US3517967A - Mineral cutting machines - Google Patents

Description

June 30, 1970 T @CLARKE lET AL 3,517,967

l MINERAL CUTTING MACHINES Filed DGO. 26. 1967 3 SlmoLS-Shcut 1 June 3o, 1970 T G, CLARKE ET AL 3,517,967

MINERAL CUTTING MACHINES Flc-3 2.

June 30, 1970 T. QLARKE EF'AL 3,517,967

MINERAL CUTTING MACHINES 3 Shoots-Shout I5 Filed Dec. 26, 1967 United States Patent 3,517,967 Patented June 30, 1970 Int. Cl. E21c 25/16 U.S. Cl. 299-51 t 5 Claims ABSTRACT oF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for cutting mineral comprising a horizontally mounted shaft, a vertically mounted shaft, means for rotatingsaid shaft, a first circular cutting means mounted at each end of said vertically mounted shaft, a second circular cutting means mounted at one end of said horizontally mounted shaft, hardened cutting teeth provided on said rst and second circular cutting means being in juxta-position so as to cut two horizontal and one vertical cut of mineral, milling means provided on said horizontal shaft along at least that portion of said shaft which in use, enters a mineral face so as to cut therethrough during movement of the apparatus relative to the mineral face to afford a passage through such mineralfor the said shaft during cutting. t

This invention is concerned with mineral cutting machines.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide apparatus for the cutting of mineral in underground mine `workings `where the mineral is to be mined according to the so called long wall system of mineral extraction. With this object in mind the invention comprises apparatus for cutting mineral comprising a horizontally mounted shaft, means for rotating said shaft, a first circular cutting means mounted at each end of said vertically mounted shaft, a second circular cutting means mounted at one end of said horizontally mounted shaft, hardened cutting teeth provided onsaid first and second circular cutting means being in juxtaposition so as to cut two horizontal and one vertical cut of mineral.

It is known to provide machines for the cutting of coal in underground mine workings which consist of a horizontal shaft having means for rotating said shaft `and which shaft is provided with a drum or the like on which aremounted a plurality of pick boxes, such that picks with a hardened tip may be mounted in the boxes. On rotation of the shaft the picks enter the coal and tear the coal away from the seam.

With such machines the size of the lumps of coal extracted tends to be small due to the tearing and crushing action of the picks themselves. It is therefore `a further object of the present invention to provide coal cutting machinery which will enable pieces of coal of comparatively large size to be `extracted from the seam and also to reduce the extent of fragmentation of the coal into small particles and into dust. This is achieved by providing the `aforementioned apparatus with milling means along at least that portion of the horizontal shaft which in use, enters a mineral shaft so as to cut therethrough during movement of the apparatus relative to the mineral face to afford a passage through such mineral for the said shaft during cutting. Said milling means comprises a plurality of milling cutters, `the cutting` length of each cutter being less than the lengthof the circular cutting means mounted on the end of said horizontal shaft.

Conveniently the invention provides apparatus which may be moved along the face of a long wall seam on a panzer conveyor in `known manner and with a motor for rotation of the shafts in the machine. Conveniently the motor drives a horizontal shaft which may be geared fil through suitable gears to a horizontal shaft mounted in suitable bearings and having, at the end which enters into the coal seam a vertically rotatable saw or coal cutting disc, said disc being provided with diamond impregnated teeth. The horizontal shaft drives through appropriate gears a vertical shaft also mounted in suitable bearings, which vertical shaft has similar coal cutting discs at each end thereof. Means may be provided for the passage of water to the centre of the discs so that the water is expelled by the peripheral speed of the discs to reduce the amount of dust and to assist in the cutting of the coal. To achieve this object the shafts or part thereof may be provided with a hollow bore for forming a duct for the passage of water. The horizontal shaft is conveniently provided with milling cutters or such like between the disc itself and that part of the machinery which enters into the coal seam so as to form a passageway through the coal for the shaft itself. The vertically mountedshaft conveniently passes along the coal face in front of the seam so that the horizontally rotating cutting discs having a cutting `arc of approximately while the vertically mounted cutting disc has a cutting arc of approximately In order that the present invention may be more readily understood reference` will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional plan View of apparatus accordingto the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a part sectional side view,

`FIG. 3 is a schematic end view of apparatus according to the present invention when located in an underground mlne,

FIG. 4 is a part sectional detail view of a milling cutter according to the present invention,

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of a cutting disc according to this invention.

