IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ASSORTING GRANULAR AND PULVERIZED MATERIALS a
Year: 1885

page_text: BRATOR Tas.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON of 47 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR ASSORTING GRANULAR AND PULVERIZED MATERIALS a communi-
cation to me from abroad by the firm of Nagel and Kaemp in Hamburg, German
Empire, to be as follows:-
This invention relates to apparatus for assorting granular and pulverized
materials being in suspension in a current of air or other fluid, and the improve-
ments consist in the employment of a spiral tube, through which the current with
the material in suspension is conducted, so as to be brought into circular motion
generating centrifugal force, under the action of which the particles of material
arrange themselves according to their size or weight; the different sorts of the
same being thereupon separately collected in chambers connected with the said
tube.
In one form of apparatus the spiral tube, which may have one or more turns, is
put in communication with the collecting-chambers by means of apertures or
branch-pipes arranged at suitable distances apart from each other on the outer
periphery of the tube, the different sorts of material being in this case conducted
out of the tube after they have arrived at its periphery. In another form of
apparatus the spiral tube divides at its end into channels leading to the collecting-
chambers, so that the different sorts of material are gathered while being still in
suspension in the current. These two systems may, however, be combined by
connecting the collecting-chambers partly with the periphery and partly with the
end of the spiral tube.
The aforesaid apertures, branch-pipes and channels may be provided on the
receiving side or end with adjustable tongues, adapted to catch the particles of
material during their flight or passage, to conduct them, and to serve for regulating
their assortment.

page_text: The collecting-chambers may be covered with a fabric adapted to let pass the air
or other fluid employed, and to retain the solid parts; or they are fitted with
valves which prevent currents of air, &c. from passing through the chamber, while
they allow the collected material to drop out; or other known devices are used for
bringing about a separation of the solid and the fluid substances from each other.
Dated this 2nd day of January 1885.
Pulverized Materials.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
ASSORTING GRANULAR AND PULVERIZED MATERIALS" a communication to me from
abroad by the firm of Nagel and Kaemp of Hamburg, Germany, 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 apparatus for assorting granular and pulverized
materials being in suspension in a current of air or other fluid, and the improve-
ments consist in the employment of a spiral tube through which the current
with the material in suspension is conducted, so as to be brought into circular
motion, generating centrifugal force, under the action of which the particles of
material arrange themselves according to their size or weight; the different sorts of
the same being thereupon separately collected in chambers connected with the
said tube.
Fig. 1 of the annexed sheet of drawings is a diagram showing the action of
gravity on bodies of different size in suspension in a current of air conducted by a
straight horizontal tube. Fig. 2 is a diagram representing the effect of centrifugal
force on like bodies in suspension in a current passing through a curved tube.
Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are other diagrams illustrating the invention. Fig. 6 is an
elevation partly in section, and Fig. 7 a transverse section of a complete apparatus.
If bodies of different size or weight are in suspension in a current of air, and if
this current is conducted through a long horizontal tube of uniform width, such as
the tube A, Fig. 1, the simultaneous influence of gravity and of the resistance of
the air will cause the large and the heavy bodies to fall quicker to the bottom
than the small and the light ones. The latter will therefore be carried farther
by the current than the former before they settle on the bottom, an assorting of
the bodies of different size or weight being thus brought about. If, moreover, at
the bottom of the tube, and at suitable distances apart, openings are arranged,

page_text: communicating with chambers K, the different sorts of bodies will be separately
collected in these chambers.
An apparatus of this kind would, however, require too long a tube to be of
practical utility. But, if the bodies in suspension in the air, are subjected to the
action of centrifugal force, the division into sorts will take place within a much
shorter distance. For this purpose I conduct the current through a tube curved in
a circle of small radius, such as the tube B, Fig. 2. The circular motion thus
imparted to the bodies, generates centrifugal force, the effect whereof is much
greater than the effect of gravity, whereas the resistance which the air opposes to
the motion of the bodies in the direction of the acting force, is the same as before.
It follows from this that the bodies, while arranging themselves in succession
according to their size or their weight, as under the influence of gravity, will
sooner arrive at the exterior periphery of the tube, which is equivalent to their
separating out from the current in shorter time, and consequently upon a smaller
length of tube.
Supposing a tube be employed whose mean radius of curvature is 8 inches, and
the speed of the current be 33 feet in the second, the centrifugal force resulting
from the circular motion in this tube, will be about 50 times greater than gravity.
For conveying the different sorts of bodies or particles of material out of the
tube in the order in which they have arranged themselves, the tube may be
provided on its outer periphery with branch-pipes b, Fig. 2, communicating with
collecting, chambers, such for instance as are shown by Fig. 1. According to fig. 3
the tube B divides at its end into channels c communicating with the collecting
chambers K, supposed to be covered with a fabric adapted to let the air pass, while
it retains the solid parts. By this arrangement the different sorts of material are
collected before they arrive at the periphery of the tube. For regulating the
division into sorts, the channels may be fitted at the receiving end with adjustable
tongues d. Fig. 4 shows a tube B provided with a single tangential_branch-pipe
also adjustable by means of a tongue & and conducting to a chamber K. The said
chamber is closed by a flap-valve m, loaded by a weight g, so that it will not be
lifted by the pressure of the air, but that the grains, &c., collecting in K, will by
their pressure open it sufficiently to let them drop out. The air-current with the
remaining light and small particles, passes in this case out through the end C of
the tube B, to be conducted to a depositing-chamber alike to the chambers K, fig. 3.
Fig. 5 shows an arrangement in which the tube forms several spiral turns, each
of which is fitted with a collecting-chamber K. The air-current being directed
according to the arrows shown in the drawing, the largest particles or bodies will
be deposited on the first compartment to the left, the next smaller ones in the
second chamber, and so on.
Figs. 6 and 7 represent an apparatus in the form in which it may be carried
out for practical use. It is composed of two concentric cylinders and o and a
spiral partition-wall n, forming together a spiral tube with a number of turns of
rectangular transverse section, each of the said turns communicating with a
collecting chamber K, as in fig. 5. Above the openings by which this communi-
cation is established, tongues & are arranged for catching the particles of material
during their flight.
The drawing shows moreover at these points grooved rollers f, which convey
the assorted materials from the places where they are seized to the collecting
chambers, without letting pass any air currents. The devices serving to seize the
materials and to conduct them out of the tube, and for preventing air from passing
through the chambers K, or which have the purpose of filtering the air as it
escapes from the said chambers, may however be arranged in different manners, and
do not constitute any part of this invention.
For carrying out the assorting process, water or other liquid may be used
instead of air, if the materials to be assorted will allow this, as is for instance the
case with pulverized insoluble minerals.

page_text: An important application of the described apparatus consists in its combination
with contrivances for raising grain and milling products by a current of air, such
as have recently come into use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
An apparatus for assorting granular and pulverized materials in suspension in a
current of air or other fluid, consisting in a spiral tube through which the current
with the materials is conducted; the said tube communicating with two or more
collecting-chambers by means of apertures adapted to lead into the said chambers
the materials subsequent to their separation into sorts by the action of centrifugal
force, substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this twenty-second day of Santamban 7002
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