Year: 1888

page_text: [ communication from abroad by THE KNICKERBOCKER COMPANY, of Jackson,
Michigan, United States of America.]
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S. M.I.M.E. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors 6, Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer 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 stateinent :-
The invention relates to improvements in devices designed to be used in connection
with a blast-fan for the purpose of separating from a current of air, saw-dust, shavings,
chaff or other light material and depositing it in a suitable receptacle while allowing
the purified air to escape; and the object in view is to provide a simple and inexpensive
device that may be readily applied to the ordinary fans that are employed in saw
mills, planing mills, elevators, and other places to collect the saw-dust, shavings and
other material and blow it through suitable conveyors to a dust room or other
receptacle.
The invention generally consists in the construction and combination hereinafter
described, and particularly pointed out in the claims. In the accompanying drawings
forming part of this specification:-
Figure 1 is a vertical section showing one form of device and its arrangement in
connection with a blast fan, conveyor, and dust-receptacle.
Figure 2 is a detail section of the collector, showing a slightly modified arrangement
of the deflecting plates.
Figure 3 is a detail section showing another arrangement of the deflecting-plates.
Figure 4 is a perspective view partly broken away to show the arrangement of the
deflecting plate..
in
In the drawings, 6 represents an ordinary suction and blast fan provided with an
in-take pipe 7, connected with the open centre of its case. This pipe may be arranged
any of the well known ways with an open mouth that is in proximity to wood-
working machinery, or to an aspirating trunk or chamber of wheat cleaning or
other machinery; or it may be connected in the ordinary way with a middlings
purifier.

page_text: No invention is claimed in the fan itself or in its connection with the devices with
which it is usually employed. It is intended to represent any fan that is used for
creating a suction, and thereby causing a current of air laden with dust, shavings,
chaff, bran or other light material to pass into the fan-case and be blown out through
the exit-pipe on the other side of the fan.
3 represents a suitable conveyor or conductor, that is connected with the exit
opening of the fan-case and extends to any desired point, for the purpose of conducting
the air-current, and the material carried thereby to the point where the dust-collector
is located.
4 represents a suitable dust-receptacle or dust room in which it is desired to deposit
the material that is carried by the air-current. This receptacle is preferably air-tight,
or substantially so, and forms a dead-air space into which the material carried by the
air-current is forced while the air-current freed from such material is allowed to escape
in the manner hereinafter described.
2 represents a suitable tube constructed of any material and any desired form, that
is joined to the conductor 3, hereinbefore described, so as to form a continuation
thereof, and projects into the dust-receptacle 4. The tube 2 is preferably provided
within the dust receptacle with a contracted discharge opening preferably formed by
contracting the end of the tube. The top of the tube is here shown within the
receptacle provided with an inclined wall 13, leaving only a narrow opening at the
inner end of the tube. Any other equivalent might, however, be used.
may
The tube
is also provided, preferably at a point near the dust-receptacle with an opening for
the discharge of the air. This opening will, for convenience, usually be arranged in
the top wall of the tube 2. A ventilating pipe or tube 8 is joined to the tube 2 over
this opening and extends to any convenient point. This pipe is used merely for
convenience in conducting the escaping current of air to any convenient point where
it be discharged. The operation of the dust-collector is the same whether this
tube is used or not, and where it is no objection to have the air discharged directly
from the tube 2 the pipe 8 may be omitted. A deflecting plate 10 is arranged in the
tube 2 opposite the air-discharge opening and extends towards the centre of the tube
and toward its discharge end, forming an opening 11, through which the air escapes
from the tube 3 through the opening in its wall into the tube 8. The inner end of the
tube 2 is also preferably provided with a slide 12, by means of which the area of the
discharge opening may be contracted when desired. An opening 14, may be formed
in the inclined wall 13 at a point near the inner end of the deflecting plate 10. This
opening however, is not essential to the operation of the device, and may be omitted
when desired. When this opening is used, the parts of the wall 13 are preferably
not in line with each other, the upper end of the lower section of the wall being
above the lower end of the upper section, for the purpose hereinafter set forth.
The collector may be made of any suitable shape and size and of any suitable
material.
The operation of the device is substantially as follows: A current of air carrying
with it dust, shavings, or other light material, is drawn into the fan 6 and blown
through the conductor 3 into the tube 2. The dust-receptacle forms a dead-air space,
into which the air-current is prevented from entering by reason of the confined body
of air within the said receptacle E. As the air current enters the contracted space
under the deflecting plate 10, its force is increased, and the dust, shavings, etcetera,
carried by it are projected through the open end of the tube 2. The air-current is
expanded after it passes into the tube 8 and escapes. A portion of the finer material
strikes against the inclined wall 13, and is carried along the under surface of said wall
toward the tube 8 by what may be termed the "outer or least forcible part of the
air-current. It moves up this wall to the opening 14, and passes through this opening
into the dust-receptacle 4.
In Figure 2, the collector is shown provided with two deflecting plates 10, and in
Figure 3, it is shown provided with a series of said plates. The operation in these
cases is similar to that already described, except that the current of air is partially
contracted by each of the deflecting plates, a portion of it escapes through the opening.

