Patent GB-952287-A (GB)
Title: Disc washing machine
IPC: B04B15/06
Filed: 1962-04-30
Abstract: 952,287. Centrifugal separators. DELLTOWN FOODS Inc. April 30, 1962 [May 2, 1961], No. 16463/62. Heading B2P. Frusto-conical liner discs 11 of a milk centrifugal separator, wherein the discs are nested on the stem 18 of a disc carrier 16, are washed in a tank 31, Figs. 4 and 5, in which the disc carrier and a rigid extension unit 92 releasably connected to the free end of the carrier stem are supported in a horizontal or substantially horizontal manner, the discs being spaced over substantially the length of the extension unit so as to be cleaned by liquid forced between them by spray nozzles 85. The conical base 17 of the disc carrier, Fig. 1, is provided with bores 28 opening into a recess 27 and aligned with openings 22 in the discs 11 which are normally positioned on stem 18 up to the level of the lower end 26 of slots 25 and are spaced from each other, to permit milk discharge, by a small clearance provided by contacting rivet heads 23. For washing to be effected the carrier with the discs thereon is removed from the separator by a hook at the end of a cable engaging in the slots 25. An extension unit 91 is connected to the base 17 of the carrier by positioning its arms 98 in the recess 27 and pivoting them outwardly until pins 99 enter the bores 98, by means of a cam disc 102 actuated by a shaft 95 in screw-threaded engagement with a hub 93. The connected carrier 16 and unit 91 are positioned directly over a sleeve 44 which is then in a vertical position and is welded to shafts 45, 46 pivotable in bearings 42 mounted on the tank side walls. The assembly is then lowered until the hub 93 rests on a flange 52 inside the sleeve 44. The extension unit 92, comprising a hollow shaft 105 in which a non-rotatable rod 116 is actuated axially by a rotatable sleeve 109, is then connected to the carrier stem 18 by means of locking fingers 125, Fig. 7, pivotally mounted at one end of the shaft 105 and caused, after engagement in the bore 132 in the stem 18, to open outwardly as the rod 116 is retracted, by means of a pin 122 extending through the outer extremity of the bifurcated end 121 of the rod 116. The sleeve 44 is then pivoted so that the disc carrier and its affixed extension units are substantially horizontal with a plastic collar 113 at the end of the sleeve 109 resting in a bearing 57 mounted on the end wall 35 of the tank and with the free end of the shaft 95 in axial alignment with a drive shaft 62 which during pivoting of the sleeve 44 is held in a retracted position. The drive shaft 62 is then moved inwardly so that, the ends of a pin 103 at the end of shaft 95 engage in slots 64 at the end of a coupling sleeve 63 screwed on the end of shaft 62. The shaft 62 is then driven through sprockets 65, 67 and chain 66 by a motor M to slowly rotate the supported discs which have been distributed along the stem 18 and shaft 105 to be sprayed successively by washing fluid and water issuing from the nozzles 85. The latter are mounted at the ends of vertical pipes 84 rising from parallel pipes 76, 77 terminating in a pipe 78 fed by a pump P which has the fluid or water supplied to it from the tank through pipes 79, 81. A valve 82 or pipe 81 permits drainage of the tank.