US1071941A - Feeding device. - Google Patents

Description

G. W. MIX.

PBEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED .11.11.29, 1913.

1,071,941. Patented sept. 2, 1913.

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I I. if n I l I G. W. MIX.

PEEDING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN.29,1913.

1,071,941. Patented sept.2,1913.

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UNITED STATES GEORGE W. MIX, 0F BATAVIA, NEW YORK.

FEEDING- DEVICE.

`Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 2,1913.

Application filed January 29, 1913. Serial No. 744,922.

To all whom t may concern: j

Be it known that I, Geenen W. MIX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Batavia, in the county of yGenesee and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Feeding Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a` feeding device which is more particularly designed for feeding beans or the like from a source of supply toone or more endless aprons upon which the beans are spread out and picked over by operatives for the purpose of separatin the beans of (food quality or large size fprom those of infaerior quality or small size.

It is the object of this invention to produce a feeding device for this purpose which is simple and inexpensive in construction and which will reliably and uni formly feed the beans to the sorting apron without liability of clogging the machine and without consuming an undue amount of power.

In the accompanying drawings consisting of 2 sheets: Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved feeding device. Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken in line 3--3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section taken in line 4-4, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan View of the machine. Fig. (3 is a horizontal section taken in line 6--6, Fig. 3 and looking downwardly. Fig. 7 is a horizontal section taken in line 7 7, Fig. 3, looking upwardly.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

As shown in the drawings, my improved feeding device is organized for feeding beans from a common source of supply to two sorting aprons 1, 1 which are arranged on opposite sides of the feed device but it is to be understood that my invention is applicable to a feeding device of this character which supplies beans to a single sort-ing apron as well as to a plurality of such aprons. In the preferred arrangement of these sorting aprons the receiving turns thereof pass around receiving rollers 2, 2 which are mounted on shafts 3, 3 and these rollers are turned in the direction for moving the upper stretches of the sorting aprons in opposite directions away from the feeding device.

The feeding device is arranged between the two receiving rollers of the aprons and in its general organization the same comprises an upper supply chamber 4 which communicates at its top with a supply tube or collar 5 to which the beans are delivered from a source of supply by any suitable means, and two delivery chambers G, G arranged on opposite sides of the lower part of the supply chamber. These chambers are made up partly by two upright longitudinal side plates 7, 7 which form the longitudinal side walls of these chambers, a horizontal top plate 8 extending transversely across the upper edges of the side plates and connected at its opposite longitudinal edges with the adjacent upper edges of the side plates and formed integrally with the supply tube 5, a bottom plate 9 arranged transversely between the side plates and forming the bottom of the supply chamber and the delivery chambers and also inclining from its central part laterally in opposite directions, and upright end plates 10 arranged transversely between the corresponding lower parts of the upright edges of the side plates so as to form the outer end walls of the delivery chambers and connected at their opposite ends with the respective side walls. Each of the end walls of the delivery chambers is arranged at right angles to the adjacent inclined portion of the bottom plate and projects part-ly above this bottom plate and partly below the same and is provided at its upper edge with a laterally projecting inclined delivery flange or guide lip 40 which overhangs the receiving portion of the adjacent sorting apron, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The opposite transverse walls of the supply chamber are made up of two vertically movable gates 1l, 11 each of which is preferably constructed of a sheet of metal and guided at its opposite vertical edges in guideways 12 formed on the adjacent parts of the inner sides of the side plates so that upon raising or lowering these gates more or less a passageway of varying capacity may be formed between the lower edge of the same and the bottom plate through which the beans may pass from the supply chamber to the respective delivery chamber or these gates may be lowered into engagement with said bottom plate, thereby permitting of regulating the flow of beans from the supply chamber to the respective deverse spring adjusting rod 13 arranged,

