US3506204A - Step bearing for gyratory crusher - Google Patents

Description

April 14, 1970 R. H. KEMNITZ L STEP BEARING FOR GYRATORY CRUSHER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 12, 1967 A 5 J A w Wm /M M: w mmwf April 14, 1970 v H KEMNlTz ET AL 3,506,204

STEP BEARING FOR GYRATORY CRUSHER Filed Oct. 12. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A8 Q MMk /Qp @ww 314mm):

United States Patent US. (1. 241208 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A step bearing for a gyratory crusher head comprising a pad member of elastomeric material, preferably rubber, which is interposed beneath the surface of a gyratory crusher head or of a part in supporting relation thereto in such manner that the elastomeic or rubber pad absorbs shock loads or the like substantially instantaneously.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to gyratory crushers and more particularly to an improved step bearing for such a crusher.

Description of the prior art It is well known in the art of gyratory crushers that it is necessary to support the gyrating crusher head by means of a step bearing. For example, in United States Patent No. 2,448,936, issued to C. C. Van Zandt on Sept. 7, 1948, there is shown a step bearing for supporting the lower end of the main shaft 2 on which the crusher head is mounted. Another example of a step bearing construction is shown in United States patent application Ser. No. 537,868, which shows a spiderless type crusher in which the vertically adjustable crusher head is supported on a step bearing at the upper end of the slidably adjustable vertical post beneath the crusher head. It is also known to support a spiderless type crusher head by a step bearing located beneath the outer periphery of the crusher head.

All of the step bearing constructions of the prior art, such as those exemplified by the prior art just mentioned, are formed of rigid materials which are not capable of yielding under sudden impact loads which might be caused, for example, by the presence of large pieces of noncrushable material, or tramp iron in the crushing chamber. While it is known in the prior art to provide hydraulic relief arrangements which permit a downward movement of the crusher head when tramp iron is present, the response time required for such downward movement is frequently greater than might be desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a step bearing construction for a gyratory crusher in which the bearing provides an initial relief for shock loads such as those caused by tramp iron passing through the crushing chamber.

It is another object of the invention to provide a step bearing construction for the gyrating crusher head of a gyratory crusher which is less expensive than step bearing constructions of the prior art.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide step bearing construction (for a gyratory crusher the use of which results in less tendency for the crusher to pack than in constructions of the prior art.

In achievement of these objectives, there is provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a step bearing for a gyratory crusher head comprising a pad member of elastomeric material, preferably rubber, which is interposed beneath a surface of the gyratory crusher head or of a part in supporting relation thereto in such manner that the elastomeric or rubber pad absorbs shock loads or the like substantially instantaneously.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in vertical section of a gyratory crusher embodying the improved step bearing construction of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in vertical section of a modified step bearing having only an elastomeric bearing element;

FIG. 3 is a view in vertical section of a still further modified step bearing arrangement having an elastomeric bearing element of conical upper contour;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the compressive effect of the crusher head on an elastomeric pad of fiat upper surface;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the compressive effect of the crusher head on an elastomeric pad of conically tapered upper surface; and

FIG. 6 is a view in vertical section showing the engagement of the crusher head with a bearing pad of spherical upper contour.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a gyratory crusher generally indicated at 10 including a base frame housing 12 having a drive housing portion 14 and a pedestal-like cylindrical hub portion 16 extending vertically upwardly at right angles with respect to drive housing 14. A sleeve shaped lower outer frame structure 18 having a flange 20 is concentrically disposed around the cylindrical hub 16 and is secured to the base frame housing 12 by a plurality of radial support struts 22. An upwardly open upper frame structure 24 having a flange 26 is secured horizontally to the lower outer :frame 18 at flange 20 by any means such as by a plurality of bolts 28. A removable bowl liner or concave ring 30 is secured horizontally within upper frame 24 concentrically above hub 16 by any means such as by plurality of bolts 32.

