Improvements in Feeding Apparatus for use in connection with Machines for treating Fibrous Substances.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Sept., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 31st May, 1897-Accepted, 31st July,, 1897.
[Communicated from abroad by JAMES MADISON BLAISDELL, Manufacturer, and
BENJAMIN VAUGHAN PAGE, Merchant, both of 29 Olivér Street, Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.].
Improvements in Feeding Apparatus for use in connection with
Machines for treating Fibrous Substances.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The present invention relates to a machine for feeding a fibrous substance such as
card and picker waste to a machine for treating the same, such for example as a
cleaner; or spinner's waste to a thread extractor, the nature of the material to be fed
being such that it cannot be fed by gravity, but has to be positively acted upon, it
having been usually the custom to feed by hand, thus requiring an attendant for
each machine.
The present invention relates to a machine in which the feeding is accomplished
by the operation of feeding devices upon the material which act to force the same
through an opening into the machine which is to be fed, in combination with devices
for bringing the material into a position to be operated upon by said feeding devices,
it being necessary to provide means for supplying the said feeding device with the
material in bulk.
In carrying out the invention a suitable hopper is provided adapted to be supplied
with the material to be fed, and at the bottom of said hopper near the periphery
thereof is an opening adapted, when the machine is in its operative position, to be
aligned with an opening leading to the machine which is to be fed. At this opening
are situated feeding devices proper, which preferably consist of a pair of reciprocating
plungers which are adapted to force the material presented to the said opening
through the same and into the machine to which the feeding device is applied.
In order to present the material to the said feeding devices a stirring device is
provided consisting of a series of wings or blades mounted on a rotating carrier
within said hopper, and adapted to carry the material therein from the middle towards
the periphery thereof, the arrangement being such that the material acted upon by
said stirring devices will be forced toward and over the said opening to be acted upon
by the feeding devices proper.
The hopper is preferably mainly cylindrical in shape, but having a portion of its
wall extended beyond the periphery of a true cylinder, the opening being in this
portion of the hopper and between the wall thereof and the line which would
complete the periphery of a true cylinder, and the rotating carrier for the stirring
device is mounted in a spindle coaxial with such cylinder. The stirring blades extend
outward substantially radially from said carrier towards the wall of said hopper and
are preferably bent toward the rear at their outer ends, so that they tend to carry the
material around the hopper and force the same towards the walls thereof, whereby

page_text: the said material when the enlarged portion of the hopper is reached will be forced
outward beyond the ends of said blades directly over the feed opening. The carrier
is preferably provided with a central upwardly extending conical deflecting surface
which tends to direct the material supplied to the hopper towards the sides thereof.
The floor or surface of the hopper is preferably arranged to slope upward from the
periphery, the stirring rings being bent downward so as to lie parallel with said
sloping floor.
The rotating carrier may be caused to rotate in any suitable way, the spindle
thereof preferably having a pinion connected therewith and lying' below the sloping
floor of the hopper whereby it is protected from the material therein, the said pinion
being driven by a worm which in turn is driven by a shaft mounted in suitable
bearings at the outside of the hopper; the said shaft is also arranged to operate the
feeding.devices, proper, so that the stirring device and feeding device cooperate in
properly feeding the material to the machine to which the device embodying the
invention is applied.
In conjunction with the machine a supporting bracket is employed along the entire
machine which is movable, the said bracket being adapted to be secured to the
machine which is to be fed, so that the interior of said machine may be reached by
simply sliding the feeding device along the brackets without permanently removing
the same from the said machine, as has otherwise been necessary.
Dated this 3rd day of September 1896
Improvements in Feeding Apparatus for use in connection with
Machines for treating Fibrous Substances.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
The present invention relates to a machine for feeding a fibrous substance, such as
card and picker waste, to a machine for treating the same, such, for example, as a
cleaner, or spinner's waste to a thread-extractor, the nature of the material to be fed
being such that it cannot be fed by gravity, but has to be positively acted upon, it
having been usually the custom to feed by hand, thus requiring an attendant for
each machine.
The present invention relates to a machine in which the feeding is accomplished by
the operation of feeding devices which act upon the material to force the same
through an opening into the machine which is to be fed, in combination with devices
for bringing the material into a position to be operated upon by said feeding devices
it being necessary to provide means for supplying the said feeding device with the
material in bulk.
