The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

120 fr MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL H1NG.E-O CoNNE-CTOA. ( PATENT) The Torpedo Conveyor.—A reciprocat- ing conveyor has recently been introduced under this name, which presents some new features and an entirely different principle to the fore- going. Figs. 165 and 166 show the two types of this conveyor in elevation and cross section. The former is the standard type, whilst the latter is used when the available head room is limited. A conveyor according to Fig. 165 consists of the following component parts : the trough de suspended on rockers C’, the crank drive ag which conveys an oscillating motion to the frame b, which is supported by rollers /z, rail z, and brackets k ; and lastly of the dashpot f with its connection to the trough. Fig. 167 is a perspective view of the same. ° The conveyor in the lower illustration, I Fig. 166, differs from the one previously de- <3 scribed in so far that the upper rail is dispensed c1 with, so that the rollers h revolve on the channel S Z, or rather on chilled iron rollers w ; the rockers cL c being in this case much shorter. The troughs % are of angles and sheet steel plates similar to other reciprocating conveyors. When the conveyor is at work the carriage has a reciprocating motion of 8 in., due to the o crank, and this motion is imparted by the links J5 c to the trough. Such a swinging or pendulum- like motion being equal in either direction would S give no forward movement to any material de- posited in the trough, and this motion does not £ come into being till the motion in one of the directions is arrested prematurely by the dash- pot f and its connection. The action is then as follows : the material in the trough swings with the trough and has therefore the same velocity, but before the motion has reached its full extent the progress of the trough is gently checked when the material slides on by its momentum, and is thus conveyed by the repeti- tion of this action. The normal speed of the crank is 52 revs, per minute, and the stroke 8 in. Reciprocating conveyors do not deserve this name until a certain minimum speed has been reached. In the case of the torpedo conveyor this appears to be at a little over 40 revolutions. At 52 revolutions the best results are obtained. According to Baron Hanffstengel,