US1650218A - Centrifugal sorting machine - Google Patents

Description

N0v.22,1927. f 1,650,218

R. V. JUDSON CENTRIFUGAL SORTING MACHINE Filed April '7, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 22, 1927. 1,650,218

- R. V. JUDSON CENTRIFUGAL SORTING MACHINE Filed April '7, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mln/11,11",

Patente Nov. 22, 1927.

A' RUSSELL v.- JUnsoN, or'nu'rizoir, istruiti-renie;

CENTRIFUGAL SORT-ING MACHINEQ/ Application le'd April 7,

Thisinvention relates to centrifugal sorting machines adapted for use with various grains or seeds, suoli as beans, peas, clover` seed and the like, and its purpose is to .provide ,a construction especially suited'to a machine of small size and medium capacity such that it can be manufactured economi cally and will operate with greater efficiency than previous machines of this general type. 1tV consists of the various features and `elements of .constructi on and their combination, as herein describedV and shown in the draW-V ings, and sis-indicated by the Claims. 1

in thedrawings: .Figure 1 is a vertical, axial section of a machine embodying this invention. l

Figure 21s a top plan-view, with the feed hopper removed and, with certain parts broken away and shown in section. 4 l

Figure 3 is a'vertical axial section through one of the rolls, as indicated at'line, 3 3, on Figure 2; f v Y, Y' ,Y

Figure 1 is a'detail section talenvas indicated at line, 4 4, on Figure 2. f, f Y

. Figure 5 is a vertical axial section taken through another vroll,-as indicated at line', 5 5, on Figure 2.` Y 1 Figure 6 is a transverse section througha pair of rolls and the cover casting takenat line, 6 6, on Figure 2. A f

This machine is of the centrifugal type, operatingon substantially the same principle as the machine shown in my Patent No. 1,366,665, dated January 25, 1921, and comprising several pairs of rolls of yielding mafY tei-iai, arranged in radiating relation to a vertical anis f revolution, so that the beans orother grain to be sorted, if-fed on to theV rolls near said airis, are carried outward over the rolls by centrifugal force, While the rough or imperfect specimens and the par ticies of dirt mixed in with them arerfric tionally engaged by the yielding rolls and dravvn between them for discharge sepa'- rately from the smooth Vgrain which successfully traverses the rolls to their outer ends.

In the present structure, I providea cenfral supporting column, l, extending up-l Wardly` from the base or supporting casting. 2, and supporting neary its upper' end a cast member comprising a sleeve portion, 3,vr which fits the column, 1, and is attached thereto by one or morey bolts, ,jand a flared portion, 5, Whose upper edge is formed with gear teeth at 6 toV mesh With beveled drive pinions,7, of the several pairs of rolls. The

vpicking or'sorting rolls. f

1923. serial no. 63u66?.- Y

sleeve portion,3y,y provides a shoulder, 8, uponwhich is lodged a ball thrust bearing, 9, to

support rotatgively the central hub, 10, of the rotor or frame castingwhich supports thev rollsand serves also as ,a cover for Athem. This rotorcasting includes an annular upstanding flange, 11, forming. a central l1opper yprovided With a removable bottom plate,`Y

12, onto Whichvthelgrains aredeliverediby gravity Vfrom a. feedv hopper, 13, and from.

Which they are move'd by centrifugal force to discharge ports, 14, 'each of`=\vl1ich leacls `to the trough formed between a pair offthe composition, l ea'clrmolde'd on to a Ahollovv mandrel ofrptube, 16,; which isfmounted for rotation upon a fixed shaft supported by the rotor casting.;Y lThe mandrel' of oneA roll of each pair has keyed to it a spur' gear, 17,

anda bevelgear, 7, which may be integrally formed, While the other roll of the paircarries only .aspur gear, 17 a, meshing With the gear` 17. Within thetube, 16, which carries the gear, l17,the shaft, 18, is reduced in diameter Vthroughout most of its length, forming bearing surfaces7 for the tube only near itsends, and the eXtreme; end portions of said shaft, .18, are lodged? respectively in a h oleor soclret,19, found in the central por` tion of the rotor casting and .iii a hole, 20, at the outer end of one of the arms of said cast-ing. Fre ferably, the shaft, 18, is hollow throughout its length, with radial openings,

maybe sfpir'ally grooved in any. Well-known manner. for distributing lubricant. Such lubricant may b'esuppliedv from anj oiler or. grease cup, 22,.secured in the outer end of the shaft,l 18.

