US1688770A - Cereal-cutting machine - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 23, 1928.

H. G. WOODHEAD CEREAL CUTTING MACHINE Filed July 10'. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' Oct. 23, 1928.

H. G. WOODHEAD CEREAL CUTTING MACHINE Filed July 10. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Get. 23, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT trie HORACE G. WOODI'IEAD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO B. F. GUMP 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORl-GRATION F ILLINOIS.

CEREAL-CUTTING MACHINE.

Application filed July 10,

My invention relates to the reduction of cereals and other grains in which the material is comminuted as far as possible into sharp granular form. This may be done by coacting rolls having knives separated by capacious grooves which are rounded and give additional capacity to prevent breaking and crushing the material. A structure ofv the kind referred to is made the subject matter of Patents Nos. 1,183,473 and 1,183,474, dated May 16, 1916, and issued to Jules Le Page. A similar effect in a simpler and less expensive form is also the subject matter of an invention of said Le Page, Serial- No. 469,498, which has been matured into Patent No. 1,437 ,429, issued December 5, 1922. In the said invention a single roll of the character described is made to co-act with a series of knives on the face of a relatively stationary bar. But when the grain to be milled, such as Indian corn, is hard and flinty, particularly in the case of a machine in which a roll cooperates with a stationary or nonrotating element, the feed is likely to be uneven and bunchy. This is particularly true when the rolls which are used either for out ting or feeding the material have become somewhat smooth or dulled by use. The result is due toan action on the part of the smooth hard grains, which may be described by the word flinching and is due to a disposition of the grains to fly back when first coming in contact with the revolving roll.

It is the object generally of my invention to provide means by which a smooth, continuous and evenly distributed flow of material may be provided throughout the feed and cutting mechanism of my device. Further objects of my invention are to provide a simple and inexpensive knife bar which will co-act with the corrugated roll; to provide a sliding head which is elastically adjustable relatively to said roll; to so corelate the knife bar and the holding portion of said head as to give a multiplicity of fresh knife edges, and to provide a throat piece for said head which will co-act with the corrugated roll to provide a narrowed entrance way or throat for the stock to be milled, whereby such stock will be more positively fed into the co-acting cutting knives and be formed into a granular product with the minimum amount of flour ormeal.

Serial 110. 573,858.

drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section on the line 11 of Fig. 2. Fig; 2 is a top view of a transverse section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1. F i g. 3 is a perspective view of the movable knife head. including the knife and its attachments. k

Further describing my invention by reference to the drawings in which like characters of reference denote like parts throughout, the numerals 1 and 2 indicate portions of a substantial frame upon which the various elements of my device are mounted. A. face plate or table 3 is mounted on the said framework and has a central cut-away portion providing the aperture 4. Numeral 5 represents abutment brackets mounted on the said tace plate. Numeral '7 designates a cutting roll having the shafts 8 ournaled in the boxes 9. The said roll has longitudinal corrugations which preferably face forward in the direction of rotation and are separated from each other by grooves which are rounded in transverse section. A sliding head adapted to cooperate with the said roll is shown in Fig. 3 in which 12 is the principal body portion having depending brackets 13 which are undercut at 14 to receive inner edges of the cut-away portion 4 of the table 3. The said head is provided with guide rods 15 which are rigidly secured to the head 12 in bosses 16 and which extend backwardly therefrom through suitable openings in the abutment brackets 5. They are screw-threaded and provided with adjustment nuts 17 in the usual manner bywhich the movement of the head toward the cutting roll is limited. Springs 18 are placed between the head and the abutment brackets, said springs being of such capacity as to support the normal load of operation but to yield in case of rigid or unyielding material entering the apparatus. A longitudinal recess 20 is formed in the base portion of the sliding head and extends from end to end thereof. A cutter bar 21 is seated in the recess, and the opposite faces thereof have transverse corrugations 22, 23. The conformation of the cutter bar and the positien of the recess in the sliding head should be such that a proper cut-ting angle is formed between the face of the bar and the circumference of the roll 7. The said cutter bar is secured in place by machine screws 24 which engage transverse openings in the central longitudinal line of the cutter bar. The cutter bar is so placed and the recess so adapted to receive it that the operative line which co-acts with the cutting roll is off the longitudinal median line of the cutter bar. Provision is thus made that by detaching the cutter bar from the machine screws and turning it from end to end two cutting faces are provided and, by reversal, two additional cutting faces may be obtained.

