Improvements in Apparatus for Elevating or Conveying Straw and similar Materials.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 29th May, 1890-Accepted, 19th July, 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Communicated from abroad by THE CYCLONE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, of New
London, Missouri, United States of America.]
Improvements in Apparatus for Elevating or Conveying Straw and
similar Materials.
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 :-
This invention relates to apparatus for elevating straw and other stalked
material.
In carrying this invention into practice I employ a pneumatic tube and an air blast
apparatus such as a fan or the like. 1 do not however broadly claim moving or
transferring the material by means of an air current being well aware that various
substances have been, and for various purposes, been transferred to points more or
less remote by this means.
According to the present invention the transfer of the material is effected by
means of the joint action of a stalk-separating and injecting device, and an air
blast, apparatus and tube, that is to say, the straw, or other stalked material to be
moved, is injected into the pneumatic tube through a separate inlet, and by other
means than the air-blast apparatus and with sufficient momentum to overcome any
back pressure caused by the air current which is delivered into the pneumatic tube
at a point in advance of the material-injecting inlet, and after it has been thus
injected into the pneumatic tube the material is borne along by the influence of the
air current, and delivered at the desired point, for it is impracticable to introduce the
material into the pneumatic tube via the air blast apparatus and hence it is necessary
to introduce it thereinto through a separate inlet. I have further ascertained that such
separate inlet must be located between the air inlet and the point at which the material
leaves the pneumatic tube, and also if the momentum of the material as it is injected,
is insufficient to overcome the force of the air current, the material is prevented from
entering the pneumatic tube.
The air-moving device may be any ordinary means for creating an air blast the
pneumatic tube may be of any size and shape and extent suited to the capacity of the
blower and adapted for transmitting the material being moved and the injector may
be any devico adapted for taking hold of the material and delivering it as described
into the pneumatic tube. The direction of the delivery should be, such as not to
materially interfere with the action of the air current to which end the direction of
the entering material should not be contrary to that of the air current, rather in the
same direction. Care must be taken to prevent the straw or other material from
entering the pneumatic tube in large bunches, wads or lumps but in a disintegrated
form, substantially as is hereinafter set forth.
The accompanying drawing illustrates a suitable apparatus for carrying out the
herein described improvements. In this drawing
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a straw-stacker attached to the delivery end of a
thresher, the shaded portion being the improved stacker.
Figure 2 is a side elevation partly in section of the elbow portion of the pneumatic
tube.
Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Figure 6.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4, 4, of Figure 6.
Figure
5 is. an outer end elevation of the stacker.
Figure 6 is a vertical section on a line 66 of Figure 3.
hemanate in all this fines

page_text: The improvements are shown embodied in what is called a straw-stacker, such as
used to transfer and stack the straw coming from an ordinary thresher A, Figure 1
of which only the delivery-end portions a are shown. B represents the air-moving
device it is an ordinary fan taking the air into, and through the inlet b and dis-
charging the air through the outlet into the pneumatic tube C, Figures 1, 2, 6, 3, 5.
D. Figure 6 represents the injector the straw is delivered from the thresher into the
casing d, which serves to enclose the movable portion of the material-injecting device,
such movable portion consisting substantially of a revolving shaft d¹ provided with
fingers or points d². The direction of the revolution of the shaft is indicated by the
arrow d³. The fingers 2 act to force the straw through the casing d, and to deliver
it with sufficient force, through the outlet d into the pneumatic tube C. The direction
of the movement of the material is indicated by the double-headed arrows it,
Figure 6.
The construction of the injector D) is such that it also serves to break up the
bunches, wads, or lumps, into which the straw coming from the thresher is liable to
form, and cause the straw to be delivered almost entirely in the forin of separated
stalks into the pneumatic tube, whereby the material is prevented from obstructing
the pneumatic tube, and the air-current enabled to act efficiently upon the straw and
bear it along through the said tube to the point of delivery. The use of the fingers
or points is necessary in this last respect in contradistinction to any construction
which will simply force the straw into the pneumatic tube.
