Housing for conveyors
[ Apr. 22, 1975 1 HOUSING FOR CONVEYORS [76] Inventor: Fred William Niggemyer, 325 E.  
 Stahl Road, Fremont, Ohio 43420 1221 Filed: Mar. 31, 1972 121 App]. No.: 239,945  
 [57] ABSTRACT A tubular housing in portable partable sections for surrounding an elongated conveyor, such as a belt conveyor, which housing is easily mountable on the parallel supporting members for the conveyor, such as cables suspended from the ceiling of a tunnel in a mine. The tubular sections comprise at least an upper or cover section and a lower or pan section, each of [52] US. Cll. 198/192A; 198/204 which sections have outwardly extending cooperating, [2;] C B65g 15/08, B65g 15/60 flanges which may be held together by bolts and/or Md earch 138/105-1087, releasable toggle type oclamps The housing is 138/156, 158, 159. 164. 166, 198/184, 19.. ported by clip means on the flanges of the upper sec- 204 tion having sparing inwardly projecting hook means to References Cited gntiage ]the parallel suzporttcalbleis tfoihtheficonveytfn&#39;t.h  
  erc1p meansmay ea ac e o e angeso e UNITED STATES PATENTS lower section having outwardly projecting hinge 913.48% 2/1909 Ettc 138/158 knuckles which cooperate through Slidable pivot pins i 13: 13 1 with similar knuckles on the adjacent supporting clip $3 5 means to form hinges for swingingone section open [1941 Waddle 198/204 rk I l h n h h th 2,955,702 /1960 Long ct a1 198/204 e Cam 5 e respec} F e 0 er F Knockout holes may be prov|ded 1n the sections for FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS the supports for the parallel conveyor supporting 606.670 10/1925 France 138/159 cables, and sealing means may be provided between 4,453 4/1900 United Kingdom 138/159 the flanges and Overlapping portions of the housing 20.324 1/1903 Un ted K ngdom 138/158 sections as we as around any holes or gaps in the 509,933 7/1939 United Kmgdom 198/204 housing 846.986 9/1960 United Kingdom 198/204 Primary Eranziner-Evon C. Blunk 17 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures Assistant Examiner-W. Scott Carson Attorney, Agent, or FirmHugh Adam Kirk I 89 8 5Q 8 38 1 l k 47 HOUSING FOR CONVEYORS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Safety regulations for mines require that air streams in tunnels be kept from contamination by dust from material on conveyors that may cross such streams. Accordingly it is necessary that crossing tunnels be closed offone from the other and belt conveyors in such crossing tunnels be enclosed to reduce tire and explosive hazards. Previously. this enclosure usually comprised blocking up with cement blocks the entranceways of one tunnel along the sides of the other. and building with cement blocks a complete housing room or tunnel around the conveyor so that it and its crossing tunnel would be substantially hermetically isolated from the atmosphere in the crossed tunnel. Such housings are very inflexible and expensive. and take time to build and tear down. in that mine conveyors are often moved as mining progresses.  
  Although conveyors have been installed in tubular housings. such housings were either part of the conveyor itself and helped support the belts or flights of the conveyor. or they were only partial housings and did SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking. the conveyor housing of this invention comprises longitudinally split sheet metal tubular sections having outwardly extending flanges along their splits which cooperate with each other so they may be readily clamped together and released. The housing sections are of such size so that they may be readily portable by not more than two men. and may also contain knockout holes for the chains that suspend the two parallel cables between which a mine belt conveyor is supported. These housing sections generally comprise an upper or semi&#39;cylindrical cover section, and a lower or pan shaped section. and the sheet metal therein may be reinforced with circumferential ribs of channel members welded thereto. The upper and lower sections also maybe split longitudinally along their tops and bottoms. respectively. with such split edges overlapping each other and the ends of their arcuate reinforcing ribs telescoping into each other. The ends of adjacent upper and lower sections overlap each other. and between their overlaps and between their flanges there may be provided sealing means. such as gaskets. to make the housing substantially air tight.  
  One of the sections. and preferably the upper cover section. has provided on its flanges a plurality of sup porting clips which hook over the flange and extend inwardly to space the cover from the conveyor and terminate in hooks which removably engage the parallel conveyor supporting cables along opposite sides of the belt conveyor. Thus. both the weight and natural bowing or springiness of the semi-cylindrical top sheet metal section tend to spread its outer flanged edges and maintain these supporting hooks in engagement with the cables.  