A cylindrical crusher post 34 having a flange or head portion 36 at the upper end thereof, is concentrically and slidably fitted Within the cylindrical hub 16 of the base frame structure 12 and projects vertically upwardly into the space defined by the bowl liner or concave 30. The lower end of the crusher post 34 is secured to a piston 38 Which is slidably fitted within cylinder 40 in the lower portion of the base frame housing 12. Hydraulic fluid or the like may be admitted to the cylinder 40 through the passage 42 to permit vertical upward adjustment of crusher post 34 as may 'be required. Circular bearings and seals 44 are provided at the upper and lower extremities of the bore through cylindrical hub 16 to slidably support the crusher post 34 within the hub 16, and to form an annular fluid chamber 46 between hub 16 and the crusher post 34. A fluid passage means such as a tube 48' is provided to communicate between the annular chamber 46 and the upper surface of the head portion 36 of the crusher post 34. A suitable fluid passage means extends from the annular fluid chamber 46 to a point outside the base frame housing 12 to permit introduction of a fluid lubricant into the annular chamber 46.

In accordance with the invention, a shock absorbing and self-aligning step bearing generally indicated at 52 is provided and includes a metal bearing plate 54 formed of a suitable metal such as bronze and an elastomeric pad 56 of rubber or other elastomeric material which is suitably secured, as by vulcanizing, to the upper surface 3f the metal plate 54. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1, the rubber pad 56 is of cylindrical cross section and has a flat upper surface. The under surface of the Jronze bearing plate 54 extends in a horizontal plane aarallel to the upper surface of head portion 36 of a crusher post 34. A conical crusher head 58 is adapted to seat on the upper surface of the step bearing 52, the flat under surface of the upper end of the crusher head being recessed slightly as indicated at 60 to receive and locate the upper edge of the rubber pad 56. The upper end of the crusher head is provided with an integral threaded extension indicated at 62. A conical crusher wearing mantle 64 is symmetrically positioned over the conical surface of crusher head 58 and is held in place by a suitable means such as a nut 66.

An annular eccentric sleeve 68, having a ring gear 70 secured to the lower end thereof, is rotatably mounted on the cylindrical hub portion 16 of the base frame housing 12 and rests against a circular thrust bearing 72 se- :ured to base frame 12. Bearing sleeve 74 is disposed between hub portion 16 and eccentric sleeve 68 to facilitate rotation of the eccentric sleeve 68 on the hub portion [6. The outer circumference of the eccentric sleeve 68 mates with the inner circumference of the skirt 76 on the crusher head, and a bearing sleeve 77 is carried by the crusher head skirt 76 to facilitate rotation of the eccentric sleeve 68 within the skirt 76. The outer cylindrical surface of the eccentric sleeve 68 is inclined relative to the vertical axis A of the cylindrical hub 16 about which the eccentric sleeve rotates, to provide a tilting of the axis A of the crusher head by an angle 0.

A drive shaft 78 extends through the drive housing 14 on base frame 12 and a pinion gear 80 is secured to shaft 78 and in meshing engagement with the ring gear 70. Rotation of shaft 78 by an external power source (not shown) rotates pinion gear 80 to rotate ring gear 70 and thus to rotate the eccentric sleeve 68 about the hub Rotation of eccentric sleeve 68 imparts gyratory motion to crusher head 58. Due to the angular inclination of the axis A of the crusher head relative to the axis A of the crusher post, the rubber pad 56 is more highly compressed to the left-hand of the axis A with respect to the view shown in FIG. 2 at the given moment then it is to the right of the axis A and further there is a bulging of the material of the rubber pad away from the region of greatest compression or to the right with respect to the view shown in FIG. 2. The location of the compressed and bulged regions of the rubber pad changes from moment to moment with the gyratory motion of the crusher head. During the gyratory motion of the crusher head, the metal nearing plate 54 slides along the upper surface of post 36. Fluid lubricant passes from the upper end of tube 48 to radial slots 55 in head portion 36 of the crusher post to provide lubrication for the sliding motion of metal plate 54.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is diagrammatically shown therein a modified step bearing which is generally similar to the step bearing of FIG. 1, except that it :liminates the bearing plate 54 of FIG. 1 and comprises elastromeric or rubber pad 86 which is mounted directly on head portion 90 of crusher post 88. The upper surface or the head portion 90 is provided with a periph- :ral retaining lip or the like 92 which serves to retain :he rubber bearing pad 86 in position with respect to :he head portion 90 of the crusher post. The crusher head is generally indicated at 94. The crusher post lies on a vertical axis A which is perpendicular to the horizontal plane, whereas the crusher head 94, as it gyrates, lies along an axis A which is inclined away from the vertical axis A of the crusher post by an angle 6.

