Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning, Drying, and Packing Down and similar Light Materials.
Year: 1891

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning, Drying, and Packing Down
and similar Light Materials.
I, JOHN EBENEZER BOUSFIELD, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., the
General Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a
communication to me by Semmy Oppenheimer and Louis Oppenheimer, trading
as S. H. Oppenheimer, of Hanover, in the Empire of Germany) 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 apparatus for cleaning and packing down and other
light materials, and it consists essentially in the employment of a peculiarly
constructed exhaust tube whereby, without stopping the action of the apparatus,
first the cleaning and then the packing of the stuffing materials is effected. By
allowing hot air to enter or to be sucked into the apparatus from without, this
apparatus can when required be easily applied to the purpose of drying the down
which is to be cleaned and packed.
Provision is moreover made in the construction of the above mentioned apparatus,
not only for bringing the stuffing material into a thoroughly separated condition
before it enters the apparatus but also for keeping it in its loose condition, by
means of stirring mechanism during the processes of cleaning and packing.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus for cleaning and packing down
constructed according to this invention :
Figures 2 and 3 are perspective views of the exhaust tube :
Figure 4 is a sectional view of a double acting apparatus provided with two
exhaust tubes, the section being taken on the line
Figure 5 which is a section on the line y y of
Figure 6 which is a plan of the apparatus.
of
In the arrangement illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, the case A for receiving the
material to be treated is provided with a filling hopper a in the interior of which
is placed a hand-operated stirring device to separate the material to be-introduced,
which often forms into lumps. When the material reaches the case A 'it is
further stirred by the mechanism c in the interior of the case, which mechanism
is in connection with the driving power. On the cover of the case A is mounted
an exhauster B, the exhaust tube of which penetrates a long way into the interior
of the box.
The opening Dat the side and close to the bottom of the case A, serves, when
the gauze cover is closed, as an inlet for air; when, however, the cover is opened.it
allows of the withdrawal of the heavier materials which are left after the
cleaning and packing are completed, such as impurities, feathers with shafts, &c.
The exhaust tube C which forms the connection between 'the exhauster B and
the interior of the case is tapered, as shewn, in order that no more material shall be
drawn up by the exhauster B than the blow out tube, which is also tapered, will
allow to pass.
At or in front of the mouth of the exhaust tube C is placed a gauze valve A which
can be turned from the outside by means of a rod g so that during the cleaning
process, when the cleaning valve is kept closed, air and dust, but no down can
escape from the case A, whereas when the cleaning is completed the apparatus,
when the gauze valve has been turned back, is at once ready to pack the down just
cleaned.
With the arrangement shewn in Figures 1 to 3 only one kind of down, 'for

page_text: example, white down can conveniently be packed, as in order to fill ticks with
grey down it would be necessary to completely empty the case to receive the
material.
F
By the use of the apparatus shewn in Figures 4 to 6 white and grey down can be
packed not only consecutively but simultaneously, without its being necessary
in either case to interrupt the working for the purpose of emptying the down
receptacle.
In order to accomplish this, two exhaust tubes C are employed opening into the
exhauster B and into separate compartments b and c into which the case A is
divided by means of a partition a, these exhaust tubes are provided with valves
operated in the manner hereinbefore described and allowing of the passage of air
and dust, each of the compartments is provided with a filling hopper d, d, and in
the interior of each hopper is placed a stirring device adapted to be worked by
hand for the purpose of separating the material to be packed. When the latter
has entered the case A, or the compartments b, c thereof, it is further acted upon
by the stirring mechanism which passes through both compartments and is
connected to the driving power.
The openings of the exhaust tubes C, C, which project into the interior of the
compartments b, c, are so constructed that they can be closed by the gauze
valves h, which can be turned by means of the rods i, i, so that during the cleaning
process, at which time the valves h, h lie closely over the openings of the exhaust
tubes C, C, air and dust, but no down from the case A or its compartments b, c, can
escape, whilst. when the cleaning process is completed, the apparatus is at once
made ready for packing the down just cleaned by turning back one or both of the
valves h, h.
By the division of the case A for the material into two compartments b and c,
and the employment of two exhaust tubes C, C, connected with one exhauster, each
of which tubes projects into one of the compartments, I can employ a single
exhauster for the packing of two different kinds of down, either separately or at the
same time.
The above described arrangements have an important bearing upon the manu-
facture of down quilts, if it is desired that the latter should be agreeably soft and
remain permanently tight, since the goods which come into the market as cleaned
down, and have hitherto been employed for the filling of down quilts are as a matter
of fact neither free from dust nor are the feathers with shafts completely eliminated
from them. These feathers with shafts or stems which exist among the down in the
samples found in commerce not only interfere with the softness of the quilts but
also cause them to become defective afterwards from the fact that they pierce the
covering of the quilt with their shafts, and give rise to small holes from which the
down subsequently escapes so that thereby the appearance of the quilts is detracted
from, and the purchasers are annoyed by the flying about of the down which has
escaped through the material of the quilts.
F
In the course of time also a loss takes place of a considerable part of the some-
what valuable filling material.
All these disadvantages, so important in the practical employment of down quilts
are most satisfactorily avoided by the subject of the foregoing invention, inasmuch
as by means, of it the down to be used for filling is first of all subjected to a
careful cleaning, with elimination of the feathers. with shafts, and can then be
at once packed by the same apparatus after changing the position of the gauze
valves.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I 'claim is:
1. A cleaning and packing apparatus for down and other light materials,
distinguished by the introduction of an exhausting suction tube into a case for the
reception of the material, which tube is provided with a cut-off arrangement

page_text: allowing the passage of air and dust, in such a way that after the cut-off arrange-
ment is closed the material in the chest is cleansed by the current of air and with-
drawal of the dust, whilst after the cut-off arrangement is opened, the material is
drawn up by the current of air and thereby packed; the material contained in the
case being continually kept in a loose condition during the process by means of
stirring mechanism and the heavier parts of the material remaining in the case,
substantially as herein before described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 of the
accompanying drawing.
2. An apparatus for cleaning and packing down and other light materials of the
kind described in Claim 1, but provided with two suction tubes each of which leads.
into one of the two compartments into which the case is divided, the openings of
which tubes are adapted to be closed by gauze valves allowing the passage of air
and dust for the purpose of allowing two different sorts of down to be operated on
either separately or at the same time, by the employment of a single exhauster,
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 4 to 6 of the
accompanying drawing.
3. The improved apparatuses herein before described and illustrated' in Figures 1
to:3 and Figures 4 to 6 respectively of the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 9th day of Julv 1891.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.