Apron weigh feeder
AssigneeMetso Minerals Industries, Inc.
InventorMartin A. Yester
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apron weigh feeder for use in the heavy bulk materials industry includes a feeder frame, a head drive shaft, a pair of tail traction wheels, and a plurality of carry and return rollers. A pair of drive sprockets is mounted on the head drive shaft. The tail traction wheels are aligned with the drive sprockets, respectively. A pair of endless crawler chains is reeved about the drive sprockets and tail traction wheels, respectively. A plurality of flights is fixed to the crawler chains to define a carrying surface of the apron weigh feeder. The carry rollers support the crawler chains and carrying surface. The carry rollers are supported rotatably by a plurality of carry roller support frames, which are mounted on the feeder frame. The weigh scale assembly is substituted in place of at least one of the carry roller support frames.
Claims20
An apron weigh feeder for simultaneously transporting and weighing heavy bulk materials, comprising:
- a feeder frame;
- a head drive shaft mounted rotatably on the feeder frame, the head drive shaft having a drive sprocket mounted thereto;
- a tail traction wheel mounted rotatably on the feeder frame at an opposite end of the feeder frame from the head drive shaft, the tail traction wheel aligned with the drive sprocket;
- a plurality of carry rollers located and aligned between the drive sprocket and tail traction wheel, the carry rollers supported rotatably by a plurality of carry roller support frames, respectively, the carry roller support frames each mounted on the feeder frame;
- an endless crawler chain reeved about the drive sprocket and tail traction wheel, the crawler chain in operation of the feeder moving in a chain path comprised of an upper rectilinear path and a lower rectilinear path connected by two curvilinear end paths, and the crawler chain supported by the carry rollers while moving in the upper rectilinear path;
- a plurality of flights fixed to the crawler chain to define a carrying surface of the feeder;
- and
- a weigh scale assembly substituted in place of at least one of the carry roller support frames, the weigh scale assembly operable to generate an output signal indicative of the weight of bulk material passing over the weigh scale assembly.
An apron weigh feeder for simultaneously transporting and weighing heavy bulk materials, comprising:
- a feeder frame;
- a head drive shaft mounted rotatably on the feeder frame, the head-drive shaft having at least two drive sprockets mounted thereto;
- at least two tail traction wheels mounted rotatably on the feeder frame at an opposite end of the feeder frame from the head drive shaft, the tail traction wheels aligned with the drive sprockets, respectively;
- a plurality of carry rollers arranged in substantially parallel rows aligned between respective pairs of drive sprockets and tail traction wheels, the carry rollers supported rotatably by a plurality of carry roller support frames mounted on the feeder frame;
- an endless crawler chain reeved about each of the respective pairs of drive sprockets and tail traction wheels, the crawler chains in operation of the feeder, each moving in a chain path comprised of an upper rectilinear path and a lower rectilinear path connected by two curvilinear end paths, and the crawler chains supported by the carry rollers while moving in the upper rectilinear path;
- a plurality of flights fixed to the crawler chains to define a carrying surface of the feeder;
- and
- a weigh scale assembly substituted in place of at least one of the carry roller support frames, the weigh scale assembly operable to generate an output signal indicative of the weight of bulk material passing over the weigh scale assembly.
An apron weigh feeder for simultaneously transporting and weighing heavy bulk materials, comprising:
- a feeder frame;
- a head drive shaft rotatably mounted on the feeder frame, the head drive shaft having at least two drive sprockets mounted thereto;
- at least two tail traction wheels rotatably mounted on the feeder frame at an opposite end of the feeder frame from the head drive shaft, the tail traction wheels aligned with the drive sprockets, respectively;
- a plurality of carry rollers arranged in substantially parallel rows aligned between respective pairs of drive sprockets and tail traction wheels, the carry rollers supported rotatably by a plurality of carry roller support frames mounted on the feeder frame;
- an endless crawler chain reeved about each of the respective pairs of drive sprockets and tail traction wheels, the crawler chains in operation of the feeder each moving in a chain path comprised of an upper rectilinear path and a lower rectilinear path connected by two curvilinear end paths, and the crawler chains supported by the carry rollers while moving in the upper rectilinear path;
- a plurality of flights extending transversely across and fixed to the crawler chains to define a carrying surface of the feeder;
- a plurality of return rollers rotatably mounted on the feeder frame below the carry rollers;
- and
- a weigh scale assembly substituted in place of at least one of the carry roller support frames, the weigh scale assembly comprising a scale support frame substituted in place of the at least one carry roller support frame, a load cell positioned between the scale support frame and the feeder frame, and a feeder scale operatively connected to the load cell, the load cell configured to generate an output signal indicative of the weight of bulk material passing over the scale support frame for receiving by the feeder scale, which displays the output signal as the weight of bulk material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.