Abstract: The invention employs pressure and displacement sensors for the automatic monitoring and adjustment of the pre-tension of endless belts, in the form of chains or the like, which sensors determine the pressure in the cylinder space and the movement of the piston of the tensioning cylinder, and the measuring signals from which sensors are evaluated by an electronic evaluation and actuation unit. In this respect the evaluation and actuation unit calculates from the measuring signals the changes in pressure which occur over a predetermined partial stroke of the piston of the tensioning cylinder, wherein these changes in pressure reflect the state of tension of the chain belt. When the chain tension is incorrect, the evaluation and actuation unit can therefore control the tensioning cylinder so that the optimum chain tension is set automatically.

Abstract: According to the invention, automatic adjustment of the cutting horizon of a cutter installation or other mining installation is effected with the aid of recognition sensors which detect the footwall rock interface and which are disposed distributed over the length of the cutter or machine guide, wherein the measuring signals from the recognition sensors are acquired by an electronic evaluation and control unit and are utilized in the sense of automatically controlling the adjusting cylinders.

Abstract: An impact roll crusher for grinding up material, for example in mineral mining, employs a roll equipped with impact heads which co-operates with part of a conveyor transporting the material. The roll is rotatably mounted in a housing and a hood is connected to the housing to deflect and discharge the crushed material. The crusher roll is driven by a belt coupled to pulleys on the roll and on a drive motor shaft. The drive motor is supported by a bracket pivotably mounted on an inclined baffle wall of the hood. The roll drive adopts a position below the upper surface of the crusher housing. A tensioning device operable to adjust the tension in the drive belt is coupled to the bracket and adjusts the pivotable movement of the bracket.

Abstract: A drive system for driving a flexible elongate member such as a haulage chain for a mineral mining machine or scraper-chain assembly of a scraper-chain conveyor of a mineral mining installation employs main and auxiliary drive units each equipped with an electric asynchronous motor drivably connected through a gearing assembly to a sprocket around which the chain or scraper-chain assembly is entrained. The gearing assemblies each employ a multi-disc clutch which is subjected to variable loading pressure and slippage by means of a valve actuated by electrical signals provided by an electronic controller. Each clutch acts through gears on a ring gear of planetary gearing and the ring gear wheel is subjected to a controlled supportive torque. The electronic controller is designed to actuate the associated valves to adjust the clutches to balance loading on the motors of the units.

Abstract: Apparatus for straightening and orientating the deformed nipples of an anode employs framework through which each anode suspended by its anode rod is passed. A hollow casing with openings for receiving the nipples is raised relative to the framework to locate the nipples in the openings. A yoke of the anode is supported by pressure-pieces driven by self-locking spindle drives to engage the yoke from the outside and by support members engaging the yoke from the underside. The casing carries mechanisms each composed of piston and cylinder units with the piston rods and cylinders interconnected by yokes. One of these yokes has recesses for applying force to a central nipple and the other of these yokes carries a force-applying element with a socket for receiving the outermost nipples. The yokes and force applying elements are guided within the casing and serve to bend the nipples back into the desired orientation. Stops serve to control and limit the displacement of the piston and cylinder units.

Abstract: Apparatus for tightening and releasing nuts on screw-threaded studs to fit or release a cover on a pressure vessel employs several devices for subjecting each of the studs to tension to clamp the stud whilst the nut is rotated thereon. Each device has a passage for receiving one of the studs and a threaded sleeve engaged thereon. An hydraulic piston and cylinder unit subjects the sleeve to tensile force and likewise the stud coupled thereto. Also in the passage there is a sensor which has spring biased relatively movable components for engaging on a head of the stud and on a system of rods providing a reference. The sensor is suspended in the passage and provides an indication of the strain imposed on the stud by the hydraulic unit.

