Improved Apparatus for Mixing Substances or Materials in a Dry State, that is Without the Aid of water or other Liquid.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 30th June. 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 17th Aug., 1888
Improved Apparatus for Mixing Substances or Materials in a Dry
State, that is Without the Aid of water or other Liquid.
I, FRANK WILLIAM ALLCHIN, of the firm of Frank Allchin, Linnell and Company,
of Weston Street, Northampton, in the County of Northampton, engineers, do hereby.
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object improved apparatus wheroby substances or materials,
such, for instance, as flour, meal, seeds, cattlefood, manures, sands and cements, or
those of a like general character, may any of them have different qualities or descrip-
tions thereof mixed together in equal or any desired proportions, or whereby two or
more of such substances or materials, if such is desired, may be mixed together in any
desired proportions, such mixing being effected without the aid of water or other
liquid.
According to this invention, two or more hoppers, or a hopper divided vertically
into separate compartments, are or is placed in such position as to discharge the
contents thereof into one end of a long box or cylinder containing an Archimedian
Screw or worm, which may have mixer blades or agitators fitted to the worm shaft,
or to the worm therearound, in position between the spirals of the worm.
A shoot is carried from each hopper or compartment aforesaid to the box, and in
each shoot is arranged a longitudinally grooved feed roller, the rollers being carried
by a common spindle or common necks, or by separate spindles or necks for each
roller, and driven by suitable mechanisin, or a single broad roller may be carried
through both or all the shoots; and below such rollers or roller a common shoot,.
instead of separate shoots, may be carried down to the box. A shutter or slide is
carried within each shoot in such a manner that, by means of a suitable lever or screw
or other convenient device, it may be advanced towards or drawn back from the
surface of the roller, or of the part of the common roller, therein so as to regulate at
will the quantity of material passed down by the roller from the shoot. The shutter
may be conveniently carried within the shoot by hingeing it so that it slants downwards.

page_text: towards the roller, in which case the material will readily slide down the shutter when
it is open or partly open. The Archimedian Screw shaft may be driven by a band
passing around a pulley thereon and the roller shaft may be driven by a band from
the screw shaft.
In employing the above-described apparatus for the purpose stated, the different
qualities or descriptions of the same material, or the different materials, as the case
may be, which it is desired to mix together in any given proportion are supplied,
respectively, to the different hoppers or compartments aforesaid, the feed rollers or
roller and also the Archimedian Screw and mixer blades set in motion, and the shutter
or slides properly adjusted to allow the proper relative proportions of the different
qualities of the same material, or the proper relative proportions of the different
materials, to pass from the respective hoppers or compartments. The materials (or'
the different qualities or descriptions of the same material) as they pass into the box
are carried atong by the Archimedian Screw, and are thoroughly mixed, during their
course through the box, by the action of such screw and of the mixer blades or
agitators, and are delivered at the end of the box onto a floor or into any suitable
receptacle.
-
The feed roller or rollers above described may be dispensed with, if desired, in
which case the shutters or slides within the shoots are, of course, made capable of
being closed right across the shoots. The mixer blades also may be dispensed with, if
dosired, in which case the mixing of the material or materials within the box is per-
formed simply by the Archimedian Screw.
Dated the 29th day of September 1887.

page_text: State, that is Without the Aid of water or other Liquid.
I, FRANK WILLIAM ALLCHIN, of the firm of Frank Allchin Linnell and Company,
of Weston Street, Northampton in the County of Northampton, engineers, 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
reference being had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
This invention has for its object improved apparatus whereby substances or materials,
such, for instance, as flour, meal, seeds, cattlefood, manures, sands, and cements, or
those of a like general character, may any of them have different qualities or descrip-
tions thereof mixed together in equal or any desired proportions, or whereby two or
more of such substances or materials, if such is desired, may be mixed together in
any desired proportions, such mixing being effected without the aid of water or other
liquid.
According to this invention, a compound hopper, formed of two or more hoppers,
or of a hopper divided vertically into separate compartments, is placed in such position
as to discharge the contents thereof into one end of a long box or cylinder containing
an Archimedian screw or worm upon a spindle which is caused to revolve by any con-
venient means, and mixer blades or agitators may be fitted to such spindle or to the
worm therearound, in position between the spirals of the worm, such blades being set
with a twist or turn the opposite band to that of the screw or worm. A shoot is
carried from each compartment or division of the hopper downwards towards the box,
and in each shoot is arranged a longitudinally grooved feed roller, the rollers being
carried by a common spindle, or common necks, or by separate spindles or necks for
each roller, and driven by suitable mechanism, or a single broad roller may be carried
through both or all the shoots; and below such rollers or roller a common shoot is
carried down to the box. A shutter or slide is carried within each shoot in such a
manner that, by means of a suitable lever or screw or other convenient device, it may
be advanced towards or drawn back from the surface of the roller, or of the part of
the common roller, therein so as to regulate at will the quantity of material passed
down by the roller from the shoot. The shutter may be conveniently carried within
the shoot by hinging it so that it slants downwards towards the roller, in which case
the material will readily slide down the shutter when it is open or partly open.
In employing the above described apparatus for the purpose stated, the different
qualities or descriptions of the same material, or the different materials, as the case
may be, which it is desired to mix together in any given proportion are supplied;
respectively, to the different compartments or divisions of the hopper, the feed rollers
or roller and also the Archimedian screw (and consequently the mixer blades when
such are employed) set in motion, and the shutters or slides adjusted to allow the