The present invention relates to an improved machine for this purpose; and it
consists mainly in novel devices for properly supplying the material to the feeding
devices, which may be, and are, shown as, reciprocating plungers, operating to
positively feed the material thus supplied through an opening to the machine in
which the material is to be treated.
The machine, embodying the present invention consists mainly in the combination,
with the feeding devices proper, (in this instance the reciprocating plungers), of a

page_text: feed-hopper containing an agitating or stirring device adapted to be kept in motion
by a suitable connecting mechanism with the source of power that operates the
plungers, the said stirring device being so arranged that it tends to force material
placed in the hopper toward the feed-opening, where said material is operated upon
by the plungers and forced into and through the feed-opening of the treating
machine.
The invention further consists in novel means for supporting the machine, whereby
it is easily removed from its feeding position with the relation to the treating-machine
which is being fed, in order that the cover of said treating-machine may be rendered
accessible, as is necessary from time to time during the operation thereof.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the machine embodying the invention Fig. 2, a similar
elevation taken on a plane at a right angle to that of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a sectional
elevation of the machine, showing the stirring device contained in the hopper; and
Fig. 4, a longitudinal section on a plane near the top of the hopper, showing the main
portion of the operating mechanisin in plan.
The feeding devices proper are herein shown as reciprocating plungers a, which are
adapted to alternately move into and out of an opening 2 at the bottom of the
hopper b, said opening being over an opening A2 in the casing of the treating-
machine A, which is to be supplied with material, and which may be operated. in any
suitable way. As herein shown, the said plungers are each provided with a slotted
cross-head a², having a slide pin a cooperating with oppositely-extending cranks a
on a shaft a³, driven in any suitable way, so that the rotation of said shaft produces
an opposite reciprocation of said plungers a.
In order to properly supply the material to the opening 62, where it will be operated
upon by the said feeding devices or plungers a, the hopper b is provided for the
material to be fed, and the said material within the hopper is acted upon by a stirring
device consisting of a number of blades 63, carried by a rotating frame 64, mounted on
a vertical spindle 65 near the centre of the hopper, so that the said blades extend
outward toward the periphery thereof and tend to carry the material in the hopper
around the same, the said blades being preferably, as shown in Figure 4, rearwardly
inclined with relation to the direction of rotation, whereby they tend to force the
material outward toward the periphery of the hopper, so that in the travel thereof
it is brought directly over the opening 62, through which it is thrust by the
plungers a. In order to increase this tendency, the frame b, which carries the blades,
is surmounted by a deflector 66, preferably in the form of a cone, by which the
material contained in the hopper is deflected toward the sides of the hopper, where it
is operated upon by the stirring blades b³, as above described.
Below the conical deflector there is preferably arranged a stationary conical or
slanting surface 67, the blades being bent downward, as shown in Figure 3, so as to
travel close to the said surface, the object being to crowd the material downward and
outward as the stirring device rotates.
The opening b³, through which the feeding devices proper, namely, the plungers a,
reciprocate, is arranged, as shown, close to the periphery of the hopper b, the walls of
the said hopper being flared or spread somewhat at that point, as shown in Fig. 4, so
as to afford a space between the ends of the blades 6 and the walls of the hopper
over the said opening in order that the plungers may operate without interfering
with the rotation of the stirring device. During the operation of the machine,
therefore, the plungers alternately reciprocate, while the stirring device rotates,
tending to force the material toward the sides of the hopper and carry it around the
same, so that when it reaches the opening 62 it is forced into the space 6,20 hetween
the wall of the hopper and the ends of the stirring blades and under the plungers and
forced thereby downward through the opening..
The walls of the hopper, as shown are bent inward at the sides of the opening b',
thus forming a recess or space 621 for the feeding devices, and, as indicated in
Figs. 3 and 4, the inwardly-extending portion of the wall at the side toward which
the stirrers travel in the rotation of the stirring device is cut away at substantially
the level of the bottom of the feeding devices or plungers when at their maximum

page_text: height, so that the material in the hopper is pushed along to a position directly over
the opening. The inwardly-extending wall on the opposite side of the space 621,
however, is preferably unbroken, extending, as indicated at 6, Fig. 4, to the
bottom of the hopper, thus forming an abutment for the material carried around by
the stirring device, whereby it is checked after reaching a position over the
opening 6.
