AN IMPROVED BLAST DUST COLLECTOR
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM INCE, of Hayle Foundry Steam Mills, Hayle, in the County of
Cornwall, Foreman at the above Steam Flour Mills, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "AN IMPROVED BLAST DUST COLLECTOR" to be as follows:-
The apparatus consists of a vertical revolving drum, divided into any suitable
number of detachable sections covered with filtering flannel, and held in position
by levers and spiral springs or their equivalents, and thereby actuated by the
movement of the drum itself, the air chamber being underneath the apparatus.
The air makes its escape through the frame of each section into each chainber of
flannel, and thence through the meshes of the filter, being then at large, leaving
the dust behind.
At a certain point in the apparatus a section is provided for cleaning each
section of the filters consecutively. At this point also a hopper is fixed for the
reception of the dust falling from the section undergoing the cleaning operation.
The cleaning is effected by the movement of the drum, each section coming in turn
over the hopper described, and in so doing the compression of the arm lever
attached to the filter is caused by an are segment arranged so as to release the
arm lever at a given point. Immediately the lever is released the spiral spring
brings up the section of flannel to its normal position. At the same time a sudden
jar takes place, which is the means of shaking off the section all the dust into the
receiving hopper.
The machine has no external covering over the filtering section when at work,
but only a partial covering over the cleaning section where the exhaust fan is
fixed. When the filtering area is passing the cleaning section the dust-laden air is
completely cut off and each section at this point is under the influence of the fan,
inasmuch as a small vacuum is formed in the section when under compression, but
immediately the section is jarred, the fan being double acting, an exhaust is at
once formed round the outside of the section, and all floating dust arising from the
operation is taken up by the fan, making the apparatus completely dustless in its
operation.
The apparatus is capable of collecting dust from any kind of machine and
different kinds of machines may blow into one collector, and yet each machine
creating the blast may be kept separate and distinct by the collector.

page_text: The dust arrester or collector can be used without the small fan, but I prefer the
fan being employed, at the same time it must be understood, the employment of
the fan is not absolutely necessary for the apparatus to accomplish its proper work,
as it will filter equally as much air without it and also the filters will keep quite
as clean. But its application is fully intended to ensure the taking up of the
escaping dust surrounding the cleaning section.
When connected to machines from which it is intended to collect the dust, the
dust-laden air is blown into the receiving air chamber at the bottom of the
apparatus; the air passes into the sections of the revolving drum in a continuous
uninterrupted course and continues so as long as a blast of air is created.. The
whole apparatus is automatically cleaned about every 1 to 2 minutes.

page_text: I, WILLIAM INCE, of Hayle Foundry Steam Mills, Hayle, in the County of
Cornwall, Foreman at the above Steam Flour Mills, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
The invention consists of a vertical revolving drum divided into any suitable
number of sections covered with filtering flannel, each section being held in
position by levers and springs or their equivalents. One novel feature in tho
machine is the construction and arrangement for working said levers and springs
for the cleaning operation, which is effected by the movement of the drum itself as
hereinafter described.
The air chamber for the reception of dust laden air to be filtered is situated
underneath the drum, and such air finds its way through the frame of each section
of such filtering area, whence it escapes through the meshes of the filter, and is then
at large, leaving the dust behind.
The drum carrying the filtering area has no external covering or obstruction,
thereby ensuring a free discharge of air.
One important feature of this machine is the simplicity of keeping the filter
clean, for which purpose at a point in the machine is provided a small hopper for
receiving the dust from the filters when undergoing cleaning. This cleaning is
effected by the rotation of the drum bringing each section in succession over the
hopper above mentioned, from which the dust laden air is excluded, and at this
point a depression of the lever carrying the section takes place, and consequently
of the filtering section itself, which lever upon being released is brought back to its
normal position by the exertion of the spring, thereby giving a sudden jar to the
section, and so shaking off the flannel all dust into the hopper above mentioned,
whence it passes through the discharge spout.
The sudden shake imparted to the section of flannel during cleaning as above
described, gives rise to a certain amount of fine dust outside the flannel; and in
order to overcome the waste that would take place if allowed to escape into the
atmosphere, I fix a dust collecting chamber in front of the point where the cleaning
is effected, and by employing a small exhaust all the floating dust is taken up and
returned to the machine to be refiltered.
The machine is capable of collecting dust from any number or kind of dust
creating machines, and also of keeping the dust laden air from each machine
blowing into the collector, separate and distinct.
In order to enable my improvements to be better understood, I will proceed to
describe the same by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1
represents a vertical section of the machine, and Fig. 2, a plan view of same, the
right hand side being shown in section.
The drum A consists of a central vertical shaft B suitably mounted to revolve in
top and bottom bearings, and driven by any suitable gearing as shown. This
shaft B is provided with a top centre or support C open in the middle, and a
bottom centre or support D which is entirely closed. The top support C carries