The elastomeric bearing pad 86 in the view of FIG. 2 s of substantially cylindrical cross section in its undistorted shape and includes substantially flat upper and lower surfaces. As the crusher head gyrates during its operation, the frictional engagement between the under surface of the crusher head, which is in bearing engagement with the upper surface of the elastomeric bearing pad 86, tends to drag the upper surface of the pad 86 with it during the gyratory motion of the crusher head whereas the lower surface of the bearing pad 86 is retained by the retaining lip 92. Thus, the gyratory motion of the crusher head will tend to impart a distortion to the bearing pad 86 in accordance with the gyrations of the crusher head, the portion of the bearing pad which is distorted varying from moment to moment with the gyrations of the crusher head.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a still further modified form of step bearing arrangement which is generally similar to that of FIG. 2 in that it provides a step bearing formed of an elastomeric or rubber pad generally indicated at 96 which rests on the head portion 100 of crusher post 98. Head portion 100 is provided with a retaining lip 101 which prevents shifting of the lower portion of pad 96. As in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the axis of the crusher head 102 is inclined at an angle 0 with respect to the vertical axis of the crusher post 98 which lies in a vertical plane perpendicular to the horizontal plane. The fiat under surfare 104 of crusher head 102, which lies perpendicular to the vertical axis of the crusher head, is therefore inclined at an angle 6 with respect to the horizontal plane. The elastomeric bearing pad 96 is provided with a generally cylindrical base or lower portion 106 which extends upwardly for a portion of the height of pad 96. However, the upper end portion of pad 96 is provided in the embodiment of FIG. 3 with a conically tapered surface 108 having a conical angle 5 which is equal to or close to the angle of inclination 9 of the under surface 104 of the crusher head due to the tilt of the crusher head, so that under no load conditions on the crusher head, the flat under surface 104 of the crusher head will substantially engage the entire radial width of elastomeric pad 96, making at least a line contact at no load and an area contact under load, due to the equality of the tilt angle of the crusher head and of the cone angle of the upper end surface of pad 96. The use of the conically tapered bearing pad 96 as shown in FIG. 3 has an advantage over the flat upper surface bearing pad 56 as shown in FIG. 1 in that the conical bearing pad 96 reduces the maximum unit load on the bearing pad as compared to the fiat top surface bearing pad as can best be seen by the graphical analysis of FIGS. 4 and 5.

As seen in FIG. 4, 86 represents the rubber bearing pad shown in FIG. 2 while 94 represents the crusher head the under surface of which is inclined by the angle 0 with respect to the horizontal plane due to the operating tilt of the crusher head. The bearing pad 86 has a flat upper surface; hence when the crusher head is under no load conditions, it will eifect a compression of the upper surface of the bearing pad by an amount equal to Y engaging substantially only the outer edge region of bearing pad 86. At the ordinary crushing load, the bearing pad will depress an additional amount indicated by Y whereas at overload the bearing pad will be depressed a still additional amount indicated by Y In contrast, when using the bearing pad 86 of FIG. 3 having the tapered upper surface 108, under no load conditions the crusher head 102 will assume a position such that the under surface of the crusher head is substantially parallel to a radial line on the conical upper surface of the bearing pad 96 and effects only a very slight depression of the elastomeric material of the pad, which can be ignored for practical purposes. At ordinary crushing loads, crushing head 102 depresses the material of the pad 96 to a level substantially that of a line indicated at C. L, while at overloads the material of the pad is depressed to the overload line indicated by O. L. It can be seen from a comparison of FIGS. 4 and 5 that under ordinary crushing load conditions, the compression exerted on the flat-topped pad 86 of FIGS. 2 and 4 is represented by the sum of the compressions Y +Y whereas under crushing load conditions on the conically tapered crusher pad of FIGS. 3 and 5, the compression on the pad is represented only by Y Similarly, at overload conditions on the crusher, in the flat-topped embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 4, the overload compression on the pad is represented by the sums Y +Y +Y while at overload conditions on the crusher on the conically tapered bearing pad of FIGS. 3 and 5, the compression is represented merely by the sum of Y +Y It can be seen, therefore, that the maximum unit load on the crusher pad is greater with the flat-top bearingpad 86 of FIGS. 2 and 4 under any given condition of operation than in the case of the bearing pad 96 having the conical upper surface of FIGS. 3 and 5.

