Harnischfeger Corporation

Harnischfeger Technologies, Inc.

Carl A Soczka

Robert H Blaszynski

Lyle P Gunnell

Roger A Heins

Power shovels include a dipper door which must be held shut to retain a load of material within a dipper and which must be allowed to open to discharge the load of material from the dipper. Such dipper doors are extremely heavy and, as a result, the opening and closing of the dipper doors must be dampened in order to prevent the dipper doors from banging against other components of the power shovels. There is provided a hydraulic assembly which is mounted to a dipper body and a dipper door of a dipper of a power shovel. The hydraulic assembly includes a restricted flow conduit to prevent unrestricted flow of hydraulic fluid between fluid chambers of the hydraulic assembly. Accordingly, as the dipper door opens or closes, as the hydraulic fluid moves from one chamber of the hydraulic assembly to the other, the restricted movement of the fluid causes the dipper door to open or close in a controlled manner thereby dampening the effect of movement of the dipper door. The hydraulic assembly can also include a valve which is adapted to control the flow of hydraulic fluid through a conduit which connects two separate hydraulic chambers of the hydraulic assembly. Thus, if the valve is closed, the dipper door cannot move because the hydraulic fluid is not able to move from one chamber to the other. Further, if the valve is opened, the dipper door can move because the hydraulic fluid is able to move from one chamber to the other.

Power shovel with dipper door snubber and/or closure assembly

Disclosed is a digging implement such as a mining shovel dipper which has a body, a movable door mounted with respect to the body and a mechanism for retarding swinging movement of the door. The mechanism includes first and second housings and plural retarding discs compressed between the housings. In the improvement, a resilient member is interposed between the first housing and the discs. And most preferably, a separate resilient member is interposed between each housing, respectively, and the discs. The thickness of each resilient member is selected in view of the aggregate thickness of the discs and the number of resilient members if more than one such member is used. A highly preferred resilient member is an elastomeric washer. The new retarding mechanism substantially extends the time period between mechanism adjustments and results in improved machine productivity.

Retarding mechanism for the dipper door of a mining shovel

A fairlead mechanism for guiding a dragline drag rope includes a support on the chassis of the dragline and a guide mechanism mounted on the support. The guide mechanism includes at least one pair of guide sheaves each having an annular groove. The guide sheaves are rotatably mounted on the support to present the grooves in facing relation to define between the sheaves a guide path through which the drag rope passes in primary frictional contact with at least one of the guide sheaves to cause the contacted guide sheave to start-stop cycle between rotating and nonrotating modes as the drag rope reciprocates during operation of the machine. The fairlead mechanism further comprises a synchronizing mechanism utilizing gears or belts for causing the pair of guide sheaves to simultaneously stop or counterrotate in unison in response to rope contact with either one of the guide sheaves to minimize wear that would be induced by scrubbing between the rope and the guide sheaves.

Fairlead mechanism with synchronized sheaves

A joint container for forming a weld joint utilizing multiple adjacent metal plates which are spaced apart and positioned angularly to each other. One of the plates forming the joint may extend continuously through the joints along a straight line. At least first and second plates of the multiple plates may be at an acute angle to each other. A dam member is placed in each of the spaces between each two adjacent plates. The dam member between adjacent plates has a concave contour surface viewed in a direction toward the weld joint container. Thereby stress inducing sharp corners in the finished weld joint are minimized due to the reduction of the angles of the corners provided by the contour of each dam surface when it engages one of the plates. Also, the plates having ends at the joint have such ends cut parallel to and spaced from the plate extending continuously straight through the joint. This parallel relationship of the plate ends with the continuous plate also stress inducing sharp corners in the weld joint.

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Greenfield, WI, United States of America

Carl A Soczka