Cleaning Manila Fibre, Jute, and other Fibrous Materials.
Year: 1886

page_text: Cleaning Manila Fibre, Jute, and other Fibrous Materials.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co, Patent Agents,
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 improvements in machines for separating and cleaning
fibres.
The object of my invention is to provide a machine that will separate fibres,
whether long or short, from foreign substances, whereby the fibres are cleaned for
use in manufacturing paper or other stock.
My invention consists in providing a screen or perforated shell adapted to
contain fibres with an agitator adapted to agitate the fibres by repeatedly lifting
them from the perforated portion of the screen or shell; and permitting them to fall
back thereon until the foreign substances have been separated from the fibres and
passed out of the shell through the perforations therein.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved separator, with a portion of the cover
broken away to show the inner parts.
•
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the agitator.
Figure 3 is an end view of the device shown in Figure 1, having the cover
raised.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the machine supported in a longitudinally-inclined
position.
Figure 5 is a cross-section on the dotted line x, y in Figure 4.
Similar letters refer to-similar parts in the several figures therein.
The frame A is supported by uprights or legs e, and itself supports a semi-
cylindrical perforated screen or shell B and the agitator D. The shell may be a

page_text: wire screen or a thin shell of any desired material. The perforations or meshes b
may be of any desired size or number.
Among the best and most expensive materials for making paper-stock are inanila
and jute, large quantities of which are wasted because of the imperfect methods
and machines employed in cleaning the fibres. When air currents are employed to
separate and eject the dust and other foreign substances from the fibres, much of
the latter, and especially short fibres, are carried away and wasted. By properly
agitating the fibres in a screen or perforated shell I find that the foreign substances
gravitate through the perforations, while very short fibres are separated and
preserved in a condition fit for use.
The agitator D is adapted to rotate or partially rotate in suitable bearings i i,
located at the ends of the frame, and is provided with radial arms a a and the
crank-handle H at one end. The agitator-shaft occupies the position of the
longitudinal axis of the semi-cylindrical shell, and the radial arms are adapted to
be oscillated within the shell in planes right angular to their supporting-shaft.
The device may have a cover similar in shape to the shell and hinged at one side
to the shell or frame A.
The device may be operated while occupying a horizontal position as shown in
Figure 1 or an inclined position, as shown in Figure 4. When the fibres to be
cleaned are long, I prefer to secure the apparatus in a nearly horizontal position,
remove the agitator, and partly fill the shell with the fibres to be cleansed, dis-
tributing the fibres along the length of the shell. I then replace the agitator in its
bearings, the arms extending down among the fibres, let the cover down from the
position shown in Figure 3 to that shown in Figure 1, and by means of the crank-
handle partially rotate the shaft of the agitator back and forth, which gives the
arms an oscillatory motion and thoroughly agitates the fibres by lifting them up,
first on one side of the shell and then on the other, and letting them fall again
directly upon the perforations. This operation is continued until all loose and
foreign substances have left the fibres and passed through the perforations, leaving
the fibres within the shell thoroughly cleaned and fit for use, after which the cover
is lifted, the agitator removed, and unclean fibre substituted for that which has been
cleaned, when the operation may be repeated. When the fibres are comparatively
short, or no longer than the fibres which are usually wasted, I prefer to secure the
agitator in an inclined position, as shown in Figure 4, and provide the cover with
a suitable opening O at the higher end, through which the fibres are introduced
with constant flow.
By oscillating the arms as before described, the fibres are not only separated and
cleaned, as previously described, but they are continuously fed toward the lower
and open end of the shell where they pass out cleaned, ready for use, and are
removed by an endless belt or in any desired manner.
By inspection of the several figures of the drawings it will be seen that each
arm a occupies a position on one side of its supporting shaft directly opposite the
space between two arms on the opposite side of the shaft, and when an arm on one
side has oscillated to the bighest point, as shown by the upper dotted lines in
figure 5, any fibres falling from it will pass down upon and beneath the next arm
below it (also shown in dotted lines,) which latter arm passes to the highest point
on the other side of the shell, carrying with it the fibres just fallen from the arın
next above it from which the fibres fall to the next arm below, and so on until they
are expelled from the shell at its lower end.
The explanation of the forward movement of the fibres from one end of the shell
to the other is found in the fact that the arms oscillate in planes right angular to
their supporting-shaft, as before stated and that the shaft is inclined, so that the
lower side of the circular plane that would be described by a complete revolution of
any given arm about the shaft is in about the same vertical plane as the upper side
of the plane described by tlie arın next above it on the shaft, and the fibers, falling
in a vertical line, pass from one arm to the ȧrın next below it on the shaft, thus
travelling from one arm to another at each oscillation of the arma.
'

page_text: It is obvious that steam or other power may be applied to operate the agitator;
or it may be operated by grasping one of the radial arms with the hand, the
crank-handle being entirely dispensed with as an unnecessary element.
The legs and supports may be of any desired form or material.
When used in an inclined position, the cover may be fixed upon or form a part
of the shell.
Having now 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 my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is,
In apparatus for separating and cleaning fibres, the combination, with a reticulated
cylinder, semi-cylinder or sieve, of a rotary or oscillating shaft provided with arms,
each of which is placed opposite to a space between two arms on the opposite side,
whereby the fibre will be tossed from arm to arm until dust and other foreign
substances shall have separated therefrom, as described.
Dated this 22nd day of June 188E
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.