The ltube or mandrel, 16, ofthe other-roll .is carried bya shaft, 23, yWhich is also reportions of the sha-ft, 23', to require thatthe hole,` 28shallbe `large enough to permit in- The v rolls, 15, are. preferably of .rubberY i l This bush-l ing, 27, 1s enoughilarger than the bearing oo 21, leading' to the bearing surfaces Whichllt) sertion or withdrawal of the shaft, 23, therethrough. The shaft, 18, is similarly inserted orwithdrawn through the hole, 20, in assembling the machine or removing the rolls for replacement or repair'.

By virtue of the eccentricity of the parts? 24 and 25, the roll carried by the shaft, 23, may be adjusted toward or from the Other roll by slightly rotating the shaft, 23, in its mountings; and such adjustment is effective for determining the grading Vof the beans orfother grain which the machinewill accomplish. The shaft, 18, is held in'position by a set screw, 29, and a similar set screw, 30, is provided to engage the bushing, 27, of the shaft, 23, for holding the shaft at any position of adjustment. The grease cup, 22, being fixed tightly on the end of the shaft, 23, may be used as a knob for turning it in making the eccentric adjustment.

As shown in Figure 1, the central portion of the rotor casting includes a downwardly facing beveled gear, 31, which meshes with the drive pinion, 32, on a shaft, 33. The shaft' is journaled in a bearing, 34, formed as a part of the flared casting, 5, in an outboard bearing, 35, beyondY which the shaft may be fitted with a pulley, 36. For driving the machine by hand the hand crank, 37, may b e applied to the shaft, 33, as shown in dotted lines, or a crank handle, 37, may be secured to the rim of the feed hopper, 13, said hopper' being mounted upon the upstanding flange, 11, of the rotor by means of brackets, 53, secured to said flange by bolts, 54. 1t will be evident that as the drive shaft, 33, is turned, the meshing of the gears, 31 and 32, will cause the rotor to revolve in horizontal plane, thus generating centrifugal. force in the beans or other grain piled upon thebottom plate, 12, and causing them to travel outwardly for discharge through the ports, 14, and'thence along the radially extending roll surfaces.

I find that improved results are obtained, particularly in a small machine of this kind, by inclining the roll axes slightly upward from their inner to their outer ends,-say about five degrees from the horizontal,-so as to somewhat retard the travel of the grains over the rolls and allow more time for the culle, stones and dirt to be carried away by frictional contact with the rolls. lSuch material is collected in the inner hopper, 38, while the smooth grain which suc- 'cessfully travels the full length of the roll surfaces is discharged through openings, 39, formed between the ends of the rolls, 15, and the bearings in which their shafts are lodged, and leading directly to the outer hopper, 40, whose discharge pipe, 41, may

be connected to any convenient receptacle as desired.

Each radial arm of the rotor casting eX- tending outwardly from the annular wall,

11, of the central hopper is formed at its sides with downwardly curving portions, 42, and with an open slot, 43, in the middle of its top. surface, through which the travel of the grains in a trough formed by the rolls may be observed. For controlling this travel and holding the grains close to the surfaces of the rolls, a series of adjustable guard lingers, 44, are mounted to project through the slots, 43, and are connected by a ring, 45, encircling the flange, 11. rllwo or more of these fingers, 44, may be slotted at their vertical portions which lie against the flange, 11, so that, by means of clamp screws, 46, they can be adjustablylsecured at the desired distance from the roll surfaces. At each side of the slot, 43, on the under side of the roll cover, 1 prefer to'V provide guard ribs, 47,y extending fairly close to the upper side of each roll, A15, to prevent the grains from bouncing over the rollswhen agitated in their outward travel along them. At the inner ends of these ribs, 47, a depending guard flange, 48, extends' transverselyadjacent the inner side ofthe port, 14, and just outside the teeth ofthe gears, 17 and 1S, to prevent any 'material being thrown back between gears.

