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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: COM-COR |
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CONVEYORS . " Conveyor " (for derivation see CONVEYANCE) is a term generally applied to mechanical devices designed for the purpose of moving material in a horizontal
horizontal
as in the case of worms, bands and pushplate conveyors, or elevators carrying grain or coal, &c.; or it may be conveyed from one point to another, intermittently, that is to say in a succession of separate loads, as happens with single bucket elevators, furnace hoists, rope and chain haulage, and also in the case of ropeways and aerial cableways. Some of these devices are of great antiquity, others are of quite modern origin. The principles of their construction are simple and easy of understanding, but by variations in the details of their construction the engineer has adapted these few appliances to the most varied work. At one end of the scale they may be used for such light duties as conveying the goods purchased by a customer to the packers and bringing them back made up into a parcel or for taking his money to the cashier and returning the change. At the other they are adopted for handling large quantities of heavy material at a minimum expenditure of human labour. Coal, for instance, a more or less friable substance, the value of which is seriously diminished by fracture, may be mechanically handled with a minimum risk
drawn
Worm Conveyors.The worm conveyor, also known as the Archimedean screw, is doubtless the most ancient form of conveyor. It consists of a continuous or broken blade screw set on a spindle. This spindle is made to revolve in a suitable trough, and as it revolves any material put in is propelled by the screw from one end of the trough to the other. Such conveyors have been used in flour-mills for centuries. The writer has seen in an East Anglian mill which was over 250 years old disused screw conveyors, probably as old as the mill, consisting of spindles of octagonal shape, made of not too hard wood, around which a broken blade screw was formed by the insertion at regular intervals of small blades of hard wood (fig. 1). Modern worm conveyors usually consist of a spindle formed of a length of wrought iron piping, to which is fitted either a broken or continuous worm. In the former case (fig. 2) the worm is composed of a series of blades or paddles arranged like a spiral round thespindle; each blade is fixed, by means of its shank, in a transverse hole in the spindle, and the shank is held in position by being tapped and fitted with a nut. In this way is formed, out of separate blades, a practically complete screw, technically known I The illustrations in this article are taken, by kind permission, from the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers.as a " paddle worm." The lengths or sections of the worm run to about 8 ft., the various lengths being coupled by turned gudgeons, which also serve as journals for the bearings. In the so-called continuous worm conveyors the screw is formed of a continuous sheet-iron spiral (fig. 3). Sometimes a narrow groove is cut in spiral form on the spindle, and in this groove the sheet-iron spiral is secured. The spiral or anti friction conveyor (fig. 4) was introduced about 1887. In this case a narrow spiral, which passes con-centrically round the spindle, with a space between both, is fixed to it at set intervals by small blades, each of which is itself fixed by its shank and a nut to the spindle. The spiral may be made of almost any section, from a round bar about z in. in diameter to L or T section, but is preferably a flat bar. Worms are fitted into wooden or iron troughs leaving a clearance of to 4 in. The spindle must be supported at suitable intervals by bearings, preferably of the bush
series of careful tests made by the writer indicated that, run at a slow speed the paddle worm, but at a high speed the spiral worm, has the greater efficiency. There is of course a speed at which the efficiency of both types is about equal, and that is at 150 revolutions per minute for conveyors 4 to 6 in. in diameter.The power necessary to drive worm conveyors under normal conditions is very considerable; a continuous worm of 18 to 20 in. diameter running at 6o revolutions per minute will convey 5o tons of grain per hour over a distance of a hundred feet at an expenditure of 182 to 19 H.P. A material like cement would require rather more power because of the greater friction of the cement against the blades and the trough. Delivery from a worm conveyor can be effected at any desired point, all that is necessary being to cut an outlet, which should preferably he as wide as the diameter of the worm, because the worm delivers only on its leading side, and is practically empty on the other side, so that a smaller outlet might only give exit to a portion of the feed, unless it was on the leading side. A special form of worm conveyor is the tubular (fig. 5), which consists of an iron tube with a continuous spiral fitted to its inner periphery, or of iron or wooden tubes of square sections fitted with fixed baffle plates inside. In working it revolves bodily on suitable rollers. This type is more costly than the ordinary worm conveyors, and also requires more power. Its efficiency is, moreover, easily impaired if run at too high a speed, because the centrifugal force asserts itself and counteracts the propulsion, which in this case is effected by gravity. Some experiments made in 1868 by George Fosbery Lyster, engineer of the Liverpool docks, gave convincing results (see Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., August 1869). The tubular worm conveyor is suitable where a granular material has to be moved over a comparatively short distance, say from one building to another on the same level, and where no bridge is available for the installation of any other kind of conveyor. Conveyors of this type have, however, come into use for conveying hard and cutting substances over consider-able lengths. Ordinary worm conveyors are practically debarred from use for such substances on account of the short life of the intermediate bearings, which are not necessary with externally supported tubular worms. To sum up, worm conveyors are of the simplest construction and of small prime cost. The terminals again are much less expensive than those of most other kinds of conveyors. When the distance to be traversed by the material is short, the worm conveyor has this advantage, that it is cheaper than other kinds of conveyors. If it be desired not only to convey but also to mix two or more materials, such as cement and sand in a dry state, or poultry food, this appliance is thoroughly well adapted for the work. On the other hand, there is .a grinding action exercised on any material conveyed, and when hard or cutting sub-stances are handled the wear and tear on the conveyor blades, trough and bearings is very great, and the power absorbed by a worm conveyor is a sensible item. Band Conveyors.The inventor of band conveyors for the handling of grain and minerals was G. F. Lyster, who, as already mentioned, in 1868 carried out exhaustive experiments at the Liverpool docks, where he established the band conveyor as a grain-handler. For granaries
granaries
house
bush
Band conveyors are kept tight, when the band is not very long, by a tightening gear, similar to that used on elevators, and consisting of two screws which push or better pull the two pedestals of one terminal pulley
pulley
clear of the band, and into the air, being caught as it falls in a hopper and spouted in any desired direction. Throw-off carriages differ in certain details, but the principle is the same. For feeding a band conveyor it is important to give the material a horizontal velocity, approaching that of the band. The grain should therefore be fed through a spout rather less in breadth than half of the width of the band, and set at an incline of 42i to the horizontal. Band conveyors run at a speed of 40o to 60o ft. per minute, according to the nature of the material; oats, for instance, would be liable to be blown off the band at a speed in excess of 500, which would be suitable for wheat. Nuts, maize and the heavier seeds could be carried at 600. The power consumption by a grain-laden band compares favourably with any other form of conveyor. An 18-in. band Too ft. in length running 500 ft. per minute would carry 50 tons per hour at an expenditure of only 4.5 H.P. While the band conveyor is an ideal conveyor in warehouses and mills, it is also capable of rendering good service in handling such heavy materials as coal and minerals. Of course for such purposes the band and its fittings must be of much more substantial construction. The central portions of the band carrying the load, being subjected to great wear and tear, are often made ELEVATION
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