Referring rstly to FIGS. 1 and 2, a fabricated casing 1 of substantially rectangular form is provided with a fabricated extension portion 2 conveniently of sheet steel. Inside the casing 1 an electric motor 9 is mounted which drives a driving shaft 3 having at its end a bevel gear 11 mounted on a horizontally rotating shaft 4. The rotating shaft 4 is mounted in a bearing 14i in the casing 1 and in a bearing 3 in the extension casing 2. The shaft 4 has a pinion 12 meshing with a pinion 13 to drive a hydraulic pump 15 connected through tubes 16 to a hydraulic motor 17. The hydraulic motor 17 drives through a chain or belt 8 a pulley 20 which acts in conjunction with a non-driven pulley 19 on a rope or chain 21 to haul the apparatus along the panzer conveyor in known manner.

Alternatively the machine may be self propelled independent of fixed lines or the like. Desira-bly the machine has cut out means which prevent advance of the machine when said cut out means are activated. The shaft 4 also carries a helical gear 22 meshing with a helical gear 30 on a vertically mounted shaft 5. Exteriorly of the extension casing 2 and at the end of the shaft 4 is a cutting disc 26 vmounted for rotation in a vertical plane. The cutting disc 26 has hardened cutting teeth 27 on its peripheral edges. Between the exterior surface of the extension casing Zand `the cutting disc 26,` there is a long milling cutter 24 or a plurality of milling cutters 24. The cutting disc 26 is secured to the shaft 4 with the assistance of a bush 25 which if desired is provided with peripheral cutting edges. The end of the shaft 4 is y threaded and the bush 25 is screwed thereon. The bush 25 is provided with a number of holes parallel to the centre axis `and spaced in a circle through which holes bolts 31 may `extend through the disc 26 and into the bush 25. One face of the bush 25 is conveniently recessed to accommodate nuts 32 which secure the disc 26 to the bush 25. The vertically mounted shaft 5 is provided with a cutting disc 28 at its lower end and a disc 28a at its upper end. The cutting disc 28 and 28a are of form similar to the cutting disc 26 and are provided with hardened cutting teeth 27. The manner of mounting and securing the cutting discs 28 and 28a to the shaft 5 is substantially the same as that described with reference t cutting disc 26 on shaft 4.

The cutting discs illustrated in greater detail in FIG. consists of a disc portion 28 having teeth formed therein by the formation of U-shaped cut-outs 35. The teeth are formed to the depth shown at 45 and then have secured to the outer peripheral edge of the disc a hardened surface 27 which conveniently is in the form of a diamond impregnated matrix. Specifically the matrix consists of diamonds of grit size between 25/36 and 5%() distributed as to approximately at 4 carats per cubic centimetre. The matrix in which the diamonds are bended is conveniently a bronze matrix.

The milling cutters 24, which are pushed onto the shaft 4 and fixed in any suitable manner are illustrated more particularly in FIG. 4 and consists of a central portion having a bore to enable the cutter 24 to be pushed onto the shaft 4 and provided with radial cutting lingers 39 having hardened portions 40 which may be of tungsten carbide or, if desired, a diamond impregnated matrix may be brazed to each finger 39 in known manner.

Radial ducts 37 are formed in the cutters 24 leading outwards from an annular groove 41 which communicates with a longitudinal groove 36 formed in that portion of the shaft 4 over which the cutters extend. The longitudinal groove 36 communicates, through a radial passageway 38 formed in the shaft 4, with a central longitudinal duct 48 which extends partway of the length of the shaft 4 from the end at which the cutting disc 26 is mounted. The duct 48 is in communication with a water inlet 7 formed in a gland sleeve 6 (FIG. 2). The sleeve 6 surrounds the shaft 4 and is provided with glands at either end thereof so that water pipes connected to the inlet 7 enable water to be fed from said inlet 7 into the duct 48 and thence to the radial ducts 37. As the shaft 4 rotates and the milling cutters 24 rotate the cool water passing along shaft 4 is ejected in advance of the cutting portions 40 to suppress coal dust and to remove slurry from the cutting edges.

The duct 48 extends to the end of the Shaft 4 and is there provided with a frusto-conical portion which terminates in the centre of the cutting disc 26 with inclined radially extending apertures so that water emerging at the end of the duct 48 is fed on the outer face of the cutting disc 26 and thence to the peripheral edge thereof by the rotational speed of cutting disc 26. A similar gland sleeve 34 is secured to the shaft 5 which shaft 5 has a longitudinal duct 49 extending the whole length thereof so that water is fed to the outer surface of both cutting discs 28 and 28a in similar manner (FIG. l).

The apparatus according to the present invention may =be used in a quarry or an underground mine working (see FIG. 3) which has a coal seam 43 and with a roof 43a and a oor 43b. A panzer conveyor 42 is conveniently located parallel to the seam 43.