  On the flanges of the lower sections there also may be provided clips. which clips have outwardly extending knuckles which align with similar knuckles on the upper section supporting clips. which knuckles when aligned may be pivoted together to form a hinge by an axially slidab le pin having a bent end or lever handle for easy assembly and disassembly. Thus when these pins are removed from the clip hinges on one side only of an upper and lower section. these sections may be opened like a clam shell for access to the conveyor and- /orfor cleaning the inside of the housing.  
  In order to prevent gapping between the flanges of the upper and lower sections. and particularly in the event no gaskets are used between the flanges. there are provided a plurality of manually operated toggle type releasable C-clamps along the flanges. and/or bolts between the flanges. One jaw of each clamp is preferably permanently attached to the flange of one of the sections, usually the lower section. These toggle clamps also may be used for aligning the knuckles of the clip means for their pivot pins.  
  Accordingly. it is an object of this invention to pro duce an airtight. tire-resistant. portable. easily installed and removed housing for conveyors, which prevent both contamination of the atmosphere outside of the housing from the material on the conveyor and contamination of the atmosphere and the material on the conveyor inside the housing from dust outside the housing. thereby reducing fire and explosion hazards. particularly in mine tunnels.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS The above mentioned and other features, objects and advantages. and a manner of obtaining them are described more specifically below by reference to embodiments ofthis invention shown in the accompanying drawings. wherein:  
  FIG. 1 is a side elevation with parts broken away of one embodiment of the housing of this invention for a belt type conveyor suspended in a mine tunnel crossing another tunnel. showing the stoppings at the ends of the housing for isolating the atmosphere of one tunnel from that of the other;  
  FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a central portion of the housing shown in FIG. 1, showing in dotted lines the rollers for supporting the conveyor belt inside the housing. and the two parallel cables for supporting the conveyor;  
  FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along line 3 3 of FIG. 2 through the housing showing the conveyor belt supporting rollers therein. the chains for suspending parallel cables. and in dot-dash lines the lower section of the housing being hinged either from one side or the other of the upper housing;  
  FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 4 4 of FIG. 2 showing the reinforcing arcuate rib channel members welded on the housing sections and the ends of the sections overlapping each other;  
  FIG. 5 is a plan view similar to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment of this invention wherein each upper and lower housing section is made of two similar parts, i.e. the sections are split along their longitudinal tops and bottoms;  
  FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but taken along line 6 6 of FIG. 5;  
  FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 7 7 of FIG. 5 showing the telescoping reinforcing rib channel members between the two overlapping edges of the upper housing portions;  
  FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view of the flanges of the sections as shown in FIG. 2, showing a supporting hinge clip means and a manual toggle clamping means on said flanges with parts of the housing broken away;  
  FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 9 9 of FIG. 8 showing the upper and lower flange clip means slightly separated. and a gasket between their flanges; and  
  FIG. I is an enlarged sectional view along line 10 10 of FIG. 8 showing one embodiment of a manual toggle type C-clamping means in its open position and the two flanges slightly separated.  
 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. I, there is shown a cross section of a mine tunnel being crossed by another tunnel 22, the atmosphere in which tunnel 22 is isolated from that in tunnel 20 by means of walls or stoppings 24 which maybe made out ofcement block and a tubular housing according to this invention surrounding a belt conveyor 40. This conveyor may comprise a plurality of frames 42 (see FIG. 3) upon which are mounted three belt grooving rollers 44 for the upper run 46 of a conveyor belt for handling material such as coal. and a lower supporting roller 48 for the return run 47 of the conveyor belt. These frames 42 are supported along two parallel longitudinal supporting members 50 which herein are shown to be parallel cables. that are suspended at intervals from the ceiling of the tunnel 22 by means of chains 52 the upper ends of which are anchored to the ceiling by suitable means 54.  
 The Housing Sections Referring now to FIGS. I and 2, the tubular housing 30 is shown to comprise a plurality of sheet metal sections which may vary from about 2 to about 12 feet in length. but preferably about 8 feet. each of which is split longitudinally so as to comprise an upper section 32 having a semi-cylindrical or inverted U-shaped cross-section with diametrically outwardly extending edge flanges 34. The lower. bottom. or trough pan. U- shaped cross-sectional section 36 also has diametrically outwardly extending edge flanges 38 which cooperate and co-extend with the flanges 34. Thus when the flanges 34 and 38 are held together. the conveyor 40 and its supporting members 50 are enclosed within the tubular housing 30.  
