Mining vehicle
AssigneeOlitek Pty Ltd
InventorsJames Thomas Oliver, Anthony James Sprague
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An explosives delivery vehicle for delivering a booster for initiating an explosion of an explosive material in a hole in a floor of a mine pit to an operative depth in the hole. The vehicle comprises a storage assembly for storing a plurality of the boosters, a booster loading assembly for (i) supporting the booster in a delivery position above the hole and (ii) moving the booster downwardly into the hole and inserting the booster at an operative depth in the hole; and a delivery assembly for transporting the booster from the storage assembly to the loading assembly.
Claims20
An explosives delivery vehicle for delivering a booster for initiating an explosion of an explosives material in a hole in a floor of a pit to an operative depth in the hole, the vehicle comprising:
- (a) a storage assembly for storing a plurality of boosters;
- (b) a booster loading assembly for (i) supporting a booster of the plurality of boosters in a delivery position above the hole through the explosives material in the hole and (ii) moving the booster downwardly into the hole and inserting the booster at an operative depth in the hole, the booster loading assembly comprising a pusher element for applying a downwardly-acting force to move the booster into the hole through the explosives material to the operative depth;
- and
- (c) a delivery assembly for transporting the booster from the storage assembly to the loading assembly.
A booster assembly for use in a drill and blast operation, with the booster assembly comprising in co-axial alignment:
- (a) a booster for initiating an explosion of an explosives material in a hole in a floor of a pit;
- (b) a spool and a detonation cord wrapped around the spool in a storage position outside the hole and connected to the spool and to the booster, with the spool being provided for allowing the detonation cord to be unwound from the spool as the booster is moved from the storage position to the operative depth in the hole and the spool remains in the storage position;
- and
- (c) a stake for locating the spool in the pit floor proximate the hole after the booster is in the operative depth in the hole;
- and
- with an end of the spool being formed to receive and locate an end of the booster such that the booster is seated on the spool when the booster assembly is in an upright orientation in the storage position before moving the booster to the operative depth in the hole.
A method of delivering a booster for initiating an explosion of an explosive material in a hole in a floor of a pit into the hole, the method comprising the following steps controlled by an operator in a cabin of the vehicle or at a remote location to the vehicle or controlled as part of autonomous operation:
- (a) positioning a booster delivery vehicle in a pit proximate the hole;
- (b) removing a booster from a storage unit of the vehicle and moving the booster to a delivery position above the hole;
- and
- (c) operating a loading assembly and moving the booster downwardly from the delivery position and inserting the booster through the explosives material in the hole to an operative depth in the hole.
An explosives delivery vehicle for delivering a booster for initiating an explosion of an explosives material in a hole in a floor of a pit to an operative depth in the hole, the vehicle comprising:
- (a) a storage assembly for storing a plurality of boosters;
- (b) a booster loading assembly for (i) supporting a booster of the plurality of boosters in a delivery position above the hole and (ii) moving the booster downwardly into the hole and inserting the booster at an operative depth in the hole;
- and
- (c) a delivery assembly for transporting the booster from the storage assembly to the loading assembly,
- wherein:
- the booster is part of a booster assembly, the booster assembly comprising, in co-axial alignment:
- (i) the booster;
- (ii) a spool and a detonation cord wrapped around the spool in a storage position outside the hole and connected to the spool and to the booster, with the spool being provided for allowing the detonation cord to be unwound from the spool as the booster is moved from the storage position to the operative depth in the hole and the spool remains in the storage position;
- and
- (iii) a stake for locating the spool in the pit floor proximate the hole after the booster is at the operative depth in the hole;
- and
- an end of the spool is formed to receive and locate an end of the booster such that the booster is seated on the spool when the booster assembly is in an upright orientation in the storage position before moving the booster to the operative depth in the hole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.