Scouring and Cleaning Machine for Confectionery, Grain, and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 30th Oct., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 30th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 8th Dec., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Scouring and Cleaning Machine for Confectionery, Grain, and
the like.
I, GABRIEL CARLSON, Mechanic, of 16 Fuller's Block, in the City of
Springfield, Hampden County, State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
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 has for its object, an improved scouring and cleaning machine,
especially designed for scouring and cleaning candies, confections and other
comparatively soft or yielding materials, but which is also capable of general
application, for scouring and cleaning many other kinds of materials, such as grain,
peas or beans.
It is known that candies and confections are moulded and dried in a body of
starch or other similar finely divided dry material. After the candies have been
moulded and dried, they are separated from the starch, and the trays and moulding
material are used over and over again. The candies and confections being of a
plastic nature, and often having a rough external surface, difficulty is always
experienced in entirely removing therefrom the powder in which they were moulded
and dried. The scouring and cleaning of candies and confections has generally
been done by hand, which is a slow and tedious process, requiring a large amount
of manual labour. Moreover, in brushing by hand, the work is seldom perfectly
done. More or less of the powder is left adhering to the candies. The hand
brushes quickly become loaded, so as to be incapable of good work, and more or
less of the fine powder dust stirred up, by the hand action, settles again on the
candies.
My invention, has for its object to overcome these difficulties and to enable the
work to be more thoroughly done and at a comparatively small cost.
In the accompanying drawings, I have shown a machine embodying the
preferred form of my invention. In the several figures like letters refer to the
same parts.
Fig. 1 is a plan of the machine, with some parts broken away.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section, ou the line X'X' of Fig. 1, and
Fig. 3 is a view, partly in rear elevation, and partly in section, on the line X'X'
of Fig. 2.
In a suitable oblong case, composed of the frame pieces a, bottom board a', end
boards a' as, side boards at, and top board or deck a', is suspended by hangers b, &
sieve frame b, free to shake longitudinally. This motion is imparted from a
shaft 63, journalled in bearing-blocks and provided with a pair of eccentrics 65,
the straps 6 of which have rods b', attached to the side bars of the sieve frame,
through lugs 68, with jam-nuts 6º, on the opposite sides of the lugs be.
The shaft b³

page_text: is rotated, a strap working a pulley 60. By this eccentric motion, the sieve
frame 62, receives a reciprocating motion lengthwise of the frame and the sieve.
The hangers support the sieve frame in an attitude inclined from its receiving
to its delivery end; and the rear end a' of the case, is cut away, as shown at a to
permit the outward passage of the delivery end of the sieve frame b².
At the head of the sieve frame 62 there is a forwardly projecting portion 6"
holding an inclined separating sieve c. el is an angular divider which directs
material towards each side. is a supply hopper over the sieve c. Transverse
pieces e, below the sieve c extend out through the side walls the parts projecting
on the left carrying a board c, and the parts projecting on the right carrying a
catch box under them with a number of rods e forming a screen top to the box.
The parts c³, c, co form a transverse track for the trays c; there being openings a'
through the sides of the case to permit the trays to pass. When contents of the
trays are discharged into the hopper e, the trays are placed on c³ and c, and are
pushed through, one after another, under the sieve c. Each tray when filled from
the sieve c is pushed out, onto c and c, where the powder which it contains may
be levelled off by a striker the tray being then removed. The material struck off
falls into the catch-box cf. 12 are guide boards under the sieve c, for insuring
delivery into the trays c'. The parts of the machine above described are known
and I make no claim in respect of them.
According to my present invention, I secure to the sieve frame b³, a concave
sieve d, composed of wire net or perforated sheet. Under the sieve, I arrange
brushes d', with their bristles d' extending up through the meshes or holes of the
sieve. These brushes d' d' are carried on segmental cross bars d³, and the brushes
are in such number and so near to each other that their bristles, which project
upward and inward radially, through the meshes or holes of the sieve form a
continuous brush surface. Thus the bearing or active surface of the sieve, is faced
with brush bristles, so close together that the candies or other materials do not
reach the metallic surface of the sieve d. The segments d', on which the brush
heads d rest, are preferably stepped, as shown at d, the bristles d³, which project
through the sieve being thus correspondingly stepped, as shown at d. This stepped
arrangement might be effected in other ways as for example, by making the bristles
of some of the brushes longer than those of others.
The parts & and d form a brush-lined sieve.
To adjustable cross bars, I pivot a sweeping or rocking brush its head f¹ being
hollow and holding the bristles f. The interior cavity f³ of this brush-head f¹ is
an air-chamber, the bottom of which is perforated with outlet holes for
discharging the air among the bristles, and thence on the candies or other materials
on the sieve. The air chamber f3 is supplied with air, under pressure, from a fan
or other blower f³, through a flexible tube f. The cross bars fare pivotted, at
one end, to fixed bearing lugs f, and held, at the other end, by hand screws f³,
working in fixed lugs f. Thus the sweeping brush can be vertically adjusted,
relatively to the brush-lined sieve d d. The brush head f¹ has arms f10 at its
opposite ends, pivotted at 11 in the cross bars f and connected by links f¹³ to
crank arms f³ on a rotating shaft f, which is journalled in bearing f",
driven from the shaft, by a pulley 18, a belt f" a pulley f18 on a stud f",
journalled on a bracket 20, and a pair of bevil wheels 1. Thus the sweeping
brush ff receives a constant rocking motion, its bristles sweeping transversely
over the sieve brushes.
and
The fan shaft f journalled in bearings f" is driven from the shaft 6 by a b
belt connecting a pulley f" on the shaft 6 with a smaller pulley f" on the fan
shaft".
The perforations or air discharge passages f*, from the brush cavity ƒ³, are
preferably placed close to each other in quincuna arrangement throughout the
whole length of the wall of the brush, so that, a great number of fine air jets are 5
discharged among the bristles on the material being subjected to the brushing
action.

page_text: A divider directs such starch or the like as may pass through the sieve d,
partly toward the front end of the case and partly toward the rear into a removable
receptacle h'.
The action, of the apparatus may be understood from the description already
given but may be briefly described as follows. Pieces of candy and starch being
thrown into the hopper c, are delivered over the sieve c, onto the upper end and at
the side of the sieve d in which the candies are subjected repeatedly to the scouring
action of the bristles throughout the whole course of their travel, from the
receiving to the delivery end of the sieve, being at the same time, subjected to a
blast of air. Under the conjoint action of the brushes and the blast, the starch is
loosened and removed from the candies, which are delivered, cleaned, from the
lower end of the sieve.
As the rocking brush f1f" has transverse motion and the sieve has longitudinal
motion the candies operated on are scoured in all directions, swept upwards on side
of the sieve, and rolling back to the middle and at the same time travelling
longitudinally being thus subjected repeatedly to the action of the brushes and the
blast of air. The brush steps d³ form breaks, which tend to prevent the candies
from being carried too far up, by the brush f¹ f'. They also cause more
interlacing of the two sets of bristles where each step occurs thereby rendering
the scouring more effective.
The passage of the brush bristles through the sieve bristles and the air blast also
keep the said brushes and sieve clean.
By this apparatus the candies are rapidly. scoured and never bruised, mashed or
mutilated-never coming in contact with the metallic surface of the sieve d but
being scoured and cleaned entirely on the yielding surface of the sieve bristles
which are held by the perforations or meshes of the sieve and supported against the
action of the rocking brush.
Besides candies and confections other kinds of materials such as can be passed
over the brush lined sieve may obviously be scoured and cleaned in the manner
described.
A brush lined sieve such as I have described, as I believe for the first time,
would be a material advantage, in cleaning candies and the like by hand, as the
brush lined sieve could be held and agitated with one hand, while a hand brush.
could be worked with the other hand.
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. A perforated or network sieve having brush filaments or bristles projecting
through the meshes or perforations to constitute the bearing surface of the sieve,
substantially as described.
2. The combination of a reciprocating brush and a brush lined sieve, substantially
as described.
3. A reciprocating brush having a hollow head supplied with air under
pressure, and perforations for discharge of the air from among the filaments
of the brush on the materials being subjected to the brushing action, substantially
as described.
4. The combination of the transversely sweeping brush, and the longitudinally
shaking brush lined sieve having some of its bristles projecting farther than others,
forming steps or breaks in the brush lined surface, substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
Dated this 30th day of October 1894
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for Applicant.