According to the present invention the casing 1 is provided with means for engagement with the conveyor 42 to enable the casing to move along the length of the conveyor 42. The hydraulic motor 17 enables the casing 1 to 'be pulled along the length of the conveyor 42. The extension casing 2 extends on the face side of the panzer conveyor 42 and the cutting disc 26 rotating in a vertical plane has approximately 180 of arc of cut into the seam 43 while the upper cutting disc 28a, rotating in a substantially horizontal plane has approximately 90 of arc of cut into the roof 43a of the seam. Similarly the lower cutting disc 28 has approximately 90 of arc of cut into lower portion of the seam 43.

It is thought that apparatus according to the present invention enables coal to be cut from a long Wall seam in such a manner that large pieces of coal may be extracted without fragmentation therefrom.

The recovery of the coal after cutting is according to known techniques in the art of mining coal which involve the movement of a plough or the like to pick up the coal and transfer it to means for conveying the coal along the roadway and thence to the surface of the mine.

Desirably a plough like member is inserted into the cut made by disc 26 to cleave the coal away from the seam and thus to minimize the likelihood of the cut closing in and the disc becoming jammed.

It is thought that the present invention provides an improved apparatus and method for the extraction of minerals particularly coal.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for cutting mineral comprising a horizontally mounted shaft, a vertically mounted shaft, means for rotating said shafts and for moving said shafts horizontally through said mineral, a first circular cutting means mounted at each end of said vertically mounted shaft, a second circular cutting means mounted at one end of said horizontally mounted shaft, a multiplicity of cutting members provided on the periphery of said first and second circular cutting means, said cutting members having a hardened cutting surface, at least a portion of whtich is substantially circumferential about said circular cutting means, said cutting means being in juxta-position so as to cut two horizontal and one vertical cut of mineral.

2. Apparatus for cutting mineral comprising a horizontally mounted shaft, a vertically mounted shaft, means for rotating said shafts and for moving said shafts horizontally through said mineral, a rst circular cutting means mounted at each end of said vertically mounted shaft, a second circular cutting means mounted at one end of said horizontally mounted shaft, a multiplicity of cutting members provided on the periphery of said rst and second circular cutting means, said cutting members having a hardened cutting surface, at least a portion of which is substantially circumferential about said circular cutting means, said cutting means being in juxtaposition so as to cut two horizontal and one vertical cut of mineral, milling means provided on said horizontal shaft along at least that portion of said shaft which in use, enters a mineral face so as to cut therethrough during movement of the apparatus relative to the mineral face to afford a passage through such mineral for the said shaft during cutting.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said milling means comprises a plurality of milling cutters the cutting length of each cutter being less than the cutting length of the circular cutting means mounted on the end of said horizontal shaft.

4. Apparatus for cutting mineral comprising a horizontally mounted shaft, a vertically mounted shaft, means for rotating said shafts and for moving said shafts horizontally through said mineral, a rst circular cutting means mounted at each end of said vertically mounted shaft, a second circular cutting means mounted at one end of said horizontally mounted shaft, a multiplicity of cutting members provided on the periphery of said 'first and second circular cutting means, said cutting members having a hardened cutting surface, at least a portion of which is substantially circumferential about said circular cutting means, said cutting means being in juxta-position so as to cut two horizontal and one vertical cut of mineral, milling means provided on said horizontal shaft along at least that portion of said shaft which in use, enters a mineral face so as to cut therethrough during movement of the apparatus relative to the mineral face to afford a passage through such mineral for the said shaft during cutting a common electrical motor being provided coupled to the horizontal shaft, gearing between the horizontal shaft and the vertical shaft whereby said electrical motor is adapted to drive said vertical shaft through said horizontal shaft.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein said milling FOREIGN PATENTS means comprises a plurality of milling cutters, the cutting 18 16 8 18 t length of each cutter being vless than the cutting length of 684:33() 12% 92g gig; glig the circular cutting means mounted on the end of said D 5 ERNEST R. PURSER, Primary Examiner References Cited horizontal shaft.

UNITED STATES PATENTS U.S. CI. X.R.

701,979 6/ 1902 Wisseman 299--53 299-53 86 3,337,269 8/ 1967 Mennekes et al. 299-81 X gg@ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,517 967 Dated June 30 l970 Invent0r s T. G. Clarke et 8l It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line 27, change "plan" to "side" Column 2, line 29, change "side" to "plan". Column 4, line 27, change "whtch" to "which".

EAL) Attest: mlm l, :m- Edwua n, um I* onnissionor or Patents Offical

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