Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
725
Background of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hose belt
conveyer system having a conveyer belt that is made
of rubber or rubber-like synthetic material, contains
filamentary strength or load-carriers which extend in
the longitudinal direction of the belt, and -that can
be closed, by overlapping its longitudinal edge
regions, to form a hose that is supported all the way
around by support rollers.
Such hose belt conveyer systems are described,
for example, in German Patent 943,817, German
Offenlegungsschrift 1 934 342, and German Patent
2 944 448. The drawback with the known systems of
this type is that the support and guide rollers,
which support the conveyer belt and guide it in hose
form, are rigidly disposed around the cross section
of the belt, and have a constant symmetrical
distribution therearound. As a result of this rigid
arrangement of the rollers, a specific hose cross
section, which is prescribed exactly by the position
of the rollers, is constantly forced upon the
conveyer belt, and this is true independent of the
shape and distribution of the respectively
transported material. With such a configuration, the
material of the belt is greatly stressed, especially
when bulky material is conveyed, which could damage
the belt.
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A very significant drawback of the heretofore
known hose belt conveyer systems is that the assembly
of the conveyer belt, as well as maintenance and
repair, is very expensive, since the conveyer belt is
very inaccessible due to the support frame that
surrounds it, and on which the rollers are fixedly
mounted.
In addition, due to the rigid, equidistant
arrangement of the support rollers, the longitudinal
edge of that belt edge region which overlaps during
formation of the hose frequently collides with the
end face of the adjacent lateral support roller.
Over time, this results in damage to this
longitudinal edge of the belt, thus requiring
expensive repair or even replacement of the entire
belt.
It i.s therefore an object of the present
invention to provide a belt conveying system of the
aforementioned general type that does not have the
previously mentioned drawbacks, and which, on the
whole, is characterized by an optimum guidance of the
belt.
Brief Description of the Drawing
The drawing explains the present invention with
the aid of a very simplified illustration of the
essential features.
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Summary of the Invention
By one aspect of this invention, there is
provided a hose belt conveyer system having a hose-
shaped conveyer belt that i8 made of rubber or
rubber-like synthetic material and that has
longitudinal edge reglons, and that can be closed,
by overlapping said longitudinal edge regions
thereof, to form a hose belt that is supported all
the way around by support rollers, the improvement
wherein: said rollers are divided into garlands of
rollers located oppositely in pairs; in particular,
in a given stretch of the conveyer system that has
been closed in the manner of a hose, a first
garland of rollers is provided that substantially
surrounds the lower half of the cross section of
said hose belt, and a second garland of rollers is
provided that substantially surrounds the upper
half of the cross section of said hose belt, said
first and second garlands of rollers also
overcoming problems in straight-ahead and curve
guidance of said hose-shaped conveyer belt and
being individually journaled and pivotally mounted
independently of each other, with a plurality of
said rollers being pivotally interconnected
together so as to form the said garland, each of
said garlands being self-supporting and being
secured only at its ends to a supporting framework.
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Preferably, an upper roller garland is
associated with each of the lower roller garlands,
with the upper and lower roller garlands being
disposed either precisely across from one another,
or being offset slightly relative to one another ,
when viewed in the longitudinal direction of the
belt.
In one particularly advantageous embodiment,
the end points of the roller garlands are mounted
on the arms of support frames that are open
upwardly in a U-
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shaped manner. With such an arrangement, it is
readily possible, b~ releasing one of the end
supports of the upper roller garland, to swing the
latter away upwardly, as a result of which the hose
belt is completely freely accessible from above.
This considerably facilitates assembly of the
conveyer belt, as well as all repair and maintenance
work.
A further advantageous embodiment of the present
invention is characterized in that on the upper
roller garlands, in each case thé distance between
those two rollers that are disposed on both sides of
the longitudinal edge of the overlapping belt edge
region is greater than the distances between the
remaining rollers. This prevents these longitudinal
belt edges from striking the end faces of the
laterally adjacent roller, and thus becoming damaged,
when slight fluctuations or twists of the moving hose
belt are encountered. This increased roller gap can
be realized in particular by placing between the two
aforementioned rollers that are disposed on both
sides of the longitudinal edge of the belt a
connecting link that is longer than the connecting
links of the other rollers of the upper garlands,
with the rollers themselves all having the same
dimensions. The longer connecting link is preferably
approximately twice as long as the remaining
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connecting links.
To further optimize guidance of the hose belt,
it is furthermore proposed, in the region of those
stretches where the hose belt travels through a
right-hand or left-hand curve or turn, and
consequently twists toward the right or the left
about its longitudinal axis, to adapt the suspension
of the roller garlands to this twist. This is
accomplished by mounting the respective end supports
of the garlands on the support frames of the conveyer
system in a position that is twisted about the
longitudinal axis of the belt by the same angle.
The conveyer belt that is used in the inventive
belt conveying system, and that can be shaped to form
a hose belt, contains embedded, filamentary strength
or load-carriers that extend in the longitudinal
direction of the belt, with these load-carriers
preferably being disposed exclusively in the region
of the longitudinal edges of the belt. In
particular, these load-carriers are disposed only to
the extent that these longitudinal edges overlap one
another in those stretches that are closed in the
form of a hose. By means of these longitudinal load-
carriers, the driving force, which is introduced from
a drive roller about which the belt is looped in a
flat position at the direction-reversal point of the
conveyer system, is transmitted uniformly to the
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entire belt. The effect that the limitation of the
longitudinal load-carriers has on the longitudinal
edges of the belt is that, in those stretches of the
system that are closed in the manner of a hose, the
belt assures the elastic flexibility of the side
walls and underside of the hose that is required at
this location in order for the belt to travel through
right-hand or left-hand curves without difficulty.
Description of Preferred Embodiment
The conveyer belt 1, which is formed into a hose
belt and confines the material 2 that is to be
conveyed, is made in a known manner of, for example,
a synthetic rubber. The lower half of the cross
section of the belt 1 is supported by the rollers
3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 of the lower garland or partial
ring of rollers 3, whereas the upper half of the
cross section of the belt l is guided by the rollers
4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 of the upper garland or partial
ring of rollers 4 in such a way that the belt edges
1.10 and 1.20 overlap one another.
As described, the conveyer belt, in its
overlapping edge regions 1.10 and 1.20 only, contains
embedded strength or load-carriers 1.3, for example
in the form of steel wires, that are continuous in
the longitudinal direction. The central region of
the belt can contain conventional reinforcing inserts
that extend in the transverse or diagonal direction,
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and are not illustrated in the drawing. These
reinforcing inserts serve as a protection against
puncture, and increase the load-carrying capacity of
the belt.
The roller garlands 3 and 4 are pivotably or
hingedly mounted to the arms 5.1 and 5.2 of the
support frame 5 at the end points 3.10, 3.30 and
4.10, 4.30. The rollers, which are rotatable about
their shafts, are pivotably or hingedly
interconnected via connecting links 3.12, 3.23 and
4.12, 4.23. The longer connecting link 4.12 assures
that the longitudinal edge 1.21 of the overlapping
belt edge region 1.20 maintains a distance from the
laterally adjacent roller 4.1 that is sufficient,
even during fluctuations of the belt path, to avoid
collisions of the belt edge 1.21 with the end face of
this roller 4.1, thus avoiding damages to the belt
edge.
The present invention, is of course, in no way
restricted to the specific disclosure of ~he
specification and drawing but also encompasses any
modifications within the scope of the appended
claims.
