Improvements in Centrifugal Machines for Separating Fluids of Different Densities.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Feb., 1896-Accepted, 4th Apr., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Centrifugal Machines for Separating Fluids of
Different Densities.
We, JOHN LAIDLAW of the Firm of Watson, Laidlaw & Co., of 98, Dundas
Street, South, in the County of the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Engineers,
and JAMES WRIGHT MACFARLANE, Manager of the said company, 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:-
Our invention relates to improvements in apparatus for separating fluids of
different specific gravities by centrifugal action, and is more particularly
applicable to the separation of cream from milk, and is a further development
of Patents Nos. 21744 A.D. 1892 and 8344 A.D. 1895 granted to me the said
John Laidlaw.
In these Patents we describe an apparatus for separating cream from milk
consisting of a drum of sufficient strength to resist the pressure due to centrifugal
force inside of which there is a liner containing chambers in the form of a nest of
holes. These holes were described in the first mentioned Patent as vertical or
inclined to the vertical, and in the second as horizontal and inclined to the
radius.
According to our present invention we propose to use a similar drum, but a
liner not only of simpler and cheaper construction, but one which will give greater
milk space, and it is the construction of this liner which constitutes our present
invention.
In carrying our invention into practice, by preference, we stamp out from sheets
of tin, copper, or other suitable metal, sectional plates so shaped that when they
are consolidated or joined together so as to form a complete liner; which is
effected by being placed in a bath of molten tin or other metal or alloy, or by
being bolted or otherwise connected, the passages or ducts for the milk in the liner
are curved to the radius, so that each passage or duct shall form a complete
involute curve and lie parallel to each other; or the plates may be placed one
upon the other and held together by the pressure of the drum cover or other
suitable means, and in order to obviate any difficulty in having the plates thus
arranged coming together in the exact manner necessary to leave the passage
between them, a thin disc or sheet of metal may be interposed between each
plate which will have the further advantage of subdividing the passages or ducts
and thus affording more surface in contact with the milk, which assists the removal
of the cream.
In order that our invention may be properly understood and readily carried into
effect we have hereunto appended an explanatory sheet of drawings which we will
now proceed to describe.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a centrifugal drum, shewing in part only the
passages or ducts hereinafter referred to.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on line V. W. Fig. 1.
Figure 3 is a section on line X. Y. of Figure 2 drawn to an enlarged scale.
Figure 4 is a section on line X. Y. of Figure 2 drawn to an enlarged scale and
showing a modification of the construction of the sectional plates.
Figure 5 is a section on.line X. Y. of Figure 2 drawn to an enlarged scale and
showing a further modification of the sectional plates.

page_text: Figures 6 and 7 are modifications of Figures 4 and 5 respectively.
A. is the drum and B is the liner, which as will be seen from Figure 3, is made
up of sectional plates C, C, which when sweated with tin or otherwise joined
together form the passages or ducts D, each constituting an involute curve, by
which the milk is divided into small quantities as already described with reference
to the Patents before referred to, but which, constituting no part of our present
invention, need not be herein further described. YY1 is the generating circle
from which the involutes are drawn. XY is a tangent to that circle intersecting
the involute curves at right angles.
Referring to Figures 4 and 5, E are the discs or sheets of metal which may be
interposed between the sectional plates C for the purposes already referred to.
Although these figures show the passages in the same relation as in Figure 3, it
will be seen that the sectional plates do not necessarily require to be placed
with grooves corresponding, so long as the disc is between them as in Figures 6
and 7.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In a centrifugal separator for separating fluids of different specific gravities,
the combination of a drum with a liner constructed of sectional plates so shaped
that when they are consolidated, connected, or pressed together, passages or ducts
are formed, and that the curve of such passages or ducts shall be an involute,
substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and illustrated on the
accompanying sheet of drawings.
2. In a centrifugal separator for separating fluids of different specific gravities,
the combination of a drum with a liner constructed of sectional plates so shaped
that when they are consolidated, connected, or pressed together, passages or ducts
are formed, and that the curve of such passages or ducts shall be an involute, and
the employment of a plain disc or sheet interposed between the plates, substantially
as and for the purposes herein before described and illustrated on the accompanying
sheet of drawings.
Dated this 13th day of February 1896.
BOTTOMLEY & LIDDLE,
154, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, Applicant's Agents.