High Volume Excavating, ripping and Loading Apparatus and Methods

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Lowery (U.S. Pat. No. 9,452,888 B2), Lowery (U.S. Pat. No. 8,967,363 B2)—explained in Objects and Advantages

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM (EFS-WEB)

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

On large surface mining operations, millions of tons of overburden or ore are moved by large off-highway rock haulers, moving material across their properties to reclamation areas or to an in-pit crushing facility to be crushed and conveyed to a processing plant. As time has passed, many mines have exhausted their lower ratio mining areas and are having to move more tons to reach their production targets. After several years of huge fuel cost increases and high inflation costs on new replacement equipment, all mining companies are looking for innovation and cost cutting opportunities to help off-set their increased ratios and operating cost. Today, the larger mining operations are using 185-ton capacity rock haulers up to 400-ton trucks to haul the material. As larger tires become available in future, even larger trucks will follow. The combination of a loading tool and trucks assigned to that loading tool to keep it productive is known as a “spread”. The loading tool being used, and the number of bucket-loads it moves, known as passes, determines the production for each hour. Mines assign enough trucks to each loading tool to make sure enough trucks are in position to back under the loading tool bucket, known as a dipper, so as not to impede its production. The largest trucks, 340-ton capacity, up to 400-ton capacity are typically paired with large electric shovels, which have 60-to-90-yard buckets/dippers (a loose cubic yard weighing between 3,000 and 3400 pounds) and load the trucks in 3 to 5 passes/cycles. A pass/cycle is lowering its bucket/dipper to ground grade, at what's known as the toe of the pile, and the bucket/dipper is then “pulled” up through the pile, which is typically shot rock, shale or dirt, shot by drilling holes, filling with explosives, and then blasted. The bucket/dipper is “pulled” on an arc up through the material—loading the bucket/dipper. The pile is typically shot in depths from 50 feet to 70 feet high, matching the loading tools reach. After the bucket/dipper is filled, it then holds the material up at the upper elevation and swings typically 90 degrees to either side and holds the bucket/dipper in position so the waiting truck can back under. Once the truck backs under, usually taking 10 seconds (known as “spot” time) the shovel operator opens a rear hatch on rear of the bucket/dipper and the whole load falls quickly from the bucket/dipper into the truck. The operator then swings the boom with bucket below, back 90 degrees—while lowering—to the toe of the pile for the next cycle/pass. Each complete cycle takes approximately 35 seconds. So, loading 4 passes into a truck, including 10 second “spot” time averages 150 seconds or two and half minutes. The truck wait time is significant, evidenced by many drivers reading books while waiting under the shovel and being loaded. If the trucks'wait time could be lessened, it will allow the trucks to make more trips per hour and require fewer trucks needing to be assigned to the loading tool. Trucks are the most expensive pieces of equipment on jobsites, as the larger trucks burn 75 to 85 gallons per hour, require a set of new tires approximately each year (6000-hour operating year) and require operators three shifts per day and weekends. To load the smaller 200-to-300-ton capacity trucks, mines use smaller hydraulic excavators, 19-yard capacity up to 50-yard capacity. The hydraulic excavators can be configured with either front shovel buckets pushing the bucket “up” through the pile to fill the bucket or back-hoe design, pulling the bucket down through the material to fill its bucket. Typically, the excavators will take 5 to 7 passes to load the trucks, although they will cycle faster—24 to 28 seconds. For many years, the only options mines have had was using either front-end-loaders, hydraulic excavators or electric rope shovels to load their trucks. Front-end-loaders have existed for over 70 years, Liebherr introduced hydraulic excavators in the mid 50's, over 70 years ago, and the geometry of the current electric rope shovels has been used for over a century.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a combination excavating, ripping and loading apparatus and method. The excavating and loading apparatus include a new “reverse” rope shovel combined with an elevating, apron-feeder gathering and stacking conveyor together structured over crawlers for mobility. The “reverse” rope shovel includes a platform with a boom with a pivoting arm under—the arm having an attached bucket or dozer blade—that will be pulled “down” through material by compound pullies/sheaves actuated by winches and “pulled back to upper starting position” by compound pullies/sheaves actuated by winches as well. The winch/pully system will pull material down to a receiving apron area—which will have gathering arms/blades—that will gather and feed excess material across the receiving apron to an elevating conveyor—moving material up an incline to elevation discharging into the bed of the truck.

Today's electric rope shovels pull the dipper “up” from the toe/bottom of the pile to load the dipper bucket. The “reverse” rope shovel will pull the preferred bulldozer u-blade attachment—attached to the arm—which others refer to as a “handle”—“down” to the receiving/gathering area using “mechanical advantage” winch/pully/sheave design creating huge pulling forces and taking advantage of additional roll advantage—pulling material downhill rolling in front of the normal blade load—and gravity helping material slide down on its own due to angle of repose of the material—and using dozer “slot” dozing techniques to help maximize each pull/shove. “Slot” dozing, continually pulling down in same line or maybe referred to as groove, creates a slot that forms sides that help the blade maintain more material from flowing outboard of the ends of the blade.

Attachments that can be attached to the arm can be like a dipper bucket which uses standard drop bottom system that will eject material once down at the receiving/gathering apron. The preferred attachment/bucket is like what is referred to as a “bulldozer u-blade or a bulldozer carry-dozer blade”. A bucket like an excavator bucket could also be used, however, it would need to be less shallow so material could be dumped at the receiving/gathering area.

A winch/pully will pull the arm attached with the preferred u-blade or other attachment options back through the material to its starting upper position, typically on 40 to 70 foot-high shot bench. The u-blade, or other optional attachments, will have a “ripper” assembly attached to its rear, with one or more ripper shanks, that will be actuated on return, starting at the toe of the pile, ripping and segregating the material as it is pulled back up to the top of the pile, starting position, for its next pass to be pulled back down through the “ripper shank” loosened material. The ripper shanks could be disengaged—pulled up—once at the upper starting position and the u-blade will start its downward pull back to the conveyor at the receiving/gathering area. If needed, which will be typical in most cases, it could be actuated on the pull back down to the toe as well.

The ripper assembly shank/shanks will have cutting edges on both sides allowing the shanks to be actuated in either the pulling up or pulling down through the material directions as the operator sees need. Ripping the material several feet deep each pass/cycle enables the blade/bucket to be pulled through and load the blade/bucket helping the u-blade achieve maximum production. The blade/bucket is lowered into the material and as pulled through, the material rolls up the blade and the material builds-out in front each foot of travel, helping fill the blade in less than 50 feet of pull. Once full the operator tilts the blade/bucket forward and upward and pushes the material across the top of the cut until it reaches the receiving area.

