The present invention relates to a support head of a pulley over which a cable passes in a cable conveyor, this support head comprising a rigid frame and a pulley axle carried by this frame, a first extremity of this axle being adapted to serve as a pivot for the pulley outside the frame.
In cable conveyors, the pulleys supporting the mobile cable are pivotally mounted on support heads which are in general fixed at the extremity of a tubular arm mounted on a post or on any other fixed construction. To prevent the cable from getting out of the groove of the pulley, the latter must be as exactly as possible in the place determined by the two cable ends situated on both sides of the pulley. Now, when this plane is not vertical, the orientation of the pulleys must generally be adjusted once the cable has been set in place and appropriately stretched. To allow this adjustment, each support head is mounted on the tubular arm by means of a clamp assembly, which is made to pivot after having been loosened. One may likewise make the arm pivot on the post, or else an element of the arm on another tubular element, by means of another clamp assembly. However, these adjusting operations are long and difficult, because they necessitate relieving the pulley of the load exerted by the cable. In addition, since at least one of said clamp assemblies is necessarily at a certain distance from the pulley, any pivoting of this assembly leads to a substantial displacement of the pulley with respect to the post, which may appreciably modify the load distribution and necessitate reinforcement accordingly. It would thus be advantageous to be able to orient the pulley without substantially changing its place.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds