IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SCREENING OR SEPARATING INTO PIECES OF DIFFERENT SIZES COALS, MINERAL ORES, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Dickinson Thorp, of Leeds, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR SCREENING OR SEPARATING INTO PIECES OF DIFFERENT SIZES COALS,
MINERAL ORES, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Scaled the 14th October 1876, and dated the 20th April 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Dickinson Thorp at
"IMPROVEMENTS
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th April 1876.
JOSEPH DICKINSON THORP, of Leeds, in the County of York.
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SCREENING OR SEPARATING INTO PIECES OF
DIFFERENT SIZES COALS, MINERAL ORES, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES."
My Invention relates to machinery or apparatus used for the purpose of screening
coal or separating it into pieces of different size. It is also applicable to the purpose
of screening in the same way mineral ores, gravel, or other substances which it is
desired to divide into separate quantities, each quantity consisting of pieces of
similar or approximately similar size.
It has for its objects improved methods of constructing and arranging such
machinery or apparatus so that it is simple and at the same time more effective and
quick in its operation than such machinery as heretofore constructed and used.
Supposing coal to be the material operated upon, I form a platform upon which
it is delivered (preferably in corves or waggons) from the pit or other source of
supply. This platform is elevated to such a height that railway waggons, carts,
barges, or other receptacles into which the screened and separated coals are to be
delivered can be admitted under it. At or near the top of the platform I arrange
under it a permanent or fixed screen of metal bars, wirework, perforated plate, or
other suitable material, having openings of any size desired, and arranged in such a
position and at such an angle that the coal can be discharged upon its upper end
from the corves or waggons. The larger pieces which are unable to fall through the
interstices of the screen pass down the latter and into a waggon or other receptacle
provided for them. The lower end of the screen may be provided with a moveable
balanced spout by which the discharge into the receptacle can be stopped and
regulated as desired. The fragments which pass through the screen fall directly
upon or are conduced by a spout or shoot to a second flat bottomed screen or riddle.
I Posing 671

page_text: having smaller apertures and suspended at a suitable angle of inclination (which
may be made variable). by means of vibrating suspending links or resting upon
friction rollers. From the lower end of this second screen the pieces of coal which
are too large to pass through its apertures are discharged either into a separate
waggon or into that to which the lower end of the first fixed screen is directed. The
smaller fragments passing through fall upon an inclined spout or shoot which
conveys them to a third screen, which is constructed and suspended upon vibrating
links, or supported upon friction rollers in the same way as that already described.
This third screen has apertures still smaller than the second, and the very small
fragments (or "smudge") passing through it are delivered directly into a waggon
or other receptacle provided for them. The "nuts" or pieces of coal which are too
large to pass through this third screen are delivered from its lower end into a
separate waggon or other receptacle provided for them. I prefer to arrange the
third screen last described at an angle of inclination opposite to that of the second
screen, and I connect both the second and third-screens by means of connecting
rods to a crank or excentric worked by a shaft revolving in bearings attached to
the framework of the apparatus, and put in motion at the desired speed by a steam
engine or other convenient power so that the screens are made to vibrate backward
and forward.
I prefer to divide cach connecting rod, working as described, into two lengths,
connected by means of a lever working upon a fixed pivot at one end, the rods
being jointed to different parts of the length of the lever so that the length of the
vibrations of the screens may be varied and adjusted as desired.
Instead of two vibrating screens, as described, three or more may be used. Water
may be supplied to the screens if desired.
The different screens described are fitted into frames, so that when desired others
having apertures of the same or different sizes may be substituted for them in a
very short time so as to produce pieces of coal of any size required. The process of
screening or separating as described with a sufficient height of pit bank is self-
acting and requires very little attention, whilst the power required to drive the
screens or riddles is very small.
The arrangements described may be used for screening or separating other
substances instead of coals, the size of the apertures in the screens and the speed of
vibration being modified as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Joseph Dickinson Thorp in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th
October 1876.
JOSEPH DICKINSON THORP, of Leeds, in the County of York. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SCREENING OR SEPARATING INTO PIECES OF
DIFFERENT SIZES COALS, MINERAL ORES, OR OTHER SUBSTANCES.”
This Invention relates to machinery or apparatus used for the purpose of screening
coal or separating it into pieces of different sizes. It is also applicable to the
purpose of screening or separating in the same way mineral ores, gravel, or other
mineral or other substances which it is desired to separate into several quantities,
each quantity consisting of pieces or fragments of similar or approximately similar
size.
My Invention has for its objects improved methods of constructing and arranging
such machinery or apparatus so that it is more simple, and at the same time quicker
and more effective in its operation than such machinery as heretofore constructed
and used.
In order to put my Invention in operation, supposing coal is the material to be
-treated, I form a platform, upon which it is delivered (preferably in corves or