page_text: a number of radiating arms E corresponding to the number of filtering sections of
which the drum is composed, the outer end of such arms being connected to
vertical uprights F which extend down to the bottom of support D, where they
are connected to a ring G. The latter is connected to the bottom support D by
radial arins H situated centrally between the top radial arms E but in a lower
horizontal plane, thus completing the skeleton frame of the drum. The filtering
sections A1, A2, A³, etc., each consist of an open bottom frame I in the form of a
segment, to which the flannel or other suitable filtering fabric J is secured, and
extends upwards to a top frame K also in the form of a segment, but being full so
as to close the top of the filtering section or pocket thus formed. The bottom
frame I is placed so as to rest upon two of the lower arms H to which it is secured,
the open space of such frame being thus over the space between the lower arms H
in question. Through the top arm E occupying an intermediate position between
these two lower arms H, a hole is bored for the passage of a vertical rod L secured
to the top frame K of the filtering section or pocket.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section through three of the filtering sections or pockets
showing how the top frame K is supported, and the arrangement for imparting a
shake to the filtering section being cleaned. Between the top arms E plates M
extend, and are provided with a bracket forming the support for a small shaft N,
carrying a bell crank lever, the arm O¹ of which extends upwards in a slanting
direction, while the arm 02 extends horizontally and is pivoted to the upper end of
the vertical rod L secured to the top frame K. of the filtering section. The shaft N
is also provided with an arm or lever P extending downwards and connected by a
spring to the side of arm E, thus normally maintaining the parts in the positions
shown in sections A¹ and A³, Fig. 3. A roller R is supported in a fixed bracket so
as to be in the path of the arms O¹ of the bell crank levers as the drum is rotated,
whereby when such roller comes in contact therewith, it will depress same and so
force down the top frame K of the filtering section, against the action of spring Q,
and slacken the flannel sides of same, as shown at A2, Fig. 3. As soon as the
arm O¹ clears the roller R, the spring Qwill again cause the parts to return to
their normal positions, thus shaking the flannel sides of the filtering section. If
desired a quadrant shaped piece or other fixed stop or abutment may be used to
depress the arm O¹, instead of the roller R above described.
The drum A is mounted to revolve over an air chamber S, into which the dust
laden air to be filtered is introduced at any suitable point, as shown at S¹, an air-
tight joint being ensured between their meeting edges by providing the ring G
with an inclined surface to bear on a ring of packing T supported on the
correspondingly inclined surface of a ring U mounted on top of the chamber S, and
pressed inwards by a spring band V secured to the side of such chamber. The top
of the air chamber S is open, as above stated, except at the point where it is
desired to effect the cleaning of the filtering sections as they are brought in
succession over such point by the rotation of the drum. At this point a segmental
platform W is arranged in a horizontal position, on a level to allow the lower
armus H of the drum to just pass over same, and extending from the outer wall of
the air chamber S, slightly nearer to the centre shaft B than the position occupied
by the inner side of the filtering pockets or sections, and being of sufficient width
to cover the lower opening of two or more sections at the same time, whereby as
each section arrives in succession over the platform W, it will be cut off from the
air chamber S, and consequently the dust laden air cannot pass into such section,
while the passage for the dust laden air will still be open through all those filtering
sections the bottom opening of which is not closed by the platform W. In the
middle of the width of the platform Wa hopper X is formed, and terminates in a
spout or shoot X¹, passing through the bottom of the air chamber S. The shaking
of the filtering section by the depression and release of arın 01, as hereinbefore
described, occurs while the section being cleaned is over the hopper X, so that the
dust shaken from it will fall out of shoot X', as indicated by the straight arrows in
section A Fig. 1.

