Patent Publication Number: US-6216753-B1

Title: Multibagging machine having a slide gate over roller means

Description:
CROSS REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is a division of application Ser. No. 09/058,424 filed on Apr. 9, 1998 and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,149 which is a continuation-in-part of USSN 08/585,219, filed Jan. 11, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,950. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention is directed to a machine for the multi bagging of particulate fluent material. More specifically, the present invention is directed: to a multi bagging machine which includes an elongate hopper and discharge chutes located at the bottom of the hopper and which utilizes slide gates located as close to a feed auger as possible for controlling the dispensing of particulate fluent material from the discharge chutes and prevent clogging of the chutes; to separate drive mechanisms for driving an auger shaft and an agitator shaft, the latter at a slower speed to facilitate flow of the fluent particulate material in the hopper; to a plurality of reverse direction auger flights for improving flow of particulate fluent material to each discharge chute; to agitator blade configuration, alignment and size to improve agitation of the fluent material; to a semicircular bottom trough closely adjacent the auger flights for minimizing clogging of the auger; and, to positioning of the discharge chutes as close to a front side of the hopper as possible to facilitate ease of use by a user and to offset auger delivery of fluent material to the chutes to inhibit clogging of the auger and chutes. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Heretofore, various types of machines for filling bags with fluent particulate material, such as sand, have been proposed. More specifically, sandbagging machines have been proposed for bagging sand and other particulate fluent material. Several examples of previously proposed fluent material dispensing machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,437,318 and 5,417,261, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     In the Kanzler et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,261 there is disclosed an apparatus for dispensing fluent material into containers, where swing gates are pivotally mounted to discharge chutes for swinging or pivotal movement between an open position and a closed position under a discharge opening at the lower end of each discharge chute. The swing gate is connected to a linkage mechanism which is operable by a foot pedal for opening and closing the associated chute for dispensing fluent material from the discharge chute into a container such as a bag. 
     The Kanzler et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,318 discloses a fluent material dispensing apparatus including a hopper with inclined front and rear walls which converge to a generally flat bottom that has a plurality of discharge chutes extending downwardly therefrom. An auger is positioned along the bottom of the hopper above the discharge chutes for moving particulate fluent material, such as sand, across open upper ends of the discharge chutes for assisting in the dispensing of the fluent material from the discharge chutes. 
     Also, in the Kanzler et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,950, there is disclosed a fluent material dispensing apparatus having an agitator shaft with agitating blades mounted thereon positioned above the auger shaft in the hopper. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention there is provided a multi bagging machine comprising: a framework including four, spaced apart upright legs arranged in a generally rectangular configuration; a generally rectangular hopper mounted to an upper end of the framework; the hopper including a sharply inclined front wall and a lesser inclined back wall extending between two end walls; an auger located adjacent the bottom of the hopper and having an auger shaft extending between the end walls; an agitator including an agitator shaft located above the auger and a short distance toward the rear of the hopper, a plurality of discharge chutes connected to the bottom of the hopper for discharging fluent particulate material from the hopper into a container or bag; and a slide gate movable from a rear wall of each discharge chute into and across the discharge chute to a front wall of each discharge chute and back for blocking and unblocking the flow of fluent particular material through the discharge chute into a bag or container. 
     Preferably, the slide gates are located as high as possible, the discharge chutes are located as far forward as possible, the auger shaft is driven at a faster speed than the agitator shaft and the agitator blades are skew to the agitator shaft, and are parallel to each other and the agitator shaft is located such that the outer point of rotation of each agitator blade is the same distance from the front wall as it is from the rear wall. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a multi bagging machine constructed according to the teachings of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, with portions broken away, of drive mechanisms for an auger shaft and for an agitator shaft used in the multi bagging machine shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the multi bagging machine and shows the interior of the hopper of the machine and the auger and agitator mounted therein and is taken along line  3 — 3  of FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the hopper shown in FIG. 3 without the auger and agitator being shown but showing a slide gate in a material discharge or dispensing chute and is taken along line  4 — 4  of FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the hopper shown in FIG.  3  and is taken along line  5 — 5  of FIG.  3  and shows the orientation of agitator blades on the agitator shaft in the hopper. 
     FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the hopper similar to the view shown in FIG. 3 but without showing the agitator and shows the six auger flights. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) 
     Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, there is illustrated in FIG. 1, the multi bagging machine  10  of the present invention. The machine  10  includes a hopper  12  having a generally rectangular upper open end  14  and elongate, inclined front and rear inclined walls  16  and  18  (FIG.  3 ), which converge downwardly toward each other in a generally V configuration to a rounded, partially circular in-cross-section, bottom wall  20 . The walls  16  and  18  extend between slightly inclined end walls  22  and  24  (FIG.  3 ). 
     As shown in FIG. 1, spaced along the rounded bottom wall  20  of the hopper  12  are a plurality of, and in the illustrated embodiment, three, discharge chutes  26 ,  28  and  30  which are coupled to and extend downwardly from the hopper front wall  16  and downwardly from the bottom wall  20  in an offset arrangement, as shown in FIG.  4 . 
     Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a front-to-rear cross section of the chute  30 . Each chute  26 ,  28  and  30  has a short rear wall  32  extending downwardly from the middle of the rounded bottom wall  20 , a longer front wall  33  and spaced apart end walls  34  and  36  with an inclined open upper end  38  and a lower outlet end  40 . This configuration of each chute  26 ,  28  and  30  places each chute closer to the front side of the machine to facilitate use by a user and to inhibit clogging of flights of an auger  41  (FIG. 3) and clogging of the chutes  26 ,  28  and  30 . 
     Referring now again to FIG. 1, it will be understood that the hopper  12  is supported at the upper end of a generally rectangular framework  42  including four (4) upright legs  44 ,  46 ,  48 , and  50 , interconnected by transversely extending struts. 
     Then, at a distance below the lower outlet ends  40  of the discharge chutes  26 ,  28  and  30  is located a table or platform  60  that extends between and is connected to the four legs  44 - 48  a short distance above ground level. At the bottom of each pair of front and rear legs  44 ,  46  or  48 ,  50  is a bottom rail  62 ,  64  for supporting the machine on a generally level surface. 
     Referring again to FIG.  1  and FIG. 2 there is mounted on the platform  60  a power source  66  for the auger  41  and an agitator  68  (FIG.  3 ). The power source  66  comprises a gasoline engine which drives a hydraulic pump which drives two hydraulic motors and, as shown in FIG. 1, control handles are provided for controlling power to and the direction of rotation of the auger  41  and the agitator  68 . Typically, each handle has three (3) positions; a forward position, a neutral position and a reverse position. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, an auger shaft  71  is driven by an hydraulic motor through a sprocket  72 , a chain  74  and a larger driven wheel or sprocket  76  mounted on the shaft  71 . Likewise as shown in FIG. 2 an agitator shaft  78  is driven from an hydraulic motor through a small sprocket  80 , a chain  82  and a larger driven wheel or sprocket  84  mounted on the agitator shaft  78 . 
     According to the teachings of the present invention, each shaft  71  and  78  is driven by a separate hydraulic motor and at a different speed. The auger shaft  71  is driven at a speed of between 16 and 24 rpm., preferably 18 rpm., and the agitator is driven at a lower speed between 8 and 12 rpm., and preferably 10 rpm. Empirical tests have shown that the different speeds provide a desired enhanced flow of material through the hopper  12 , especially where the material is compost material including stringy vegetation material. 
