Improvements in or Appertaining to the Separation, Deposition, and Collection of Dust or other Suspended Matter from Air or the like.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 27th May, 1890-Accepted, 28th June, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Appertaining to the Separation, Deposition, and
Collection of Dust or other Suspended Matter from Air or the
like.
I, JAMES HIGGINBOTTOM of 32, Seel Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Milling Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to an improved method of or apparatus for separating,
depositing, and collecting the dust or other matter held in suspension in the air or
other gaseous fluid, more especially in those cases where such air or gas has been
previously employed for the purpose of separating the lighter from the heavier portion
of a granular, pulverulent, or other like material.
The special object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which shall supersede
the stive rooms or dust collectors such as are ordinarily employed in connection with
middlings purifiers, grain cleaning machines, etcetera. The invention, is, however,
applicable for use in connection with almost any kind of machine for separating or
purifying granular, pulverulent, or like material.
In carrying my invention into effect, I form a closed chamber of a suitable size
and provide it with one or more inlets and outlets for the air or gas to be operated
upon. such means of ingress and egress being preferably located at opposite points of
the chamber.
Within the chamber, between the points of ingress and egress, I place one or more,
preferably flat trays or diaphragms. These are placed either vertically or at any
suitable angle, but, by preference, in a horizontal or slightly inclined position. The
tray or each tray, if there be more than one, is provided with a series of short tapered
nozzles, which have their open bases turned towards the current of air under treat-
ment, and are distributed, preferably in a regular manner, and all over the surface of
the tray.
The mode of action of the apparatus is as follows:-
The air or gas with its suspended matter is caused to pass into, through, and out of
the chamber by means of a fan or other suitable exhausting or injecting apparatus.
On its passage through the chamber, the air or gas is obliged to pass through the
tapered nozzles aforesaid, and, in so doing, its speed is accelerated to a greater or less
extent according to the size or proportions of the nozzles. On issuing from the
narrower ends of the nozzles into the relatively slowly moving air in the adjacent
space, the air or gas undergoes a large amount of expansion or dispersion, which
reduces its sustaining power and causes it to deposit the whole or a portion of its
suspended matter upon the tray. If the air or gas still contain matter in suspension,
it may be again passed through one or more series of nozzles until the desired amount
of suspended matter has been eliminated.
The tray or trays may be either fixed or vibrating. In the former case, suitable
travelling brushes, scrapers, or other equivalent apparatus may be employed for
collecting and discharging the deposited matter. In the latter case, the vibration of
the tray or trays causes the deposited matter to travel to one or both ends or sides of
the tray, whence it may be discharged in any well known manner, either automatically
or otherwise. The edges of the tray are preferably connected in an air tight manner
with the sides of the chamber or their equivalent, and, when the tray is a vibrating
one, such connection may be made by a strip of flexible inaterial, such as canvas, cloth,
etcetera.
The nozzles are, by preference, inclined on all sides at any suitable angle, and these
sides may be either straight or curved. The exits, that is, the openings at the

page_text: narrow ends of the nozzles, may either be formed in their extreme ends or at the
side or sides, near the ends. The exits may, if desired, each be provided with a
deflecting hood, for the purpose of deflecting the currents towards the tray, and thus
assisting the deposition of suspended matter."
Any suitable arrangement of diaphragms, vanes, or baffle boards may be arranged-
within the chamber, with the object of controlling, guiding, or distributing the air or
gas in its passage through said chamber, and suitable valves or regulating devices
may be added, where necessary or desirable.
Dated this 24th day of July 1889
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Appertaining to the Separation, Deposition, and
Collection of Dust or other Suspended Matter from Air or the
like.
I, JAMES HIGGINBOTTOM of 32 Seel Street, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster,
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 relates to an improved method of or apparatus for separating,
depositing and collecting the dust or other matter held in suspension in the air or
other gaseous fluid, more especially in those cases where such air or gas has been
previously employed for the purpose of separating the lighter from the heavier portion
of a granular, pulverulent, or other like material.
In my patent specification No. 14711 of 1888, 1 described a tray provided with
numerous small conical or pyramidal orifices or nozzles and placed immediately
above the vibrating sieve of a separating, sieving or purifying machine. Since the
date of the above numbered application I have discovered that such a tray or series
of nozzles or orifices can also be adapted in a more general manner for the separa-
tion, deposition and collection of dust from dust-laden air, as for instance, in stive
rooms or other places where a column of dust laden air is in motion, it being employed
in such cases without a sieve or its equivalent.
Now the special object of the present invention is to construct an apparatus with
one or more such trays or series of nozzles or orifices, which shall supersede the stive
rooms or dust collectors such as are ordinarily employed in connection with middlings
purifiers, grain cleaning machines, etcetera. The invention is, however, applicable for
use in connection with almost any kind of machine for separating or purifying
granular, pulverulent, or like material.
The invention may be described as follows, reference being had to. the accom-
panying drawings, which show, by way of illustration only, two forms of stive room
apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention :-
Figures 1 and 2 are vertical section and sectional plan respectively of what may be
called the vertical type of the apparatus.
Figures 3 and 4 are similar views to the above, showing a horizontal type of the
apparatus.
Figure 5 is a transverse section, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the
apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 2, said section being taken as on a line at it,
Figure 1.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of the parts shown in Figure 5, taken as on
yy, Figure 2.
line
In carrying my invention into effect, I form a closed chamber A of a suitable size
and provide it with one or more inlets B and outlets C for the air or gas to be
operated upon, such means of ingress and egress being preferably located at opposite
points of the chamber as shown.
Within the chamber A, between the points of ingress and egress, I place one or

