Improvements in or appertaining to Machines for Separating Dust or like Particles from Air or other Gases.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Dec., 1889,
Complete Specification Left, 12th Sept., 1890-Accepted, 6th Dec., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
ง
Improvements in or appertaining to Machines for Separating Dust
or like Particles from Air or other Gases.
I, PIETER VAN GELDER of 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 an improvement on that class of dust collectors
known as vortex machines, in which the air passes into a chamber in such manner as
to revolve rapidly therein and deposit the dust in a quiet portion thereof. This type
of machine is well set forth in expired patent No. 6873 of 1884, only in place of
having the spiral chambers inside the main one, I extend the spout A set forth in said
Specification only a short distance into the chamber and do away with all the other
apparatus set forth in the drawings described therein except the simple walls and
cover of the chamber and the exit pipe g which I increase somewhat in diameter and
cause to dip down to about the bottom of the cylindrical portion of the chamber.
I however improve upon this plan in a variety of ways. 1. The cylindrical portion
of the chamber I form with corrugated sides. 2. I cause the exit pipe y to end a
little above the top plate of the cylindrical portion and place another funnel above
this and another cylindrical portion with corrugated sides above that again. This
second conical portion ends in a small gutter outside the central orifice, or the lower
cylindrical portion and the bottom of this gutter is caused to revolve and pass below
a scraper whereby the material falling on to the gutter is scraped into a worm passage
below and is drawn out by a worm. I also place on the upper cylindrical portion an
exit tangential to the cylinder and connect this with an exhausting device such as a
fan.
I also place in the narrow part of the exit tube from the lower cylindrical
portion a vane and a central shaft passing up through the top of the cylindrical
portion. This shaft drives other vanes in the upper conical portion and this increases
very greatly the motion of the air in that part. The upper shaft, the revolving
gutter bottom, the worm taking the dust from this, and a worm taking the dust from
the bottom of the lower cone can all be run by gearing from a vertical shaft driven
from the central shaft. This latter being driven by the vanes in the central sleeve or
orifice from the lower cylindrical portion. In place of corrugations of course their
mechanical equivalents embayments can be used. The position of the vanes on the
shaft can be regulated as desired.
Dated this 11th day of December 1889.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to Machines for Separating Dust
or like Particles from Air or other Gases.
I, PIETER VAN GELDER of 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 an improvement on that class of dust collectors 5
known as vortex machines, in which the air passes into a chamber in such manner as
to revolve rapidly therein and deposit the dust in a quiet portion thereof. This type
of machine is well set forth in the Specification of expired Patent No. 6873 of 1884
granted to William Robert Lake and in the Specification of Letters Patent 9428
of 1886 granted to Henry Harris Lake. I adopt the general form of expired patent
No. 6873 of 1884, only, in place of having the spiral chambers inside the main
do not extend the spout A, set forth in said Specification, into the chamber except to the
rudimentary extent hereinafter set forth, and I do away with all the other internal
apparatus set forth in the drawings of said Specification, except the simple walls and
cover of the chamber.
Referring to the drawings:-
one,
Figure 1 is a vertical section of my improved apparatus, the entirety of which,
except the tangential entrance and exit spout, is preferably circular in section.
Figure 2 a horizontal section on zy.
Figure 3 a horizontal section on to r.
Figure 4 a figure of hand hole for setting the shutter of the entrance B.
In these,
A is a cylinder formed of vertically corrugated iron and having a wooden top, with
a large hole in the centre as hereafter described. B is a tangential opening into
cylinder A into which the air, to be purified, passes. The inner wall of this opening
This is formed of sheet iron or other
extends into the cylinder A as shutter S.
*suitable material and is bent at any required angle. By this means the area of
entrance can be adjusted to suit the volume of air being operated upon, a hand
opening covered by a lid, Figure 4, being placed in the roof of chamber A for this
purpose. If, for any given load of air the machine is not working well, the shutter
is gradually turned to a different angle until by the absence of dust in the effluent
For a fair load for the machine
air it is seen that the right angle has been arrived at.
I find the position and relative dimensions shown in the drawings are best, the opening
in the line of the shutter being then equal to the cross sectional area of the entrance
spout. C is a conical continuation of cylinder A, but formed preferably of smooth
plates of sheet iron. D is an exit for dust which can be provided with any suitable
valve or spout arrangement, whereby the dust, as it accumulates, shall be relieved
and yet the air cannot pass in any large quantity, but I prefer it left open entirely
without a valve. E is a second cone of smooth sheet iron placed over the hole in the
centre of cylinder A, and F is a second cylinder of vertically corrugated metal,
superimposed on the cone E. G is the exit already mentioned. H is a small sheet
iron cylinder with tangential exit and wooden top, so as to prevent the air rushing
straight out upwards, but allowing it to continue unimpeded its rotary movement in
escaping when the air has to be directed to a particular place, and I is a deflecting
cone of tinned iron or other material. Neither of these two parts G and I ar
necessary parts of my invention.
