Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Background of the Invention
The invention pertains to crushers for reducing rock and ore
aggregate to the desired sizes. More particularly, the invention pertains
to a gyratory or cone type crusher in which a crushing head is supported by
and rotatably mounted on an upright eccentric shaft so that the crushing head
is gyrated upon rotation of the eccentric shaft. Examples of such prior art
gyratory crushers are shown in United States Patent No. 3,743,193, issued
July 3, 1973 to DeDiemar et al. and United States Patent No. 2,634,061,
issued April 7, 1953 to Rumpel. The stationary frame of such crushers have
a crushing bowl including a concave which surrounds the crushing head and
which cooperates therewith to form an annular crushing chamber. The material
to be crushed such as rock and ore is distributed to the crushing chamber by
feeding the material into a hopper above the cone and concave, which material
then falls into the crushing chamber. The eccentric shaft is continually
rotated to cause the head to gyrate within the concave effecting a crushing -
action upon the material.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention provides a gyratory crusher having a
stationary frame and a concave mounted in said frame, said frame including
a vertically extending first bore, an eccentric shaft including an eccentric
upper end and a lower end, at least one anti-friction bearing assembly received
in said first bore, said at least one bearing assembly supporting said shaft
lower end for rotation relative to said frame, a crushing head rotatably
mounted on said upper end of said eccentric shaft for gyratory movement there- -by and relative to said concave to effect a crushing action with said concave,
said crushing head including a downwardly facing uniform diameter bore there-
in for receiving said eccentric upper end of said shaft, and a pair of
vertically spaced apart anti-friction cyllndrical and radial thrust type
bearing assemblies slideably received upwardly in an axial direction in said
downwardly facing bore and located around said upper end of said eccentric
shaft, a removable spacer slideably received in said downwardly facing bore
and located between said bearing assemblies, said assemblies being of equal
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diameter whereby said pair of bearing assemblies can be removed and replaced
and rotationally support said crushing head on said upper end of said
eccentric shaft, said frame also having a generally horizontal, annular sur-
face, an anti-friction thrust bearing assembly mounted on said annular sur-
face, said head mounted on said thrust bearing assembly for rotation relative
to said annular surface and whereby vertical thrust is absorbed by said
thrust bearing assembly.
The invention also provides a gyratory type crusher having a
stationary frame and a concave mounted in said frame, said frame including a ~:~
vertically extending first bore, an eccentric shaft including an eccentric
upper end and a lower end, a first pair of vertically spaced anti-friction
bearing assemblies slideably received in an axial direction in said first
bore and can be axially slid outwardly from said bore so as to facilitate
removal and replacement of said assemblies, said bearing assemblies support-
ing said shaft lower end for rotation relative to said frame, a crushing head
rotatably mounted on said upper end of said eccentric shaft for gyratory
movement thereby and relative to said concave to effect a crushing action
with said concave, said crushing head including a downwardly facing second -
bore of uniform diameter therein for receiving said eccentric upper end of
said shaft, and a second pair of vertically spaced anti-friction cylindrical
and radial thrust type bearing assemblies slideably received upwardly in an
axial direction in said second bore and being of equal diameter for removal
from and replacement therein, a removable spacer slideably received in said
downwardly facing bore and located between said bearing assemblies, said .
second pair of assemblies rotationally supporting said crushing head on said
upper end of said eccentric shaft, said frame also having a generally
horizontal, annular surface, an anti-friction thrust bearing assembly mounted
on said annular surface, said head mounted on said thrust bearing assembly
for rotation relative to said annular surface and whereby vertical thrust is
absorbed by said thrust bearing assembly.
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The spaced bearing assemblies have been found to provide substan-
tial advantages over the use of the single large bearing assemblies shown
for example, in the DeDiemar patent cited above. For example, the spaced
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apart bearing assemblies provide more stable support for the conical crush-
ing head because there is less likelihood of the rollers becoming skewed or
misaligned within the bearing cages. Furthermore, vibration or skidding of
the rollers is substantially reduced thereby increasing the bearing life. Using
a pair of relatively small bearings rather than a single bearing, has the further
advantage that the smaller bearings are more easily handled during assembly
or replacement. The bearings used in a gyratory crusher are often large
enough that it is necessary to use mechanical means such as a crane or the
like to support the bearings during assembly or replacement. The smaller
10. bearings, however, can be handled manually and do not necessitate the use of
such a crane. Furthermore, wear on bearings used in a gyratory crusher is
often localized to either one or the other ends of the bearing due to overbearing
moments applied to the conical crushing head. Use of two relatively small
spaced bearings rather than a single bearing can compensate for such localized
wear and can substantially reduce the cost of bearing replacement since it is
often practical to replace only one of the worn bearings.
