The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

CONVEYORS D.—APPLIANCES IN WHICH THE MATERIAL IS CONVEYED BY THE ACTION OF A SEMI - STATIONARY RECIPRO- CATING TROUGH CHAPTER IX VIBRATING OR RECIPROCATING TROUGH CONVEYORS This group embodies the latest developments of the conveyor. In principle it consists of troughs which receive the material to be conveyed at one end and deliver it at the other end by means of a succession of suitable backward and forward movements of the troughs. It may therefore be classed with the two previous types, i.e., the band and the travelling trough conveyor, as in all three conveyors the material is, so to speak, conveyed in the trough without the use of a stirring or pushing agent, as is the case with worm, push- plate, and cable trough conveyors. It is obvious that every kind of material which deteriorates through rough treatment should be conveyed on appliances of the former types. The credit of the introduction of this appliance in its original form is due to Herr Eugen Kreiss, of Hamburg. There are several varieties of the vibrating trough conveyor. In some, the trough makes a reciprocating motion by means of a crank and connecting rod, whilst the trough itself is supported on rollers (Thomson’s patent) or portions of rollers (Marcus’s patent); others are actuated by a cam, or by cranks with some kind of quick return motion. The support of the trough in its reciprocating motion has been effected by links and by spring legs in an oblique position, the latter form being more generally used for two reasons. Firstly, these spring legs are securely bolted at one end to the floor or other support, and at the other to the conveyor trough itself, and consequently require no lubrication. Secondly, the combined action of the reciprocating motion of the trough and of the rocking of the spring legs causes the material to travel faster in the trough with a given stroke of the crank than with any other support. The Zimmer Conveyor.—This is built on the above principle. The diagram in Fig. 149 illustrates its action. The diagram is greatly exaggerated, as the movements are too minute to show on a small scale diagram. The lines a, b represent the bottom of the trough ; c, c are two of the spring legs. The lines in full show these legs at the extreme backward position of the crank d, and the dotted lines also show a, b, c, c in the forward position of the crank. Let e be the object to be conveyed. At the moment the trough moves forward and upward, e is thrown also forward and approxi- mately at right angles to the slanting legs c, c, and before E has time to complete its short parabolic course, the trough has been moved by the crank into its original III