Abstract:
Endless, flexible anti-backbend belts having a molded elastomeric body are disclosed and comprise a plurality of longitudinal high tensile modulus cords embedded in the belt near the inside surface and a layer of substantially incompressible material facing outwardly and forming the outside surface of the belt. When the belt is in a straightened position, the incompressible material provides a resistance to backbending. Other embodiments are also disclosed that operate in combination with drive lugs on the inside surface of a conveyor belt, and the separation of the tensile cords of the conveyor and anti-backbend belts provide a resistance to backbending such as to support the conveyor in the area between its drive and take-up pulleys.
Abstract:
An annular curve conveyor belt includes a plurality of sector-shaped pieces, the main direction of the inlay or inlays of which extends at right angles to a radial beam of the piece. In one embodiment, the pieces are arranged side by side in one layer with complementary zig-zag side edges in a bonded butt joint in the radial direction. In another embodiment, the pieces are arranged in two overlapping layers with the side edges of each piece extending obliquely to the radial direction. A method of producing the curve conveyor belt includes cutting the pieces from a conventional straight belt body at such an orientation that a radial beam of each piece extends at right angles to the main direction of tension and assembling and joining the pieces. Apparatus for performing this method is disclosed.
Abstract:
A closed loop conveyor system for transporting loads from one point to another and including a drive pulley and a return pulley, either or both pulleys having a plurality of cleat receiving annular grooves, and a conveyor belt having an exterior load carrying surface, and an interior surface with a plurality of longitudinal rows of cleats protruding therefrom, the belt being disposed around the drive and return pulleys and adapted to be driven by the drive pulley. The interaction between the pulley grooves and cleats provides superior drive force transmission from pulley to belt and provides positive belt alignment even under severe off-center or side load conditions.
Abstract:
Mechanical goods made of rubber-like material, such as belts, hose, and the like, are reinforced with stitch-bonded web fabric.This invention relates to mechanical goods made of rubber-like material reinforced with a stitch-bonded web fabric.Mechanical rubber goods such as conveyor belts, hose, power transmission belts including V-belts and timing belts, snowmobile tracks, and the like, require reinforcement to achieve sufficient strength, rigidity, dimensional stability, and durability. Classically such mechanical rubber goods have been reinforced with various types of woven fabrics, mostly plain woven. More recently attempts have been made to use non-woven or scrim fabric but these generally increase the performance of one property at the expense of another. This is also true when it is attempted to use felts or spray-bonded fabric. Examples of prior disclosures of the use of non-woven fabric in rubber goods are U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,584, Charlton et al., Apr. 4, 1967, wherein tire chafer strips made with needle punched web fabric are shown, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,897, Tanimoto et al., Nov. 16, 1971, wherein a conveyor belt reinforced with non-woven needle web fabric impregnated with adhesive is shown.A known type of textile material, used for blankets and as backings for coated fabrics, comprises a stitch-bonded web of fibers. In such material a web of fibers has a plurality of stitches embedded in said web for securing together the fibers thereof. A typical stitch-bonded fabric is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,552, Hughes, July 4, 1967. A stitched and needled web fabric is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,065, Owen, July 30, 1968. U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,873, Williams, Aug. 31, 1971, discloses application of natural or synthetic rubber coating onto a stitch-bonded fabric web, for example by calendering. U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,599, Leach, Aug. 12, 1969, discloses tire chafer fabric comprising stitch-bonded web fabric having intersticies filled with rubbery material to bar passage of air. However, stitch-bonded webs have not heretofore been used as reinforcement for mechanical rubber goods, insofar as the present inventor is aware.In accordance with the present invention, there is employed, as the textile fabric reinforcement, for such mechanical goods based on elastomeric material as belts, hose, vehicle tracks, and the like, a stitch-bonded web or batting of fibers, whereby certain unique advantages are realized. The adhesion of the elastomeric or rubber-like parts of the mechanical goods to the fabric reinforcement is vastly improved, and the mechanical goods have good strength. Using a stitch-bonded web fabric in accordance with the invention, less fabric weight is required in the mechanical goods to achieve the same strength as