In order that a positive feed to the coop crating line of the cutter bar and roll may be secured at all times I provide a narrowed throat by means of a throat piece 26 which co-actswith the roll to form a narrowed throat at 27. A preferable structure for this element consists of a longitudinally folded strip 28 of relatively thin steel as shown in the drawings. A flat portion thereof 29 is secured. by means of screws 30 to a back extension 31 on the sliding head. An outwardly projected rib 32 extends throughout the length of the strip, the lower portion thereof, 33, being turned down and having a lower edge 34 which should preferably be slightly removed from contact with the upper edge of the cutter bar, thus forming an elastic contact for the material passing into the throat of which it forms one side. Said extreme lower edge 34 provides a stop against retraction of material and positively holds it in contact with the cutting surfaces where instantaneous cutting action takes place.

The devices thus far described are enclosed in a casing provided with hopper elements 41 and 42 into which material is led by the pipe 43. At the lower part of the hopper thus formed is placed a feed roll 44 which -is longitudinally corrugated with forwardly facing corrugations giving what is known as a saw tooth or hook cut. The longitudinal opening at the lower part of the hopper and between it and the feed roll is controlled by means of slide 45 By the use of a roll of the character designated an even and uniform flow of material is provided which is received upon the apron46 and falls upon the projection 28 from which it continues over the rib 32 and is led into the throat 27 where the cutting operation takes place.

While I have primarily designed and described my machine for the treatment of coreals, it is understood that it may be used on non-cereal berries, such as coffee, or any other material for which it may be found to be adapted.

I claim:

1. In a cereal cutting machine having a reduction roll and a co-operating cutting device, the combination with said cutting device of a throat piece of resilient material adapted to co-act with said roll to form a progressively narrowed approach to the operative area formed by said roll and said cutting device.

2. In a cereal cutting machine; areduction roll. a. head movably adjustable relative- 1y to said roll, a cuttin device on said head to co-act with said rol and a throat piece on said head adapted to co-act with said roll to form a progressively narrowedapproach to the operative area formed by said roll and said cutting device, the lower edge of said throat piece forming a stop against reverse movement of material passing the same.

3. In a cereal cutting machine; a frame work including a table having a central aperture and lateral guide-ways adjacent tosaid aperture, a head on said table, undercut edges of said table adjacent to said aperture,

a reduction roll j ournaled on said framework, a cutting device on said head, means for adjusting said head so as to position said cutting device in operative relation to said roll, and a throat piece on said head adapted to coact with said roll to form a progressively narrowed approach to the'operative area formed by said roll and said cutting device.

5. In a cereal cutting machine having a rotating reduction element and a relatively stationary element with their operative faces disposed at an angle to each other, the combination with the relatively stationaryreduction element of a resilient throat piece adapted to form a narrowed approach to the opera tive area of said reduction device.

6. In a cereal cutting machine, a framework including a table, a reduction roll journaled on the frame-work, a head on the table adjustable relatively to said roll and having a longitudinal recess in the face thereof throughout its operative length adapted to receive a cutting plate turned backwardly at an acute angle from the horizontal diameter of the roll, a cutting platein the recess of said head, and a resilient throat piece on said head having its free end extended downwardly and over-lapping the upper edge of said cutting plate. i

7. In a. cereal cutting machine, a frame-. work including a table, a reduction roll journaled on the frame-work, a recessed head on the table adjustable relatively to said roll, a cutter bar having oppositely placed oval faces provided with transverse cutting knives and adapted to be interchangeably seated in the recess in said head said knives being further adapted to co -act with said roll along a line removed from the median line of the face of said cutter bar.

8. In a cereal cutting machine, a framework including a table, a reduction roll. journaled on the frame-work, a head on the table having a recess in its face and adjustable relatively to said roll, a cutter bar having transversely formed knives on both sides thereof received in said recess so that the central longitudinal plane of the cutter bar is at an acute angle to the horizontal diameter of the cutting roll, and that the faces of the cutter bar at the median line thereof are removed from the normal operative line of said roll whereby four operative faces are. selectively provided for said knives.

9. In a cereal cutting machine; a framework including a table, arcduction roll journaled on the frame-work, a head on the table adjustable relatively to said roll, a cutter bar provided on both sides thereof with integral transversely formed knives secured on said head so that the central longitudinal plane of the cutter bar is at an acute angle to the horizontal diameter of the cutting roll and that the faces of the cutter bar at the frame; the combination with said roll of head and a removable cutting plate in said head, said cutting plate having a plurality of cylindro-seginental faces on opposite sides thereof provided with transverse cutting knives, and said head having a longitudinal recess conformable with and adapted to receive and seat said cutting plate in reversible position turned backwardly from said reduction roll so that the operative points of relation of the reduction roll with the faces of the cutting plate will be along lines below the median line of said cutting plate.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois.

HORACE s. WOODI-IEAD.

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