Coal Washery – Section IV

Section IV – Mechanicals

There is quite an assortment of “mechanicals”. I put that in quote as some items are more like what could be called infrastructure .. but .. mechanicals is good enough for now:

• two Belt Elevators
• a Chain Elevator
• sprockets with chains
• pulleys of various sizes with belts
• the jig
• steam engine
• water piping

This list of ‘mechanicals’ may be complete .. it ma not .. so much to do .. so little time.

Belt Elevators

There are two Belt Elevators (labeled conveyors) in the drawing. One is used to move crushed coal, shale etc. from the crusher to the raw coal bin (shown in blue). The other (shown in purple) moves the washed coal to another .. well .. washed coal bin (it actually seems to drop it’s load on a third Belt Conveyor extending from the Washed Coal Bin being driven via chain from the second Belt Elevator power shaft). The two Belt Elevators are driven from a countershaft (green) which in turn is driven by a steam engine via a belt .. as is the crusher from a pulley also on the countershaft.

I just downloaded a conveyor I found at 3D Warehouse which was approximately the right size to act as a stand in. The Belt Conveyors on the drawing are different from a flat Belt Conveyor like I downloaded having buckets attached to the belt.

Chain elevator

The Refuse Elevator seems at least related to a The Belt Elevators but appears to run from a chain vrs. a flat belt.

What can be 3D printed and what needs to be scratchbuilt well have be determined after I get a better idea of what we are trying to replicate in scale. Right now I only have a vague idea.

sprockets with chains

There are two chain drives associated with the Coal Washery with a third that is part of the Washed Coal Bin. That should be taken into account as I believe it is driven via a sprocket on the same shaft as the Washed Coal Bin conveyor belt (I may make more sense of that later).

The conveyor belt taking crushed coal, slate etc. from the crusher (part of the conveyor shown in blue) is driven by chain from a counter-shaft. The second conveyor taking the washed coal (shown in purple) to a Washed Coal Bin separate from the Coal Washery – this third conveyor belt has the receiving end just under the output of the second (purple) conveyor belt. Like I said there appears to be a sprocket on the drive spindle for this conveyor that powers that third conveyor.

pulleys

A quick count says I have at least six flat belt pullies. Luckily I have done some research on flat belt pullies and also get into determining what size of pulley is needed in my Coal Breaker.

The issue I have here is that the design of a pulley depends on several factors: The HP transmitted, the RPM of the pulley. I can pull some of this information directly or in-directly (inferred) from the original article. How much is inferred and how much directly os not always clear cut – as usual I will make the best (qualified) decision on said numbers. Yes .. it is just a model but it does make a difference in the size and width of the pullies.

jig Box

I have a pretty good handle on the design of this Jig Tank. I have a drawing and a lot of text describing the Jig Box. Here we have a side-view of the “Stewart Jig”, Fig. 34 on Page 115 of Treatise on Coke. This is accompanied with a detailed explanation of the operation.

steam engine

The steam engine is drawn very small. We can get some basic dimensions off of it – assuming that whoever drafted this did so with at least some precision.

water pump/Pipe

Like with the steam engine, the drawing of the pump is really small – but .. we have to work with what we have.

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