To pull the u-blade back down through the material, loading the blade with material, using mechanical advantage through the pullies and sheaves, to try to keep equal pull on either end of the blade, and keep speed up to maximum pull—the system will have drums pulling simultaneously in unison, pulling the same rope from either end, tied off equally to each drum. When using pullies and sheaves to create compound pulls, typically one end of the rope is tied off as an anchor and pull is applied to just one end which creates uneven lengths of ropes between each set of pullies or sheaves and pulling the attached blade/bucket unequally. Numerous pullies and sheaves could be added to compound the mechanical advantage, however, as you add additional sheaves and pullies—additional lengths of rope need to be added, and that additional rope needs to be rewound—pulled in—adding time to the cycle/pass. By pulling a rope with winch drums pulling equally, or one long drum with rope tied off at either end, allows the rope to be pulled back in much quicker and more importantly—equally—keeping the ends of the u-blade being pulled on even equalized pull straight back and down to the receiving area. Likewise, the pull-up rope will be pulled evenly by either end by two drums or one common drum—pulling simultaneously in unison—pulling the arm with u-blade attached and ripper assembly attached to the rear of u-blade—back to the blades/buckets upper starting position. In addition, the drum/drums could have large diameters with grooved face and level-winds to wind the rope equally, evenly and quickly—to pull the blade/bucket attachments back down to the receiving area or pull the blade/bucket attachment with ripper attached to their rears back up to the starting position at the top of the pile. The mechanical advantage using a common rope attached to drums pulling simultaneously in unison through the pullies and sheaves as shown in drawings will be four to one or more—allowing less horsepower needed—saving fuel, maintenance and emissions.

The arm will have hydraulic cylinders attached to the bulldozer u-blade or other optional blades/buckets allowing operator to pivot the u-blade forward or in reverse to raise the u-blade once charged fully and keep the blade from cutting deeper and raised at the receiving area to empty the material fully. The u-blade can be then carried above the material that will gravity feed in behind it as it is pulled down to the receiving area. If enough material has filled in behind the path, the operator can lower the u-blade, pivoting it downward and start the next pass back in direction of the receiving area, taking possibly half the total time to make a full pass from the top of the pile. Pulling the ripper shanks through the material on reverse back up to the top of the pile and pulling the ripper shanks through the pile on the way back down to the receiving area will encourage more gravity sliding material to free-fall back in behind each pass and create easier, shorter half pass cycles, increasing hourly production.

In material that fractures easily, the ripper function may alleviate the need to drill and blast the material saving significant cost.

On coal stripping operations in Appalachia, the least expensive way to move material was cast blasting, secondly, using large bulldozers, pushing up to 600 feet. Using mining bulldozers with ripper assembly on rear pulling shanks through heavy rock is common, however, we are attaching the ripper assembly to the rear of the bulldozer u-blade or other optional dozer blades/bucket attachments, which has never been done before. The ripper assembly will use shanks with edges on front and rear allowing ripping in both directions. Having huge mechanical advantaged winch/pully/sheave system will generate huge forces needed to rip/loosen the materials to help the bulldozer u-blade achieve maximum capacity easier.

Preferred system will have on either side of the conveyor a fanned out receiving area/receiving apron—and gathering arms/blades that will simultaneously or individually close—moving excess material across the apron receiving floor to the live moving conveyor as the /blade/ bucket attachment will be wider than the mouth of the conveyor and the excess material on either side at the receiving area—needs to be pushed to keep the live conveyor charged. The gathering arms do not need to clear the area directly in front of the live conveyor as the u-blade will clear that area on its next cycle/pass. The conveyor will be recessed slightly under the apron floor height to keep the blade or gathering arms from encountering it. The conveyor will have sensors to speed up or slow down the gathering arms to keep the conveyor charged to the desired conveyor material depth—typically 3 to 4 feet. Most importantly, the conveyor and receiving area can be charged while the truck is not there. The elevating conveyor length from the mouth at the receiving area up to the top will hold one cycle/pass and several addition passes can be loaded on the wider receiving area and an additional short pass can be made so the truck can be filled with one continuous pass—loading the truck in half the electric rope shovel rate—and leaving the conveyor charged for the next truck. The operator then recharges the receiving/gathering area with several passes for the next truck. The system when charged will load a truck in one third of the time required by today's typical electric shovel rate, thus allowing the trucks to make more trips per hour—eliminating one truck out of an equivalent spread.

The conveyor discharge end will have guides, hoses hanging down, with lights for night operation, to help the truck driver pull under, centering the truck to center load the body to help off-set—off center loading, which creates expensive suspension maintenance cost. The truck operator will be able to start-stop the conveyor, self-loading his truck, while viewing his on-board scale read-out, loading his truck to exact desired tonnage. The operator will have mirrors and a camera and be able to start/stop the conveyor and load the trucks as well.

The system can be mounted over crawlers for mobility and the boom aligned with the conveyor—using the crawlers to turn the system left or right to gather material off center. The preferred configuration will allow the boom and winches and power system to be mounted on platform above a slewing device so the front platform can pivot off center left or right of the conveyor—not needing the crawlers to reach left or right. Also, if a lot of tight spots are envisioned—the entire system with conveyor, upper with the platform winches, boom and power units could be structured over a slewing bearing just above the crawlers and the whole system pivot above.

Objects and Advantages

The first object of the invention is to provide an excavating and loading apparatus combination that is more productive and efficient than conventional large electric rope shovels, or hydraulic front shovels/backhoes loading mining trucks, or front-end-loaders—loading off-highway trucks, loading overland conveyors, or similar vehicles. This is accomplished by providing a new loading configuration having a platform with a boom having an arm pivoting under and having an attachment to the arm—that will be pulled in “reverse” of a standard electric rope shovel, the new arm pulling on arc “down” to a combined gathering and conveyor elevating system. The old rope shovel design, geometry is over a century old, pulls the bucket from the toe (bottom of the pile) “up” through the material to load its bucket, then swings typically 90 degrees to the truck, dumps its load, then swings 90 degrees while lowering back to the toe to repeat its cycle/pass, averaging 35 or more seconds each cycle/pass. The new reverse rope shovel will start its cycle/pass at the top of its arc, at top of shot material, or bank of un-shot material, and pull material “down” to the receiving area—eliminating need to swing typically 90 degrees to the truck each pass/cycle, then dumping, and returning typically 90 degrees to the toe as the old electric rope shovel cycle/pass requires. The reverse rope shovels estimated cycle/pass will be 18 seconds or less, about half the cycle time of the old electric rope shovel.

