Dravo Corporation

Other

Briggs Technology, Inc.

Acb Technology, Corp.

Aubrey C Briggs

Larry L Pater

Richard D Nathenson

R Alan Duckworth

A belt apparatus is configured to support the trousers worn by a person and to include a number of airbags that are deployable in a falling event to protect the person from bone breakages. The belt apparatus includes a flexible belt element and a fastener that appear and function in much the same way as an ordinary trouser belt, i.e., fitting through belt loops in trousers and being fastenable to itself to support the pair of trousers at the waist of the user. Despite the ordinary appearance of the belt apparatus, it includes one or more airbags internal thereto whose expansion is controlled by a control apparatus. Responsive to a falling event in a particular direction with respect to the user, the control apparatus triggers the rapid expansion of an airbag that is situated on the belt element in the particular direction with respect to the user.

Protective belt apparatus

A belt apparatus is configured to support the trousers worn by a person and to include a number of airbags that are deployable in a falling event to protect the person from bone breakages. The belt apparatus includes a flexible belt element and a fastener that appear and function in much the same way as an ordinary trouser belt. Despite the ordinary appearance of the belt apparatus, it includes one or more airbags internal thereto whose expansion is controlled by a control apparatus. The control apparatus employs a generator apparatus having a conductor that is movable through a magnetic field to cause a voltage to be induced in the conductor. Responsive to a falling event in a particular direction with respect to the user, the control apparatus triggers the rapid expansion of an airbag that is situated on the belt element in the particular direction with respect to the user.

Protective belt apparatus and control apparatus therefor

The specification discloses pollution control equipment for pollution generating industrial processes. A containment structure confines pollutants within the structure from which they are removed by cleaning equipment. An absorption refrigeration system removes heat from containment structure for co-generation.

Pollution control apparatus for industrial processes and the like

A 'soft excavator' utilizes supersonic jets of air to loosen and remove soil and the like without damage to utility lines and other 'hard' buried objects. A pair of digger nozzles, each mounted at an angle to the axis of the tubular support shaft which in turn is mounted for planetary motion on a drivehead rotating about a tubular member, trace a epitrochoidal path around the inlet to the tubular member which advances with each rotation of the drivehead to uniformly loosen soil across the cutting face and to gather the lossened soil toward the tubular member. Injector nozzles direct supersonic jets of air into the tubular member in the direction of the discharge end to generate a secondary air flow which sucks lossened soil aerated by the digger nozzles into the inlet end of the tubular member. The entrained soil is decelerated by a diffuser and flexible bag at the discharge end of the tubular member and deposited in a pile. Compressed air for the digger nozzles is delivered through an annular passage and the stationary tubular member to an annular chamber formed by the rotating drivehead and the stationary tubular member, and passes through radial passageways to the upper ends of the tubular digger nozzle support shafts. The drivehead can be driven by air motors mounted on the rotating drivehead which are supplied with compressed air from the annular chamber feeding the digger nozzles. These rotating air motors engage through idler gears a common sun gear fixed to the tubular member which is also engaged by planet gears rotating the digger nozzle support shafts. Alternatively, the drivehead can be driven by an air, hydraulic or electric motor mounted on the stationary tubular member and driving a separate sun gear mounted on the rotating drivehead.

Apparatus for excavating soil and the like using supersonic jets

Discrete volumes, or slugs, of liquid are accelerated to high velocities utilizing energy stored by compressing the liquid. Liquid is forced into a pressure vessel already filled with liquid to effect the compression. A slug of liquid is ejected from the pressure vessel into a cumulation nozzle by the energy stored in the compressed liquid when a valve is rapidly opened. The valve is unseated when an unseating force exceeds a closing bias. The valve is then opened rapidly by an opening force generated by the compressed liquid. By repetitively introducing highly pressurized liquid into the pressure vessel, the valve automatically cycles to generate a series of pulsed liquid jets. Rapid opening of the valve is aided by an extension on the valve member which sealingly slides inside the passage of the cumulation nozzle to block release of liquid until the valve member accelerates sufficiently that the required opening rate is achieved as the extension clears the nozzle passage.

Accelerating slugs of liquid

A method and apparatus for pneumatically conveying solid materials such as soil, stones and the like. A hollow bored tube having an inlet end, a discharge end and an intermediate injector section is provided with at least one nozzle of the converging/diverging type within the injector section. A compressor supplies air at a pressure of about 90 psig to the nozzle to create an air stream within the tube directed toward the discharge end thereof, at a velocity in the supersonic regime. A strong vacuum is thus created in the region of the inlet end to provide rapid evacuation of the solids into the tube for conveyance therethrough and ejection at the discharge end thereof.

