A DEVICE FOR DESINTEGRATING PARTICULATE MATERIAL

Abstract: A device for desintegrating oats comprises a disc (14) having apertures to allow passage of the grains and a rotatable cutting member (17) located downstream the disc as viewed in the direction of movement of the grains, said cutting member being arranged to desintegrate the grains at their exit through the apertures by shearing between an edge of the member and the edges of the aperture. The disc (14) is displaceable along a shaft (6) causing the cutting member to rotate but is prevented from rotating with the shaft. More specifically, the disc (14) is freely displaceable into contact with the cutting member (17) or an insert between the disc and the cutting member.

Description: A device for desintegrating particulate material. FIELD OF INVENTION It is since long known that horses carrying out heavy work must be fed with some kind of concentrated food, in order to be able to continously maintain a high capacity. This applies for work horses as well as riding- and trotting-horses from which a high performance is required. - The most usual concentrated food is oats. However, the whole oat-grains are so difficult to digest that a high percentage passes through the digestive. system of the horse without being digested and give the desired energy. This unsatisfactory degree of use of the food was previously accepted but in time mills have been put into use -to. desinte grate the oat-grains by crushing. In this way, the oat has been used completely as food, since the surrounding shell no longer prevents a rapid digestion. This desinte¬ grating procedure has, however, caused certain storage problems. The nutritional value of crushed oats decreases during storage and the crushed pieces obtain a fluffy sur- face which on storage is attacked by a kind of mite which is spread by insects. This mite usually occurs in stores of flour and are rapidly multiplied. This formation of mite makes the oats unsuitable as a food and if mite has attacke a quantity, it must be rejected. In the first phase, it is difficult to distinguish the mite from the fluffy surface of the oats only with the eye. Thus, there is a great risk that crushed oats contaminated with mite may be acciden¬ tally used as food, which may have serious consequences if a valuable riding- or trotting-horse is fed shortly before an important race. PRIOR ART By the US patent 4 039 149, a device for desintegrating material mainly by a shearing action is previously known. This device is of the kind defined in the preamble of the appendent claim 1. However, in this device each cutting member is located between two apertured discs, which are maintained at a minimum distance from each other by flanges on one of the discs. Thus, the cutting member is rotatable in a free space having an axial extent greater than the axial extent of the cutting member. By influence of the material to be desintegrated, the cutting member will tend to approach the disc located downstream the cutting member so as to produce a free space between the cutting member and the disc located upstream the cutting member, which will tend to cause a greater degree of crushing between the cutting member and the upstream disc. Furthermore, wear will tend to increase the distance between the cutting member and the upstream disc. THE OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to obtain a device suitable for desintegrating such particular material as oat-grains in such a way that the fluffy surface obtained by crushing and promoting growth of mite is eliminated. In this way, the food would maintain its nutritional valueand damages under storage would be reduced. Particularly important is to assure that the device will maintain its operational characteristic during prolonged periods. BRIEF DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION This object is obtained by starting from a device defined in the preamble of the main claim and designing the aper¬ tured disc as freely displaceable into contact with the cutting member or an insert disposed between the disc and the cutting member. In this way, the apertured disc will be urged towards the cutting member under the influence of the particles to be desintegrated so that the edges on the disc and on the cutting member will tend to remain in a constant relation also after considerable wear so that the desintegra- ted particles will have a generally uniform character. Thus, the cooperating edges may be disposed in relation to each other to shear the particles by planar cuts and wear on the cutting member will not tend to increase any distance between the cutting member and the disc, which could increase the degree of crushing. It is preferred to arrange the shaft generally vertically so that not only the particles to be desintegrated but also the own weight of the disc will urge the same towards the cutting member. It would also be possible to arrange one or more springs to urge the disc towards the cutting members. DISCLOSURE OF DRAWINGS In the drawings; Fig. 1 is a view of the device from above; Fig. 2 illustrates a vertical section of the device; Fig. 3 is a plan view and a section of an apertured disc; Fig. 4 is a plan view and a section of the cutting member; Fig. 5 is a plan view and a section of an impeller for discharging the desintegrated oats from the device; Fig. 6 is a plan view and a section of an agitator; and Fig. 7 is a section and a side view of a drive shaft. DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A base plate 1 is rigidly connected to an upper frame plate 2 and a lower frame plate 3. The plates 2 and 3 are also rigidly interconnected by a vertical plate 4. The plates 2 and 3 have at portions spaced from the base plate 1 bea¬ rings 5a and 5b respectively in which the shaft 6 is rota- tably supported. Just under the bearing 5a, a V-belt pulley 7 is rigidly connected to the shaft 6. The V-belt 8 surrounds pulley 7 and also a smaller pulley 9 which is rigidly con- nected to the drive shaft of a vertically disposed motor 10 on the vertical plate 4. From the upper side of the frame plate 2, the shaft (see Fig. 7) is provided with planar surfaces 11 and 12 located opposite each other. An agitator 13a is located axiallymovableon the shaft 6 near its upper end but locked against rotation to the shaft 6 in that the hub of agitator 13a has a center hole 13d (Fig. 6) corresponding to the shape of shaft 6 in this section. A disc 14 is located directly below agitator 13a and has a series of apertures 16 (Fig. 3) generally equally distri- buted over the surface and a center hole 15 allowing verti¬ cal movement as well as rotating movement relative to shaft 6. A star shaped cutting member or knife 17 (Fig. 4) is located immediately below disc 14. The knife has a center hole 18a, the form of which corresponds to the cross sec- tion of shaft 6. In this way, knife 17 may move axially on shaft 6 but is locked against rotation relative thereto. The knife 17 has long edges 18b and 18c moving closely adja¬ cent the lower side of the disc 14, which is preferable at low number or revolutions. At higher rotational speed, an insert or shim not illustrated in the drawing and having a thickness of about 0,1 mm and shaped as a washer about shaft maybelocated between disc 14 and knife 17 to reduce friction. Another agitator 13a is located directly under knife 17 and under the agitator, another apertured disc 14 and knife 17 identical to those previously described are located. The agitator 13a, disc 14 and knife 17 form together a set which may be used singularlyortogether with other sets in a series in accordance with requirements. An impeller 19a is located unter the last knife 17 and axially movable on shaft 6 like the discs 14 and knives 17 but locked against rotation to shaft 6 via the center hole 19b (Fig. 5). All agitators 13a, discs 14, knives 17 and the impeller 19a are enclosed in a vertical cylindrical drum 20 which is rigidly anchored to the upper side of the upper frame plate 2 , which at this location forms a bottom of the drum 20. At the bottom of the mantle surface of drum 20, an outlet tube 21 is tangentially fixed. In the interior of the drum 20, a longitudinal vertical projection 22a is located, which is received in corresponding recesses 22b in the disc 14 so as to prevent the latter from rotating with the knive 17. A container 23 is located centrally above drum 20 and has in its lower portion a cylindrically formed part 24, in which a closure device 25 is located. The base plate 1 has at one of its vertical edges a hinge 30, one portion of which is anchored to e.g. a wall 31 with screws 32. A locking device 33 is arranged at the opposite edge of base plate 1 and this locking device is anchored to wall 31 by screws 34. When there is a need for mounting, dismounting or supervising the discs and knives, the lock 33 is released so as to enable plate 1 to be rotated outwardly about its hinge 30. The outlet tube 21 will rotate from the position illustrated with full lines in Fig. 1 to the position illust rated with dashed lines and the upper part of drum 20 will be uncovered from container 23. To be able to handle discs and knives in a safe manner, the electrical connection of motor 10 is arranged so that the current connection 35 must be interrupted in order to open the lock 33 and release the frame for rotation so as to make discs and knives accessible The invention operates as follows: When the motor 10 is star ted, it rotates, through the V-belt transmission 7, 8, 9, the shaft 6 and the agitators 13a, knives 17 and impeller 19 in the same direction. The closure device 25 is open. Oat grains 26 will fall down and fill the open space at the top of drum 20. Due to rotation of shaft 6, the wings 13b, 13c of agitator 13a will rotate and feed the grains 26 through apertures 16 in disc 14 which is locked against rotation. When the oat grains 26 pass out of the apertures 16, they wil face the rotating knife 17 which by edges 18b or 18c will shear the oat grains 26 against the edges of apertures 16. The partially desintegrated grains 26 now enter the space below knife 17, wherein another agitator 13a with wings 13b, 13c agitates and mixes the material before it passes another disc 14 and knife 17 for additional desintegration. The grains 26 will subsequently fall down between the blades of the impeller 19a which rotates with shaft 6 and throws the oats out through tube 21 so that it in a gathered stream falls down into e.g. a receptacle 29. The invention is not limited to the embodiment disclosed but can be varied in several ways within the scope of the invention. Thus, the number of discs and knives may be lower and higher than in the embodiment. The knives may be turned so that the direction of their shearing edges from the center towards the periphery alternatingly forms a positive and negative angle. In certain conditions, agitators between apertured discs and knives may be eliminated dispite use of several sets of discs and knives. Instead of an agitator bet ween a knife and an apertured disc located downstream the knife, a spacer ring may be used if so desired. The device may also be used for desintegrating other particulate mate¬ rial than oat grain. OMPI