A second object of the invention is to build a loading system that can efficiently load any size mining truck to its proper capacity, the truck driver having an onboard scale system, starting and stopping the system, once the desired tonnage is loaded. The discharge will have guides to allow the truck to pull under and not have to wait for the shovel to “spot” its first bucket/load pass. It is not paired to the truck having to make a certain number of bucket fill passes to load it. The reason there are so many various size loader options is as larger tires became available and larger capacity trucks offered, loading tools were developed to be matched to them. Typically, electric shovels are matched to load the trucks in three to five cycles/passes. Hydraulic excavators are typically matched to trucks to load them in five to seven cycles/passes. And large mining front-end loaders are matched to the trucks to load the trucks in four to seven passes. The conveyor is turned on and discharges material until the truck is loaded. Again, the conveyor and cycles/passes on receiving apron, if charged, can load the trucks in half the time of other loading tools. The reverse shovel operator will have a camera and mirrors and can load the truck visually as well.

A further object of the invention is to provide a ripper assembly attached to the rear of the arm or to the rear of the u-blade or other attachments to the arm—that will be actuated as the u-blade or other attachments are pulled back up to the top of the pile, or on pull back towards the receiving area, lowering the ripper shank or multiple shanks into the material, ripping through the shot rock or soil, loosening it and agitating it so the u-blade/bucket can easily pull back down through the material on its next pass down. The ripper assembly will have sleeves/pockets so as the shanks wear, they can easily be removed and replaced. The shanks can be mounted so the cutting edge can be in either an upward or downward position, cutting and ripping the material on either an upward or downward pull through the material. Also, special new shanks can be made with a cutting/ripping edge on either side so the ripper could be used on both upward and downward pull through the material. Typically, rippers are used on the rear of bulldozers and the dozer pulls the shanks through the material on a forward motion - a bulldozer having greater drawbar pull going forward. On this new apparatus, the force required to pull the ripper assembly shanks through the material back up to the top starting position may be more than the force required pulling the blade attachment down through the material to the receiving/gathering area, thus, requiring the huge mechanical advantaged pulling system verses a dis-advantaged hydraulic excavator which has much less strength on its return stroke pulling the boom and stick back to its upper position.

A further object of the invention is to take advantage of “gravity”—having material naturally slide down close to the receiving/gathering apron allowing the reverse shovel to be able to make many short passes, only having to move the u-blade past the free material, halfway back to the top, and taking only half the normal cycle/pass and cycle time pulling the material to the receiving area. Materials having various angles of repose which is the steepest angle at which a sloping surface formed of a particular loose material is stable—will easily gravity slide down. As the u-blade is pulled down through its arc, the wide path through the material will create a void and naturally agitate the pile causing additional “free” material to slide down.

A further object of the invention is to take advantage of what is known as “roll advantage” and “slot dozing”. Pulling a blade like a dozer u-blade attachment, or carry-dozer attachment, or an ejection dipper/bucket attachment, down through the material, can be compared to what a bulldozer pushing a u-blade downhill will produce. Caterpillar has produced their CATERPILLAR PERFORMANCE HANDBOOK for over 40 years, newest version 51 currently, referred to as—a consolidated earthmoving bible, it built on long tradition of Cat slide rule calculators, salesman reference books, profit guides and application guides—has developed a graph within, showing the estimated production of bulldozers on various distance shoves. In addition, the handbook shows correction factors, showing the huge advantage (up to 30% increase in production) pushing “downhill” gaining roll advantage in front of the blade and using “slot” dozing techniques, creating sideboard mounds on either side of the blade throughout the push, (up to 20% increase in production)—which we will perform. Obviously, a bulldozer could not work on as steep an angle of decline as the reverse shovel can pull down on its arc, and both “roll advantage” and “slot dozing” increase in production will be far greater.

A further object of the invention is to offer a “crowd” option having ability to move the “pivot” arm in and out—moving the arm further into the pile as the arm clears the material during the “slope dozing” passes within the same path down through the material, so the arm can make a deeper cut without moving the entire system forward into the bank. The crowd can be through a hydraulic cylinder mounted on upper end of the arm thrusting the arm in and out, or mechanically having gears on side of the arm thrusting the arm in and out as needed.

A further object of the invention is to use “mechanical advantage” using winches pulling rope through sets of sheaves/pullies to create huge compound forces, attached to the front and rear of the blade/arm—pulling down and back to the receiving/gathering area and winches to pull the u-blade/other attachments back up to their upper starting position and pulling the ripper shanks through the material from the toe up to the starting position and down to the receiving area. The u-blade will be pulled down through the loosened material by winches creating a compound pull through mechanical advantage, by using pullies/sheaves attached to the blade at either end. Pulling at a slight upward force will transfer forces through the pull bar down to the lower third of the u-blade/other attachments. Using multiple pullies decreases the amount of force necessary to move an object by increasing the amount of rope used to lift or pull that object. The mechanical advantage of a pully system is equal to the number of ropes supporting the movable load. The blade or other attachments will be pulled via multiple points, both on downward and upward winch drives. In a compound pully configuration, two or more rope segments pull up on the load, so the ideal mechanical advantage is 2 or greater than 2. This type of pully may or may not change the force applied to it—it depends on the number and arrangement of the pullies—but the increase in force will be great. There are numerous ways to apply mechanical advantage through pullies and sheaves, however, the more pullies and sheaves used, requires additional lengths of rope and requires additional time to pull in. The new system will use at least 4 to 1 advantage on pull-down rope and on pull-up rope. The drums will be driven simultaneously and in unison. The power to drive the drive shafts can be hydraulic and supplied by one power source and directed to one or the other winch drum/drums as needed. The winch drums not being actuated in pulling position—will have slight tension applied and feeding out rope as the winch drums that are actuated is pulling up or down at that time—to keep rope tensioned. Additionally, the winch drives driving the winch drive shafts could be driven through hydraulic planetary gear boxes—adding additional mechanical advantage through planetary reduction—adding additional force turning the drums. Consequently, the horsepower to pull through the material could be much less than the force to move the same volume via a large dozer typically pushing an equal load—thus, saving horsepower substantially and fuel cost and emissions omitted. Likewise, on pull-up rope, when actuating the ripper assembly and thrusting the ripper shanks into the material to loosen it—the compound forces pulling through tight material are compounded by mechanical advantage via the pullies and sheaves and mechanical planetary gear ratio multiples through hydraulic or mechanical gear boxes driving the winch drums to apply needed forces to segregate compacted or poorly shot material.

