Gear rack for a mining machine

摘要

Rack segments are formed with teeth to mesh with drive gears of a mining machine to propel it along a conveyor. The drive gears are spaced apart and mounted on a drive shaft with a sleeve member therebetween to engage the top surface of a rack segment. The rack segment has a rectangular body with arch-shaped upper and lower surfaces. Opposite end portions have a vertical hole to receive a support member which is anchored in place by a pin passed through an opening transversely thereto and arranged along a horizontal plane of symmetry. Attachments forming gear teeth project at uniformly-spaced intervals from opposite lateral sides of the rack body. The attachments have involute-like flanks extending upwardly and downwardly from the horizontal plane of symmetry such that a worn rack segment can be continually used by inverting its position 180 DEG .