As a further check to the material when it has been carried to feeding position a
hook or projection 6 is preferably provided extending inward beyond the
inwardly-extending portion 6 of the wall of the hopper, somewhat above the opening,
the said hook, as shown, standing over the stirring blades, so that it tends to stop a
portion of the material which would otherwise be carried by. The said hook,
however, is not large enough to prevent any superfluous material from being carried
onward by the stirrers to be operated upon when it is again brought to a position
over the opening. The said stirring device may be constructed and arranged in any
suitable way and driven by any convenient operating mechanism, and, as herein
shown, the cone & is secured to a vertical hub b, forming part of the frame b', which
consists, as indicated in dotted lines, Fig. 4, of a number of arms extending outward
from said hub and connected at or near their outer ends with a gear bº, adapted to be
driven by a worm c, as will be hereinafter described.
The blades 63 extend through slots 612 in the wall of the cone 60 and are fastened at
their inner ends to a collar 613, secured, as by a set-screw 614, upon the hub 68, so that
the frame b, the cone , and the said blades ball travel simultaneously by the
operation of the worm c.
The stationary surface b7 consists of a piece of sheet metal having a central opening
through which extends the hub b, the said piece b7 being in the shape of a truncated
cone having the edges of its base secured to the bottom of the hopper, which
preferably consists, as shown, of a disk or plate B, provided with a flange B², upon
which rests the edge of the piece 67, which may be soldered or otherwise secured
thereto, said disk or plate also having a flange B³, within is contained the wall
of the hopper b. The said disk B also serves as the main base or support for the
remaining parts of the machine.
The power may be applied and transmitted to the various working parts of the
apparatus in any suitable way, and, as herein shown, the shaft a', which, as has been
described above, is connected through the cranks a and slotted cross-heads a² to the
plungers a', is driven by a gear a", meshing with a gear a' and a counter-shaft a³,
provided with a pulley a', adapted to be driven by a belt.
The shaft aand counter-shaft as are supported upon an extension B₁ from the
base-plate B, brackets B' being provided for this purpose, which are secured on the
said extension. The bearings for the shaft a are formed, as shown, at the tops of
the brackets b', the upper members of said bearings being preferably formed in
supplemental brackets B, bolted or otherwise secured to the top of the bracket B,
said supplemental brackets extending upward above the gear a and affording a
support for a guide a20, consisting of a plate or bar extending across from one bracket
to another and provided with openings a, through which extend rods a², connected
to the cross-heads a². A similar guide is provided extending across a lower portion
of the brackets B', and each cross-bead a is provided with a similar rod extending
downward therefrom to the said lower guide, as clearly shown in Figure 2, so that
the said cross-heads are properly supported in their reciprocating movement.
The counter-shaft a" is supported in a bearing B at the lower portion of the
bracket B'.
In order to drive the worm c, which meshes with the gear 6' to rotate the frame
which carries the stirring device, the said worm is mounted on a shaft e, extending,
through an opening c in the wall of the hopper and baving a bearing e' at one end
within the hopper and a bearing as at the opposite end mounted on a portion of the
bracket B5 or extension thereof, and a gear c is secured to the end of the said shaft c²,
meshing with an intermediate gear c' on a short shaft in a bearing ', having also

page_text: a member c10 of a so-called "skew-gear" meshing with the other inember c¹³ the
upon
end of the shaft as, as best shown in Fig. 2.
The shaft c², as shown in Fig. 3, passes below the edge of the rotating frame b', and
also under the surface ', the bearing e', the shaft c2, and the worm c being thereby
covered and protected from the material within the hopper, so that they will operate
freely without becoming clogged or fouled.