A further object of the invention is having hydraulic cylinders attached to the rear of the blade that will allow the operator to tilt the blade upwards or downwards once the blade is charged and keep it from cutting deeper and allow the blade to carry material easier above the ground. The u-blade can be tilted up—to allow it to pass over and get behind material that may have gravity free rolled down in between its normal arc and once in position behind the material—tilted back down to its vertical position to engage the loosened material, not needing a full cycle/pass all the way back up to top and bench—enabling many short cycle/passes—increasing production.

A further object is to allow the arm the ability to receive several different attachments besides the preferred bulldozer u-blade. If material is easier to pull down—a standard bulldozer “carry-dozer” design blade could be attached, allowing it to be tilted back once charged and carry a greater load in front of the blade down to the receiving area. If the material is poorly shot hard rock, a heavy-duty “dipper” bucket could be modified and used to pull through the material. It would have to be modified as the standard back door could not empty material forward at the receiving area. A new inner upper door above could be used to swing downward to eject the material forward once at the receiving area.

A further object is to provide significant truck cost savings. The current electric rope shovels make 3 to 5 cycles/passes to load a truck requiring the truck to wait for how many full cycles it takes. Assuming loading a 340-ton truck needing four—35 second passes plus 10 second spot time equals 150 seconds or 2½0 minutes to load for a loading rate of 136 tons per minute. Assuming the new reverse rope shovel conveyor at 10′ wide—having 3.5′ of material depth per foot equals 2 tons of material per foot of travel—times 176 feet per minute equals 352 tons per minute loading rate—176 feet per minute is 2 miles per hour. The average walking speed for an adult is 3 mph (miles per hour). The 352 tons per minute loading rate of the new system is 2.58 times faster than the 136 tons per minute loading rate of the electric shovel. By loading the truck 2.58 times faster allows the trucks to make more trips per hour—eliminating one truck out of an equivalent spread. Today's cost on a 400-ton truck is estimated at $7.5 million, burning 75 to 85 gallons per hour, requiring 3 operators per shift/three shifts/seven-day week, typical 6000-hour year, and needing set of tires each 6000-hour year at estimated $40,000 each —plus emitting emissions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a system that can be powered electrically or by diesel engines. If powered by preferred diesel power, the system will be much more mobile, as power transformers and power cables are needed across the property and cords needing protection around the electric shovels to keep trucks from running over them. Electric rope shovels have 20-to-25-year life spans and are usually placed on a site for their whole life. The mine must have infrastructure with power available to the site. Mines that have huge volumes to move—use the largest trucks available to economically move the volumes and justify the large electric shovels if they do have the power. Smaller mines who do not have the power at their site and or volumes needed for 25-year life—would love to have a system option running off diesel that was almost twice as productive, loading the trucks more efficiently, and much less initial cost—they can easily move across their sites.

A further object of the invention is to provide the most cost-effective loading/conveying system as compared to a mobile conveyor system loaded by 4 dozers pushing to it per Lowery (U.S. Pat. No. 9,452,888 B2). The 4 dozers, assuming Caterpillar D11 size dozers, and/or Komatsu D475 size dozers, will be more productive, however the reverse rope shovel will be much more cost effective. The reverse rope shovel will have one operator, while the dozer systems will have one operator on the conveyor and three to four D11/D475 or equivalent size dozer-operators. At todays estimated $80,000 per year per operator, including benefits, divided by 2,000 hours=$40 per man/hour. Assuming $40 per man/hour times 4 operators=$160 per hour×6000-hour year=$960,000. And assuming four D11 size dozers added fuel and maintenance cost burning 37 gallons per hour=4 dozers×37 gallons per hour=148 gallons (not including filters, oil changes, general maintenance cost)×6000-hour year=888,000 gallons at estimated average $3 per gallon=$2,664,000 annually. And of even more concern is adding the “emissions” to the mines allowed tons. Depending on “gravity” free material sliding down to the new reverse shovel and advantages of “roll advantage” and “slot dozing”, its production may be comparable in some materials to four D11/D475 dozers.

A further object of the invention is to provide a smaller footprint on site area disturbed as compared to using dozers to push to a mobile conveyor. A Cat D11 or Komatsu D475 dozer pushing downhill off a 70-foot-high shot bench will shove downhill on 25-degree slope requiring approximately 150′ of length down to the toe/receiving apron lip. The reverse shovel will require approximately 60′ loading off the 70′ shot bench from the upper top of standing bench down to the toe/receiving apron lip.

A further object of the invention is to provide a system capable of working on very narrow old benches that have deteriorated material having fallen off old bench walls, like those on very old shot benches in Bingham Canyon Mine, that has material that can be reclaimed, working in conjunction with autonomous trucks either pulling out or backing out to the reverse shovel salvaging the old sluffed off material. By having ability to pull material to the conveyor/gathering apron, not having to get close to the old highwall, having long reach, and not having to pivot 90 degrees to the side of the truck, having straight through discharge, allows the trucks if on very narrow bench to even back under or pull forward under the discharge—loading the trucks from the rear or front versus the side. There are many miles at Bingham Canyon and other old mine works with millions of tons of valuable accessible ore that could be mined with this method. The reverse rope shovel will have significant advantages, having ability to reach up high on the sluffed off old pile and pull material out away from the wall, staying out away from potential slides and falling material, and having ability to load itself while the truck is not there and quickly loading the trucks when they arrive. Hopefully, the bench would be wide enough to allow the trucks to pass one another and keep up with the reverse shovel. Autonomous trucks could have the ability to be driven from either end so the autonomous operator could maneuver at normal speeds in either direction—out to the reverse shovel—and drive back off the old bench and across haul roads to the in-pit crusher. An autonomous dozer would be needed to help clean up around the reverse shovel. Assuming 50′ to 70′ bench width, the new u-blade attachment having a 20′ width blade, can reach up into the pile midway down across the pile, allowing the material right against the wall to gravity feed down into the blade path and be helped on either side by an autonomous dozer clearing the material as it moves along the bench. It may require a slight turn into the wall, that would be achieved by turning the whole system via the crawlers turning forwards and/or backwards as a bulldozer would maneuver. The truck would stay at a safe distance away from the wall. The reverse shovel could be autonomously operated as well.

