Improvements in Machines for Separating Metal Chips or Shavings from Screws or other Articles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 11th July, 1899-Accepted, 19th Aug., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Separating Metal Chips or Shavings
from Screws or other Articles.
I, HORACE KIMBALL JONES, of 35, Spring Street, City of Hartford, County of
Hartford and State of Connecticut, U.S.A., Superintendent for the Russell &
Erwin Manufacturing Co., of New Britain, Connecticut, U.S.A., do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 relates to improvements in machines for separating metal chips,
shavings, sawdust or other matter from screws rivets, nails or other articles and
the main objects of my improvement are simplicity and economy in construction
and convenience and efficiency in operation.
In the accompanying drawings-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my machine.
Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical section of a portion of said
machine at the junction of the barrel and blower.
Figure 3 is a transverse section of the barrel.
Figure 4 is a plan view of a portion of said machine with the conductor con-
nection in alignment with the barrel and chip conductor.
Figure 5 is a like view of the same with the loader in alignment with the
barrel.
Figure 6 is an end view of the conductor connection and loader, the barrel
being removed and the chip conductor being omitted.
Figure 7 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Figs. 4 and 5 with the loader
tilted for discharging its load into the barrel, and
Figure 8 is a view of some screws and chips or shavings made therefrom.
The chips or shavings made from steel screws are long, curly and tough so.
that it is very difficult, if not impossible to separate them from the screws by
screening or sifting. It is also quite difficult to keep the chips or shavings
separate from the screws during the process of manufacture.
In making screws, rivets, nails and other articles, I allow the chips or shavings
and screws or other articles to all fall into one receptacle and subsequently
separate the chips or shavings from the articles by means of the machine here-
inafter described.
A designates an ordinary fan-blower having a central air inlet 9, which I pro-
vide with guard wires 10 and with the swinging gate 11 for regulating the inflow
of air to increase or diminish the air blast as may be desired.
This gate in
the preferred form is operated by means of a sliding bar 12 connected to the
upper end of said gate and passing through a bracket 13, and I provide the said
bar 12 with stops 14 and 15 and intermediate notches 16 for engaging said

page_text: bracket whereby the gate may be set to cover more or less of the central inlet 9
as may be desired.
B designates an inclined barrel mounted to revolve with its periphery in suit-
able bearings 17, and preferably set at an angle of about fifteen degrees. The
barrel is open at both ends and is prevented from working downwardly in its
bearings by means of the collar 18 fixed on said barrel in contact with one of
the bearings. The barrel is provided with a driving pulley 19 for the application
of a belt from any suitable source. The interior of the barrel is provided with
longitudinal ribs 20 and its inner surface may be roughened in any proper
imanner as for example by circumferential grooves 21 Fig. 2. I also provide
the upper end of the barrel with an inwardly projecting flange 40 Fig. 5.
blower is so set relatively to the barrel as to deliver its air blast into the lower
end of said barrel, provision also being made for discharging the screws or other
articles from said lower end. I prefer to provide the blower with an air blast
connection 22 having a discharge opening or chute 23 and flange 24, the angle
or incline of the said flange being at a right angle to the axis of the barrel
whereby the end of the barrel may be set closely to said flange. The blower or
air blast connection 22. may if desired extend a short distance into the lower end
of the barrel as shown in Fig. 2.
The
The blower may be driven in any ordinary manner. Its driving pulley is on
the further side and consequently not shown in the drawing. A quantity of
mixed shavings and screws may be placed in the barrel and the barrel revolved.
The longitudinal ribs on the interior of the barel will carry up a quantity of
shavings and screws on one side of the barrel and then drop them, when they
will fall transversely to the barrel and more or less of the shavings or chips will
be taken by the air blast and carried out at the upper end of the barrel, the
screws and shavings not at first removed falling down to the lower side of the
barrel to a point nearer the lower end thereof. There being no shaft within
the barrel, the air blast is not obstructed and there is nothing to obstruct the
transverse movement of the material as it falls from the ribs. The screws or
the shavings or chips may be thus lifted and dropped repeatedly until all the
shavings or chips are blown out at the upper end of the barrel and the screws all
carried down through the lower end of the barrel and out at the discharge
chute 23 into any suitable receptacle that may be placed under said chute.
corrugated inner surface as made by the grooves 21 should extend to or nearly
to the upper end of the barrel. Its office is to retard the mixed screws and
shavings from sliding down in a body towards or through the lower end of the
barrel. This tendency to slide down is greatest when the mixed screws and
shavings are first thrown into the barrel. The grooves or corrugations will also
to a certain extent prevent the screws from rolling upwardly in the barrel
under the influence of the air blast but in case some of the screws should roll
up to the outer end of the barrel the inwardly projecting flange 40 forms a
sufficient shoulder or obstruction to effectually prevent the screws so rolling up
from being carried out with the chips or shavings. The air blast may be regu-
lated by the swinging gate 11 according to the character of the work to be done.
With a proper air blast the long, curly and tough shavings or chips produced in
making steel screws may be thus readily separated so as to leave the screws per-
fectly free from dirt, shavings or chips.
The
If only the blower and barrel are employed the shavings or chips will be
thrown out at the upper end of the barrel where they will fall upon the floor or
other receptacle but I prefer to employ a chip conductor and loader in connection
therewith, which I will now describe. C designates a conductor which is fixed
in the wall 25 and extended to any desired place. Its end is some distance
from the end of the barrel in order to give room for loading the barrel. A con-
ductor connection D or swinging conductor is mounted on a suitable frame 26.
to swing laterally on the shaft 27, said shaft being supported in suitable fixed
brackets 28. The conductor connection is preferably in the form of an elbow