     As shown in FIG. 3 the hopper  12  has an off set shape with the front wall  16  being shorter than the rear wall  18  between the pair of opposed end walls  22  and  24 . As a result, there is more material to the front of the hopper  12  than the rear side of the hopper  12  and the front wall  16  has a sharper incline to the vertical than the rear wall  18 . Also, the axis of the auger shaft  71  is off set from the axis of the agitator shaft  78 , i.e. upwardly and slightly to the rear. Ideally the outer ends of agitator blades  92 - 95  of the blades  91 - 96  will be spaced the same distance from each wall  16  and  18  as the blades  91 - 96  rotate. 
     Also, from FIG. 3 it will be noted that the plurality of agitator blades  91 - 96  are mounted on the agitator shaft  78  and are situated skew to the agitator shaft  78 . In this respect, the blades  92 - 95  are at positioned at an acute angle of 50° to 80°, preferably 70° to the agitator axis of the shaft  78  and arranged parallel to one another. Further, at each end of the agitator shaft  78 , the agitator blade  91  or  96  has one portion that extends parallel to the adjacent end wall  22  or  24  and another portion that extends parallel to the other blades  92 - 95 . 
     According to the teachings of the present invention, and with reference to FIG. 4, each chute  26 - 30  has a generally planar, slide gate  98  supported on a pair of side-to-side rollers  100  mounted on a shaft  102  extending between each pair of end walls  34  and  36 . The rollers  100  are located at the lower side of a slot  104  in the rear wall  33  which receives the slide gate  98 . 
     Each slide gate  98  is pivotally connected at an outer end  106  to a first link  108  which in turn is pivoted at its upper end  110  to a bracket or plate  112  mounted to the underside of the inclined hopper wall  18 . Another link  114 , which is fixed to the link  108  in a generally V configuration at its pivot connection to the bracket plate  112 , extends outwardly from the bracket plate  112  to a pivot connection  116  to a linkage rod  118 . Movement of the linkage rod  118  upwardly causes upward movement of the V-shaped arrangement of the links  108  and  114  so as to move the links  108  and  114  to the position shown in phantom, where the slide gate  98  is moved out of the chute  26 ,  28  or  30  to allow fluent particular material, such as sand, to fall through the chute  26 ,  28  or  30  into a container or bag disposed beneath the bottom end  40  of the chute  26 ,  28  or  30 . The linkage rod  118  can be coupled to a foot pedal  120 , as shown in FIG. 1, so that an operator can operate the slide gate  98  by foot while holding the top end of the container, such as a bag, beneath the chute lower opening  40  for filling the container or bag. 
     According to the teachings of the present invention, the slide gate  98  is mounted as high as possible relative to the rounded wall  20  and return to the chute upper open end  38  to minimize the space that could become clogged in each chute  26 ,  28  or  30 . 
     In FIG. 5 is illustrated a plan view of one of the agitator blades  92 - 95  which has two cross members  130  and  132  in the form of a cross or + and which are located in a plane which is at an acute angle of 70° to the agitator shaft  78 . 
     FIG. 6 shows the auger shaft  71  as including six (6) discontinuous auger flights  141 - 146  the flights  141 ,  143  and  145  are disposed at one spiral angle and extend from a point at one side of a chute upper opening  38  to a middle are of a chute upper opening  38 . Then 180° around the shaft  71  one of the other flights  142 ,  144  or  146  each having a reverse spiral angle extends to a point away from chute opening  38  and to an adjacent auger flight  141 ,  143  or  145 . In this respect, each auger flight  141 ,  143  and  145  includes two revolutions in one spiral direction and an adjacent auger flight  142 ,  144  or  146  has two revolutions in an opposite spiral direction. In this way, fluent particular matter, such as sand, is caused to move to the center of each chute upper opening  38  at the top end of each chute upon forward rotation of the auger shaft  71 . 
     From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the multi bagging machine of the present invention has a number of advantages, some of which have been described above and others of which are inherent in the invention. Also, modifications can be made to the multi bagging machine without departing from the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is only to be limited as necessitated by the accompanying claims.