  In the event the chain supports 52 for the longitudinal members or cables 50 occur along the housing 30, there may be provided spaced knockout holes 35 in the upper sections 32 so that appropriate ones may be used for the chains 52 to extend through. Similar knock-out holes. however. may be provided in the bottom section. if the longitudinal parallel supporting members 50 for the conveyor are supported on standards from the ground. quadracylindrical Arcuately around the outside of each section 32 and 36 there may be provided stiffening or reinforcing ribs ofchannel members 37 and 39, respectively. preferably located near the ends of each section as shown in FIG. 4 to permit overlap of the ends of the sections without interference with the ribs 37 or 39. Such ribs 37 and 39 also may be provided intermediate of the ends of the sections 32 and 36, as required. and as shown in FIGS. I and 2.  
  Referring now to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, the upper and lower sections of the housing 30 may also be longitudinally&#39;split along their tops and bottoms to form upper quadrant sections 61 and 62 and lower quadrant sections 65 and 66, respectively. The adjacent edges of the upper sections. and of the lower sections. may overlap as shown in these figures. and may be held together by the telescoping ends of the reinforcing ribs 67 as shown in FIG. 7. Thus each upper and/or lower sections may be composed of two quadra-cylindrical portions for more easily manually handling and assembly, particularly for larger housings. These quadra sections also may be advantageous for covering conveyors which are supported from the floor.  
  Referring now to FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, there are shown enlarged one of the flange clips 70 employed for the support and spacing of the housing sections on and from the longitudinal conveyor supporting members or cables 50, one of the cooperating hinge flange clips 80, and one of the manually operated toggle flange clamping means 90, all of which may be located along the flanges 34 and 38, as required. Although these clips 70 and may be connected to either the upper or lower housing section flanges, herein and preferably the supporting hook clips 70 are attached to the flange 34 of the upper sections so that these flanges 34 rest on these clips 70. Each clip 70 has a corrugated flange clamping hook end 72, which corrugations bite into the top of the flange 34 to prevent the clip 70 from slipping off the flange. Outwardly from the outer edge of the flange 34, the clip 70 has a hinge knuckle portion 74, and inwardly therefrom a flat flange supporting plate portion 76 ending further inwardly in a cable engaging hook portion 78. These clips 70 are preferably made out of steel. so that when they are forced over the flanges 34 they will engage therewith and will be stressed in tension by the bowing of the upper section 32 and its weight. Preferably these clips 70 are located near each end of each housing section 32, and may also be provided intermediate its ends, if necessary. Thus. these clips 70 are the only support for and connection between the housing 30 and the cables 50, in that the lower sections 36 are attached to the upper sections by their respective flanges 34 and 38.  
  One means for this attachment of the lower sections 36 to the upper sections 32 are the other flange clips 80, which have similar corrugated flange engaging portions 82; outwardly extending hinge knuckles 84 which are alignable with the hinge knuckles 74 on the supporting clips 70 adjacent thereto as shown in FIG. 8, and inwardly extending housing 36 engaging angle portions 86, to further prevent slipping off of these clips from their flanges.  
  On the upper and lower sections 32 and 36, respectfully. are fastened or clamped together such as by the clamp to be described later, and the hinge knuckles 74 and 84 are aligned. a pivot pin 88, which may have an L-shaped handle end 89 (see FIG. 1) may be manually slid through these knucles 74 and 84 to act as hinges between the upper and lower sections. Then when the pins 88 are removed from the clips 70 and 80 only along one side of the sections 32 and 36, and all the clamps 90 or bolts between the flanges 34 and 38 are disengaged. the lower section 36 may be swung downwardly as shown in one of the dot-dash lines in FIG. 3, so that access can be had into the housing 30 for cleaning thereof. such as with a hose, both the open sections as well as those adjacent thereto. This is particularly the case if the adjacent sections have their flanges bolted together by bolt 100 as shown for the end sections in FIG. I that are also anchored into the stoppings 24.  
  In addition to the clip means 70 and 80, or bolts 100, there preferably is also provided manually operated toggle type C-clamps 90, shown specifically in FIG. 10. These clamps 90 may be of standard construction each comprising a pair of handle levers 91 and 92 that operate through pivots to link 93 and to clamping arm 94 having a threaded adjustable jaw bolt 95 which clamps the upper flange 34 against the lower flange 38 supported by lower jaw 96 fixed to the handle member 91. This lower jaw 96 may be fixedly attached to the lower flange 38, so that these clamps 90 will not be lost. This attachment may be by welding a flange reinforcing plate 97 to the jaw 96 and then welding this plate 97 to the flange 38 as shown in FIGS. 9 and l0.&#39;A plurality of these toggle clamps 90 may be provided along the flanges 34 and 38 as required to prevent gaps between the flanges.  
