Drive means for ore samplers and the like

Sampler apparatus for sampling materials discharged from conveyor systems and the like comprising

• a support frame having spaced apart ends;
• a sampler carriage mounted for movement on said support frame, said carriage carrying a sampling cutter having a cutter opening and means for discharging a sample collected through said cutter opening;
• a drive means for moving said sampler carriage with respect to said support frame, said drive means comprising
• a belt having its opposite ends anchored to the spaced apart ends of the support frame;
• a pair of closely spaced parallel rollers at least one of which is secured to the sampler carriage and movable along the support frame with the carriage, said rollers being positioned such that the belt extends from one fixed end of frame past one of said rollers, around the second roller, between the rollers, and around the first roller to the other fixed end;
• and
• a motor carried by the support carriage and arranged to turn one of said rollers.

A sampling apparatus comprising

• a support frame having a pair of spaced apart ends;
• a support carriage reciprocably mounted on said support frame, said carriage includes a sidewall, a top, and an opposing sampling sidewall extending downwardly to support an outwardly facing sampling head having a cutter opening and a discharge tube projecting downwardly therefrom;
• drive means for reciprocating the sampler carriage along the support frame, said drive means including a belt having its opposite ends respectively attached to the spaced apart ends of the support frame, a pair of parallel, closely spaced rollers at least one of which is secured to said sampler carriage and mounted with respect to said belt such that the belt extends from one end of the support frame, past a first one of said rollers, around said first roller, between said rollers, reversely around the other of said rollers, and past the first roller to the other end of the support;
• a limit switch near each end of the support frame;
• and
• a motor operated by said limit switches and connected to one of said rollers such that when the motor is actuated the roller connected to said motor will rotate and move the sampler carriage toward one end of the support structure, with the other roller being rotated through the belt in a direction opposite to that of the driven roller until the limit switch at one end of said support frame is reached whereupon the motor is reversed, thereby reversing rotation of the rollers and moving the support carriage in an opposite direction until the limit switch at the other end of the support structure is reached to thereby cause the drive means to again reverse, said reciprocal movements being continued to move the sampling head back and forth through material being sampled.