US609114A - Machine for preparing wood for fuel - Google Patents

Description

N0. 609,||4. Patented Aug. l6, I893. W. S. MUNDAY. MACHINE FOR PREPARING WOOD FOR FUEL.

(Application filed Aug. 13, 1897.)

2 Sheets-Sheet, I.

(No Model.)

N0. 609,!l4. Patented Aug. l6, I898. W. S. MUNDAY. MACHINE FOR PREPARING WOOD FOR FUEL.

(Application filed Aug. 13, 1897.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

illllllllllllll I II 1 pi 'lflllllll wi t macaw NITE STATES;

PATENT .FFICE.

WILLIAM S. MUNDAY, OF I-IATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF ONE-HALF TO SARAH Z. COHEN, OF NEW ORLEANS,

LOUISIANA.

MACHINE FOR PREPARING wooo FOR FUEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Past No. 6o9,114=, deted A gust 16,1898. Application filed August 13,1897. Serial No. 648,142. (No model.)

To ail whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM S. MUNDAY,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Hat tiesburg, in the county of Perry and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Preparing WVood for Fuel, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore wood has been disintegrated by 10 machinery to render it fit for readyignition to be used principally for kindling fires. Special machinery has been devised for cutting and preparing such wood, and I now seek to improve such machinery as well as the article produced thereby.

According to my present invention I cut successive slices from a block of wood and cause these slices of wood to pass between spiked rollers which crush and disintegrate the fiber, rendering it soft and broken, so as to readily ignite and rapidly burn. The wood employed is usually resinous wood, and unless this be crushed and otherwise disintegrated it will not kindle or burn rapidly. Therefore 2 5 it is desirable to render this wood as fibrous as possible. Such wood is difficult to slice from a block, owing to its hardness. Therefore my improved machine is equipped with an improved cutter or slicer which slices boards or slabs of suitable size from the block and delivers them immediately to crushing rolls equipped with spikes which tear the fibers apart, rendering the slabs pliable and readily ignitible without tearing the fibers 5 to such an extent that they separate from each other.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a plan view, the spiked rolls being 40 omitted. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a rear elevation.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the crushing-rolls,

the dotted lines showing the relative sizes of the rolls, which are separated for clearness. Only a part of the rolls is shown equipped with the spikes. Fig. 6 shows a vertical section of the knife on the line a; 00 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the crushed slab or board produced by the machine.

The knife A is secured to the end of a frame B, connected by a pitman O with a crank-shaft D, havingabalance-wheel E and a driving-pulley F, which may be operated in any suitable way. The crank-shaft is mounted in bearings G of suitable construction. The main frame H maybe of such size, shape, and construction as to best accommodatethe mechanism which it supports.

The knife A is inclined rearward in opposite directions from the point a and is suitably beveled at its edge to most efficiently cut the slabs or boards from the block X. As this block is saturated with resin, it is very hard, and it is desirable to have a knife which will most easily cut it without breakingthe slabs. The particular shape of knife employed enables me to make a shear out, which does the work most efficiently. The blade may be adjusted vertically by means of liners a, as shown in Fig. 6, to vary the 7o thickness of the slabs cut from the block.

The frame B is'extended beyond the edge of the knife. Y It is slotted at I and is provided with atable or apron K. This table or apron, being a part of the knife-frame, reciprocafes back and forthwith it beneath the block X, which is contained in the box J, and descends by its own weight. The apron serves to support the block when the knife is withdrawn from under it, as shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 also shows how the apron supports the block while the knife is cutting it. Below the box J and the cutting-knife'are arranged the crushingrolls M, and between these rolls and the knife there is a guide-chute N, the opposite sides at of which are inclined, as shown in Fig. 3, to cause the slabscut from the blocks X to pass into the bite of the rolls M.

The rolls M are mounted in a suitablyformed part it of the main frame. They may be geared together in any suitable way. As

shown, a belt-pulley O, which may be driven in any suitable way-for instance, from the same shaft that drives the pulley-F.-is mounted on a shaft 0 of one of the upper crushing- 5 rolls. The shaft carries a large gear-wheel P, meshing with a smaller wheel P on a shaft 19, carrying a pinion P, which gears with a large gear-wheel P on the opposite side of the machine. This wheel is mounted on a shaft 0' of one of the lower crushing-rolls. The lower set of rolls have cog-wheels Q, which mesh with each other, as have also the upper rolls. By this means all of the rolls are driven from the same pulley 0, it being observed that the lower rolls do not gear directly with the upper ones.

I-Ieretofore fluted rolls have been employed for disintegrating wood for kindling; but such crushing-rolls are not efficient. I have discovered that the best results are attained by employing spiked rolls of thekind illustrated in the drawings. The spikes B should be arranged in rows, as shown, and the rows of spikes on each pair of rolls should break joints, as most clearly indicated in Fig. 5, and should interlock, as shown in Fig. 3. By this means the fibers are disintegrated, softened, and made readily ignitible, as indicated in Fig. 7. It being remembered that the wood is resinous, it will be understood how the spiked crushin g-rolls will more thoroughly disintegrate the material than where fluted rolls are employed.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination substantially as set forth of the block guiding box, the knife pointed at its front central portion and having backwardly and laterally inclined edges,

the spiked crushing-rolls arranged below the knife, the guide-chute interposed between the cru shing-rolls and the knife, the slotted apron or frame arranged in front of the knife and movable simultaneously therewith for supporting the block to be out when the knife is withdrawn, and means for reciprocating the knife and apron and for actuating the crushing-rolls.

2. The combination, substantially as set forth, of the block-guiding box, the slotted apron arranged beneath the box, a centrallypointed knife rigidly secured to the apron and having lateral and rearwardly-inclined cutting edges diverging from a cross-piece of the apron which is adapted to sustain the block when the knife is withdrawn, a guidechute arranged immediately below the knife and apron, the crushing-rolls having rows of spikes breaking joints and interlocking as described, and arranged below the guidechute, and means for reciprocating the knife and apron for actuating the rolls.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

WILLIAM S. MUNDAY.

Witnessesz.

JOHN FAIRLY, J. D. BENNETT.

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