page_text: proper relative proportions of the different qualities of the same material, or the
proper relative proportions of the different materials, to pass from the respective
compartments or divisions. The materials (or the different qualities or descriptions of
the same material) as they pass into the box are carried along by the Archimedian
screw, and are thoroughly mixed during their course through the box by the action of
such screw (and by the action of the mixer blades, when such are employed) and
are delivered at the end of the box on to a floor or into any suitable receptacle.
This invention will be readily understood on reference to the accompanying
drawings, of which figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a machine constructed
according to and for the purpose of this invention, and figure 2 an end elevation
thereof looking in the direction of the arrow a, but with a part of the side of the
compound hopper shown as cut away so as to expose the roller and shutter in one of
the shoots thereof. A part of the box containing the Archimedian screw is shewn as
broken away in figure 1 for the convenience of arranging figure 2 on the same sheet
therewith. A compound hopper having three compartments A, A1, A2, communicates
by means of a shoot B with one end of a long box C within which is arranged an
Archimedian screw D carried by a spindle E supported in bearings F F at the ends of
the box and by an intermediate bearing F' inside the box (or by more intermediate
bearings if a greater length of spindle is desired). The spindle E may be driven by
a belt passing around a pulley G fixed to such spindle, and the belt may be thrown
out of gear by being moved on to a loose spindle G₁. The shoot B has divisions
across the upper part thereof forming it into separate shoots, one for each compart
ment of the hopper. Longitudinally grooved rollers m, m³, m³, are carried one within
each separate shoot and upon a spindle ₺ carried in bearings e c, and provided with a
pulley à, by which it is driven from a pulley d on a projecting end of the spindle E.
Within each separate shoot is mounted a hinged shutter e which when in its closed
position slants downwards and bears at its lower edge against the roller in the same
compartment, or otherwise such edge is sufficiently near to the surface of the roller
to prevent the passage of any substance or material in the corresponding compartment
of the hopper between the roller and shutter. Each shutter is opened and closed and
fixed in any desired position by means of a lever one such lever being provided
respectively for each shutter. Each shutter is connected with its corresponding lever
by means of a link or pair of links 1, and is fixed in any desired position by means
of a thumb-screw passing through a slotted fixed bar f'.
The substances or materials to be mixed are placed within the compartments A, A1, A2,
(or there may be more compartiments if desired, or only two if. no more are required)
and are fed down by means of the rollers into the leading end of the box C, from
whence they are carried by means of the Archimedian screw to the other end of the
box and delivered thoroughly mixed through an opening or openings at such end.
The relative proportions in which the materials are fed into the box is regulated by
the degree of opening given to the respective shutters. In the illustration two shoots
or openings g g are shewn in the bottom of the outer end of the box for convenience
in delivering the mixed substances or materials into sacks. The slanting. boards h
in the shoot Bassist to some extent in causing a preliminary mixing, and concentrate
the delivery of the substances or materials from the compartments of the hopper upon
a short length of the screw thus facilitating the mixture thereof.
To further facilitate the intimate mixture of the substances or materials from the
hopper, blades or arms ii etc. may be fixed in position between the turns or convolu
tions of the screw so as to rotate with the spindle thereof, and such blades are formed.
similarly as the blades of a propeller and are set the opposite hand to the spiral of
the screw so that as the substances or materials within the box are carried by the
screw towards the outer end of the box they are to some extent moved back in relation
to what would otherwise be their rate of advance due simply to the action of the screw.
By this means, while the general movement is towards the outer end of the box, there
is a considerable local agitation of such substances or materials between the
convolutions of the screw, in excess of what such would be from the action of the
screw only.

page_text: Blades or arms may be substituted for the Archimedian screw, but, in such case, if
secondary blades corresponding to the blades i are employed, the primary blades must
have such a surface or be otherwise constructed as to carry forward the substances or
materials in the box against the action of the secondary blades.
The feed rollers may be dispensed with, if desired, in which case the shutters or
slides must, of course, be made capable of being closed right across the shoots, or
across the openings therethrough at the points where the shutters or slides are
placed.
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. In apparatus for mixing substances or materials. in a dry state, that is without
the aid of water or other liquid, the employment of a compound hopper (formed as
a divided hopper, or as two or more separate hoppers) with means by which the
substances or materials to be mixed may be fed from the compartments of the hopper,
(or from the separate hoppers) in the desired relative proportions into a suitable
receptacle within which they are operated upon by means of suitable mixers or
agitators, substantially as described.
2. Apparatus for mixing substances or materials in a dry state, that is without the
aid of water or other liquid, comprising a compound hopper (formed as a divided
hopper, or as two or more separate hoppers), a box containing an Archimedian screw
or equivalent device revolved by suitable mechanism, with means by which the
substances or materials to be mixed may be fed from the compartments of the hopper
(or from the separate hoppers) in the desired relative proportions into the leading end
of the box, substantially as described.
3. The combination with the Archimedian screw or equivalent device, of blades or
arms set the opposite hand thereto, substantially as described, for the purpose set
forth.
4. The general combination forming the entire apparatus (whether with or without
the arms) substantially as described and shown by the drawings herewith for the
purpose set forth.