To further direct the travel of the grain, the upper surface of the feed hopper within the fiange, 11, may be formed with low ribs or grooves, 49, extending at each side of the ports, 14, and feed grooves, 50, may be provided leading into each of said ports, 14. rlhese features are not essential, but they comprise corrugations in the hopper bottom which tend to guide the grains to the ports, 14, in single file so that the rolls may act upon them individually. i

By making the roll covers as integral arms of the rotor, the cost of manufacture of a machine of this character is greatly reduced and adjustment or repair of the individual rolls is facilitated because the entire rotor with the rolls assembled therein may be lifted ofi from the center column, 1, and turned upside down onthe floor or bench, whereupon the rolls are immediately available for inspection, cleaning or adjustment. As already described, any roll may be removed merely by loosening the set screw, 29 or 30, and withdrawing the supporting shaft, 18 or 23, as the case may be. Preferably, the gears are loosely slipped o n to the tubular mandrels, 16, andL retained merely by Voodruf keys, so as to be readily removable if desired, but it is also feasible to knurl the mandrels and malte the gears a tight fit. The roll bearings, being within the tubes, 16, are quite thoroughly protected from the dust and dirt which is present during the sorting process, and the lubrication coming from within the shafts, 18 and 23, meets with no interference by reason of this dirt; such lubricant as may work out at the ends ofthe tubes, 16, tends rather to accumulate a limited quantity of dust whichv the base of such pile to vary the rate of feed.

I find that making the hopper, 13, rotatable with the rotor frame gives a more even feed from said hopper than when it is /fixedly mounted above the machine.` Apparently the centrifugal force acting Von the grain in the hopper tends to 'retard its flow through the central discharge mouth by holding it back from said mouth in opposition to the force ofgravity. Y

In using a machine of this type for sorting ciover seed which is much smaller than beans or peas and nearly always contains a`1nix ture of buclthorn which is a long narrow grain, I propose to turn the rotor in reverse direction so as to cause each pair of rolls to rotate away from each other at their upper sides instead of toward each other as for sorting beans. For such use a covering of felt or canvas may be substituted for the rubber rolls, l5, if desired, and the eccentric means of adjusting the rolls may be taken advantage of for setting them quite close together in view of the small size of the clover seed. In most machines of this general type, it has been common practice to mount theA rolls of each pair with the axis of one roll in a plane somewhat above the axis of the other so that the upper roll would act as an impeller for carrying the grain around as the rotor revolves. In refining my machine I have found that the rotor speed of revolution need not be great and that the rolls can be mounted wit-h their axes in a common plane. This feature is of special value when the machine is reversed, as just described. for use with clover seed where the culled matter is not fed between the two rolls but is carried over them by frictional engagement.

I claim l l. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine, a rotor frame comprising a roll cover casting common to all the sorting rolls and formed with depending integral portions in which the roll shafts are mounted.

2. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine,

a rotor frame comprising an upwardly Vopen .central hopper and a plurality of radially .extending downwar lly concave arms serving above the` troughs formed between therolls of the several pairs.

In the combination defined in claim 2, said roll covers having radially extending slots, each disposed above one of the troughs between a pair of rolls to permit observation of the grain therein.

5. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine comprising a pair of rolls geared together in radial arrangement with respect to a vertical axis and a frame by which said rollsare carried for revolution about said axis, saidpair of rolls forming a trough extending radially,

'and a control finger arranged for vertical adjustment over said trough for regulating l the flow of grain therethrough.

' G. In Vthe combination defined in claiml 5, said frame including an upstanding annular fiange defining-a` central feed hopper with slotted roll cover extending outwardly from 1 said flange and the control finger being sup# ported by adjustable securing means on said flange, vand projecting through the slottoward the rolls.

7. In a centrifugal grain sorting machine 'l comprising a plurality of rolls geared together in pairs in radial arrangement about a vertical axis, and a frame by which said rolls are carried for revolution about said axis, each pair of rolls forming a'trough ex- 8. In a grain-sorting machine including a pair of yielding rolls geared together and extending adjacent each other in parallel relation, a shaft for each roll fixed ina frame and a tubular core on which the yielding material of each roll is secured and which is jou'rnaled for rotation on the'fixed shaft.

9. In the combination defined in Vclaim 8, said machine including a frame casting having a hole and a socliet axiallyV aligned to receiverespectively the opposite ends of the shaft and means for locking the shaft therein.

l0. In the combination defined in claimf8, said machine including a frame casting having a hole anda socket axially aligned'to receive respectively the opposite ends of the shaft and means for locking the shaft therein, said casting' including opposing shoulders adjacent the hole and the socket respectively and the vtubulaicore of the roll being fitted between said shoulders.

l1. In the combination defined in claim 8, said shaft having a passage for lubricant leading from one end of the shaft inwardly with an out-let branch extending-,to the bearing surface upon which the roll core turns.