The gyratory crusher of the present invention includes a further
substantial advantage over the other prior art crushers in that each of the bear-
ing assemblies used in the gyratory crusher of the invention can be axially
20. slideably removed with a minimum of effort and at a minimum cost.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIGURE 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view through a gyratory
crusher embodying the present invention.
FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view of the vertically spaced bearing
assemblies shown in FIG, 1.
1. 1 ,
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Description of the Preferred Embodiment
As shown in FIG. 1, the gyratory crusher provided by the pre-
sent invention includes a main frame F which is rigidly and stationarily mount-
ed to any suitable supporting structure (not shown). The main frame F has an
annular concave supporting ring 2 supported on an annular upwardly diverging
surface 3 of the frame wall 1~ The ring 2 is resiliently held against the sur-
face 3 by means of a series of tension bolts 4 and compression springs 5, which
springs act against the flange 6 of the main frame F and against a spring re-
taining ring 7 located on the lower end of the bolts 4. Thus the springs 5 per-
10. mit the upper ring 2 to move upwardly when excessive loads are encountered
by the crushing members which wlll be described. The structure referred to
above is further described in U. S, Patent No, 3, 744, 728, issued July 10, I973
to Treppish and assigned to the same assignee as this appLication.
The upper ring 2 supports a support bowl 8 to which is fixed a
manganese steel concave 9. The concave 9 and a conical crushing head 10
function to define therebetween an annular crushing chamber 11. Material to
be crushed is fed into a hopper 12, which is supported by the upper ring 2,
and then falls into the annular crushing chamber 11 wherein relative gyratory
movement between the conical crushing head 10 and the concave 9 acts to
20. crush the material against the concave 9 in a known manner,
The conical crushing head 10 is supported for gyratory motion
on an eccentric shaft 13. The lower end of the eccentric shaft 13 is rotatably
mounted within a central vertically extending bore 14 in the main frame F.
The lower end of the shaft 13 is supported by a pair of separate vertically
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spaced apart radial roller bearing assemblies 16 and 17, each of which isaxially slideably received in the bore 14. As best shown in FIG. 2J the outer
race 18 of the lower roller bearing assembly 16 is supported by a shoulder 19
of the bore 14, and the inner race 23 of the bearing assembly 16 is supported
by a collar l9a secured to the eccentric shaft 13 by a set screw l9b. The
upper bearing assembly 17 is maintained in vertically spaced relation from
the lower bearing assembly 16 by a pair of concentric annular spacing rings
21 and 22. One of the rings 21 is slideably received in the bore 14 and is posi-
tioned between the outer races 18 of the bearings and the other annular ring 22
10 is slideably received around the lower end of the shaft 13 and is positioned
between the inner races 23 of the bear ings 16 and 17. The eecentric shaft 13
includes a shoulder 24 supported by the bearing assembly 17.
The eccentric shaft 13 also includes a radially outwardly extending
flange 26 intermediate its length which is supported at its periphery by a
horizontally disposed bearing assembly 27. The bearing assembly 27 is sup-
ported on annular surface 25 of the main frame F and in turn provides support
for the lower surface of the eccentric shaft flange 26. The two vertically spaced
radial roller bearing assemblies 16 and 17 and the bearing assembly 27 thus
rotatably support the eccentric shaft 13 for rotation with respect to the main
20 frame F. In order to provide for such rotation of the shaft 13, a large bevel
gear 29 is secured to the lower end of shaft 13. The bevel gear 29 meshes with
a bevel pinion 31 in turn fixed to a drive shaft 32. Power is furnished to the
drive shaft by a multiple-V pulley 33 which is in turn driven by a conventional
power source (not shown).
