Improvements in or appertaining to Wool-sorting Tables, Winnowing Machines, Drying Machines, and the like, for Removing the Dust therefrom.
Year: 1898

page_text: Improvements in or appertaining to Wool-sorting Tables, Winnowing
Machines, Drying Machines, and the like, for Removing the Dust
therefrom.
I, WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE, of 12, Dale Street, Sowerby Bridge, in the County
of York, Milling Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object a device for collecting the dust from wool sorters
tables, winnowing machines, and the like. In wool sorting machines at the
present time there has been a small hopper about a foot square placed below the
grid emptying into a main from which a current of air is drawn by a fan, little
pockets below each table being placed to collect the heavier dust and the light
dust passing off by the fan. A good deal of medium dust however remains in the
main and the main, the pocket, and the table under the grid have to be cleaned
out by hand at intervals. This is an exceedingly dangerous work as the opera-
tive is liable to get wool sorters disease through this.
Now by my invention there is no deposit of any kind of dust. Instead of
having a small hopper in the centre of the grid I have a large hopper supporting
the grid the entire under surface of the grid opening into the hopper, secondly,
in place of having the little pockets to hold the heavier dirt I connect each
hopper by a shaft sloping or curved in the required direction so that the entire
dirt shall fall into the main and I place a very strong fan or propelling device
at the end of the main sufficiently powerful to extract even the heaviest of the
dust. This fan or propeller passes the dusty air into a tornado or other dust
separator (but preferably a tornado as having no filtering material to get satu-
rated with dust) and the dust falls into a sack at the bottom of the tornado and
can be carried away and burned in the sack. In applying my apparatus to
winnowing machines I so arrange the mains and use such a powerful fan that
the whole of the dust is carried away into the fan and passed into the tornado.
In this case however I may place the tornado between the winnowing machine
and the fan. In a similar manner my apparatus is applied to air drying
machines or any other machinery in which dust is evolved.
Doted the 15th 1
1000

page_text: Improvements in or appertaining to Wool-sorting Tables, Winnowing
Machines, Drying Machines, and the like, for Removing the Dust
therefrom.
I, WILLIAM SUTCLIFFE, of 12, Dale Street, Sowerby Bridge, in the County
of York, Milling Engineer, 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:·
-
This invention has for its object a device for collecting the dust from wool
sorters tables, willowing machines, and the like.
Wool sorting is one of the dangerous trades, as the dust is apt to contain
germs of anthrax, and these getting into the system produce a very fatal
disease. In order to avoid this, wool sorting tables have been formed with a
small grating and a pipe leading therefrom through a main, from which the
air has hitherto been extracted by fans producing a minus pressure of about half
an inch of water. This is quite sufficient to remove the dust from the mains
and the pockets in which the heavier dust is allowed to subside and which were
placed below the tables, and it was a very dangerous work cleaning out these
pockets and mains. Furthermore with willowing machines, and in the wool
opening departments, fans were placed in the windows or roof so as to draw
the air outwards. This was a very dangerous method, as the dust had all to pass
the men's faces on its way to the fan.
Now by my invention I use a high pressure fan or blowing engine, and conse-
quently do away with any necessity for pockets or for cleaning the main, as the
entire dust is swept at once to the fan. Further, the fan delivers into a tornado,
and the dust is delivered by the tornado into bags and can thus be carried away
and burned without being handled, the purified air only escaping into the atmos-
phere. Furthermore, instead of the small grids over a pipe hitherto in general
use I use a hopper extending under the entire table or grating, and form the
table of a large grating instead of using the sheet iron covers round the grate
hitherto in use. By this means no dust collects on the table. In the wool
opening department also I draw the air direct from gratings in the floor and
it being a powerful suction all the dust goes downwards and consequently the
men have not to breathe it. Lastly, by arranging the tornado on the plan set
forth in Patent, No. 217312 I can obtain a large quantity of wool which goes
out with the dust, quite purified from the dust.
The drawings set forth an actual plant erected by me for wool sorting, in
which,
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of part of a wool sorting room,
Fig. 2 a vertical diagram showing arrangement of tornado and fan, and
Fig. 3 a plan view of these.
In these A is the ground floor, B first floor, and C second floor, D D sorting
tables. E E smooth sheet iron table between each sorting table. FF hoppers
below the sorting table. G main air pipe into which these hoppers deliver.
HH carding engines. I a willowing or winnowing machine.
JJ grids
between each carding or willowing machine. K an air pipe. L L slides so as
to shut off admission to pipe K when the willowing machines or carding
machines on each side of the grid are not in use. Similar slides can be used with
the sorting tables if desirable. L' is a powerful fan of the Sturtevant type
which gives three or four inches of water pressure. Instead of a fan any other
powerful air pumping device giving sufficient suction can be used. M shaft
1

page_text: leading to the tornado. N the tornado. O hoppers for fine wool separated
by the tornado. P spout from the tornado to the dust chamber Q in which a
dust bag R is placed attached to the spout P. S is a pipe leading to the air
pipe K and from thence to the fan L and the tornado N. It will be seen that
the various pipes are all made with curves so as to avoid corners in which dust
could collect and the fan is made of sufficient power to prevent any dust collect-
ing anywhere. I have not shown the opening room where the bales or bags
of wool are opened, but it like the carding room has numerous grids in its floor
connected with the air pipes K or G. Similarly the driers are in like manner
connected with the air pipes G or K. Thus the very dangerous wool air drying
machines are made safe. In thus describing my invention I have mentioned
the tornado as the best dust separator known to me. It is obvious that other dust
separators however can be used, but as most of these depend upon filtering
material, and this gets saturated with dust and has to be cleaned from time to
time, it is much more preferable to use a tornado which being formed of smooth
metal sections and cylindrical retains little or no dust.
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 improvement in or appertaining to wool sorting tables, willowing
machines, wool air-drying machines, and the like, for removing dangerous dust
therefrom, which consists in placing beneath the sorting tables and in the floors
below between or around the willowing, carding, drying, or opening machines
grids with hoppers and pipes below arranged without pockets or collecting
corners and connected with a powerful air exhausting apparatus whereby all
the dust is drawn away from below and brought to one place.
2. In combination with the matter set forth in Claim One, a tornado or dust
collecting device delivering the dust into a bag so that it can be carried away
and burned without handling.
3. In connection with the apparatus set forth in Claim 1 a tornado or other
dust separating device taking all the dust and separating the wool therefrom,
delivering the wool into one or more hoppers and the dust into a bag or equiva-
lent device, substantially as described.
4. In connection with an air exhausting device sufficiently powerful to carry
all the dust away from all the sorting tables a large sorting table grid to each
sorter having a hopper beneath its entire extent and the space between these
sorting grids formed of smooth sheet iron marble or other smooth surface
whereby there is no surface at the sorting tables capable of holding dust but the
whole dust is carried away to one place.
ar
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.