with other types of fabrics. The strike-through of the rubber or similar polymeric stock on the stitch-bonded web fabric is excellent, that is, the applied rubber stock is driven through the fabric from one face of the fabric to the other. Prior to application of the rubber stock, the stitch-bonded web is treated with an adhesive substance, such as resorcinol-formaldehyde/rubber latex adhesive ("RFL") to produce excellent adhesion to the elastomer although other resin or liquid impregnants or encapsulants may be used, such as those based on polyvinyl chloride, polyurethanes, etc. Because the fiber is not spun into a thread the adhesive can encapsulate each fiber better.The invention is particularly applicable to fulfilling the need for conveyor belts of adequate strength, with substantial thickness or bulk. Such belts are conventionally produced by utilizing plies of conventional woven fabrics employing the usual skim coatings and friction coatings of rubber or similar polymeric compositions to secure adequate adhesion between the fabric plies and the top and bottom layers of polymer. While this produces a commercially satisfactory belt it is an expensive construction because the fabric is expensive and because of the multiple operations required to prepare and assemble the multiplicity of fabric plies. Using stitch bonded webs as the reinforcement in accordance with the invention makes it possible to obtain the same bulk with fewer plies of fabric, and consequently fewer process steps, and to obtain adequate strength with a more economical fabric. The resulting laminate is also remarkable for its flexibility, resistance to fastener pull-out and low dynamic creep.It has been recognized that when a belt is joined at its opposite ends to form a closed loop (for example a transmission belt), the fasteners (e.g., clamps or rivets) used for joining the belt ends can be loosened and pulled out when the belt is subjected to tension below the tensile strength of the belt itself. This is so because as much as 80% of the effective capacity of the fasteners depends directly on the degree to which the fabric is squeezed by the fasteners. Approximately 15% of the effective capacity of the fasteners depends on the reinforcing fabric and approximately 5% is due to the rubber in which the fabric is embedded. Conventional practice, therefore, is to increase the number of superimposed layers of reinforcing fabric in the belt to increase the effective fabric thickness which the fastener can "bite." Thus the breaking strength of the fastened ends of the belt (or "weak link") is substantially increased by increasing the number of fabric layers, but at the additional cost of an excessive number of fabric layers. The present reinforcing fabric, in contrast, provides sufficient bulk for good resistance to fastener pullout without unduly multiplying the number of layers of fabric.Dynamic creep is also an important property of a belt, and refers to the tendency of the belt to continue to elongate when operated at its working tension over a period of time. The belt of the present invention exhibits desirably low dynamic creep.
Abstract:
The method utilizes a stationary tipping trough including a pair of longitudinally spaced substantially angular supporting surfaces each having a downwardly and inwardly sloping inlet side and an upwardly and outwardly sloping steeper outlet side. A pair of tipping levers are oscillatable by an associated fluid pressure actuator to engage a longitudinal corner edge of a bar in the tipping trough to tilt the bar so that it rests on a different side. A pair of lifters, having projecting fingers, are oscillatable about the same axis as the tilting levers by a different fluid pressure actuator so that the fingers engage the then lower side of a bar in the tipping trough and move the bar over the outlet sides of the supporting surfaces. The tipping trough preferably is arranged between a bar feeding roller conveyor and a bar discharge roller conveyor, and switch means are provided for engagement with a bar moving along the feeding conveyor. The bars have sloping or tapered ends providing respective projecting noses, coplanar with one bar side surface, and the switch means are so arranged that, depending upon which switch is engaged by a projecting nose, an appropriate bar tipping operation is initiated. Alternatively, the switch means may be arranged beneath a bar support surface, again for cooperation with the nose of a bar, or may be arranged to project into the tilting trough for engagement by the nose of a bar.
Abstract:
A cross-link conveyor as in connection with a potato harvester wherein each link thereof has upstanding resilient fingers spaced therealong and molded integral therewith, the fingers of successive of said links being in staggered relation with respect to one another and said fingers being spaced apart such that two or more adjacent of said fingers receive and retain therebetween potatoes as distributed onto said conveyor for travel by said conveyor
Abstract:
A conveyor belt with multiple surface areas providing both traction and resistance to abrasion and cutting, and a method of manufacturing the belt.