Abstract: A mobile machine for use in opencast mining employs a chassis with endless tracks and the chassis has outriggers projecting laterally outwardly from the tracks. A hopper supported by one outrigger receives raw ore material excavated by another machine or machines. The raw ore material passes from the hopper to a screen arrangement with superimposed oscillating screens which sieve the material to separate the finer mineral ore product from the coarser spoil. The mineral ore product which passes through the screens is transferred by a multi-stage conveyor extending perpendicularly to the tracks to a separate conveyor laid on the floor of the working alongside a path of movement of the machine. The spoil is transferred with another conveyor to the inlet of a jib which extends laterally outwardly from the tracks opposite the hopper. The jib itself has a conveyor which transports the spoil along the jib which then discharges the spoil onto a dump.

Abstract: A valve device for use in an electro-hydraulic mining control system employs a cuboidal housing composed of two separate sub-housings. One sub-housing block has bores containing valve assemblies with cartridges which can be inserted into or withdrawn from the bores via an exterior face. Each cartridge is made up of two elongate sleeve components in screw-threaded engagement. The sleeve components define valve seatings and closure elements are guided in the components and engage on the seatings. A rod couples the closure elements so that when one closure element is on its seating the other is off its seating and vice versa. The closure elements are biased with a spring contained in a bushing fitted into the bore via the exterior face. The bushing is used to rotate the sleeve components relative to one another to adjust the relative position of the valve seatings.

Abstract: A drive station for a mineral mining installation employs a plough box containing a chain wheel around which a drive chain for a mineral winning machine, such as a plough, is entrained. The chain wheel is supported on a shaft rotatably supported by bearings in a casing or housing fitted to the plough box. An access opening in the plough box enables the chain wheel to be fitted onto or removed from the shaft and a collar of the casing engages on a fitting ring inside the opening which locates the plough box and the casing or housing. The ring has a radial projection which extends into a pocket adjoining the access opening and a pair of pins which employ strain gauges engage on the ring projection to provide electrical signals indicating the tension in the upper and lower runs of the chain.

Abstract: A machine, such as a plough, is driven with a chain back and forth along a guide to strip mineral from a mineral face. The chain is entrained around chain wheels at ends of the guide and the chain wheels are driven by electric motors and gearing assemblies. Each gearing assembly employs an overload protection which generates a signal in the event of an overload. A control unit with a computer responds to the overload signal to provide a stop signal to actuate a clutch to disconnected the drive. Stops are provided at the ends of the guide and spaced from each stop there is a sensor which provides a signal indicative of the presence of the machine. The control unit responds to the detection signal and provides the stop signal at an optimum time calculated by the computer to ensure the machine is halted at or near each end stop.

Abstract: A mineral mining installation has a plough guided for movement along a scraper-chain conveyor. Roof supports are connected to the conveyor with the aid of shifting mechanisms which employ boom-type guide linkages designed to co-operate with a compact controller to adjust the tilt of the conveyor and the cutting horizon of the plough. The controller employs a plate-like guide block guided for up and down motion at the goaf side of the conveyor. An hydraulic piston and cylinder unit is disposed alongside the goal side of the conveyor and pivots a cranked lever to raise or lower the guide block. The guide block is coupled to a headpiece of an associated one of the boom linkages so that the motion of the guide block is transferred to the headpiece.

Abstract: Apparatus for automatically inserting and removing screw-threaded elements into and from threaded bores of a pressure vessel to fit or detach a cover employs a screw-clamping device with a carrier ring supporting individual mechanisms for each screw-threaded element. Each mechanism employs a pair of parallel hydraulic piston and cylinder units with their cylinders supported for sliding on a flat surface of the carrier ring and their piston rods linked to a pressure bridge which brace on a shoulder of a screw-threaded sleeve fitted onto the associated screw-threaded element. The entire mechanisms is displaceably adjustable relative to the carrier ring predominantly in a radial direction relative to a common pitch circle for all the screw-threaded elements.

Abstract: The pans of a scraper-chain conveyor are interconnected with a dog-bone type connector which fits into laterally open shaped pockets in the side walls of the pans. A projection on one of the ends of the connector engages in a recess closed off from the side access while a projection at the opposite end of the connector is locked in place with a swivelled-in locking plate. The plate fits into compartments in the side wall of the associated pan. The plate carries a resilient pin at one end which fits into recesses in one of the compartments while the opposite end of the plate has a tongue which snaps into a recess in the base of the opposite compartment.