There is shown in FIG. 6 a further modified embodiment in which a step bearing 110 formed of an elastomeric material such as rubber is seated on the upper surface of head portion 114 of crusher post 112. The bearing pad 110 is provided with a flat bottom surface which rests on head portion 114. Pad 110 is of cylindrical cross section for the portion of the height thereof indicated at 116. The upper end surface of the pad 110 in the embodiment of FIG. 6 is of spherical contour as indicated at 118. The embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 6 in which the upper surface of the bearing pad are respectively of conical and of spherical contour are the preferred embodiments of the rubber or elastomeric bearing pad.

In either of the forms of the step bearing shown in FIGS, 3 and 6, the rubber bearing pad 96 or 110 may be secured as by vulcanizing to the upper surface of a metal bearing plate such as the plate 54 of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

It can be seen from the foregoing that there are provided in accordance with this invention step bearing constructions for gyratory crushers which have advantages over prior art step bearing arrangements. The use of the elastomeric or rubber bearing pads permits the crusher head to respond quickly to shock loads such as those which might be caused, for example, by the presence of large pieces of noncrushable material or tramp iron in the crushing chamber. The elastomeric step bearing absorbs the initial high intensive shock loads caused by the passage of the tramp iron or the like while the final relief is provided by the hydraulic relief system of the crusher, if such is provided.

Furthermore, the various step bearing constructions hereinbefore described are less expensive than the all metal step bearing constructions of the prior art.

While there have been shown and described particular embodiments of the invention, it will 'be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention and, therefore, it is aimed to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In combination, a gryatory crusher comprising a crushing bowl, a crushing head mounted for gyratory movement relative to said bowl, support means supporting said crushing head for gyratory movement, an elastomeric bearing member superposed above a metal bearing member, both said bearing members being interposed between said support means and said crushing head.

2. In combination, a gyratory crusher comprising a crushing bowl, a crushing head mounted for gyratory movement relative to said bowl, support means supporting said crushing head for gyratory movement, and an elastomeric 'bealring member interposed between said support means and said crushing head, the upper surface of said elastomeric bearing member being of conical shape.

3. In combination, a gyratory crusher comprising a crushing bowl, a crushing head mounted for gyratory movement relative to said bowl, support means supporting said crushing head for gyratory movement, and an elastomeric bearing member interposed between said support means and said crushing head, the upper surface of said elastomeric bearing member being of spherical shape.

4. In combination, a gyratory crusher comprising a crushing bowl, a crushing head mounted for gyratory movement relative to said bowl, support means supporting said crushing head for gyratory movement, an elastomeric bearing member interposed between said support means and said crushing head, the upper surface of said elastomeric bearing member being of conical shape, the axis of said crusher head being inclined at an angle with respect to the vertical, the under surface of said crusher head which bears on said bearing member being substantially fiat and lying in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of said crusher head, said elastomeric bearing member having a conical angle such that said under surface of said crusher head lies in a plane substantially parallel to a radial line on the conical surface of said elastomeric bearing member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 653,679 7/ 1900 Kimble 241211 787,737 4/1905 Durnholz 241211 2,556,641 6/1951 Bakewell 241-286 FOREIGN PATENTS 71,375 7/1950 Denmark.

7 GERALD A. DOST, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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