The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

T34 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL respects from other known conveyors of the gravity bucket type. The point of suspension is in the same plane as the centre of the chain and not above, as in the Humboldt conveyor,Pand the units have only one pair of wheels and only one axle, which Fig. 182. Schenck Gravity Bucket Conveyor. latter serves also as the link bolt of the chain. It is claimed for this conveyor that little power is required to drive it, and that by the special construction of the buckets and links the conveyor can move in any direction and plane, and the strand of buckets can even be twisted when a change of direction to a new plane is required. If this twist is not necessary for the general arrangement of the con- veyor, a coupling bar takes the place of the small swivelling muff couplings which are shown in the illustration. The illustration also shows the detail of the bucket with its single axle, its substantial frame, the hinge-like attachment on the axle, and the couplings between the buckets, the whole being designed to withstand the greater strain caused by the altered conditions of arrangement of these conveyors. The buckets are comparatively light, but strong, a piece of gas pipe covers the axle, and is secured by two small castings to the sides of the bucket. The method of lubrication is shown in Fig, 183. k is a kind of Stauffer cup which screws on to a boss of the runner wheel R either by hand or by the arrangement indicated in Fig. 184. When the grease is entirely used up the lid has left the thread, and therefore hangs loosely over the boss, so that the attendant can readily see when it has to be refilled. The Stauffer can also be tightened automatically whilst passing over the terminals, as will be seen from Fig. 185. A considerable amount of power may have to be transmitted through curves in long conveyors. This means the creation of side stresses, which affect the frame and the wheels of the units, and the construction of these details must therefore be more substantial in this type of conveyor than in those which travel in a vertical plane only. Fig. 185 shows the driving gear with a large drum directly con- nected to an electric motor by means of worm reducing and spur gearing. A feeding device for a conveyor of this type is shown in Fig. 186 ; the design is, Figs. 183 and 184 Showing Methods of Lubricating. however, varied somewhat according to the size of the material to be fed. The action is as follows : The slide s closes the feeding hopper t, and opens the same intermittently whenever a bucket is underneath ready to be charged; the opening of the slide s is performed by the running rollers r of the conveyor chain coming in contact with the two