Method and apparatus for conveying solids using a high velocity vacuum

Apparatus for accelerating slugs of liquid

Discrete volumes, or slugs, of liquid are accelerated to high velocities utilizing energy stored by compressing the liquid. Liquid is forced into a pressure vessel already filled with liquid to effect the compression. A slug of liquid is ejected from the pressure vessel into a cumulation nozzle by the energy stored in the compressed liquid when a valve is rapidly opened. The valve is opened when an opening force, generated by the compressed liquid, exceeds a closing bias. By repetitively introducing highly pressurized liquid into the pressure vessel, the valve automatically cycles to generate a series of pulsed liquid jets. Rapid opening of the valve is aided by an extension on the valve member which sealingly slides inside the passage of the cumulation nozzle to block release of liquid until the valve member accelerates sufficiently that the required opening rate is achieved as the extension clears the nozzle passage.

A tracked vehicle is tethered so that as it skids on a pile of bulk material, the cleated tracks transfer the material toward the tethered end. The tethering rope hitch point on the vehicle is translatable laterally to effect controlled sideward skiding for sweeping bulk material from a wide area and is located at one end above the vehicle center of gravity so that the vehicle can be lowered by the tethering rope through narrow openings in storage chambers yet come to rest upright. The tracks comprise cleated endless belts coupled to endless wire ropes at the end pulleys by resilient rail members made of two rows of discrete blocks bolted to the belts which are wedged against the wire ropes by grooves in the pulleys so that tension induced in the wire ropes resists the lateral forces tending to cause the belts to creep along the pulleys. The vehicle frame comprises a sealed, structurally rigid, elongated box for each endless track in which the drive motors are protected and channel members extending along the sides and beyond the ends of the elongated box with the end pulleys mounted between the extended ends thereof. In an alternate form, the tethered end of the vehicle trails upward so that it can pile material higher.

Tethered vehicle for moving bulk material

An endless belt with bottomless buckets or other gripping elements bolted to its outer surface at spaced locations, has endless wire ropes each loosely received in a longitudinal bore formed in confronting faces of two rows of discrete blocks of resilient material bolted to the inner surface of the belt to form a continuous rail member. The wire ropes are firmly coupled to the endless belt as they pass around end pulleys together by the wedging action created as the tension in the endless belt pulls the associated two rows of discrete blocks which have tapered side walls down into peripheral grooves in the end pulleys which also have tapered, but slightly narrower side walls. With the belt firmly coupled to the wire ropes, radial digging forces tending to pull the belt away from the end pulleys, and lateral forces generated as the digger is advanced into a pile of bulk material on a bias which tends to cause the belt to creep laterally on the pulleys, are resisted by tension developed in the wire ropes. Seals prevent bulk material from getting between the endless belt or its resilient rail members and the end pulleys, and scrapers remove any such material which gets past the seals and deflects it laterally out of the belt loop.

Self training belt conveyor with digging elements

An automatic rail clamp is provided with an indicator for visibly showing the extent of wear of the replaceable clamping jaw inserts together with a fulcrum shaft having opposed eccentrics about which the jaws rock. As wear of the inserts develops, rotation of the fulcrum shaft is effected in measured increments which, in turn, progressively shifts the eccentrics relative to the axis of rotation of the fulcrum shaft to thereby move the centers about which the jaws pivot. This operates to maintain the arc through which the jaws rock within a constant range, thus allowing the rail clamp mechanism to operate at smaller, more efficient toggle angles by keeping the toggle angle safe. A differential hand screw is provided for moving the jaws in the event of failure of the automatic mechanism for opening and closing the jaws to ease the manual effort required to turn the hand screw, particularly to release the jaws when the clamp is set by spring pressure into clamping engagement with the rail.

Automatic rail clamp

A conventional type of impact rock drill is modified to include a fluid reservoir, valve and piston arrangement whereby each impact stroke of the driver ejects water at high pressure from the cutter bit, thereby increasing the mechanical cutting through hydraulic action of a small volume of high pressure jet of water.

Combination impact and pressure liquid rock drill

A conveying apparatus having a work portion including two work runs disposed to travel at an angle to each other is disclosed. The apparatus includes means for guiding the work portion of an endless conveyor belt whereby first and second work runs lying at an angle to each other and connected by a downwardly extending loop are provided. The guide means is further arranged such that the discharge end of the first work run lies in a plane above the receiving end of the second work run. Means for driving the conveyor belt, and guide means for guiding the return run of the belt are also provided.

Conveying apparatus

A pair of screw conveyors pivotally mounted on rotatable arms extending laterally from the extended ends of the bottom sprocket wheel shaft on a bucket ladder dislodge bulk material and direct it toward the buckets. The bottom sprocket wheels are journaled for rotation independent of the shaft which is rotated by a centrally located drive mechanism to position the rotatable arms and therefore the screw conveyors for various operations.

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Carnegie, PA, United States of America

Aubrey C Briggs