periphery, or of iron or wooden tubes of square sections fitted with fixed baffle plates inside. In working it revolves bodily on suitable rollers. This type is more costly than the ordinary worm conveyors, and also requires more power. Its efficiency is, moreover, easily impaired if run at too high a speed, because the centrifugal force asserts itself and counteracts the propulsion, which in this case is effected by gravity. Some experiments made in 1868 by George Fosbery Lyster, engineer of the Liverpool docks, gave convincing results (see Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., August 1869). The tubular worm conveyor is suitable where a granular material has to be moved over a comparatively short distance, say from one building to another on the same level, and where no bridge is available for the installation of any other kind of conveyor. Conveyors of this type have, however, come into use for conveying hard and cutting substances over considerable lengths. Ordinary worm conveyors are practically debarred from use for such substances on account of the short life of the intermediate bearings, which are not necessary with externally supported tubular worms.
To sum up, worm conveyors are of the simplest construction and of small prime cost. The terminals again are much less expensive than those of most other kinds of conveyors. When the distance to be traversed by the material is short, the worm conveyor has this advantage, that it is cheaper than other kinds of conveyors. If it be desired not only to convey but also to mix two or more materials, such as cement and sand in a dry state, or poultry food, this appliance is thoroughly well adapted for the work. On the other hand, there is a grinding action exercised on any material conveyed, and when hard or cutting substances are handled the wear and tear on the conveyor blades, trough and bearings is very great, and the power absorbed by a worm conveyor is a sensible item.
Band Conveyors.—The inventor of band conveyors for the handling of grain and minerals was G. F. Lyster, who, as already mentioned, in 1868 carried out exhaustive experiments at the Liverpool docks, where he established the band conveyor as a grain-handler. For granaries the band conveyor is an ideal appliance. Its capacity is great, and it can be run at relatively high speeds with a moderate expenditure of power. The band conveyor of to-day is an endless belt of canvas or more often india-rubber with insertion, and when fitted with the usual receiving and delivery appliances can be used to handle grain from or into granaries and also to feed bins or sections of a warehouse. The endless bands run over terminal pulleys, and are also supported on their way by a series of guide rollers, which are in greater number on the loaded than on the empty strand. The band is usually run quite flat, except that at the point or points where the grain is fed on it is slightly hollowed for a few feet, by means of two curving rolls which are set obliquely so as to make it trough-shaped. The supporting or guide rollers are 4 in. to 6 in. in diameter, and are sometimes made of wood, but more often consist of steel tubes to which spindles with conical end gudgeons are secured. The gudgeons generally run in suitable bush-bearings, which should be well lubricated. Band conveyors should be driven on the delivery and not the receiving terminal, as the tight side of the band is the flattest. The guide rollers, for ordinary grain conveyors, are fitted to the upper or working side of the band at intervals of about 6 ft., and at distances of 12 ft. on the lower or return strand. In cases where both strands of the band are used for carrying grain, the lower strand must be supported by as many rollers as the upper. Under such conditions, terminal pulleys must be of larger diameter than usual, the object being to throw the two strands farther apart, so as to give sufficient space between the two strands to spout the feed in and out again at the other end. The two strands can be run any distance apart by the use of two additional pulleys for the terminals. This arrangement would be in place where it was desired, as it might be, to run one strand of the band along the top floor of the granary to distribute, while the other strand travelled along the ground-floor or basement to withdraw, the grain.
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| Fig. 6.—Throw-off Carriage for Band Conveyor. |
Band conveyors are kept tight, when the band is not very long, by a tightening gear, similar to that used on elevators, and consisting of two screws which push or better pull the two pedestals of one terminal pulley farther away from the other terminal. If the band is of such length that an adjustment of 4 to 5 ft. on the tightening gear is not sufficient, it is advisable to use in place of screws a tightening pulley, over which the belt passes, but which is itself held in tension by weights. The choice of the exact tightening gear will depend on various considerations, the length of the belt, the type of throw-off carriage used, and the quality of the belt all being factors to be considered. The throw-off carriage (fig. 6), which serves to withdraw material from the band at any desired point, is a simple but ingenious appliance consisting essentially of guide pulleys which by raising one part of the band and lowering the other have the effect of causing the grain to quit the surface of the band at the point where it is deflected upwards. The grain is thus cast clear of the band, and into the air, being caught as it falls in a hopper and spouted in any desired direction. Throw-off carriages differ in certain details, but the principle is the same. For feeding a band conveyor it is important to give the material a horizontal velocity, approaching that of the band. The grain should therefore be fed through a spout rather less in breadth than half of the width of the band, and set at an incline of 42½° to the horizontal. Band conveyors run at a speed of 400 to 600 ft. per minute, according to the nature of the material; oats, for instance, would be liable to be blown off the band at a speed in excess of 500, which would be suitable for wheat. Nuts, maize and the heavier seeds could be carried at 600. The power consumption by a grain-laden band compares favourably with any other form of conveyor. An 18-in. band 100 ft. in length running 500 ft. per minute would carry 50 tons per hour at an expenditure of only 4.5 H.P.
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| Fig. 7. |
While the band conveyor is an ideal conveyor in warehouses and mills, it is also capable of rendering good service in handling such heavy materials as coal and minerals. Of course for such purposes the band and its fittings must be of much more substantial construction. The central portions of the band carrying the load, being subjected to great wear and tear, are often made
