Improvements in Grain Elevators.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Apr., 1897-Accepted, 12th June, 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Grain Elevators.
1, EMILE BLANCHARD of 47 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Director of the Société Anonyme de l'Élévateur Propulseur
Pneumatique à Marche Continue, 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 :-
This invention relates to continuously acting pneumatic apparatus for elevating
grain in which the devices for distributing the grain to and from the pneumatic
propellers are operated automatically by means of steam gear.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings,
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a pneumatic elevator with steam distributing
gear applied thereto,
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation, and Figure 3 a sectional plan of special
apparatus for admitting steam to and releasing it from the steam gear shown in
Figure 1.
The grain elevator or propeller comprises essentially two airtight chambers E
and E' into which the grain is first drawn to be afterwards delivered to the wharf
or storehouse; two grain suction pipes a and a¹, one for each chamber, which
unite into a single grain suction pipe F; two grain delivery pipes 6 and 61, one
for each chamber, which also unite into a single grain delivery pipe H; and a
distributing apparatus comprising two air cylinders c and c¹ each of which is in
communication with one of the airtight chambers E E', and with the air suction
and delivery pipes I and I¹.
The air cylinders c and c¹ contain pistons or slide valves e el which effect the
communication, according to their position, of one of the propeller chambers E
or E with the suction pipe I of the air pumps, not shown in the drawings, and
of the other of the said chambers with the compressed air delivery pipe I' or
vice versa.
The pistons or slide valves e e' are connected by their piston rods and a cross-
head to the rod of a steam piston 1 which moves up and down in a cylinder 2,
and is operated by steam acting first on one of its faces and then on the other.
The pistons or slide valves e e¹ and 1 are connected to the obturators j j¹³, k k¹
which alternately place each of the chambers E or F¹ in communication either
with the grain suction pipe F or with the grain delivery pipe H.
By imparting up and down movements to the steam piston 1 the whole system of
pistons or slide valves ee' and obturators jj, k k¹, is operated at the same time,
and each chamber E, E' is alternately filled with grain drawn in by suction
through the pipe a or a', and afterwards emptied by the grain being forced out
through the delivery pipe b or 61 by means of compressed air.
In the apparatus shown in Figure 1 all the moveable parts are in their highest
position; the chamber E is in communication with the air suction pipe by the
pipe, the cylinder c and passage m; the chamber E' is in communication with
the air delivery pipe 1 by the pipe ', the cylinder c and the passage n; the
obturator j effects the communication of the chamber E with the grain suction
pipe F, whilst the obturator k closes the communication of that chamber with the
grain delivery pipe H; and the obturator ¹ closes the communication between the
chamber E and the grain suction pipe F, whilst the obturator k¹ effects
the communication of the chamber E' with the grain delivery pipe H.

page_text: delivered, and a steam piston connected to the air pistons or slide valves and grain
bturators, the said steam piston being arranged to move in a double acting cylinder
to and from which steam is admitted and exhausted by means of a slide valve-
actuated by a retarding differential gear operated by the prime mover of the
apparatus, substantially as described.
Second. In a steam actuated distributing apparatus for a pneumatic grain.
elevator, of the kind forming the subject matter of the first claiming clause hereof,
differential retarding gear for actuating the slide valve which distributes steam to
and from the actuating cylinder, which consists of two internally toothed wheels,
one of which (17) is fixed, and the other (18), (which has one tooth more than the
wheel 17) is moveable and is mounted so as to turn freely on a shaft 5 receiving
rotatory motion from the prime mover of the apparatus, and of a triangular
carriage 19 fixed on the said shaft 5 and having mounted on it planet pinions which.
gear simultaneously with the two internally toothed wheels 17 and 18, whereby the
moveable wheel 18 which actuates the slide valve in the valve chest 10, is rotated
to the extent of one tooth for each revolution of the driving shaft 5, substantially-
as described.
E. BLANCHARD,
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent..