# US 4,396,112 A · Conveyor and support structure > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 4,396,112 A - Document ID: US4396112A - Status: Granted - Kind: A - Application number: 06/229,158 - Filed: 1981-01-28 - Granted: 1983-08-02 - Earliest claimed: 1980-02-11 - Assignees: Mayfran Incorporated - Inventors: Klaus von Wietersheim; Gijsbertus van der Akker - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4396112A ## CPC - B65G 21/00: Supporting or protective framework or housings for endless load-carriers or traction elements of belt or chain conveyors - B65G: TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS (packaging B65B; handling thin or filamentary materials, e.g. paper sheets or thread, B65H; cranes B66C; portable mobile or lifting or hauling appliances, e.g. hoists, B66D; devices for lifting or lowering goods for loading or unloading purposes, e.g. fork-lift trucks, B66F9/00; emptying bottles, jars, casks, barrels or similar containers, not otherwise provided for, B67C9/00; delivering or transferring liquids B67D; filling or discharging vessels for liquefied, solidified or compressed gases F17C; pipe-line systems for fluids F17D) ## Abstract A part of the arcuate guides for the hinged belt (13) of the conveyor consists of solid curved pieces (247, 270) which are fastened releasably to parts of the conveyor frame. In the region of the drive station, guide plates (35; 299) which are fastened to the side pieces (17, 18; 220) are assigned to the empty side of the hinged belt. A U-shaped baseplate (20; 232) is connected with its upwardly projecting legs, to the side pieces (17, 18; 220). If the conveyor is a lifting conveyor with a lower and an upper horizontal longitudinal section as well as with a longitudinal section which is directed obliquely upwards, the arcuate guides consist of curved crosspieces (33, 34; 276, 294) which extend between the side pieces (17, 18; 220), in the region of the mutually angled longitudinal sections. The lower and middle longitudinal sections of the conveyor can each be connected partly by means of a welded-in gusset plate, the inner sides, lying opposite one another, of the gusset plates (265) and of adjacent side pieces (220) being welded to the curved crosspiece (276). The baseplate (20; 232) leaves an intervention opening (47) free in the region of the drive station (M). Reversing drums (37; 240) for the hinged belt (13) are located at the reversing station (U). A spring element (66) which smooths out changing tensile stresses is adjustable together with the drive unit when the hinged belt (13) is tensioned. The abovementioned features permit a compact construction, resistant to warping and to bending, of the conveyor, together with a long life. The invention also relates to a process for manufacturing the conveyor. ## Claims ### Claim 1 Conveyor, particularly a hinged belt conveyor, preferably for metal waste such as chips or the like, with a conveyor frame, U-shaped in cross section, having side pieces having upper and lower inwardly bent legs, said side pieces being connected by cross pieces one end of which is provided with a drive station which is adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor and is supported by means of an abutment, and the other end of which is provided with a reversing station for said endless flexible hinged belt which includes running rollers said other end including guide channel means supporting said rollers constituted by U-shaped formed metal sheet means having upper and lower inwardly bent legs, and a webb, fastened to the inside of said side pieces connected by said cross pieces a chute plate and arcuate guide means located in the reversing regions for the conveyor belt, characterized in that the arcuate guide means comprising releasably fastened solid curved pieces, one pair of which is fastened, at the reversing station, to the underside of said chute plate which extends downwards, between the side pieces from the top side of the reversing station towards the hinged belt, the lower legs of said side pieces which guide the return side of the hinged belt are connected by means of a U-shaped base plate means which is at least partially disposed around the reversing station with the exception of the top side of the latter. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) Conveyor according to claim 1, which is designed as a lifting conveyor, in which a middle longitudinal section which is directed obliquely upwards extends between a lower and an upper horizontal longitudinal section, characterized in that the arcuate guide means for the side of the hinged belt which lies, in each case, on the outside in the reversing regions of the mutually angled longitudinal sections of the conveyor frame comprised curved crosspieces which extend continuously between the inner sides of the side pieces of the adjacent longitudinal sections and which are connected firmly thereto. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) Conveyor according to claim 2, characterized in that the lower and middle longitudinal sections of the conveyor frame are connected partly by a pair of welded-in gusset plates, the inner sides, lying opposite one another, of the gusset plates and of adjacent side pieces being welded to the curved crosspiece. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) Conveyor according to claim 3, characterized in that each gusset plate is adapted to the profile of the associated side pieces, and in that a solid curved piece whose guide face has a curvature parallel to the curved crosspiece is fastened releasably, in each case, to the underside of a transverse shoulder of the gusset plates which corresponds to the upper leg of the side pieces. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) Conveyor according to claim 2, characterized in that the side pieces of the middle and upper longitudinal sections of the conveyor are welded directly to one another, and in that the top side of the guide channels for the working side of the hinged belt is constituted by two further solid curved pieces which bridge the joint between the middle and upper longitudinal sections, said further curved pieces being adapted to the profile of the formed metal sheet means on the inner side of the side pieces and being connected releasably thereto. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) Conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that the arcuate guide means at the drive station comprises guide plates which are assigned to the return side of the hinged belt and which are connected, at their end which is at the front in the conveying direction, to the horizontal, inwardly bent legs of the side pieces and which extend, with their end which is at the rear in the conveying direction, out of the path of movement of the empty side of the hinged belt. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) Conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that at the drive station another baseplate extends approximately horizontally underneath bent guide plates of the side pieces for the empty side of the hinged belt at such a spacing and over such a length that the inside of the conveyor frame is accessible through an intervention opening. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) Conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that the end of the upper legs of the U-shaped formed metal sheet means is bent upwards at right angles towards the underside of the upper inwardly bent leg of the side pieces and is welded to said leg at a distance from the free end of the upper legs of the side pieces. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) Conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that there are assigned to the working side, in the end section of the conveyor, Z-shaped formed metal sheet means which correspond to the profile of the U-shaped formed metal sheet means, with their lower inwardly projecting leg being omitted. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) Conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that the reversing device for the hinged belt at the reversing station consists of two reversing drums which are mounted releasably on the side pieces. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) Conveyor according to claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 whose drive station consists of a drive motor, a gear unit and a drive shaft with reversing members for the conveyor belt, the drive shaft being mounted, on the two outer sides of the side pieces of the conveyor frame, in each case in a bearing block which is connected to a mounting rail running parallel to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor frame, characterized in that the bearing blocks are each connected to a backing plate, arranged in the mounting rail, by means of bolts which pass, in each case, through a slotted hole which extends, in the mounting rail parallel to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor and in that two bracing plates extend from the backing plate parallel to one another at a spacing, transversely to the longitudinal direction, between which bracing plates a spring element can be held under stress axially by means of a tensioning device. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) Conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that a chain guard at the drive station consists of two screening plates which cover the cut-outs, surrounding the drive shaft of the side pieces and which is each connected releasably to one of the bearing blocks fastened to the side pieces. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) Conveyor according to claim 11, characterized in that the screening plates are each fastened, by means of a lateral attachment plate, with a screw of the bearing block, to the latter, and in that the upper margin is provided with a notch which surrounds the drive shaft from below and from the sides with a spacing there between. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) Conveyor according to claim 13, characterized in that a guard plate which is curved concavely in respect of a chain sprocket wheel of the drive shaft is welded, with a part of its die margin, to the inner side of the screening plate, the lower end of the guard plate terminating at the height of the lower horizontal leg of the side pieces and the upper end terminating at the height of the transverse shoulder of the Z-shaped formed metal sheet means on the inner side of the side pieces.