Claims: Claims 1. A device for desintegrating particulate material such as oat-grains, comprising a disc (14) having apertures (16) allowing the particles to be desintegrated to pass through, and a cutting member (17) located downstream the apertured disc as viewed in the direction of movement of the particles to desintegrate the same on their exit from the apertures by shearing between an edge (18b) of the cutting member and the edges of the apertures, said disc (14) being displace- able along a shaft (6) for rotating the cutting member but being restrained from rotating with the shaft, c h a r a c¬ t r i z e d in that the apertured disc (14) is freely displaceable into contact with the cutting member (17) or an insert disposed between the disc and the cutting member. 2. A device according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by an agitator (13a) arranged on the shaft (6) upstream the disc (14). 3. A device according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that two or more sets consisting of an apertured disc (14) and a rotating knife (17) are arranged in series on the shaft (6). 4. A device according to claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that an agitator (13a) is disposed on the shaft (6) up¬ stream each of the apertured discs (14). 5. A device according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the shaft (6) is generally vertically arranged with the apertured disc above the cutting member. 6. A device according to claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that at least one of the cutting members (17) has its edges (18b or 18c) disposed to operate with the cutting angle towards the centre of the cutting member while at least anothe of the cutting members has its edges disposed to operate with the cutting angle away from the centre of the cutting member. 7. A device according to claim 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that an agitator (13a) is located upstream the first apertur disc (14) 8. A device according to claim 1 or 3, c h a r a c t e ¬ r i z e d in that an impeller (19a) is located on the shaft (6) downstream said cutting member(s) (17) to catch the desintegrated material and throw the same out through an outlet (21) from a housing (20) of the device. 9. A device according to claim 2 and 8, c h a r a c t e ¬ r i z e d in that the shaft (6) has a cross section co¬ operating with the agitator (13a), cutting member (17) and impeller (19a) so as to lock the same against rotation rela- tive to the shaft but allowing axial displacement thereof along the shaft.

Inventors: PALM ANNA MARGARETA GRETA, PALM, ANNA, MARGARETA (GRETA)
Applicants: PALM ANNA MARGARETA GRETA, PALM, ANNA, MARGARETA (GRETA)
Application year: 1982
Main classification: B02C9
IPC codes: B02C9, B02C18