Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Oleaginous Seeds.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Aug., 1899-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Oleaginous Seeds.
I, ALEXANDER EUSTON, a Citizen of the United States, residing at Security
Building, City of St. Louis, State of Missouri, United States of America, Manu-
facturer, 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:-
Figure 1 is a conventional illustration of a system of plant used in practicing
my invention.
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view on line 2-2, Figure 1; and
Figure 3 is a similar view in side elevation, of the conveyors, both being on
an enlarged scale.
"
"
This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in apparatus for treat-
ing oleaginous seeds, for the production of oil and oil-cake (especially linseed oil
and linseed cake), the object being to construct and so arrange the apparatus that
the seeds are practically handled entirely by machinery from the time they are
crushed, until they are formed into the green-cake and ready for introduction
into the hydraulic presses, where the oil is extracted therefrom, and the final cake
is made. Of course, it will be understood that, after leaving this
final press,"
as I have called it, the edges of the cake are trimmed ready for shipment, and,
preparatory to consumption, these cakes may be ground, as is frequently done.
In the Specification to British Letters Patent No. 26849, granted to me
December 20, 1898, is shown an apparatus which practically answers the purposes
for which my present invention is designed to accomplish, with this exception,
that an open conveyor-belt is employed to conduct the dried seeds to the tem-
pering-kettle, and, while on this open conveyor, considerable heat is lost, and,
to a certain extent, the preparatory stage of drying is modified by the absorp-
tion of moisture from the air by the meal-contents of the seeds to an irregular
degree. My present invention contemplates the provision of enclosures for the
seeds from the time they are crushed, until they are placed in the final press for
the extraction of oil therefrom.
In the drawings, A indicates a conveyor into which seeds are placed to
be fed to the crushing mills indicated by the letter B. This conveyor, which is
an ordinary screw-conveyor, supplies these mills, of which there may be any
desired number, depending upon the capacity of the apparatus which subse-
quently treats the seeds, has its rear end open, for the obvious purpose of prevent-
ing the conveyor from choking and relieving the crushing mills from the
overflow. These crushing mills B operate substantially the same as described
in the Specification to British Letters Patent No. 28,206 granted to me 30th
November 1897.
When the seeds are crushed, they are discharged into a trough C, in which
trough is arranged a screw-conveyor D, for carrying the seeds into a drying
apparatus marked E. The details of this drying apparatus E are shown

page_text: re-
in the Specification to Letters Patent No. 26849 of 1898, before
ferred to, and the drying apparatus E in my present application operates
in substantially the same way, and accomplishes the same purpose, as that shown
and described in said patent. Instead of delivering the dried, crushed seeds into
an ordinary conveyor from this drying apparatus, as illustrated in said last-
named patent, however, now propose, and my present invention particularly
relates to the discharge of said dried, crushed seeds into a closed trough marked I'
in the drawings, which trough, as shown in Figure 2, is steam-jacketed, for the
purpose of maintaining a temperature therein higher than that of the external
atmosphere. In this closed trough is arranged a screw-conveyor G, whose spiral
is not continuous, but is broken to form a series of interrupted angled flights g,
which operate to feed the seeds onward by an intermittent motion, at the same
time, agitating said seeds by turning them over, and constantly forcing them
up into the open space above, where they are subjected to a preparatory treat-
ment of steam. In actual practice, trough F is not designed to be filled entirely
with seeds, but, for the purpose of illustration, we will say that the seeds occupy
substantially the lower half of the trough, the angled flights tossing the seeds
up into the space above, permitting them to fall again, until caught by the next
flight, and so on. This space in trough F is designed to be filled with low pres-
sure steam entering through a pipe, or pipes H, introduced into the upper portion
of the trough near the drying apparatus E, and so inclined as to give a direction
to the entering steam which is towards the rear, or discharge end of trough F.
As the seeds are tossed into this steam space, they are agitated and turned to such
an extent that caking is practically prohibited, and all sides of the seeds are sub-
jected to this steam treatment. The moisture in the steam is absorbed or taken
up by the meal-contents of the crushed seeds which were uniformly dried by the
drying apparatus E, in sufficient or desired quantity, and, as the supply of steam
to trough F is regulated, it follows that a uniform percentage of moisture is
absorbed by all of the crushed seeds, and their meal-contents, the excess steam
in trough being conducted off through a pipe H¹ located at the discharge end
of said trough.
After being treated in trough F, the crushed, and now moistened or tempered
seeds are discharged at the rear end thereof through an opening f, into a trough I,
in which latter trough is arranged a screw-conveyor J, which, for the purpose of
simplification and saving of space, is geared to the conveyor G, but which rotates
in an opposite direction from said conveyor G. Trough I is provided with open-
ings in its bottom, controlled by slides ', which openings discharge the seeds
from said trough into kettles K, where the temperature can be maintained, the
volume of seeds entering said kettles being regulated by the individual slides i¹.
The end of trough I, opposite that at which the seeds are introduced, is open to
a discharge-chute L, for the purpose of conducting off the overflow, which can
be again introduced into the tempering-kettles manually or otherwise, as the
seeds are ready to be initially pressed into the green-cake. By regulating the
amount of seeds fed to the crushing mills, there is no necessity for the provision
of these overflow-conduits at any place in the system, but, for precautionary
reasons, they are introduced wherever they are deemed desirable.
The kettles K, may be of any suitable type, such as that shewn in the Speci-
fication to Letters Patent No. 26849 of 1898 before referred to although, from
actual experience, I have found that the steam spray-pipes may be omitted, but
agitators should be employed for the purpose of preventing caking of the seeds
in these kettles. The kettles, therefore, may be said to be reservoirs, into which
the volume of seeds is received in readiness to supply the tempered meal to the
molding machines, the preferred form of which molding apparatus is shown
and described in the Specification to British Letters Patent No. 26850 granted to
me December 20, 1898. This apparatus presses the seeds into cake form known as
'green" cake, which are wrapped in cloth for the purpose of excluding the
atmosphere and preserving the shape and temperature of the cake when passed
66

page_text: to the hydraulic press, where it is subjected to pressure, for the extraction of the
oil therefrom.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The combination with a plurality of crushing mills, of a drier for receiving
the crushed seeds from said crushing mill, a steam-jacketed trough into which
the crushed seeds are discharged from said drier, an interrupted screw-conveyor
in said trough, and a steam pipe leading into said trough; substantially as
described.
2. The combination with a plurality of crushing mills, of a drier for receiving
the crushed seeds from said crushing mill, a steam-jacketed trough in which the
crushed seeds are discharged from said drier, a steam pipe nozzle entering said
trough at one end, a screw-conveyor arranged in said trough, which is inter-
rupted to form angled flights, a second trough for receiving the seeds from said
first mentioned trough, a screw conveyor in said second trough, and reservoirs
for receiving the seeds from said second trough; substantially as described.
3. The combination with a conveyor A, of a plurality of crushing mills B,
which are supplied by said conveyor, a trough C, arranged under said crushing
mills, and containing a conveyor D, a drier E for receiving the seeds from
trough C, a steam-jacketed trough F, for receiving the seeds from said drier, a
screw conveyor G, whose convolutions are interrupted to form angled flights g,
a steam nozzle H entering into trough G at one end, a trough I for receiving
the seeds from the discharge end of trough G, a screw conveyor J in trough I,
and reservoirs or tempering-kettles K, into which the seeds are discharged from
trough I; substantially as described.
30
1
1000
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London, for the Applicant.