Improvements relating to the Drums of Thrashing Machines...
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Sept., 1393-Accepted, 28th Oct., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Drums of Thrashing Machines...
I, ALFRED ROBERT of 95 Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertaine.l
in and by the following statement :-
Thrashing machines bave, as principal organ, a drum, which in large machines
driven by steam is necessarily of large size and heavy, and should make about
1000 revolutions per minute.
The shaft of this drum rests in two bearings, often fixed directly on the wooden
frame of the machine.
The work of this drum is intermittent, and for this reason the mechanism is
subject to severe shocks, which strain considerably the bearings and the frame of
the machine.
When the machine is new, aut the drum well hung, it resists these shocks for a
time, & the bearings, work well, but a change takes place after the machine has
been working some time, when the wooden frame has lost its primitive rigidity, and
the replacement of the beaters has more or less thrown the drum out of adjustment..
The shocks in this case are constantly occurring, and greatly strain the frame.
The tightening of the holding bolts never gives to the frame its original solidity,
nor brings back each piece of the frame to the exact position it originally occupied.
The bearings of the drum, when solid with the frame, thus take up positions
which are not parallel with the shaft of the drum; they become hot by friction, and
require a much larger quantity of lubricating oil than is necessary, and numerous
other objections arise.
The application of spherical bearings to drums of these machines, which is the
object of this invention, overcomes the inconveniences above mentioned.
In the accompanying drawing I have represented, by way of example, the shaft
of a drum provided with a bearing of the improved system.
The spherical bearings are generally made in one piece, although they may be
made in two.
When made in one piece, they ought to be placed between two collars or
shoulders, as shown in the drawing, but I may replace the outer collar or shoulder
by a ring C, maintained in place by the pulleys which are placed near.
The bearings are recessed, at their lower part, to receive the head of a screw
pin E, of a diameter equal to the width of the recess, which prevents the block
turning round, but at the same time allows it to oscillate slightly, the recess having
a certain length in the sense parallel with the shaft, so as to permit a certain
amount of play on each side of the pin, which is screwed into the plummer block P.
It will be obvious that the pin E may be fitted into the bearing, to work in a recess
in the plummer block P, if desired.
On the drawing I have represented the bearing as provided with an antifriction
metal bush, a course which tends to economy, as the body of the bearing can then
be made of cheaper metal.
The plummer block P is hollowed out, so as to exactly receive the spherical
portion of the bearing. The block P is provided with a top block K, which is also
hollowed out to fit the rounded part of the bearing.
In the top block a wedge-shaped slot is formed to receive a tube from the
grease box T, which is fitted into the bearing. The slot is made in a sense parallel
with the shaft, and allows for the free rocking of the tube therein, according to
the movement of the bearing.

page_text: This arrangement ensures only the exact quantity of oil required passing to the
shaft, and waste is prevented.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The application to the drums of thrashing machines, of spherical bearings,
with a view to permit of the setting of the bearings in relation to the frame, as set
forth.
2. For the purpose of the application above mentioned, a spherical bearing
provided with a recess to receive a pin secured to the plummer block, which is
hollowed out to receive the bearing, the pin having a diameter equal to the width
of the recess, to prevent the rotary movement of the bearing, and the recess being
longer than its width, (length in the sense parallel to the shaft), to permit of the
canting of the bearing, according to requirements.
3. In spherical bearings for drums of thrashing machines as above described, the
arrangement of the recess in the plummer block and the pin in the bearing, as set
forth.
.
4. In the spherical bearings for the drums of tlirashing machines as above
specified, the arrangement of lubricator, consisting of a tube carrying the grease box
and passing through a slot of dimensions greater than the tube, so that the latter,
which is fitted to the bearing, may change its position with respect to the plummer
block, as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 19th day of September 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.