along the outer side of the respective gate and passing with its central part throughuafy loop 14 formed centrally on the outer side of t-he gate and arranged at its rear end in an opening 15 formed in the adjacent edge portion ofv one of the side plates while its front end engages in one or another of a vertical row of notches 16 formed in the upright edge ofv the adjacent edge of the other side plate. By arranging the rear end of the adjusting rod 13 in the opening 15 of one of the side plates, a fulcrum is formed for this rod which permits the frontend thereof to be raised or lowered together with'the gate connected therewith and by y' v ber past the underside of ythe .gateare vfree engaging the free front end of this rod with one or the other notches 16 the gate may be held in various adjusting positions according to the amount of opening orv area of passageway required to supply the desired quantity of beans. By constructing the adjusting rod of spring material its. front end is held Ayieldingly in engagement with the respective notch 16 with which it is interlocled. This construction of gate adjust- Y ing device is exceedingly simple. andinexpensive, the same can bel easily' operated and is not liable to get out of order.

The opposite transverse edges of the bottom plate are separated by an intervening slot, space or passageway 17 from the adjacent transverse outer walls of the delivery chambers, and in each of these openings or slots a feed plunger reciprocates vertically for the purpose of intermittently lifting Va charge of beans or the like from the lower part .of the respective delivery chamber to a pointV above the upper edge of the adjacent end wall so asl to permit the beans. thus lifted by the plunger to slide oil :from the latter and over the guide liange on to the companionsorting apron. Each of these plungers reciprocates vertically in a path or line which is arranged parallel with the inclined end wall of the delivery chamber andV at" right angles to the adjacent inclined bottom portion of. the delivery chamber. Each lplunger is constructed of substantially L-shaped form in vertical cross section and comprises an'upper nearly horizontal lifting plate 18 arranged parallel with the adjacent part of the bottom plate and an inner nearly vertical cut-off plate 19' extending downwardly from the inner edge of the` lifting plate and arranged at right angles tothe latter or parallel with the adjacent transverse end wall. The plunger may be'gui-ded in its `vertically reciprocating movement in any suitable manner but preferably by en-l gagement of the outer edge of the lifting plate with' the inner side of the Vadjacent end wall and by engagement of the inner side ofthe cut-olf plate with inclined guide ribs or flanges 2O arranged on the adjacentv .partsofthe side plates, as' showniny Figs. l 3 andy ,'Z.` Theplungers are held in proper engagement withthe guiding surfaces and prevented from tipping out of alinement by means of guide ribs 21 arranged vertically on the outer side ofthe cut-off lplate and below therlifting plate and engaging their outer edges with the inner-side of the end Walls, as shown in Figs 3, 5 and 7. Y Y

In the lowermost position of each feeding :plunger the upper surface of the lifting `plate thereof is arranged Vflush withl -the adjacent part of the bottomv plate or sub"- stantially so,"as shown at the left hand side 4 of Fig. 3,' in which position of 'this VVplunger the beans'escaping from the supply chamto flow over the adjacent part of the bottom plate and upon the respective lifting plate and against the upper part of theadjacent end wall. As the plunger is moved upstroke the upper surface of the lifting plate is arranged flush, or substantially so, with the upper edge Aof the adjacent end wall, and during this movement the beans resting on top of the lifting plate are raised out of the delivery chamber and permitted to i spill over the guide lip or flange onto the sorting apron while the beans in rear of the plunger arelheld bach by the cut-ofi plate thereof, this position of the plunger being indicated at the right vhand side of F ig. 3. As the plunger again descends into its lowermost position the beans in the de livery chamber again flow over the upper end of the plunge-r preparatory to being lifted by the latter over vthe adjacent end wall as before described. e 5

Various means may be employed for -imparting a reciprocating movement to the plungerslbut those shown in the drawings are preferred and constructed as follows:

22,' 22 represent two rotary driving shafts arranged horizont-ally and transversely in the lower' part of the machine but axially outof lin-e with each other, these shafts Vbeing arranged below the respective vplun gers and on opposite sides of the'longitudicenter of the side plates. One of Vthese shafts is journaled in a rhorizontal trans-- verse bearing' Q3 arranged on the inner lower part of oneof the side plates and extending on the inner side ofthe lower part of the other side plate and extending from the respective side plate to the central part" ofV l wardly until it reachesthe upper'end of its j from the respective side plate inwardly j the machine, so that these two bearings are pa 'allel with each other but axially out of line and project inwardly in opposite directions from the respective side plates. At its inner side each of the driving shafts is provided with a crank or arm 24; which carries a wrist pin 25 at its outer end. 2G, QG represent two connecting rods each of which is provided at its lower end with an eye 27 which is confined on the wrist pin of one of the crank arms by means of a cotter pin 28 while its upper end is provided with an eye 29 which is arranged in a notch or recess 30 in the lower edge of the cutoff plate of the adjacent plunger and engages with a horizontal pivot pin 31 aranged on the cut-off plate at one of the upright edges or walls of the said notch and project-ing in the same direction as the wrist pin of the crank arm. These means of connecting the plunger-s with the crank arm are exceedingly simple and inexpensive, the same are not liable to become deranged and can easily be assembled as well as dismembered for inspection or repairs inas much as each connecting rod when held on the wrist pin by the cotter pin is also confined upon the pivot pin of the plunger, as shown in Fig. 4.

Motion may be transmitted to the driving shaft and to the shafts of the sorting aprons in any suitable manner, for instance each driving shaft may be provided with a pulley 32 which receives a belt 33 connected to a prime mover and each sorting apron shaft may be turned from the companion driving shaft by means of a belt 34 passing around pulleys 35, 3G secured to the companion driving shaft and apron roller shaft, as shown for instance in Figs. 1, 2 and 5.

By providing a separate driving device for each feeding plunger and sorting apron the feeding of the beans to each of the sorting aprons may be controlled or stopped altogether independently of the other feeding means and sorting apron, thereby permitting both of the feeding plungers and sorting aprons to be operated simultaneously and also permitting one of the feeding plungers and sorting aprons to be stopped while the other feeding plunger and sorting apron continues to operate. This feeding device can therefore be readily adapted to the various conditions which are encoimtered in actual practice to suit the speed or skill of the operators who are sorting the beans or other material which is being picked over and to permit of temporarily stopping the sorting operation on one apron without interfering with this operation on the other apron.

Owing to the simplicity of the construction of this feeding device the same can be produced at low cost and as the same contains no delicate parts there is little liability of getting the same out of order. Flu'thermore, all of the passages through which the beans pass in this feeding device are wide and not liable to become clogged with beans and whenever it becomes necessary to change from picking beans to picking another like material this can be quickly and easily effected inasmuch as all parts of this feeding device are readily accessible for removing any beans or like material from the chambers before beginning the sorting of another material.

By providing each of the side plates of the supply and delivery chambers with an in wardly projecting bearing for a driving shaft arranged on one side of the longitudinal center of these plates these bearings and the shafts journaled in the same will not interfere with each other and it also renders it possible to easily assemble or dismember cach of these shafts without interference with the other shaft, and it also permits of making both of the side plates and their bearings froln the same pattern.

I claim as my invention:

A. feed device comprising a delivery chamber having two side walls, a betteln, and an outer end wall projecting above the bottom and separated by au interveniner slot, a feed plunger reciprocating vertically in said slot and having an upper lifting plate, an inner cut-oftl plate depemling from the inner edge of the lifting plate, and guide flanges arranged on the outer side of the cuto'tl' plate and underside of the lifting plate and engaging with the inner side of said end wall, and guide flanges arranged on said side walls and engaging with the inner side of said cut-ofi plate.

fitness my hand this 24th day of llanuary, 1913.

GEORGE lV. MIX. lVitnesses:

Janes C. Communes, S'rmvan'r lV. CUMMINGS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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