  If the clamping of the flanges 34 and 38 is not sufficiently air-tight, there may be provided a sealing means such as gaskets 105 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, between these flanges. Similar sealing means also may be provided between the overlapping end edges of the sec tions, if needed.  
  In the event there are gaps or spaces which permit the escape of too much air, these may be clogged with a foam plastic material, such for example, in the gaps around the knock-out holes 35 provided for the chains 52.  
  Accordingly it is to be understood that although the particular detachable conveyor housing of this invention is shown adapted to a suspended belt conveyor 40, it also may be employed for covering the other type conveyors supported on the floor or by other means, whether these conveyors are inside or outside of a mine.  
  While there is described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is only made by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of this invention.  
 I claim:  
 1. A tubular housing for a conveyor comprising:  
 A. an elongated conveyor supported by a frame,  
 B. parallel supporting members for said conveyor extending along opposite sides of said conveyor and connected to said frame.  
 C. an upper cover section.  
 D. a lower pan section,  
 E. each section having outwardly extending longitudinal cooperating flanges.  
 F. plurality of spacers engageable with said flanges of at least one of said sections and extending inwardly for removable engagement with each of said parallel members for supporting both sides of said housing on said parallel supporting members, and  
 G. means for holding said sections together by clamping said cooperating flanges together.  
  2. A housing according to claim 1 including means attached to the flanges on one side of said sections for pivotal connection of one section with the other section.  
  3. A housing according to claim 1 wherein said parallel supporting members comprise cables extending along each side of said conveyor.  
  4. A housing according to claim 3 wherein said conveyor comprises a belt conveyor and said cables support rollers on said frame for supporting said belt.  
  5. A housing according to claim 1 wherein each said section has arcuate reinforcing ribs attached to the outside thereof.  
  6. A housing according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said sections is provided with knock-out holes for means for supporting said parallel supporting members for said conveyor.  
  7. A housing according to claim 1 wherein said spacers for engaging said flanges and supporting said housing comprise a first clip means engageable with the flanges of one of said sections: and with said parallel supporting members, and a second clip means engageable with the flanges of said other section and having means for releasably engaging said first clip means.  
  8. A housing according to claim 7 wherein said two clip means are provided with alignable hinge knuckles and said means for releasably engaging comprises a slideable pivot pin for said knuckles.  
  9. A housing according to claim 7 wherein said first clip means is attached to the flanges of said upper section.  
  10. A housing according to claim 7 wherein each said clip means for engaging said parallel supporting members has inwardly extending hook means.  
  11. A housing according to claim 7 wherein each of said clip means are provided with corrugated portions for clampingly engaging said flanges.  
  12. A housing according to claim 1 comprising a plurality of said sections arranged longitudinally along said conveyor with the ends of said sections overlapping each other.  
  13. A housing according to claim 1 wherein said means for holding said sections together comprise toggle clamp means.  
  14. A housing according to claim 1 including means for sealing the joints between said housing sections.  
  15. A tubular housing for a belt conveyor and its two parallel supporting cables, said housing comprising:  
 A. at least one sheet metal upper cover section having arcuate reinforcing ribs and outwardly extending longitudinal flanges parallel to said cables,  
 B. at least one sheet metal lower pan section having arcuate reinforcing ribs and outwardly extending longitudinal flanges parallel to said cables and cooperating with said flanges of said upper section,  
 C. first clip means engageable with the flanges of said upper section and extending inwardly and hooking over said cables and having outwardly extending hinge knuckle portions,  
 D. second clip means engageable with the flanges of said lower section and having outwardly extending hinge knuckle portions alignable with the hinge knuckle portions of said first clip means,  
 E. slideable hinge pivot pin means engageable with aligned knuckle portions of each said clip means, and  
 F. means engageable with said flanges for holding said sections together.  
  16. A housing according to claim 15 wherein said holding means comprises toggle clamp means attached to the flange of one of said sections for engagement with the adjacent flange of the other section for holding said sections together and preventing leakage to and from said housing.  
  17. A housing according to claim 15 including sealing means between said cooperating flanges of said sections.  
 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFWATE 0F (IQRRECTION Patent No. 878, 935 Dated April 22, 1975 Q Inventor(s) Fred William NIGGEIVIYER It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:  
 Abstract, line 13, change &#34;sparing&#34; to spacing Col. 1, line 44, change &#34;maybe&#34; to may be 0 Col. 3, line 53, cancel &#34;quadracylindrical&#34; Col. 4, lines 49 &amp; &#34;respectfully&#34; should be respectively Q Signed and Sealed this second Day Of September 1975 [SEAL] Attest:  
 RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting ()jfizer (ummissiunvr uj&#39;lurenls and Trademarks