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The conical crushing head 10 is rotatabLy supported on the eccentric
upper end of the eccentric shaft 13 by a generally horizontally disposed bearingassembly 28 and by a pair of separated vertically spaced radial roller bearing
assemblies 34 and 36. The generally horizontally disposed bearing assembly
28 is supported by the upper periphery of the radially extending flange 26 and
in turn supports a lower annular surface 37 of the crushing head lO. The gen-
eral purpose of the bearing assembly 28 is to accommodate vertical load placed
onthecrushing head 10. The conical crushing head 10 includes a central axially
extending bore 38 for slideably receiving the spaced bearing assemblies 34 and
10 36 therein. The upper bearing assembly 36 is received against a cover plate
- 39 and a shoulder 41. The bearing assemblies 34 and 36 are held in spaced
relation by a pair of concentric annular spacing rings 42 and 43. The bore 38
also includes a pair of annular grooves 44 and 46 around each of the bearing
assemblies 34 and 36, respectively, and connected to fluid passages 47 and 48.
Due to the loads applied to the bearing assemblies used in gyra-
tory crushers such as that of the present invention, the bearing assemblies
are subjected to wear and must be replaced on occasion. The gyratory crusher
of the invention provides substantial improvements over the prior art crushers
by including means to facilitate removal and replacement of such worn bear-
20 ing assemblies. As previously stated, the bearing assemblies 16 and 17 areaxially slideably received in the bore 14, and the bearing assemblies 34 and
36 are axially slideably received in a similar bore 38. To replace the bearing
assemblies 34 and 36, the concave supporting ring 2 can be removed from the
frame F, and the conical crushing head 10 along with the outer races 34a and 36aof the bearing assemblies 34 and 36 can then be pulled upwardly off the eccentric
shaft 13. By injecting fluid under pressure through the passages 47 and 48, the
outer races 34a and 36a of the bearing assemblies can then be slideably removed
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from the bore 38 if push rods are extended through bores 45 and used to push
the bearing assemblies out of the bore 38. In order to replace the bearing
assemblies 16 and 17, the eccentric shaft 13 and the inner bearing races 23 are
pulled upwardly out of the frame F. Then the outer bearing races 18 of the
bearing àssemblies 16 and 17 can be axially slideably removed from the bore 14.
In order to further facilitate replacement of the bearing assemblies, each of
the bearing assemblies 16, 17, 34 and 36 is the same size and interchangeable.
During the operation of the gyratory crusher, it is desirable that the
crushing action be relatively evenly distributed in the crushing chamber 11,
however, it has been found that the crushing action may occur only in the por-
tion lla of the annular chamber 11, i. e., that area between the concave 9 and
the extreme outer peripheral edge of the conical crushing head, When the
crushing action is thus restricted, the forces on the lower peripheral edge of
the conical crushing head cause an overturning moment to be applied to the
crushing head 10. The spaced bearing assemblies of the present invention sup-
porting the eccentric shaft and the conical crushing head have substantial ad-
vantages in compensating for such an overturning moment. The use of two
spaced bearing assemblies 34 and 36 rather than a single large bearing assem-
bly substantially reduces the possibility of skewing or misalignment of the
bearing rollers within the respective bearing cages and also reduces ~ribration
and skidding of the rollers in the bearing thereby increasing the bearing life and
providing a more stable support between the conical crushing head and the upper
end of the eccentric shaft. Furthermore, wear on a single large bearing used
in a gyratory crusher is often localized to either one or the other of the ends
of the bearing, particularly in cases where the crushing head is subjected
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to an overturning moment as previously described, The use of two spaced
bearings rather than a single bearing can substantially reduce the cost of
bearing replacement since it is often practical to replace only one of the worn
bearings. Furthermore, use of a pair of relatively small bearings rather
than a single large bearing facilitates much easier handling of the bearings
during assembly or replacement.
Resume
The bearing assembly used in the gyratory crusher of the pre-
sent invention thus has a plurality of advantages over the prior art. Since
10. pairs of spaced bearing assemblies are used rather than single large bearings,
the bearing assemblies wear longer and provide a more stable support for the
conical crushing head and the eccentric shaft because the rollers used in smaller
bearing assemblies are less apt to skew, become misaligned, skid or vibrate.
Furthermore, the pairs of spaced bearing assemblies are less subject to un-
even bearing wear. ~Iowever,i in the event that there is localized wear, the
smaller bearings can be replaced at less cost. An additional advantage of the
present invention is that the bearing assemblies are axially slideably positioned
in their respective bores in such a manner that they can be relatively easily
removed and replaced,
20.
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