page_text: waggons in the usual way) from the pit or other source of supply. I make this
platform of timber, iron, or other suitable material, and I elevate it upon columns
or upon walls of masonry to such a height that railway waggons, carts, barges, or
other receptacles into which the screened and separated coals are to be delivered can
be readily admitted under it. On the top of this platform I make one or more
openings, so arranged that the corves or waggons of coal can readily be discharged into
them, and fall upon the upper end of a permanent fixed screen of metal bars,
perforated plate, wire work, or other suitable material, which is arranged under the
platform, and fixed at such an angle that the coals falling upon it pass down it to
its lower end. The larger pieces, which are unable to pass through the interstices
of the screen after thus passing down it, are conducted from its lower end into a
waggon or receptacle duly arranged to receive them, and a moveable balanced spout
or shoot may be provided, by which the discharge into the receptacle can be stopped
and adjusted as desired. I make the smaller fragments of the coal which pass
through the screen fall directly upon, or they are conducted by a shoot or spout to
a second flat-bottomed screen, which has smaller apertures through it than that first
described, and is suspended at a suitable angle of inclination (which may be made
variable) by means of vibrating suspending links, or it may be made to rest upon
friction rollers. The pieces of coal which are too large to pass through the apertures
in this screen pass from its lower end, and are discharged either into a separate
waggon or other receptacle or into the same one to which the lower end of the first
fixed screen is directed, as already described. The smaller pieces which pass through it
fall upon an inclined shoot or spout, which conducts them to a third screen, which is
constructed and suspended by vibrating links, or supported upon friction rollers in.
the same way as that already described. I make this third screen with apertures
smaller than those of the second screen, and the very small fragments or ("smudge")
which pass through it are delivered directly into a waggon or other receptacle
placed underneath for their reception. The "nuts," or pieces of coal which are too
large to pass through the apertures in this third screen are delivered from its lower
end into another separate waggon or receptacle provided for them.
The third
screen, last described, is also suspended at a suitable angle of inclination (which may
be made variable), but I prefer to make it incline in the opposite direction to the
second screen, in order to economize space. I connect both the suspended screens,
arranged as described, by means of connecting rods to a crank or excentric upon a
shaft revolving in bearings formed upon or attached to the framework of the
apparatus, and put in motion at the desired speed by a steam engine or other con-
venient power, so that the two screens are made to vibrate or shake backward and
forward.
In order to regulate the length of the stroke which the screens take backward
and forward, as described, I prefer to divide each connecting rod (arranged and
working as already described) into two lengths connected together by means of a
lever working upon a fixed pivot at its upper or lower end, the rods being jointed
to different points in the length of the lever, so that by altering them the length of
the vibrations of the screens may be varied and adjusted as desired.
The accompanying Drawing is in illustration of my Invention, and shews a side
elevation of apparatus constructed and arranged as above described.
a is a platform upon which the coal (or other material) is delivered in corves or
waggons. The platform a is elevated upon the framework b to a height sufficient
for the screens c, d, e, and the waggons f, g, h, to be arranged under it. The coal is
discharged through an opening in the platform a upon the upper end of the fixed
inclined screen c, from the lower end of which the large pieces pass into the shoot i,
which conveys them into the waggon f. The lower end of the shoot i is shewn
hinged and balanced by the weight, so that it can be closed, as shewn in the
Drawing. The smaller pieces passing through c fall upon the inclined screen d,
which is suspended by the vibrating links I, m. The larger pieces which pass down
this screen are conveyed into the shoot i and the waggon. The smaller pieces
which pass through d are conveyed by the shoot n to the inclined screen c.
The

page_text: larger pieces or "nuts," which pass down the screen e, fall into the waggon h,
whilst the smaller pieces or smudge "pass through it into the waggon g through
the shoot. The shaft o revolves in bearings, as shewn, and carries the excentric p
which drives the connecting rods and s attached to the vibrating screens & and e
The connecting rods and s are each divided into two parts, which can be jointed
in any desired position to the vibrating levers t, u, as already described.
The screens may be of any suitable size, and instead of two vibrating screens
three or more may be used, and water may be supplied upon them with the material
operated upon if desired. Sometimes I place a fourth waggon or receptacle in the
space, and I arrange another additional shoot or screen under the screen c, but
inclined in the opposite direction. I make the bars or openings in the screen c of
such size that coal (such as is called wallsend coal) will pass through them and
down the additional screen into the fourth waggon. The additional screen is so
arranged in relation to the other screens and shoots or spouts shewn in the Drawing
that the small coal and smudge passing through it are conveyed by them into the
other waggons, as in the arrangement already described and shewn. I arrange the
additional screen so that the passage of the coal from it into the fourth waggon can
be stopped or regulated in a method similar to that already described.
The different screens described are fitted into frames, so that when desired others
having apertures of the same or different sizes may be substituted for them in a
very short time. The process of screening or separating, as described and shewn,
with a sufficient height of the pit bank and platform, is self-acting and requires
very little attention, whilst the power required to drive the vibrating screens or
riddles is very small.
The apparatus, arranged as described and shewn, may be used for separating other
materials instead of coals, the size of the apertures in the screens and the speed of
vibration being modified as required.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in whicli it is to be
performed, I claim, the general construction and arrangement of the apparatus, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes described and shewn in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Dickinson Thorp, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
JOSEPH DICKINSON THORP. (L.S.)