page_text: more, preferably flat trays or diaphragms D. These are placed either vertically, as
shown in Figures 1 and 2, or at any suitable angle, but, by preference, in a horizontal
or slightly inclined position, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The tray, or each tray if
there be more than one, is provided with a series of short tapered orifices or
nozzles E, which have their open bases F turned towards the current of air under
treatment, and are distributed, preferably in a regular manner and all over the
surface of the tray or diaphragin, as shown. In Figure 4, however, only a few of
the nozzle holes are shown in the tray, the nozzles which fit on these holes being
removed.
The mode of action of the apparatus is as follows:-
The air or gas with its suspended matter is caused to pass into, through, and out
of the chamber A by means of a fan or other suitable exhausting or injecting
apparatus (not shown). On its passage through the chamber the air or gas is obliged
to pass through the tapered nozzles E aforesaid, and in so doing its speed is accelerated
to a greater or less extent according to the size or proportions of the nozzles. On
issuing from the narrower ends G of the nozzles into the relatively slowly moving
air in the adjacent space L, the air or gas undergoes a large amount of expansion or
dispersion, which reduces its sustaining power and causes it to deposit the whole or
a portion of its suspended matter upon the tray or trays D when the latter is or are
placed in a horizontal or nearly horizontal position as shown in Figures 3 and 4, or
on a series of diaphragms or vanes K (hereinafter described) or on the bottom of
the chamber itself, when the trays or diaphragms D are placed vertically or nearly
so as in Figures 1 and 2. If the air or gas still contain matter in suspension, it may
be again passed through one or more series of nozzles until the desired amount of
suspended matter has been eliminated.
The tray or trays D) may be either fixed, as in Figures 1 and 2, or vibrating, as
in Figures 3 and 4. In the former case, suitable travelling brushes, scrapers or other
equivalent apparatus, such as one or more worms H, may be employed for collecting
and discharging the deposited matter. In the latter case, the tray or trays may be
vibrated in any suitable manner, as by the eccentric d (the suspension devices of the
trays not being shown) and the vibration causes the deposited matter to travel to one
or both ends or sides of the trays, whence it may be discharged in any well known
manner, either automatically or otherwise. For example, it may be caused to
travel by the vibration into the troughs whence it may be discharged through a
shute provided with an air-tight discharge door. A floor 2 is placed by
preference below the lower tray D and serves to catch any dust not passing
through the nozzles. The floor may vibrate with the trays and is similarly provided
with a discharge trough h.
The edges of the tray are preferably connected in an air tight manner with the
sides of the chamber or their equivalent, and, when the tray is a vibrating one,
as in Figures 3 and 4, such connections may be made by strips of flexible material I,
such as canvas, cloth, india rubber, leather, etcetera.
The nozzles E are, by preference, inclined on all sides at any suitable angle, and
these sides may be either straight or curved. The exits G, that is, the openings at
the narrow ends of the nozzles, may either be formed in their extreme ends or at
the side or sides, near the ends. The exits may, if desired, each be provided with a
deflecting hood J for the purpose of deflecting the currents towards the trays D or
towards the vanes K hereinafter described, and thus assisting the deposition of
suspended matter.
Any suitable arrangement of diaphragms, vanes or baffle boards, such, for example,
as those marked K, Figures 1, 2, 5 and 6, may be arranged within the chamber A,
with the object of controlling, guiding or distributing the air or gas in its passage
through said chamber, and suitable valves or regulating devices may be added,
where necessary or desirable. As shown in Figures 1, 2, 5 and 6, the vanes K may
take the form of inverted V-shaped troughs, which are placed immediately over their
respective nozzles E and extend, by preference, across almost the entire width of the
adjacent depositing space, as clearly shown on the drawing. The air currents entering

page_text: the nozzles are deflected downwards by the hoods J and impinge upon the upper
surfaces of the adjacent vánes K, whence they rise again and pass through the
opposite nozzles E, as clearly shown by the arrows on Figure 6. By this arrange-
ment, a very large depositing surface is offered to the dust laden air. The dust
deposited on the vanes slides off them by gravity, and falls into the worm box at
"the bottom of the chamber A. In some cases I may use the nozzles without the
curved hoods.
In the arrangement shown in Figures 1, 2, 5 and 6, the openings at the bases of
the nozzles are formed triangular to suit the shape of the vanes K. In the arrange-
ment shown in Figures 3 and 4, they are formed rectangular. The said openings
may, however, be of any suitable shape.
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 adaptation of one or more diaphragms or strata of nozzles or orifices,
substantially as described in my specification No. 14,711 of 1888, for the separation,
deposition and collection of dust from dust-laden air in stive rooms or other places
where a column of dust-laden air is in motion, such nozzles or orifices being used
without the sieve or its equivalent described in the aforesaid patent.
2. In an apparatus of the kind described, the combination with a series of short
tapered nozzles such as E, either with or without hoods, of a series of diaphragms,
vanes, or baffle boards such as K, so arranged with respect to said nozzles as to
guide and distribute the dust-laden air in its passage through the apparatus and
facilitate the deposition of the dust therein, substantially as described.
Dated this 23rd day of May 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, and London, Patent Agents.