The fan B is operated by any ordinary means, and the injector D is rotated in any
suitable manner, but as stated, the force exerted by the injector must be great enough
to deliver the straw into the pneumatic tube against any air. pressure exerted by the
current through the outlet d in the direction of the injector. The direction of the
air-current is indicated by the arrows y, Figure 6. So far as the pneumatic tube is
concerned it can be variously constructed provided it is adapted to admit the air
current and straw in the manner described that is, it may be extended beyond the
outlet d¹ in any desired direction, and it may be a single rigid tube, or it may be in
parts, and be adjustable horizontally and vertically. To render the device more
complete, both the said adjustments are embodied in the pneumatic tube.
As shown in Figures 1, 2, an elbow c is formed therein, and the tube is made in
sections c¹ and c² which are adapted to be telescoped at the elbow c. The section c²
is slipped onto the section c¹. By means of the braces E F attached respectively to
the sections c¹² and extended and journalled upon each other at the point G, the
outer section 2 is supported so that it can be drawn out and closed upon the inner
section. When the outer section is drawn outward its outer end c³ points more in a down-
ward direction, and when it is closed upon the inner section the end e³ points more in an
upward direction. Each brace E, F, is shown made in two parts e e¹, and f, ƒ³,
respectively and the described adjustment of the section c² is effected by means of a
cord H one end of which is secured to the brace-part f' and the other end thereof
wound upon a windlass e² journalled in the brace-part e and provided with a ratchet
and pawle as shown, and, between the brace part 1 and windlass, carried over a
bearing upon the brace-part f, substantially as shown. By winding the cord
upon the windlass the outer tube section is closed upon the inner tube-section, and
by unwinding the cord the outer tube-section, by reason of its weight, moves outward
upon the inner tube-section.
;
The horizontal adjustment of the pneumatic tube is provided for as follows:-the
inner tube-section el at its lower end is journalled upon a third fixed section ct of the
pneumatic tube; the section c¹ is provided with a collar I which turns in another
collar J, Figures 3, 6 attached to the section substantially as shown, whereby all
that portion of the pneumatic tube above the section et can be swung around
horizontally, and the end c³ pointed to any desirable quarter. The collar ] is provided
with a toothed segment K, and L. Figures 3, 6 represents a worm gear engaging
therewith. The gear L is attached to a shaft 2 carrying a pulley from which a
belt leads to a pulley M on the shaft m. This shaft is journalled in an outer
shaft N Figure 3, and it is also provided with the bevel gear m¹ and the pulley m².

page_text: The shaft N is provided with the pulley n and the bevel-gear n¹. The two bevel
gears mn are brought into engagement by means of the third bevel gear (
Figures 5, 3. By means of the shifter P pivoted at p and provided with the rod p',
Figures 5, 3, the driving belt Q can be shifted to and from the pulleys m² n and
the segment K and tube-sections c¹, thereby rotated horizontally in either desired
direction. The spring R, lever r pivoted at ³, and the link ², Figure 3, which
connects the parts Rr with the shifter P constitute what may be termined a spring
toggle lock which yields when it is necessary to shift the belt, but which operates to
secure the shifter in either of its positions against accidental displacement. It is
desirable to employ two fans B B Figure 4, rather than a single fan, and to lead their
outlets b b into the same tube C substantially as shown in Figures 4, 5. The chaff
from the thresher may, as indicated by the arrows to Figure 6 pass through the fans
into the tube C.
Having now particularly described as ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion 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 :-
First. In a straw-elevating apparatus, the combination, with the vertical pneumatic
tubes, and the fans or blowers for driving air into the lower ends thereof and
producing an upward current therein, of the rotary straw injector situated a suitable
distance above the said fans or blowers and below the junction of the said tubes,
substantially as set forth.
Second. The combination of the tube section c¹ c² braces E F, cord H and
windlass e substantially as described.
1
Third. In a straw-elevating apparatus, the combination with the vertical pneumatic
tubes, and the fans or blowers driving air into the lower ends thereof and producing
an upward current therein, of the rotary straw injector situated a suitable distance
above said fan or blowers, and below the junction of said tubes, said injector pro-
vided with fingers d², that separate portions of straw from the mass fed to the said
injector, throwing the same upward into the pneumatic tube and simultaneously
spreading apart or separate the stalks in said proportions substantially as described.
Dated this 29th day of May 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.