US968100A - Mining apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

A. WASHBURNB.

MINING APPARATUS.

nrLIoATIoN FILED MNA. 1910.

Patented Aug. 23, 1910.

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A. WASHBURNE.

MINING APPARATUS.

APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 4. 1910.

Patented Aug. 23, 1910.

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AJAY WASI-IBURNE, OF FRUITVALE, CALIFORNIA.

MINING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 4, 1910.

Patented Aug. 23, 1910.

Serial No. 536,390.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, AJAY WASHBURNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fruitvale, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mining Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improved mining apparatus, and especially to that class of apparatus used in connection with what are known as glory holes. In mining of this character, there is formed a tunnel and a track is laid therein, along which cars run by gravity when loaded, and above the tunnel is a stope, down which the rocks fall and at the bottom of which they are directed through a trap door and chute on to the car, thereby avoiding the necessity of shoveling the rock or ore into the car. In practicing this method of mining, it not infrequently happens that the rocks become jammed at the entrance to the trap, either forming an arch or by a'rock being too large to pass through the opening of the trap door. In such cases it has been necessary for a man to pass into the stope and lay a charge of blasting powder to dislodge or shatter the rock and enable it to again feed automatically, an operation which is attended with considerable danger.

One object of the present invention is to provide means for eliminating this danger.`

A second object is to provide means for facilitating the loosening of the rocks when jammed.

A further object is to provide mechanism which will be convenient and eective in operation, especially in the cont-rol of the feed of the rock to the cars.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a portion of a mine equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a tunnel in which is a track 2 for cars 3.

4 indicates a vertical stope into which the ore is discharged at higher levels. On each side of the bottom of the stope there is provided, above the tunnel 1, an upper chamber 5, the stope itself terminating above the tunnel proper and on a level with said upper chambers 5. Said chambers are readily accessible from the tunnel by means of ladders a0. The bottom of the stope, between each door swinging rom the top, as shown at 11. Each door is made in two sections, the lower section 12 being (onsiderably deeper than the upper section 13, and hinged to it along a horizontal axis, as shown at 111. Between the edges of the side walls 9 is secured a cross bar 15, between which and the upper door section can be inserted a block to close the upper section.

In ordinary use only the lower section swings upward to permit the rocks or ore to pass therethrough, but, should a rock arrive at said lower section too great to pass therethrough, the wedging block may be removed and the upper section will also then be permitted to swing upward and thus enlarge the opening through the trap. Rigidly attached to the lower section is an arm 17,

to the outer end of which is attached a counterweight 18. Said counterweight, operating on the free end of said arm, tends to maintain the trap door closed, but, in operation, the rocks falling down the stope and guided to the trap opening impinge against said trap door and force it open against the pressure of said counterweight, maintaining said trap door open so long as the rocks continue to fall therethrough. A pulley 19 is lever 26 pivoted as shown at 45 on the side of said chamber. Adjacent to the free end of the lever 26, a post 27 is formed with a vertical series of holes 29, each adapted to receive a pin 30 so that said pin, when in any one of said holes, holds said lever down and thereby also holds the foot plate 22 in a raised position. When, by means of said lever 26 the foot plate is raised, so as to eX- tend substantially horizontally, then the flow of the rocks through the trap opening ceases. The bottom of the oor of each chamber 5 is formed with an opening 31 immediately above the car on the track, through which opening the foot plate 22 can swing so as to guide the material on to the car. Each chamber is of sufcient height that a space is left above the trap door in the wall 32 of each chamber neXt to the stope to permit of an opening 33 through which a man can pass into the stope to lay a charge of blasting powder to dislodge or break large pieces of rock. Each of said walls 32 between the chamber and the stope is set back from the wall 34 of the stope proper, a distance corresponding to the depth of the top of the trap door below the top of the chamber 5, according to the lowest slope on which the rock can fall. Thus, if this be a slope of 45 degrees, then said walls 32 will be set back from the walls 34, the same distance that the tops of the trap door are from the chamber 5, so that the material discharged from the slope proper flow out to just rea-ch the top of the trap doors.

In operation, an attendant standing in the chamber 5 nearest the discharge end of the tunnel, controls the trap door so as to allow the material to flow to several cars in succession beneath the hole 3l in the bottom of the chamber. He can control the flow by depressing the lever 26 and thereby raising the foot plate 22 to a horizontal position, preventing any further How of the material. Upon releasing the lever 26 the pressure of the material will itself depress the foot to its original position, and the material recommences to flow. In case of stoppage of flow by reason of the blocking or jamming of the material between the two trap doors, the operator first closes the chute of the nearer chamber by raising the foot plate. He then has the car drawn farther back so as to be immediately beneath the hole in the other chamber. He then passes into the other chamber, and, by means of the lever 2G therein, opens the trap door in said chamber, which has heretofore been maintained closed. 1t will generally happen that the release of the material on the side next to the farther chamber will loosen the jam of the material adjacent to the first or nearer chamber, so that said material will again flow. He will then, duly rearranging the cars, open the nearer trap and permit the material to recommence flowing therethrough. Should, however, it be found that the opening of the farther trap does not remove the jam, and it is necessary to do so by exploding a blast of giant-powder, this can now be done with much more safety than heretofore, as the operator can pass into the stope between the two chambers 5 by means of the doors at the tops of the walls 34: dividing said stope from said chambers, at

which point there is no dangerl of being crushed by the pressure of rocks therein.

1 claim zl. The combination of a vertical stope, a tunnel beneath the stope, two chambers above the tunnel one on each side olf the bottom of the stope, each having a hole in its bottom through which material can be discharged on to a car in the tunnel, a chute leading from the bottom of the stope, through each chamber and hole into the tunnel, a trap door for each chute, and means for controlling said trap doors, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamber above the tunnel adjacent to the bottom of the stope, and having a hole in its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, a trap door in the wall of the chamber next to the stope, said wall having an opening into said stope above said trap door, and a door` for closing said opening, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamber above the tunnel adjacent to the bottom of the stope, and having a hole in its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, a trap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, and formed of upper and lower sections hinged together, substantially as described.

et. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a. chamber above the tunnel adjacent t-o the bottom of the stope, and having a hole in its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the xtunnel, a trap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, an arm rigidly secured to said trap door, and a counterbalance weight on the end of said arm for maintaining said door closed, substantially as described.

5. rlhe combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamber above the tunnel adjacent to, the bottom of the stope, and having a hole in its bottom for discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, a trap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, a foot plate pivoted at the bottom of the chute, and means for raising said foot plate to a position to arrest the flow of the material through the chute, substantially as described.

G. The combination of a tunnel, a stope above the tunnel, a chamber above the tunnel adjacent to the bottom of the stope, and having a hole in its bottom lfor discharging material therethrough into the tunnel, a trap door in the wall of the chamber next to said stope, a foot plate pivoted at the bottom of the chute, a bail attached to said foot plate, a lever arranged at the side of the chamber, and a connection between said lever and bail for raising the foot plate by through each chamber means of said lever, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a vertical stope, a tunnel beneath the stope, two chambers above the tunnel one on each side of the bottom of the stope, each having a hole in its bottom through which material can be discharged on to a car in the tunnel, a chute leading `from the bottom of the stope, and hole into the tunnel, a trap door for each chute, a ridge at the bottom of the stope between two trap doors and having sides sloping respectively toward said trap doors, and

means for controlling said trap doors, subl5 AJ AY WASHBURNE.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

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