In my Provisional Specification, I mentioned allowing the dust, from the uppe
cone E, to fall into a small gutter from which it was extracted by a scraper or worm
These Í have found somewhat beneficial in practice, but as they complicate the
machine and are of very little value, I have not shown them in the drawings and an
now making the machines without them, as for most purposes I consider they are

page_text: better omitted. i also mentioned, in the said Specification, connecting the exit with
a fan. In most places, however, the air is brought with considerable force to the
stive room, in such cases where this apparatus supersedes the stive room, the fans or
aspirating mechanism, that have hitherto been used, can be continued, and in this
case I require no exhaust fan. Where however the dusty air is brought to the
apparatus at very slight pressure, an exhaust fan is necessary, and can be arranged to
draw the air from the exit of H or to take the place of cylinder H. Furthermore, in
the Provisional Specification, I mentioned having a central shaft and driving vane in
the upper conical portion, this being employed to drive the worms.
This arrange
ment I have also used with effect, but, as the most generally useful form of my
apparatus, namely, that shown in the drawing, is without worms altogether, this
driving apparatus can also be omitted with advantage in most cases.
The mode of operating in my machine is this :-
The air entering by the tangential opening B into the cylinder A passes round this
cylinder at considerable speed, the dust flying off tangentially comes into the stiller
atmosphere of the concave corrugations and slides down these corrugations to the
cone C, continuing its passage down the smooth portion of the cone C to its exit at D;
the air, however, being unable to escape from the cone C or cylinder A in any other
manner, rises up into the cone E until it arrives in cylinder F. The whirling action
caused by the air entering the cylinder A tangentially at B continues to this point,
and what dust is left in it, being urged by its centrifugal force to the outside, passes
into the quiescent columns of space, formed by the interior convex corrugations,
which have usually about of an inch depth of concavity, the dust consequently falls
gradually down the channels of these corrugations to the cone, then slides down the
cone E to cylinder A where it enters the corrugations thereof, and from there slides
down through the bottom cone C to the opening D. The air, however, is unable to
escape from cylinder F in any other direction than through the opening G. Further-
more, through the centrifugal force caused by the rotary motion of the air in
cylinder F, the dust still remaining in the said air is chiefly in or near the circum-
ference, the central portion of the air being nearly or quite clear of dust. The air,
being unable to escape from cylinder F in any other direction than through opening G,
passes up through G (only the central or purer portion of the air passing). The air,
striking the cone I as it enters cylinder H is diverted outward and escapes by the
tangential opening J or a fan, if such be used, to the outer atmosphere. In regard
to cylinders F and A 1 have mentioned only corrugations because I have found that
it is cheaper and more convenient to make the cylinders A and F of corrugated
metal and further that corrugated metal answers admirably. It is obvious however
that other forms of embayments would fill the place of the corrugations. Further-
more, the corrugation can be continued, if desirable, down the cone, but this incurs
extra expense, and from my experiments I found it to be practically useless, if not
indeed positively prejudicial to do this.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. In machines for separating dust or like particles from air or other gases, the
combination of a cylinder or other round chamber having corrugations or embayments
in its periphery down which the dust can travel in a quiet atmosphere with an
entrance tangential to such round chamber and an exit for the dust at the bottom of
a cone or its equivalent below, and an exit for the air in the centre of the roof of the
chamber (without the addition of periorated walls or the like for forming the quiet
chambers, such as, for instance, set forth in expired patent No. 6873 of 1884).
2. The combination, with a vortex machine for separating dust, of a second and
somewhat similar machine above, into which the air from the said first vortex
machine enters and in which it deposits on the vortex principle a further quantity of
dust.
3. The method of separating dust or like particles from air or other gases which

page_text: consists in giving the dusty air a strong rotary motion in a simple chamber having
quiet embayments at the periphery, past which the air rotates, allowing the dust to
descend in the quiet embayments to an exit below, and drawing off the air from above
near the centre line and repeating the operation on the escaping air as often as
requisite in a superimposed chamber or chambers.
4. The improvement in machines for separating dust or like particles from air or
other gases on the vortex principle, which consists in extending the entrance spout for
the dusty air a short distance into the vortex chamber on the inner side and making
the extension adjustable by hand whereby the machine can be adjusted to its load,
substantially as described.
11th do of Santamber 1890
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.