Improvements in Apparatus for Mixing Granular or Pulverulent · Materials.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Mixing Granular or Pulverulent ·
Materials.
I, THOMAS HENRY MASSEY of Manchester Wire Works, Sherbourne Street,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, 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 :-
My invention relates to an improved construction of apparatus for mixing granular
or pulverulent materials, such as flour, gum, sugar, wheat grain, or other seeds,
crushed minerals, and the like, and it consists in the employment within a box,
receptacle, or hopper charged with such material, of one or more revolving screw
blades or worms, so arranged as to operate on the pulverulent material in opposition
to the action of gravity, so that as the material descends slowly through the box
or hopper to a discharge opening below, it is continually raised up and stirred by
the screw blades or worms so as to effect a perfect mixture of the particles before
issuing from the hopper at bottom. The said screw blades or worms may be arranged
and operated in various ways for the purposes of my invention, thus the receptacle or
hopper may contain only a single such worm of large dimensions so as to extend over
the greater part of the space in the hopper, with its axis either vertical or inclined,
the blade of the worm being made with holes or gaps at intervals apart, so that
after the material has been raised up a certain distance by the blade it will fall
through the holes or gaps on to a portion of the blade below, where the operation
will be repeated. Or there may be two or more such vertical or inclined worms
side by side in the hopper, and if they are a certain distance apart there may
also be one or more horizontal worms arranged transversely in the hopper at one
or more points of its height so as to act upon the material situated between the
vertical or inclined worms.
On the accompanying drawing I have shewn by way of example a construction of
mixing machine in which there are a series of four such before described worms
arranged side by side. Fig. 1 shews a vertical cross section and Fig. 2 a side
elevation partly in section. a is a receptacle hopper or box, which is by preference

page_text: made to taper towards the bottom in cross section, as shewn, but which may be
of any other desired form, within which is arranged a series of four worms c c
arranged to incline alternately from opposite sides of the hopper a, the lower ends
of the worm spindles being carried through the sides and driven by means of bevil
gearing from a shaft e; the upper ends of the worm spindles are carried by cross
bearers f. At the bottom of the box or hopper is a conveying worm which
conveys the mixed material as it arrives at the bottom of the hopper to any required
distance.
The worms being rotated in such a direction as to tend to raise the material
in the hopper, it will be seen that such material in descending slowly by gravity
will be subjected to a most effective mixing action before it arrives at the bottom.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. The use in apparatus for mixing granular or pulverulent materials, of one or
more worms or screw blades arranged in either a vertical or an inclined position
within a box or hopper into the upper end of which the material to be mixed is
charged and from the lower end of which it is discharged, the said worm or worms
being rotated in such a manner as to raise the material against the action of gravity,
substantially as herein described.
2. In apparatus for mixing granular or pulverulent materials such as is referred to
in the preceding claim, arranging two or more worms or screw blades side by side in
the mixing box or hopper, the said worms or screw blades being made to incline
alternately from opposite sides of the hopper, substantially as herein described with
reference to the drawing.
3. In apparatus for mixing granular or pulverulent materials such as is referred to
in the preceding claims, the use in combination with two or more vertical or inclined
mixing worms, of one or more horizontal mixing worms, substantially as and for the
purposes set forth.
" T
1000