Conveyor folding and deflector operation for excavating and loading systems

Abstract

An excavating loading system is disclosed which includes a vehicle with an excavating wheel assembly at the front and a plurality of conveyors toward the rear. The conveyors of the excavating and loading system include cross conveyors and a main conveyor for receiving material from the excavating wheels. The main conveyor transports the material rearwardly from the excavating wheel assembly and delivers the material to the opposite end of the vehicle. An auxiliary conveyor assembly is pivotally supported at the rear end of the vehicle to receive material from the main conveyor and to transport the material either laterally or rearwardly. The auxiliary conveyor assembly has inner and outer conveyors mounted with the discharge end of one conveyor adjacent the receiving end of the other conveyor. The conveyors are connected so that the outer conveyor can be folded under the inner conveyor. Also, the conveyors in the auxiliary conveyor assembly can be selectively positioned to discharge material from the end of either conveyor. A variably positionable deflector plate is provided to direct the discharge of material.

Description

Claims

1. An excavating and loading system comprising:

a vehicle having a front and rear;

an excavating wheel mounted on the front of the vehicle for excavating material;

main conveyor means for receiving the excavated material from the excavating wheel and for transporting the material to the rear of the vehicle;

a drive mechanism mounted on the vehicle for operating the excavating wheel;

an auxiliary conveyor means mounted for pivotal movement about a vertical axis on the rear of the vehicle for receiving excavated materaial from the main conveyor means and for conveying the material beyond the rear of the vehicle and for selectively discharging the materaial into either one of a pair of material transport vehicles, said auxiliary conveyor means including an inner conveyor with inner and outer ends attached to the rear of the vehicle, and an outer conveyor with inner and outer ends positioned at the outer end of the inner conveyor, the inner conveyor being positioned to extend upwardly and outwardly beyond the rear of the vehicle a sufficient distance to discharge excavted material directly into one of said transport vehicle positioned behind the excavating and loading system;

means connecting the outer conveyor to the outer end of the inner conveyor for movement between a material receiving position wherein excavated material discharged from the outer end of the inner conveyor is discharged onto the inner end of the outer conveyor and is transported by the outer conveyor for discharge into one of said transpfort vehicles, and an inoperative position wherein the inner end of the outer conveyor is positioned spaced away from the outer end of the inner conveyor so that excavated material discharged from the inner conveyor is free to fall into the other one of said transport vehicles therebelow;

means connecting the outer conveyor to the inner conveyor for selectively pivoting said outer conveyor to a position folded under said inner conveyor;

means for selctively adjusting the angular relationship between the inner and outer conveyors; and

deflection plate means positioned at the inner and outer ends of the outer conveyor for deflecting material respectively from the inner conveyor and from the outer conveyor into the transport vehicles.

2. In an excavating and loading system having in combination a vehicle with a front and rear, a frame on the vehicle, an excavating wheel means mounted the front of the frame, main conveyor means for receiving excavated material from the excavating wheel means and for transporting the material to the rear of the vehicle, a drive mechanism mounted on the frame for operating the excavating wheel means, an auxiliary conveyor means mounted on the rear of the vehicle frame and for receiving excavated material from the main conveyor means for conveying the material and selectively discharging the material into one of a pair of material transport vehicles, said auxiliary conveyor means comprising an inner conveyor with inner and outer ends attached to the vehicle at the rear thereof and extending rearwardly therefrm, and an outer conveyor positioned at the outer end of the inner conveyor, the inner conveyor being positioned to extend upwardly beyond the vehicle a sufficient distance to discharge excavated material directly into one of the material transport vehicles positioned adjacent to the excavating and loading system;

the improvement which comprises:

means for connecting the auxiliary conveyor means to the vehicle for pivotal movement about a vertical axis;

means connecting the outer conveyor to the outer end of the inner conveyor for movement between a material receiving position wherein excavated material discharged from the outer end of the inner conveyor is discharged onto and transported by the outer conveyor, and an inoperative position wherein the outer conveyor is positioned spaced away from the inner conveyor so that excavated material discharged from the outer end of the inner conveyor is free to fall into the material transport vehicle therebelow;

means connecting the outer conveyor to the inner conveyor for selectively pivoting said outer conveyor to a position folded under said inner conveyor;

means for selectively adjusting the angular relationship between the inner and outer conveyors; and

deflection plate means positioned at the inner and outer ends of the outer conveyor for deflecting excavated material, respectively, from the inner conveyor and from the outer conveyor into the transport vehicles.

3. An excavating and loading system comprising:

an excavating wheel assembly comprising axle means and at least two rigid excavating wheels rotatably mounted cantilever on and supported on the axle means, said excavating wheel assembly having a width at least equal to the widest portion of the remainder of the system;

each of said excavating wheels including a plurality of digging buckets located immediately adjacent one another to define the entire circumference of the excavating wheel, each bucket having a cutting edge which extends to a stationary wall and a wall mounted for pivotal movement from a material receiving position to a material dumping position;

supporting and housing means extending between the excavating wheels and connected to the axle means for supporting the excavating wheel assembly;

each of said digging buckets extending continuously between a side wall thereof located immediately adjacent to the support means and a sidewall thereof defining one end of the excavating wheel assembly;

drive means extending through the supporting and housing means for rotating the excavating wheels so that the digging buckets follow a circular path;

said digging buckets being oriented and said drive means operating to move each digging bucket downwardly during the forward portion of its rotation such that the digging buckets are sequentially moved downwardly into engagement with material to be excavated whereby the material engaged by the digging buckets is supported by the ground below thereby allowing the digging buckets to cut off relatively small pieces of the material;

means located within the margins of the excavating wheel assembly and responsive to rotation of the excavating wheels for positively pivoting the movable wall of each digging bucket of the excavating wheel to the material receiving position when the bucket is in the lower and forward portion of the path and for positively pivoting the movable wall to the material dumping position when the bucket is in the upper and rearward portion of the path;

a vehicle for supporting and manipulaing the excavating wheel supporting means and thereby positioning the excavating wheel assembly in engagement with material to be excavated;

conveyor means mounted on the vehicle entirely behind the excavting wheel assembly for movement around a course including a relatively low portion positioned to receive material from the digging buckets of the excavating wheels upon the positioning of the movable walls of the buckets in the material dumping position and a relatively high material delivery portion located rearwardly on the vehicle from the low portion; and

a deflection plate means mounted on the rear of the conveyor means for deflecting material received from the conveyor means into a waiting truck.