12. In the combination defined in claim v8,

the shaft being reduced in diameter between its ends to form bearing surfaces of limited longitudinal extent for the roll core.-

13. ln the combination defined in claim 8, one shaft of each pair having eccentric end portionsengaging a hole and socket of the frame whereby rotative adjustment of the shaft will vary the distance between the rolls of the pair.

let. In the combination defined in claim 8, one shaft of each pair having eccentric end portions engaging a hole and sock-et of the frame whereby rotative adjustment of the shaft will vary the distance between the rolls of the pair and means on the frame for securing said shaft at any position of adjustment.

l5. lu the combination delined in claim 8, the inner ends of the tubular cores extending beyond the yielding material and the gears connecting the rolls of each pair being keyed to said extending` end portions of the cores to permit slidable removal of said gears from said cores.

16. ln the combination defined in claim 8, the inner ends of the tubular cores extending also beyond the yielding material and the gears connecting the rolls of each pair being keyed to said extending end portions of the cores to permit slidable removal of said gears from said cores, said gears being stopped against the yielding material of the rolls when positioned for operation on said cores.

17. ln a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes a plurality of yielding rolls geared together in pairs and extending in radial relation to a vertical axis, a rotor frame comprising a roll cover casting common to all the sorting rolls and formed with depending portions in which fixed shafts are mounted on the covers, each roll having a tubular core on which the yielding material is secured, said core extending beyond the ends of said yielding material and being rotatably carried by one of said fixed shafts.

18. In a centrifugal grain sorting machine vwhich includes a. plurality of yielding rolls geared ogether in pairs and mounted in radial relation lo a vertical avis for revolution about the same, a feed hopper mounted to revolve with said rolls with its axis co-incid- `ing with said vertical axis of revolution, a fixed master gear centered at said vertical axis, and pinions on the rolls meshing with said gear for deiiving motion as the rolls revolve; a carrier frame for the rolls to which said feed hopper is secured, and a handle on the hopper for turning said frame.

19. In a centrifugal grain sorting machine which includes a plurality of yielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radial relation to a vertical axis for revolution about the same, a feed hopper mounted to revolve with said rolls with its axis coinciding with said vertical axis of revolution, the rotatably mounted frame serving as a carrier for said rolls and iixedly supporting the feed hopper, together with a handle on said hopper for turning the carrier.

20. ln a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes a plurality of yielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radial relation to a vertical axis for revolution about that axis, a substantially fiat distributing plate centrally disposed with respect to the rolls, a feed hopper supported above said plate for discharge thereto, and a vertically adjustable sleeve at the discharge mouth of the hopper.

21. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes al plurality of yielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radial relation to a vertical axis for revolution about the saine, a central distributing plate associated with said rolls, and a feed hopper disposed above said plate, with means for adjusting the discharge mouth of said hopper toward and from the plate.

ln a centrifugal grain-sorting machine, avcentrally fixed post, a central master gear having its hub secured to said post loe- .low the upper end thereof, a rotor frame in which the sorting rolls are carried, having a central hub rotatably engaging the upper end of the post with a thrust bearing inter- V posed between the hub of the rotor and the hub of the master gear, the central portion of said rotor frame comprising a distributing hopper covering the end of the post and extending over the inner ends of the rolls with feed poits leading thereto.

Q3. ln the combination defined in claim 22, said rotor frame including outwardly extending portion serving as covers for the respective pairs of rolls and also supporting said rolls in operative relation to the master gear.

24C. In a centrifugal grain-sorting machine which includes a plurality of yielding rolls geared together in pairs and mounted in radial relation to a vertical for revolution about the same, the axes of both rolls of each pair being disposed at the same elevation in respect to said vertical axis.

In a centrifugal grain sorting machine which includes a plurality of yielding rolls gearedtogether in pairs and mounted in radial relation to a vertical axis for revolution about that axis, means to impart rotation to the rolls about their own axes by said revolution about said vertical axis and means for feeding grain onto such rolls near their inner ends for travel outward over the rolls' vunder centrifugal force; said rolls being inclined slightly upward in the direction of such travel.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 6th day of April, 1923.'

RUSSELL V. JUDSON.

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