit including at least one flighting inlet section and at least one flighting outlet section extending along the length of the conduit and at least one end wall,
- the conveyor capable of having more than one axis of travel over the entirety of the length of the conduit,
- at least one first bearing at or near the inlet and/or outlet section,
- the at least one bearing capable of being attached to a rigid drive shaft operatively attached to the flexible wire rope shaft section, and
- a mechanical rotation power source connected to the rigid drive shaft capable of causing the flighting and shaft to simultaneously rotate about the more than one axis of travel
- including a short solid steel shaft section that protrudes from the end wall of the conduit and is supported by at least one bearing and is operationally connected to a button which is compressed against the longer flexible wire rope shaft section.
An auger conveyor apparatus particularly adapted for conveying materials from a first point to at least one additional second point comprising,
- at least one section of auger flighting attached to a rotation resistant flexible wire rope shaft section,
- an elongated conduit at least partially surrounding the at least one section of auger flighting creating a housing for the auger flighting, the conduit including at least one flighting inlet section and at least one flighting outlet section extending along the length of the conduit and at least one end wall,
- the conveyor capable of having more than one axis of travel over the entirety of the length of the conduit,
- at least one first bearing at or near the inlet and/or outlet section,
- the at least one bearing capable of being attached to a rigid drive shaft operatively attached to the flexible wire rope shaft section, and
- a mechanical rotation power source connected to the rigid drive shaft capable of causing the flighting and shaft to simultaneously rotate about the more than one axis of travel,
- and wherein the short solid steel shaft section is operationally connected to a button which is compressed against the longer flexible wire rope shaft section and wherein the short solid steel shaft section is close coupled to a button which is operationally connected to the longer flexible wire rope shaft section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.