A further object of the invention is to provide a totally different loading system as compared to a standard hydraulic backhoe excavator pulling to a conveyor system per Lowery—(U.S. Pat. No. 8,967,363 B2). The reverse shovel has a boom with a pivoting arm—pulled through material by ropes using winches creating huge mechanical advantage through a series of sheaves/pullies. On return up to its starting position, huge force is needed to pull the ripper shanks through the material if poorly shot. The hydraulic excavator has a pivoting boom and stick actuated through hydraulic cylinders. The problem is the hydraulic cylinders are configured to be more powerful in one direction and weaker while being retracted. When a double acting cylinder is extending—the oil pressure acts on the total piston area, however, when the cylinder is retracting the area available is the piston less the rod. Therefore, for the same pressure the cylinder extending force will always be significantly greater than the retracting force. The reverse shovel may need same or more force—pulling the rippers through material back up to its starting position as the pulling force required pulling the u-blade/other attachments down through the material to the receiving gathering area—which can be supplied through mechanical advantage rope/winch pully system. The hydraulic excavator would be much weaker pushing the blade/bucket attachment back up through the material from the toe back up to upper starting position with the ripper shanks extended into the bank material.

A further object is to provide a system that can be structured over a turntable slewing bearing over crawlers allowing the total system to rotate 360 degrees in tight mining areas. Or, the system can be structured rigidly over a set of crawlers using the crawlers to move the front receiving area left or right off center—which will be much less cost. The preferred arrangement will have a slewing bearing/pivot bearing allowing the operator to rotate the boom, attached winch platform/winch power system platform and cab, cable boom support—either left or right off center—minimizing having to use the crawlers turning the whole system left or right. Depending on the application and material being mined, all three options will have their place.

A further object of the invention is to incorporate a proven heavy-duty conveyor system comprised of standard bulldozer components—rollers, chains, idlers and sprockets typically used under surface mine trucks dumps—referred to in industry as an “apron-feeder”. In the past, the apron-feeders were built to accept material dumped down chutes by large rock trucks from above—which created huge shock loads as some chutes dropped material from twenty or more feet above. The blade/bucket attachment will sweep material down and to the front of the live conveyor and the gathering arms will sweep the excess material on either side of the live conveyor across the apron plate feed area to the live conveyor—basically sliding the material onto the conveyor from slight elevation above—protecting and minimizing maintenance cost.

A further object is to help the system in severe conditions in very cold climate such as Canadian oil sands—to keep material from sticking to flights on the conveyor—providing a new option—boxing in around the conveyor main frame with insulation and metal panels and using the exhaust from the engines to heat that area inside to minimize/eliminate material sticking to the flights. The flights will also have a strip of heavy-duty rubber or steel attached under the leading edge of each flight to seal the overlaps minimizing fines falling through the flights as they move up the incline.

A further object is the conveyor main head shaft can be hydraulically driven by Haglund rotary gear drives or mechanically driven via new Caterpillar D11 XE dozer drive package components—whereby an engine drives a generator—through inverters—driving electric drive motors—which will drive the main head-shaft. The new drive package will be more fuel efficient and deliver lower emissions. It will allow the placement of the actual electric drive gear boxes much closer to the main drive shaft sprocket—greatly reducing the length of chain needed to connect the gear box drives to the main head-shaft. It will be smoother drive versus the old direct transmission to rear gear box drives not requiring a transmission. Typically, Cat offers their components to other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) through their Industrial Products Division. Likewise. Komatsu and Liebherr have dozer components available.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of an excavating and loading apparatus according to the present invention with truck.

FIG. 2 is an expanded side elevation view of the excavating and loading apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a right-side front view of the excavating and loading apparatus showing rear of blade attachment and ripper attached to rear of blade and better perspective of winch drums and pullies.

FIG. 4 is a left side front view of the excavating and loading apparatus showing better view of the cab, winches, pullies and sheaves.

FIG. 5 is an upper view from right of the excavating and loading apparatus showing better routing of the winch, winch ropes, rope pullies and sheaves, and boom and arm.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the excavating and loading apparatus showing the arm pivoting through its' full stroke from top of shot bench down to the receiving area and the ripper assembly actuating its'shanks into the material down at the toe of the pile—loosening material as it is pull through the material back up to the top starting position—and then retracted for the blade gathering material on its'next pass down to the receiving area.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the excavating upper assembly mounted on slewing bearing allowing it to pivot left or right off the center line of the conveying assembly.

FIG. 8 is a top view of the excavating and loading apparatus showing the upper excavating assembly pivoting left or right off the venter line of the conveying assembly.

FIG. 9 is a top view of new method for cleaning old benches that have material sluffed off over years using the new excavating and loading apparatus pivoted on narrow bench and against narrow bench wall with conveyor dumping into truck from either end or over side if bench wide enough for truck to back around.

FIG. 10 shows three common bull-dozer blade configurations that are options for attachment to the arm on the new excavating and loading apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 shows an excavator bucket, and a dipper bucket with ejection blade as option for attachments for the arm of the new excavating and loading apparatus, with ripper assembly attached to its rear showing double edged shank inserted, according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a side view showing an optional style arm, a ridged twin leg arm, that can be used having two rectangular members verses a tube and having a mechanical gear style “crowd” system verses hydraulic cylinder style “crowd”system.