page_text: above each plate, and the remainder is further contracted, and then expanded as it
passes each of the other places, until finally all or substantially all of the air has escaped,
while the material carried by the air-current passes into the receptacle. It will be
seen that as the opening for the escape of the air is at the upper side of the tube 2,
the portion of the air-current that is freest from dust will be that which will first bo
expanded as it passes the plate 10. As the current is gradually expanded, it lets go,
as it were, of the dust or other material which is held by gravity toward the bottom
of the tube, and is carried by its inertia through the open end of the tube into the
dust-receptacle.
As hereinbefore stated, this device may be used in connection with any machinery
or apparatus where it is desired to separate light particles of material, such as before
mentioned, from a blast of air, and my correspondents do not confine themselves to
its use in connection with any particular apparatus. The collector itself (by which is
meant the device shown in Figures 2 and 3, or a similar portion of the apparatus
shown in Figure 1) may be manufactured separately, and then applied in connection
with a blast-fan and dust-receptacle, wherever it is desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The dust-collector herein described, consisting of the tube 2, having a contracted
discharge-opening, and having an opening in its wall for the discharge of the purified
air, and an inclined deflecting-plate 10, arranged in said tube 2 and extending toward
its discharge-opening.
2. The dust-collector herein described consisting of the tube 2 having a contracted
end and provided with the opening 14 therein, the tube 8 connected with said tube 2
and a deflecting-plate 10 arranged in said tube 2 and extending from the lower end
of said tube 8 toward the contracted opening of the tube 2, substantially as
described.
3. The combination, with the fan 6 and the conveyor 3, of the dust-receptacle 4,
the tube 2 connected with said conveyor 3, extending into said dust-receptacle and
provided with a discharge-opening within said receptacle, and with an opening in its
wall for the discharge of the purified air, and a deflecting-plate 10 arranged in said
tube 2 opposite the opening in the wall and extending toward the discharge end of
the tube 2, substantially as described.
4. The combination with the fan 6 and conveyor 3, of the dust-receptacle 4, and
the tube 2, provided within said receptacle, with a contracted discharge opening, the
tube 8, connected with the upper side of said tube 2, and an inclined deflecting-plate 10
arranged in said tube 2 below the end of said tube 8 and extending towards the
discharge end of the tube 2, substantially as described.
5. The combination, in a dust collector, with the tube 2, provided with a contracted
discharge-opening of the tube 8 connected with the said tube 2, and a series of
deflecting-plates 10 arranged in said tube 2, below said tube 8, substantially as
described.
6. The dust-collector herein-described, comprising a suitable tube 2, having a
discharge-opening for the escape of dust or other material, an opening in its wall for
the escape of the purified air, and an inclined deflecting plate arranged in said tube
opposite said opening and extending toward its discharge opening, substantially as
described.