Improvements in the Method of Sifting Coals and other Materials, and in Apparatus used therein.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 10th July, 1893-Accepted, 16th Sept., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of Sifting Coals and other Materials,
and in Apparatus used therein.
I, AUGUST HEGENER, of Kalk near Cologne, Hauptstrasse, Rhenish Prussia,
Germany, General Manager of the Maschinenbau-Anstalt Humboldt do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a new manner of sifting or separating and sorting coals,
minerals and other materials mechanically in such a manner that the coarse and
voluminous pieces will be removed out of the sieve first and then the finer pieces,
gradually according to their size and that each quality will be brought to its special
receptacle where it cannot be mixed up again with another sort of goods.
The object of the invention is to get the work done with the least amount of
power and so, that with coals for instance. the formation of dust and small pieces is
avoided as much as possible and that the feed of the unsorted material be done
continuously and the discharge of each sort of material separated be intermittent
and also that, notwithstanding this periodicity of the discharge, all the material fed
into the sifting apparatus shall be sorted as it is fed in. It is further my object to
discharge the sifted material, where required and where there is not sufficient height
at the disposal at the level of feed or even at a higher level or at any desired height
below the entry and the bottom of the apparatus employed.
For realizing the problem set forth, I use a rotary drum being divided by spirally
or concentrically arranged sieves in the same into so many series of riddles as there
are sorts or sizes of goods required, each separate riddle having its own discharge.
The coarsest one being placed in the center and allowing the finer goods to fall
through upon the next finer one surrounding it and so on to the outermost one, that
is the one of largest diameter, which is provided with perforated plates or wire
netting of the required finest pitch. A special feed cylinder being provided in face
of the central sieve discharging the goods received therein into the central rotary
sieve once at each revolution, but being itself capable of receiving goods
continually.
The goods brought upon the sieve from the feeding cylinder must be spread
thereon uniformly and in a thin layer, so that in one complete revolution at least
the separation is performed, means for spreading the goods in the said manner are
provided in the apparatus and provision is taken that the separated goods shall not
again be intermixed with finer material.
In order to be able to discharge the separated goods from each riddle or sieve
into a special receptacle the discharge openings must be arranged at the sides of
the apparatus and not on the circular circumference, and in order that the delivery
may be done for each sieve at any height between the bottom edge of the outer or
finest sieve and the top edge of the same or thereabouts, means must be provided
lifting up the separated goods, coming out of the discharge opening of the apparatus,
up to the required level.
Dated this 11th day of October 1892.
AUGUST HEGENER,
Per Karl J. Mayer,
Agent.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of Sifting Coals and other Materials,
and in Apparatus used therein.
I, AUGUST HEGENER of Kalk near Cologne, Hauptstrasse Rhenish Prussia,
Germany General Manager of the Maschinenbau-Anstalt Humboldt 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 a new manner of sifting or separating and sorting coals,
minerals and other materials mechanically in such a manner that the coarse and
voluminous pieces will be removed out of the sieve first and so that they make a
short way only, and then the finer pieces according to their size, and that each
quality will be brought to its special receptacle where it can not be mixed up again
with another sort of goods or where it will undergo another treatment.
The object of the invention is to get the work done with the least amount of
power and so that, with coals for instance, the formation of dust and small pieces is
avoided as much as possible and that the feed of the raw material be done
continuously and the discharge of each sort of material separated be intermittend
and also that notwithstanding this periodicity of the discharge all the material fed
into the sifting apparatus shall be sorted as it is fed in. It is further my object to
discharge the sifted material where required and where there is not sufficient height
at the disposal at the level of feed or even at a higher level or at any desired height
below the entry and the bottom of the apparatus employed.
For realizing the problem set forth, I use a rotary drum which is divided by
spirally or concentrically arranged sieves in the same into so many series of riddles
as there are sorts or sizes of goods required, each separate riddle having its own
discharge. The coarsest and raw material being fed into the central sieve, allowing
the finer goods to fall through upon the next finer one surrounding it and so on to
the outermost one, that is the one of largest diameter, which is provided with
perforated plates or wire netting of the required finest pitch. A special feed
cylinder being provided in the face of the central sieve, discharging the goods
received therein into the central rotary sieve once at each revolution, but being
itself capable of receiving goods continually.
