Improvements in Apparatus for Elevating and Conveying Grain and other Substances.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Elevating and Conveying Grain and
other Substances.
I, JACOB LOEWI, of the firm of Gebruder Maier Loewi in Ratisbone, Kingdom of
Bavaria, 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 or conveying grain, meal, saw-
dust, and similar or other substances by means of a vacuum.
One object of my said invention is, by means of a novel construction of the
suction-pipe, to prevent the grain or other substances from settling in the said pipe
and thus choking or obstructing the latter, whilst another object of my invention is
to utilize the gravity or weight of the grain or other substances conveyed, for auto-
matically emptying the air chamber passed by the said substances
My said invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which,
Figure 1 is a general view of a pneumatic elevating apparatus, shown in connection
with a vessel, the cargo of which is supposed to consist of grain and,
Figure 2 is a detail of the same.
C is a suction pipe connected with a suitable air pump, not shown in the diawing,
and communicating in the usual manner, with the air chamber B. From the latter
any desired number of suction pipes D may extend into the hull of a vessel A.
In suction apparatuses as heretofore generally employed for elevating or conveying
solid substances the main difficulty in the way of the commercial use of the same has
been found to consist in the fact that the grain or other substances, in passing the
more or less horizontal portion of the suction pipe D, settles on the bottom of the
latter and, by reason of the friction there produced, obstructs or chokes the said pipe
to such an extent as to interrupt the further passage of the
the like.
In order to avoid this difficulty the horizontal portion of the said suction pipe has
in some instances, been perforated below, the object being to cause air to be sucked
through the grain from below and to cause the deposits of grain and similar substanes
to be lifted up from the lower surface of the pipe and brought into motion again.
or
grain

page_text: This experiment, however, has created, a greater difficulty by causing such large
quantities of air to be sucked in, that the air pump could no longer overcome, the
latter being required, at the same time, to maintain a sufficient vacuum in the air
chamber to lift the grain
In the present invention the above named difficulties are avoided by the following
means, that is to say, the vertical portion D¹ of the suction pipe between the hori-
zontal portion and the end at which the grain enters, is provided with interior helical
windings D³ (Figure 2) which act in a manner similar to that of the rifling of a gun,
imparting to the grain or other substances a rotary motion as they pass through
these helical windings in being sucked into and through the said pipe and, through
this rotary motion, giving them a sufficient momentum to cause them to pass the
horizontal portion of the pipe in a rotary screw-like movement and thus to reach the
second vertical portion of the said pipe and thence the chamber B.
By this means, that is to say, by thus giving the grain or other substances a rotary
screw-like motion just at the right moment while passing through the pipe, the same
is effectually prevented from settling in, adhering to, and obstructing the horizontal
portion of the said pipe, without thereby causing any extra strain upon the air
pump.
Such strain upon the air pump is, moreover, avoided by the following additional
means, that is to say, by means of a device connected with the pressure conduit of the
air pump by which the influx of air into the air chamber B is prevented during the
periodical intervals when the said air chamber serving, at the same time, as an inter-
mediate receptacle for the grain or the like is being emptied. This device consists of
a pipe c (Figure 1) entering above a valve b¹ in the lower reduced portion of the
conically shaped air chamber B, the said valve being so balanced by means of a
counter weight 62 as to open automatically under the weight of the said grain or
other substance as soon as a given quantity of the saine has accumulated in the air
chamber and thus to allow the said grain or the like to drop out of the said air
chamber.
Now in order to prevent the influx of atmospheric air into the air chamber B while
the latter is being emptied and thereby to prevent the deterioration of the vacuum
therein produced and maintained by the sucking action of the air pump, the lower
end of the air chamber B is at the proper moment, brought into communication with
the pressure conduit of the said air pump by means of the pipe c the pressed air
ejected from the latter pressing back the outer atmospheric air and thus preventing
the same from entering the air chamber The current of compressed air acting in the
same direction as that taken by the grain or other substances in dropping out from
the air chamber B, also assists in securing a speedy discharge of the latter, so as to
require the valve b¹ to be kept open for a very limited space of time only during each
discharge of grain
It will thus be seen that, by means of the improvements hereinbefore described, the
pneumatic apparatus for elevating grain and other substances 18 secured against
becoming choked or obstructed and that at the same time, the possibility of any
material deterioration of the vacuum in the apparatus, while at work, is effectually
prevented.
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 :-
First. In an apparatus for elevating and conveying grain and similar or other
substances by means of vacuum, the helical windings or equivalent means within the
suction pipe D in the ascending portion below the more or less horizontal portion
thereof, by which means the grain or other substances are caused to assume a screw
like rotary motion before reaching the more or less horizontal portion of the said
pipe, for the purpose of preventing the grain or other substances from settling in that
portion of the said pipe, substantially as described.

page_text: Second. In an apparatus for elevating and conveying grain and similar or other
substances by means of vacuum, the combination, with the lower part of the air
chamber B serving as an intermediate receptacle for the grain or other substances
elevated, of a compressed air conduit emitting a current of compressed air from above
the automaacally opening valve b¹ during the discharge of grain, for the purpose of
preventing the outer atmospheric air from entering the said air chamber and thereby
deteriorating the vacuum and, at the same time, for increasing the speed of dis-
charge of the grain or other substances from the said air chamber, substantially as
described.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.