Improvements in Apparatus for Intercepting and Removing Fibrous Material from Air Currents containing the same in Suspension.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 20th May, 1899
Improvements in Apparatus for Intercepting and Removing Fibrous
Material from Air Currents containing the same in Suspension.
I, SAMUEL CLELAND DAVIDSON, of Sirocco Engineering Works, Belfast, Ireland,
Merchant, 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: -
My invention has reference to apparatus for use more particularly in combination
with fans employed for ventilating factory work-rooms or machines wherein fibrous
material is hackled, spun, or otherwise so worked, that light fibres of the material
become suspended in the air along with the fine fibrous particles and dust, and
which fibres it is desirable to intercept and remove without letting them escape
and be lost in the ventilating air currents drawn out therefrom by the fans
employed for this purpose, or drawn into the fan, where they become entangled
with the blades and are liable to choke it up.
According to my invention, I construct, in and across the duct leading up into
or from the fan, a rectangular frame (hereinbefore called the drawer case) so as
to form a continuation section of said duct, and I fit the same with one or more
sliding frames operating as drawers (hereinafter called the fibre screens). These
fibre screens have grids, each of which has wires stretched and secured across same
at suitable intervals apart and in one direction only, and the grids are so arranged
in the fibre screens that the wires in one grid are at right angles to those in the
one in front or behind it relatively to the direction of the air current. The fibre
screens are made of a length equal to about double the width of the drawer case,
and can be slid through same from one side to the other, so that one half of the
screen is always outside of the drawer case. There is a central cross partition in the
fibre screen of greater depth than, and within, the openings in the drawer case
through which the fibre screen passes, so that when the screen is pushed through
the drawer case from one side to the other, said cross partition comes against and
closes the opening on the inner side, while at same time one of the outer ends
of the fibre screen, each of which is also of similar depth to that of the cross
partition, closes the opposite opening on the outer side. The fibre screen has
thus two compartments each of which is equal in area to that of the cross section
of the drawer case, and each compartment is fitted with either two or three grids,
one of which may be stationary and the other or others movable and preferably
hinged, and when three are used the middle one is stationary and the two outer ones
are hinged. These grids are placed at preferably 12 to 1 inch apart, and so arranged
that the wires of the one grid are at right angles to those of the other, whereby any
thread like fibre that may be drawn through the duct in the air passing to the fan
is liable to be caught on the wires of one or other of the grids. Then when these
grids become more or less choked with accumulation of this fibre, the fibre screen
is pushed through from one side to the other of the drawer case, whereby the choked
grids are brought outside the same and clean grids take their place. The fibre
covered grids are then cleaned of same, the hinged grid or grids being swung back
clear of the fixed one, when the fibre can be easily drawn off the parallel wires of

page_text: each, whereas were said wires interlaced through one another, as in ordinary wire
web, such as used in sieves, the fibre would be so entangled in the meshes that it
would require considerable time to disentangle and pick it out.
After the grids are cleaned of the fibre, the hinged grid is then re-secured
in position, and they are again ready to be pushed into operation within the
drawer case, when the other ones have become choked. The fibre thus saved
out of the air passing to the fan is more or less valuable, according to quality, as
a by-product.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is an elevation of an apparatus con-
structed according to my invention, the drawer case being shown in section.
Figure 2 is a cross-section through drawer case.
Figure 3 is a plan of the apparatus.
Figure 4 is a plan of an apparatus, showing hinged grids in both front and back
of fibre screen.
a is the drawer case, b is the sliding fibre screen fitted therein; this screen is
divided into two compartments by a central partition c. Each compartment is
fitted with a stationary grid d, and with one or more movable and preferably hinged
grids e. Across these grids, wires f are stretched and secured, the
wires of one grid being at right angles to those of the grid in front
of or behind it, relatively to the direction of the air current. The drawer case a
is constructed in and across the air-duct leading up to or into fan h.
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
1. The employment, in an air-duct leading to or from a fan of a frame or
drawer which can be slid through apertures on each side of said duct, at right
angles to its axis, said frame or drawer being fitted with grids or fibre screens con-
sisting of two or more screens constructed of parallel wires, which in one screen
are at right angles to those of the next adjoining screen or screens, said frame or
drawer being in length about double the width of the air-duct and having a central
cross-partition so that when said drawer is drawn fully to one side or other, the
duct is screened by one-half of the drawer, while the other half is outside, and can
then be cleaned, substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in the
accompanying drawings.
2. In drawers fitted with grids for fibre screens in accordance with Claim 1,
the employment of two or more screens or grids, one of which is stationary
relatively to the drawer while the other or others are hinged, substantially as
and for the purposes hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying
drawings.
3. The improved apparatus hereinbefore described and represented in the accom-
panying drawings for intercepting and removing fibrous material from air currents
containing same in suspension.
141 1
1 1000
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.