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the winch drive pulling ropes through series of pullies and sheaves explaining the mechanical advantaged compound pull force pulling the blade down in direction down to the receiving area and explain how the winches pull simultaneously and in unison. The same pulling force will be applied to the pull-up mechanical advantaged compound pull force—pulling the arm back up to its starting position at the top of the pile.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIG. 1 there is shown a side view of a combination self-loading—self ripping—material gathering—elevating conveyor—truck loading apparatus according to the present invention showing a boom 24 supporting pivoting arm 48—pivoting at pivot point 25 and pivoting arm 48 having preferred attachment bulldozer u-blade 60 attached at lower bottom and having winches 30a, pulling pull-up rope 32 attached to the rear of arm 48 pulling the arm back up to the top of pile 61. Pull-down winches 34a 34b will pull-down rope 36 simultaneously in unison—pulling pivoting arm 48 with u-blade 60 attached—down through loosened material 65 to receiving area 55 and then winch 30a will pull pivoting arm 48 with u-blade 60 back to toe 62 of the pile at which point ripper assembly 51 will start actuating ripper shanks 54 which can be single shank or multiple shanks, penetrating and fracturing the material 65 from the toe of pile 62 as needed all the way back up to the top of bank 61. While the pivoting arm 48 is reversing to the top 61 and ripping the material 65, the gathering blade 44a will close, sweeping material on receiving area 55 across to the conveyor 52 and material is carried up conveyor 52 to a height above truck bed 57 and discharged into truck from conveyor drive discharge point 56. The conveyor 52 will have depth sensors detecting desired load height at the mouth and speed up or slow down gathering arms 44a to maintain the depth desired. Conveyor 52 can be either a rubber belt conveyor or an apron-feeder style conveyor—which is comprised of bulldozer undercarriage components—rollers, chains, idlers, sprockets and take-ups commonly used on D9, D10, and D11 bulldozers. The problem with using rubber-belt conveyors is starting the belt conveyor up underload and having the drum drive pully slipping, and not being able to charge the conveyor with material—while the truck is not there. They could be used if they were fed after start-up and not charged. The apron-feeder, the preferred conveyor, can be charged and helps load the truck as quickly as possible, which is the goal. The conveyor drive discharge drive 56, discharging material over the truck bed 57, can be driven mechanically via D11 drive system using chain driven from a standard D11 dozer drive package—engine, transmission, planetary drive gears. It can also be driven through hydraulic drive package using hydraulic planetary gear box or even through new D11 electric drive package. Arm 48 is actuated within tube 49 having hydraulic cylinder allowing the arm to move in and out, known as crowd—allowing the arm to penetrate the pile 65 deeper without moving entire system forward.

With reference to FIG. 2, there is shown a right-side view of a combination self-loading—self ripping—material gathering—elevating conveyor—truck loading apparatus according to the present invention. The reverse shovel self-loading component, boom 24 is supported by wire or synthetic ropes 26 tied off to a brace 27. The boom 24 also supports four sheaves at the upper end having pull-back grooved sheaves 28a-28b-29a-29b (in alignment) each having independent sheaves side by side—which are driven by pull-up winches 30a and 30b. Pull-up rope 32 is used to pull arm 48 back to the top of pile 61 and the pull-down rope 36 is used to pull the arm 48 down towards the receiving area 55. Once material is pulled to the receiving area 55, cylinders 46 will push blade 44a across apron floor—pushing/feeding excess material to the live elevating conveyor 52 carrying the material up to the discharge drive point 56. The system is structured over crawlers 50 for mobility. The bulldozer u-blade 60 or other optional attachments are attached at the bottom of arm 48 which pivots at pivot point 25. Attached to the rear of bulldozer u-blade 60 or other optional attachment buckets/blades will be a bulldozer ripper assembly 51 with ripper shank 54 or multiple shanks. Arm 48 will have hydraulic cylinders 59a and 59b attached to the rear of the u-blade 60 to push the movement of the u-blade 60 or other optional buckets or blades forward and upward or rearward and downward. There will be pullies 40a and 40b (hidden) attached to the rear of the arm 48 and pullies 42a and 40b (hidden) attached to the front of u-blade 60 or other optional blade/bucket attachments. Ropes 32 and 36 are tied off to winch drums on platform and run through series of sheaves and pullies to create compound advantaged pull force.

Pull-up drums 30a and 30b on platform create a compound pull, starting at winch drum 30b where rope will be attached and wound around winch drum, then pulling rope 32 up through sheave 28a then down to right side pully 40a on right side rear of u-blade 60 and then back up to 28b then down through cross sheaves 45a and 45b back up to double sheave 29b, down to pulley 40b at rear left back of u-blade 60—back up through sheave 29a then back to winch drum 30a—where rope 32 will be attached and wound equally—drums 30a and winch drum 30b attached on drive shaft pulling simultaneously and equally enabling stronger and quicker rope pull up. The drums will be large diameter helping rewind ropes faster and having grooves and level winds, if needed, to help rope rewind evenly.

The winch drives can be driven electrically—if line-power is available, diesel powering hydraulic pump drives, or new D11 diesel electric, or diesel mechanical using bulldozer drive. The preferred is hydraulic driving planetary gear drive boxes with hydraulic bypass relief valves to release pressure in case arm and/or the u-blade attachment incurs embedded rock exceeding its power, so operator can reposition the u-blade using u-blade movement forward, rearward, and up and down cylinders 59a and 59b to break-out the rock or use the ripper assembly 51 and ripper shank/shanks 54 to dislodge the rock. The combination of gear reduction through the planetary gear box driving the shafts with drums 30a or 30b and either drums 34a or 34b pulling simultaneously through series of sheaves and or pullies will create huge compound pulls on pull back ropes 32 or pull up ropes 36.

Once material is pulled down onto the receiving area 55, gathering blades 44a on left side of receiving area 55 or gathering blades 44b on right side of receiving area 55, powered by hydraulic cylinders 46 at the receiving area 55, will feed material to the conveyor 52 which will elevate material up to discharge drive height 56. Crawlers 50 will move the system from place to place and left to right along toe of the pile 62.

With Reference to drawing FIG. 3 shows a left-side view of the system turned slightly, showing better view of how winch drums 30a and 30b pull arm 48 with u-blade 60 and ripper assembly 51 and ripper shank/shanks 54 back to the receiving area 55. Both winch drums 34a and 32b are attached to rope 36 which is extended from 34a out on left side to pully 42a then back to cross sheave 43a at platform feeding rope 36 over to the right side, then back to u-blade 60 and back to 34b. Winch drums 34a and 34b are attached to a drive shaft and are pulling rope 36 simultaneously—equalizing pulls on pullies 42a and 42b at either end of u-blade 60. When rope 36 is paying out as pull-up rope 32 is pulling the arm with u-blade 60 and ripper assembly 51 back to up position at top of pile—there will be a slight tension on rope 36 to keep it taut. Likewise, when rope 32 is paying out as pull-back rope 36 is pulling the arm and u-blade down to the receiving area 55—there will be a slight tension on rope 32 to keep it taut. Note: either steel wire rope or synthetic rope can be used, synthetic rope weighing less and depending on winch drum diameter and width, using preferred grooved drums, it may allow having winch drums 30a and 30b and winch drums 34a and 34b—being attached to the same drive shaft (that configuration not shown) which may be driven from both ends—requiring less machining and support bearings. When 30a and 30b are pulling arm down—34a and 34b will be putting tension on ropes and feeding out and visa-versa when ropes 34a and 34b pulling arm back up—30a and 30b will be applying tension while feeding rope out.