To provide for the removal of the device from the top of the machine to which
it is applied in order that the cover thereof may be lifted when necessary, the base
portion B is provided with downwardly-extending ears or lugs B, provided with
openings, through which extend supporting-rods d, supported by brackets d², adapted
to be secured to the machine which is being fed, so that the feeding device is
capable of being slid along said rods away from the top of the machine to which the
device is applied, and when thus removed from the machine is supported upon the
said bracket. To facilitate this operation, the handle e is provided and attached to
a rock-shaft e2, supported in lugs e, secured to the outside of the base-plate B, the
said rock-shaft having a pawl E', connected therewith at each end, adapted to
cooperate with a notch d in each of the rods d, so that when the device is in
operative position said pawls will engage with the said notches and prevent the
accidental removal thereof, while if it is desired to remove the machine the handle e
may be first lifted to disengaging position and the machine then pulled along the
guide-rods d by means of said handle until it is supported by the brackets d2 and the
hopper portion removed from the cover of the machine to which it is applied.
It is not intended to limit the invention to the specific construction and arrange-
ment herein shown and described, since obvious modifications may be made without
departing from the invention; nor is it intended to limit the invention to the
combination of the stirrers or means for presenting the material to the feeding device
proper with any special form of such feeding device, since the operation of that
portion of the apparatus is not dependent upon the specific construction and arrange-
inent of said feeding device, it being obvious that the material might be equally
well presented to a feeding device of any suitable construction.
Having how 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 iny foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is;
1. The combination with the feed-hopper having an opening through the bottom
near the periphery thereof, of a stirring device comprising a rotating carrier within
said hopper having wings or blades adapted to carry inaterial therein from the middle
toward the periphery thereof, and a feeding device for positively feeding said material
into said opening, substantially as described.
2. The combination with the feed-hopper, of oppositely-reciprocating plungers
movable longitudinally through an opening at or near the periphery of said hopper,
a stirring device consisting of a rotating carrier within said hopper, and a series of
transverse blades extending from said carrier toward the periphery of the hopper,
substantially as described.
3. The combination with a feed-hopper adapted to contain fibrous material and
provided with a feed-opening through the bottom and near the periphery thereof; of
a stirring device comprising a rotating carrier having a series of blades or wings
along the periphery thereof and extending therefrom substantially to the periphery
of the hopper, a centrally-located deflecting surface adapted to deflect the contents
of the hopper toward said wings or blades, and a feeding device for positively feeding
said contents into the feed opening, substantially as described.
4. The combination with a substantially cylindrical feed-hopper having a portion
of its wall extended beyond the periphery of a true cylinder, of a stirring device
comprising a rotatable carrier having wings or blades extending radially from the
center of said hopper to the periphery of the main portion thereof, a spindle coaxial
with said hopper upon which said stirring device is mounted, and a feed-opening
from the hopper adjacent to raid extended portion of the wall thereof, substantially
as described.

page_text: 5. The combination with the hopper provided with a feed-opening near the
periphery thereof, of a floor or surface for said hopper sloping upward from the
periphery toward the center thereof, a stirring device comprising the rotating carrier
having a conical deflecting-surface rising above said sloping floor, a series of wings
or blades extending outward from said conical deflector toward the periphery of the
hopper, said blades being bent or inclined to the rear with relation to the direction
of rotation of said carrier, and a feeding device for positively feeding material into
the said feed-opening, substantially as described.
6. The combination with a hopper, of a feed-opening therein, a reciprocating
plunger or plungers inovable into and out of said opening, a stirring device consisting
of a series of blades or wings adapted to carry the material within said hopper
toward said feed-opening a rotating carrier for said blades within said hopper, and
connecting mechanism whereby said plungers are reciprocated, and said carrier
rotated, substantially as described.
7. The combination with the feeding-machine, comprising a hopper having a feed-
opening near the periphery thereof, stirring devices adapted to carry material in the
said hopper from the center to the periphery. thereof, feeding devices proper, and
operating mechanism therefor, substantially as described, of a supporting bracket
therefor adapted to be secured to the machine to which fiber is to be fed, the said
feeding device being movable along said bracket to and from its operative position,
substantially as described.
8. The combination with a hopper, of a feed-opening therein, a reciprocating
plunger or plungers movable into and out of said opening, a stirring device consisting
of a series of blades or wings adapted to carry the material within said hopper
toward said feed-opening, a rotating carrier for said blades, an inwardly-projecting
portion of the wall of the hopper beyond the feed-opening in the direction of
rotation of said stirring device, and a hook or projection projecting inward over said
blades, substantially as described.
1
-1007
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.