Abstract: Apparatus employs a device for automatically threading and unthreading studs into tapped bores of a pressure vessel containing nuclear fuel to detach or fit a cover thereto. The apparatus also employs a device with a carrier ring supporting piston and cylinder units for tensioning the studs while nuts are fitted thereon. The stud threading device is supported on a carriage displaceable along a circular track to access each stud in turn. The stud threading device has a drive member, such as a tube or rod, which is driven by a rotary drive as well as a reciprocating drive. At the lower end the drive member has a coupler which fits onto a coupler at the upper end of each stud. The couplers on the studs take the form of bayonette-type fittings with U-shaped grooves for receiving locking projections on the coupler of the drive member to establish a connection resistant to tension and relative rotation.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for aligning the stubs disposed on the yoke of an anode rod used in an aluminum electrolytic extraction cell, the anode rod having a yoke portion to which are secured two outer and an inner stub and a rod portion, the apparatus comprising a platform, first and second receiving elements for grasping the two outer stubs, which are slideably mounted on the platform, and equipment attached to the platform for driving the first receiver element in a direction directly opposite the movement of the second receiver element.

Abstract: A transfer station between a scraper-chain face conveyor and a scraper-chain roadway conveyor in a mine working has a frame for guiding the scraper-chain assemblies of the conveyor so that material discharges from the face conveyor to the roadway conveyor. The frame has a pair of spaced-apart side walls with identical connecting blocks fitted to their exteriors. The connecting blocks have pockets for receiving couplers and depressions which form bearing half-shells for a support for a drum around which the scraper-chain assembly of the roadway conveyor passes. The connecting blocks on each side wall can connect with connecting blocks of the drum support or with connecting blocks on an endmost ramp pan of the roadway conveyor so that the pan and the drum support can be interchanged in position.

Abstract: A mine roof support employs a pair of floor skids carrying hydraulic props on which a roof-engaging structure is mounted. A goaf-shield is pivotably mounted to the roof-engaging structure and is connected with a lever system to the floor skids. A shifting and guide mechanism is disposed between the floor skids and takes the form of an hydraulic ram connected at the rear to a floor rail disposed beneath the ram. The ram is supported at the front end by a bridge member connecting the front ends of the skids together. An hydraulic lifting unit is mounted on the bridge member and when extended the unit bears on the floor rail to partially lift the skids as the shifting ram is operated. The lifting unit can be mounted to the bridge member in one of several alternative height positions.

Abstract: A scraper unit for a scraper-chain assembly is composed of a scraper and a clamping strap which define beds for receiving one or more chain links. The clamping strap is fixed to the scraper with the aid of nuts and bolts and one or more pivot joints formed between the strap and the scraper ensure that when the nuts are tightened onto the bolts, the clamping strap pivots on the scraper to clamp the chain link or links into position.

Abstract: A mine roof support frame has a pair of spaced-apart floor skids on which hydraulic props support a roof engaging structure. A shifting mechanism with a ram in a trough-like housing and a guide beam is positioned between the skids and serves to displace the frame relative to a scraper-chain conveyor and vice versa. The guide beam is a flat plate with a width more or less the same as the space between the skids and rests directly on the floor. The piston rod of the ram is coupled to the guide beam near the conveyor, the ram cylinder is coupled to the housing and the housing is coupled to the skids at the stowage end. The ram housing has a guide rail on the underside which mates with a guide element on the top of the guide beam. Levers pivotably coupled to the floor sills in front of the ram housing are operated by piston and cylinder units to engage on the guide beam to lift the floor skids partially during advancement of the frame.

Abstract: For the purpose of cooling anode rods carrying hot spent anodes removed from electrolytic furnaces, a separate cooling chamber is provided through which the anode rods to be cooled are conveyed by means of a through conveyor, preferably on pallets. The cooling chamber possesses, in its bottom region, a cooling air feed and, in its top region, a waste air extraction duct. At both ends, the cooling chamber is closable by means of doors.