Winch drums 30a and 30b are attached to rope 32 at either end and rope 32 is fed out from either end to sheaves 28a and 28b at the top of the boom then down to pullies 40a and 40b at rear of the arm 48 and u-blade 60 then back up around sheaves 29a and 29b at the top of the boom—then back to cross sheaves 45a and 45b, again using one rope tied to winch drums 30a and 30b both pulling simultaneously in unison—pulling arm 48 with u-blade attachment 60—back up to starting position at top of pile or half way back if gravity material has flowed down.

Exact routing—pull-back rope 32 tied off to winch 34a is fed up and over sheave 28a then down and around pully 40a then back and around sheave 28b then back towards platform 35 to cross sheave 45a and across to 45b then back up to top of boom sheave 29b and down to and around pully 40b then back up and around sheave 29a and back to and tied off to winch 30b.

Also shown is a better view of receiving area 55 showing gathering blades 44a and 44b and cylinders 46 that will push gathering blades 44a and 44b across the receiving area—feeding material to elevating conveyor 52.

With Reference to drawing FIG. 4 is showing a right side view of the system turned slightly to the right showing the operators cab 35 and better view of cross pully 43b as rope is fed across from right side 43a and rope 36 is then fed down to pully 42b attached to left side of the u-blade 60 and through it and then back to left side winch drum 34b which is attached to same drive shaft as winch drum 34a.

The conveyor drive package 54 can be a bulldozer mechanical drive turning planetary drives boxes driving bulldozer undercarriage chain 58 turning main drive shaft discharge 56 or preferred would be new D11 electric drive through inverters driving planetary gears boxes—eliminating need for chain 58.

With Reference to drawing FIG. 5 is shown a left side upper view giving a better view of pull-down winch 34a pulling rope 36 through pully 42a attached to the u-blade 60—then rope 36 being fed up to cross sheave 43a back at platform and across to 43b—then back to right side of blade 60 pully 42b (hidden) then back to winch drum 34b—pulling arm 48 with u-blade 60 attached—down to receiving area 55. By attaching end of rope 36 to winch 34a and the other end of the rope 36 to winch drum 34b—they, pulling simultaneously and in unison—creates mechanical advantage and pulling together pulls the rope in faster. To pull arm 48 with u-blade 60 attached up, winch drums 30a and 30b pull the arm 48 back to the top of pile—pulling rope 32 having one end anchored to winch drum 30a and the either end of rope 32 tied off at winch drum 30b. Rope 32 is fed from winch drum 30b up through sheave 29b—down to pully 40b—back up through sheave 29a—back to cross sheave 45b—over to cross sheave 45a—back to sheave 28b—down to pully 40a—back up to sheave 28a—and finally back to winch drum 30a—creating a compound mechanical advantaged pull—both winch drums pulling simultaneously and in unison. A better view of conveyor 52 is shown. A better view of operators cab 35 is shown. Sheet metal or fiberglass enclosure will cover the winches and power systems—over the winch area is not shown.

With Reference to drawing FIG. 6 shows arm 48 being actuated throughout its cycle, known as a pass, pulling down through the pile to the receiving area 55 and the arm 48 being pulled back up to the top of pile 61. As pull-down rope 36 is pulled down by winch drums 34a and 34b—the u-blade 60 is pulled through the ripped material 65 with blade cylinders 59a and 59b (hidden behind 59a) being actuated lowering the u-blade 60 down into the loosened material—filling the u-blade 60 as it is being pulled down to the receiving area 55. As the u-blade 60 fills—the operator can move the u-blade 60 using cylinders 59a and 59b to push the u-blade 60 forward lifting the blade upwards allowing material to be pushed above the loosened material—especially if using optional bulldozer carry-dozer blade 60c attachment (shown on FIG. 10). The crowd 49 option attached to arm 48 can be used to move arm 48 in and out as the pile deepens. While pulling down, ripper assembly 51, attached to rear of u-blade 60, is can be retracted in up position or actuated down to rip material 65 on the downward movement if needed back down to the toe 62—the shanks having optional front and back cutting edges. Dozers just rip in one direction, while the new system will rip in either direction—pulling back up to the top pf pile or pulling down to the receiving area. As the u-blade 60 reaches the receiving area 55 the arm 48 pass is completed halfway onto receiving area 55—just before the embedded conveyor 52 within receiving area 55 is reached and the u-blade 60 is then flipped forward and up—pushed all the way forward by cylinders 59a and 59b—filling material up and over the conveyor 52. The conveyor 52 is embedded slightly so the u-blade 60 cannot—encounter the conveyor 52. At that point, drums 30a and 30b pulling pull-up rope 32 is actuated to pull arm 48 and blade 60 back up to top of pile 61. During pull back when u-blade 60 reaches the toe of the pile 62—the cylinders of ripper assembly 51 can be actuated which thrust the ripper shank 54 or multiple shanks down into the material 65 and it rips fracturing the material through its stroke/arc back up to the top of the pile 61. If material via gravity has slide down and enough that only needs half pass/cycle on return—back up to the top—the operator can retract u-blade cylinders 59a and 59b back down—tilting the u-blade 60 back down behind the pile and just go part way back up to top of pile 61 and start his next pull-down pass. Depending on material being loaded and how well the ripper shank/shanks 54 penetrates and agitates the shot material—much loose material will slide/gravity feed down on its own. In most applications and depending on how much gravity material slides on its own, many short passes halfway back to the top of pile will be made, increasing production dramatically. When bull-dozing—pushing material with dozers—there is a technique used called “slot-dozing” to help with production. The operator tries to stay in straight line push repeatedly—which our system will naturally pull straight line back to the receiving area—creating a pocket with sides/mounds on left and right—and enables the blade—in our case u-blade 60—to use the side mounds to create more material to naturally accumulate in center of blade and add up to 20% more material being pushed each cycle/pass. Also, by pushing downhill, in our case pulling downhill, much steeper than the dozer can push, the more roll-advantage it will gain, increasing production up to an additional +20%. A dozer normally will work on no more than 25 degrees downhill push—as it must back up that grade for each pass down. In our case we will be pulling the material down at a much steeper angle—up to 45 degrees—as shown in our arc, gaining an even more downhill roll advantage. On u-blade 60 return, back to top for next pass down, the u-blade 60 is pivoted up by blade cylinders 59a and 59b and swung on arc above the material quickly being pulled up by rope 32 and winch drums 30a and 30b—when not needing ripping/fracturing. Some materials may not need ripping each pass.