page_text: In order to collect the dust which, when the shake is imparted to the section
being cleaned, is thrown off from the outside of such section, I arrange a dust
collecting chamber Y, opposite the platform W, outside the air chamber S, and
extending from the bottom of such latter chamber to the top of the drum, the
vertical uprights F of the drum being just able to clear the inner side of such
chamber as the drum revolves. The exhaust orifice of a suitable fan Z communi-
cates with this chamber, the exhaust openings a, a, therein, being preferably
arranged as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, so as to act equally on the opposite sides of a
filtering section, when over the hopper X, and an inverted V-shaped roof b being
placed over them, so as to arrest and direct downwards the greater portion of the
dust entering the collecting chamber from the outside of the section shaken. The
bottom of the collecting chamber is provided with a shoot or outlet c, for the
escape of the dust directed downwards towards it. The exhaust from the collecting
chamber will carry with it a certain portion of the light floating portions of dust,
and this together with the air will be returned through the delivery outlet z of the
fan Z, into the air chamber S, and again pass through the operative filtering
sections to be refiltered.
The lower arms H of the drum A are preferably provided with strips of rubber
or other suitable flexible air proof material, to bear upon the upper surface of
platform W while passing over the same, and so ensure as nearly an air-tight joint
as possible, but as probably a certain amount of dust laden air will find its way
between these arms and the platform, in order to prevent the same interfering with
the cleaning operation it is advisable to arrange an exhaust opening between the
fan and the hopper X in the platform W (as shown at d), and to provide such
opening with a flap valve d' acting automatically, so that it will only open the
exhaust to the fan under the compression of the air within the section being
cleaned, due to the slight collapse of such section when the arm O¹ is depressed as
before described, the valve closing again automatically the moment such depression
ceases, whereby any air which may so find its way between arms H and the
platform W, will be drawn off before the shake is imparted to the filtering section
being cleaned, and be returned by the fan to the air chamber S.
The shaft B is preferably provided with a sweeping arm e at its lower end within
the air chamber S, for the purpose of sweeping any dust which may be deposited
by the dust laden air on the bottom of such chamber, out of an aperture arranged
at any suitable point in the latter.
When it is desired to keep the air to be filtered from several machines separate,
the air chamber S is divided by radial partitions into sections, to each of which the
air from one of the machines is delivered.
The curved arrows show the course taken by the air, and the straight arrows the
course taken by the dust removed therefrom.
The drum A is caused to revolve at such a speed that the whole of the filtering
sections will be cleaned every one and one-half to two minutes, when the machine
is in operation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
In apparatus for filtering dust laden air,
1. A vertical revolving drum composed of any suitable number of filtering
sections, beld in position in a skeleton frame, and rotated over a chamber to which
the air to be filtered is supplied, each section being open at bottom to such air
chamber, except at a point in their rotation where they are cut off from such
chamber for the purpose of cleaning the sections in succession, all substantially as
described,
2. Supporting the filtering sections of the drum by means of the levers and
springs substantially as described, and causing each section in succession to collapse
and then resume its normal position while cut off from the chamber to which the

page_text: dust laden air is supplied, for the purpose of removing the dust deposited on the
walls of such sections from the air passing through the meshes of the flannel or
other filtering fabric of which the walls or sides of such sections are composed.
3. The use of a dust collecting chamber applied to that part of the apparatus
opposite where the sections being cleaned are cut off from the chamber to which
the dust laden air is supplied, for the purpose of collecting the dust thrown off
from the outside of the filtering section being cleaned when its walls are shaken, a
fan being provided for creating an exhaust in such collecting chamber and returning
any dust which may be carried off by the exhaust to the air chamber to be
refiltered, all substantially as described.