The goods brought upon the sieve from the feeding cylinder must be spread
thereon uniformly and in a thin layer, so that in one complete revolution at least
the separation is done. Means for spreading the goods in the said manner are
provided in the apparatus and provision is made that the separated goods shall not
again be intermixed with finer material. In order to be able to discharge the
separated goods from each riddle or sieve into a special receptacle the discharge
openings must be arranged at the sides of the apparatus and not on the circum-
ference, and in order that the delivery may be done for each sieve at any height
between the bottom edge of the outer or finest sieve and the top edge of the same
or thereabouts, ineans must be provided lifting up the separated goods coming out
of the discharge opening of the apparatus up to the required level. I carry out
the process so described by means of the rotary sieve or screen shown in the
accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a general side view of a complete sifting apparatus ;
Figure 2 is a front view of the same;
Figure 3 is a part of the plan of this arrangement;
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the screen;
Figure 5 is a front view of Figure 4 seen from the left side;
Figure 6 is a section along line II II of Figure 4:

page_text: Figure 7 is a side view seen from the right of Fig. 4;
Figure 8 is a front view of a rotary sifting apparatus with lifting scoops arranged
at the ends of the screens ;
Figure 9 is a side view of the same;
Figure 10 and 11 show the arrangement of the screw shaped scoop for carrying
the material from the screen into the lifting scoops.
The spiral rotary sieve consists of a strong shaft 1,which is carried in bearings 2
and which receives motion by means of a spur wheel 3 into which gears a pinion
not seen on the drawing, upon a first motion shaft 4 having a driving pulley 5 keyed
upon it. Upon the shaft I are keyed the discs 6 and to these are bolted the radial
arms 7 and 8 respectively of U iron, and to these again are bolted or rivetted the
concentrical rings 9 of T iron and of angle iron 10 and 11 respectively, forming the
frame of the screen to which are then fixed the circular sieves 12 (a, b, c and d)
which may be of perforated plates or of wire netting, and the partial covering
plates 13. The innermost screen 12 a has the widest openings, the outermost one 12 d
has the finest meshes. At the left side of the screen is arranged the feed cylinder 14
and the slightly conical discharge cylinder 15 for the outermost screen, whereas
the inner screens have their discharge at the right side into shoots 17, 18 and 19
leading the material into the compartments 23, 24 and 25 or into machines for
further treatment. Now the material to be screened, is fed into the cylinder 14 by
any suitable device, an inclined plane or shoot for instance, leading away from a.
collecting table situated higher up than the cylinder 14 itself. In the inner
circumference of this cylinder is fitted a screw shaped channel or shoot 20-(two
may be arranged)-of U shape or half round section forming a sort of a scoop and
lifting up the material whilst turning slowly round at every revolution and
discharging it into the first screen 12 a having holes of about 2 square inches.
Part of the fine material will fall through at once and by the slow rotary motion of
the screen the big pieces will roll in the screen and thus free themselves from all
adhering material of smaller size than 2 inches. A screw shaped guide plate 21
directs the material gradually into the channel or scoop 22, and distributes'
it evenly over the screen surface and the scoop discharges it into the com-
partment 23. All the material that was finer than 2 inches in the tube has
gone through on to the second screen 12 b, which has meshes of about 1 inch
in the square; the material that is finer than 1 inch in any direction will go
through directly and fall upon the third screen 12 c. By the rotation of the
aparatus the material is again rolled about and spread out upon the whole screen
and separated from the finest corns still mixed with the coarser pieces, which by
similar means as before, arranged in the screen 12 b, carry the material retained on
to the outlet and shoot 18. The same process is repeated on screen 12 c and finally
the goods come into the outermost annular space on to the screen 12 d, from which
the finest material falls straight through to the ground or into a receptacle and that
of larger size which is retained is transported towards the left side by similar
means as those on the other screens but in this case arranged in the other direction,
because the transport has to go towards the left side into the cylinder 15, whence
it is discharged into a compartment below.
The Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11 show the arrangement required in those cases where
the discharge of the separated material shall be effected at a place higher than the
lower side of each screen.
The screw shaped guide channels or scoops 26, 27 (Fig. 10 & 11) in this case are
formed into a regular circular tube at the end projecting out of the ends of the
screen as shown in Figs. 9 & 11, more or less according to the distance of the
receptacle, (23, 24, or 25) into which the contents are to be discharged. At the end
of those tubular scoops are placed receivers 28, 29, 30, 31 of helix shape or like
the shell of the nautilus and by means of these the material is raised and discharged
at any height and also at the right or left side of the shaft, according to the position
in which stands the mouth of the receiver with regard to the center or to the
circumference of the screen.

page_text: 1
It is not absolutely necessary that the screens be made of circular form;
they may be made of polygonal shape and in this case I prefer the octagonal
form.
The total arrangement and mounting of my spiral rotary screen will be under-
stood from Figures 1, 2 and 3 of Sheet one; 33 indicates the girderwork, upon
which the screen and its appurtenances are erected; 34 and 35 are water pipes
leading water into the troughs 36, 38, 39 for wetting and washing the material to
prevent dust; 40 (a, b, c & d) are the shoots which deliver the sorted goods from
their respective screens into the receptacles or washing machines 41 (a, b, c & d)
the shoots may be divided into two outlets at their end as shown.
The new rotary screen has the following advantages over other rotary and flat
screens or riddles hitherto in use.
The coarsest material is separated first and in that compartment where it can
make only a short way in the screen; the finer material can fall through the wide
sieves at once and need not be carried about in those.
By the use of the screw shaped scoops 20 there is always only a certain amount
of material raised on to the inner screen at each revolution and since with every
revolution also all the material that is brought on to the screens is also discharged
at each revolution, there can be no accumulation and the material is always spread
in thin layers on the sieves and it is therefore quickly and thoroughly sifted,
whereas in other drums such an accumulation takes place. The work therefore in
the new screen can be done with comparatively little power.
In consequence of the screw shaped scoops taking up only a little amount of
material this can be easily spread over the whole surface which again supports the
clean screening.
The machine permits working dry or with washing water; where found desirable
it may even be immersed in water.
It can be arranged for any number of classes or sizes of corn.
The delivery from the respective screens can be arranged at any side of the
machine and at a height above the feed table.
Another very important advantage of this screen is, that it forms the least amount
of fine material and dust because on each screen the material is divided in thin
layers and is dischargest in the shortest way always so that it has no opportunity
of crushing itself. On account of the working of the machine so that only coarse
material comes on the coarse sieves and fine corns only on to the fine screens the
wear and tear of the sieves is reduced to the lowest minimum possible.
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 method of sifting coals and other materials in such a manner that the
coarsest pieces make the shortest way in the machine and are separated and
discharged first and that the finer or smaller sizes or corns are allowed to pass on
to their respective sieves in the shortest way and that only pieces of such size are
brought on a sieve which correspond to its meshes and which are smaller than the
meshes of the preceding sieve.
2. The rotary multiple screen made according to the principles laid down in
the first claim and consisting of a series of concentrical circular sieves 12 a, 12 b,...
put one around the other and having each following smaller meshes than the
preceding one, the coarsest being of smallest diameter; each screen being provided
with screw shaped guide plates 21 for distributing the material thereon and leading
it into similarly shaped channels or scoops (22...) for discharging the respective
sizes into the corresponding receptacles 23, 24, 25.
3. The combination in a rotary screen as described of helix shaped receivers (28,
29.) with, their respective channels allowing to vary the height of the
discharge level and to discharge at either side of the shaft.
4. In combination with a rotary screen as described a feed cylinder 14. having

page_text: one or more screw shaped scoops 20 leading the material into the innermost of the
concentrical screens.
5. The combination of a discharge cylinder 15 with the outermost screen for
discharging the goods held back by the screen into its receptacle and in order to
have a regular and continuous discharge for this class of sorted material.
T... 1000
AUGUST HEGENER,
Per Karl J. Mayer,
Agent.