With Reference to Drawing, FIG. 7 shows the system with main platform 41 sitting on slewing bearing 37 allowing the upper excavating component to pivot left or right off center of the conveyor. The power centers 39 are structured on the main platform 41 and counterweight 33 as well. This allows the excavating component to fan around allowing the conveyor to sit in one position perpendicular to the material being loaded and trucks to pull under the conveyor discharge easily. This is the preferred configuration. A second configuration, the total system could be in a straight alignment with the conveyor and turn left to right by actuating the crawlers—turning the whole system which will require the trucks to pull under the discharge in different positions. Also, the total system could be structured over a turntable slewing bearing structured just above the crawlers having ability to turn up to 360 degrees above the crawlers. The 360-degree slewing bearing would be much more expensive and be overkill.

With Reference to Drawing FIG. 8 shows a plan view of the system showing the self-loading boom fanning left and right off-center line of the conveyor.

With Reference to Drawing FIG. 9 is shown plan view of a method and an application where the system will work on “old” benches on copper, gold mines, or other ore mines, that were open pit step benched down many years ago whereby the material over time has deteriorated and sluffed off the vertical wall onto the narrow bench. It shows the system working on bench 82 with bench 80 on level above and bench 84 on the level below. The advantage is the ability to reach out with u-blade 60 and pull material to the receiving area 55 and charge the conveyor 52 while a truck 86 is not there. Many benches will be too narrow for an excavator or electric shovel to operate without charging their bucket and having to swing 180 to 270 degrees, each pass, to load 3 to 5 passes on each truck—while the truck must sit and wait. As the system will be charged while the truck is not there—when the truck returns—it will load the truck in a quicker timeframe than required by the number of passes of the excavator or shovel and produce much more hourly. The system can be safely away from the wall and load the truck away from the wall. The conveyor can be cantilevered out and up over the truck 86 allowing it to be loaded front to back versus over the side. The conveyor can cantilever over the cab and canopy and load from front to rear. As some benches may be very narrow and limit the trucks'ability to turn around, a truck could be autonomously driven from front and rear out onto the bench safely and quicker—not having to turn around. The Loading system could be operated autonomously for safety as well. There are hundreds of miles in “old” step down benched mines in large open pit mines where this method will apply.

With Reference to Drawing FIG. 10 shows three attachment blades/buckets that can be attached to arm 48 that are common bulldozer blades used on heavy-duty mining dozers. The first and most common is known as a universal blade—and referred to also as a u-blade 60. Second is a straight u-blade 62a and third is called a carry-dozer blade 62b which is used in looser material whereby the blade is charged easier and can be laid back whereby the material is carried above the ground like a front-end-loader bucket once charged. All the blades can have the ripper assembly 51 and ripper shanks 54 holders/pockets attached to their rears.

With Reference to Drawing FIG. 11 is shown additional optional buckets that could be attached to arm 48—one being a heavy-duty dipper bucket used on electric shovels. To stack the material at the receiving area 55 over the recessed conveyor 52, the dipper bucket 62c will need an ejection top plate 67 pushed through an arc by cylinder 69—to its finished position 68—ejecting the material at the receiving area 55 (not shown on this drawing). The fifth bucket shown on FIG. 11 is a standard excavator bucket 62d—either backhoe or front shovel version—that can be attached to arm 48.

Most material will require ripper assembly 51 attached to the rears of the optional blade/bucket attachments and ripper shanks 54a having edges on both reverse and forward edges so they can be actuated on either reverse or forward pulls or both in reverse and forward directions, loosening material, making it easier/quicker for the blade/bucket on its' next pass

With Reference to Drawing FIG. 12 is shown a different style arm 48a and crowd—shown in fully extended “crowd” position—whereby instead of a round tube with cylinder for crowd being used, the arm 48a is two rectangular tubes/structures attached to boom, known as twin-leg dipper handle with torsion box and rack and pinion mechanical geared system 49a to move the arm 48a in and out for crowd instead of a hydraulic cylinder.

Also, shown is open area on either side of the conveyor 52, when used in very cold conditions, panels will be added to either side and area between heated by exhaust heat from the main engines or radiant heaters, to heat the flights to lessen material from sticking to them.

With Reference to Drawing FIG. 13 is a plan view showing platform 35 with winches 34a and 34b mounted thereto with drive shaft 34c connecting and driving both, and gearbox 34d connected to drive shaft 34c creating gear reduction if needed to additionally compound the pull. The rope 36 is connected and tied off to both winch drum 34a and 34b equally with the rope 36 coming off winch drum 34a going out to pully 42a which is connected to the left end of the blade 60 and then the rope is directed back to sheave 43a attached at the platform then across to sheave 43b also attached at the platform and directed back to pully 42b which is connected at the right end of blade 60 and then directed back to winch 34b on the platform. With both winch drums 34a and 34b pulling rope 36 simultaneously and in unison will equalize the rope pull—pulling both ends of the blade 60 in straight path towards the platform 35 and in line with the receiving area. Each line pulling through the series of two pullies 42a and 42b and sheaves 43a and 43b compounds the pull creating four to one line pull. Additional pullies and sheaves could be added to create huge additional pull forces, however, each line added creates additional rope that needs to be pulled in—which takes time. Shown is adding an additional pulley 43c at the middle of blade 60 and the additional line needed running from sheaves 43a and 43b out to pully 43c the center of blade 60 which would create six to one line pull. Again, by adding additional pullies and sheaves, you add additional lengths of rope and requiring time to winch that rope in. Key feature within the four-way or six-way line pull is pulling the blade 60 equally, simultaneously and in unison. By creating compound mechanical advantaged pull, less horsepower is needed to create that force, needing less fuel and can allow diesel powered systems versus electrically powered rope shovels that require power infrastructure some sites do not have available.

Pull up rope 32 used to pull the arm in return—back up to the top of the pile to start the pull of rope 36 pull back down its next cycle/pass—uses the same compound mechanical advantaged pull.