page_text: and is of a length that will substantially fill the space between the upper end
of the barrel and the end of the conductor C so that when said connection is
in alignment with the barrel and conductor, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, there
is a continuous conductor for the chips leading from the upper end of the barrel
out through the wall 25. The frame 26 is also provided with a transverse
shaft 29 upon which I mount the tilting loader 30. A bracket 31 on the wall 25
is provided with stops 32 to limit the lateral swinging movement of the frame 26
and upon the side of the conductor connection D is a stop 23 to limit the tilting
movement of the loader in one direction. The loader 30 and its shaft 29 are
so mounted on the frame 26 that when the conductor connection D is moved
away from in front of the barrel as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the loader stands in
alignment with the barrel and with its shaft substantially horizontal. When
in this position the loader may be tilted as shown in Fig. 7, to discharge its
contents into the upper end of the barrel. The loader is then moved back out
from the mouth of the barrel until it strikes the stop 33. The swinging frame 26
is then moved into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4 to bring the conductor
connection into alignment with the barrel and conductor and the barrel started
to separate the screws and shavings as before described only the chips or shavings
now pass into the conductor connection and out through the conductor instead
of falling on the floor. When the parts are in the position shown in Figs. 1
and 4, and the barrel is being revolved to clean the screws the operator may
recharge the loader so that he may be ready to swing it into position and dis-
charge its contents into the barrel as soon as the screws before placed in the
barrel are cleaned.
It is apparent that in carrying out my invention some changes from the con-
struction herein shown and described may be made and I would therefore have
it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact form shown, but hold myself
at liberty to make such changes and alterations as may fairly come within the
spirit and scope of my invention.
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. In a machine for separating metal chips or shavings from screws or other
metal articles, the combination of a revolving barrel mounted in an inclined
position adapted to be loaded at its upper end and discharge the refuse at its
upper end, and the work at its lower end, with means within said barrel for
repeatedly lifting and dropping the material as it works down towards the lower
end, and means for sending an air blast through the said barrel upon the material
that is being so lifted and dropped, substantially as described.
2. The combination of a revolving tubular barrel mounted in an inclined
position, with an inwardly projecting flange at the upper end of said barrel and
ineans for sending an air blast through said barrel and out at its upper end,
substantially as described.
3. The combination of a revolving tubular barrel mounted in an inclined
position, with take up ribs on its inner face for lifting and throwing the work
and the roughened or corrugated surface to retard the sliding of the work towards
the lower end of the barrel, substantially as described.
4. The combination of an inclined revolving barrel, with means for sending
an air blast through said barrel from its lower end, the fixed conductor and a
swinging conductor connection for connecting and disconnecting the upper end
of said barrel and, fixed conductor, substantially as described.
5. The combination of an inclined revolving barrel, with means for sending
an air blast through said barrel from its lower end, the fixed conductor, the
swinging conductor connection and the tilting loader mounted to swing with
the conductor connection for bringing the conductor connection or the loader
into alignment with the barrel as may be desired, substantially as described.

page_text: 6. The combination of an inclined revolving barrel designed to be loaded from
its upper end with the tilting loader and means for swinging said loader into
and out of alignment with the said upper end of the barrel, substantially as
described.
Dated this 20th day of Tune 1900