Improvements relating to Centrifugal Sorting Machines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Mar., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 14th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 19th Dec., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Centrifugal Sorting Machines..
We HERMANN PAPE and WILHELM HENNEBERG, Engineers both of No. 8
Königstrasse, Hamburg in the Empire of Germany do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to centrifugal sorting machines for separating grain or
granular bodies according to their specific weight or density in which machines the
material to be sorted is subjected to the action of a rapidly rotating table or
distributor from and by which the material is thrown out tangentially so that the
grains are thrown to a greater or less distance according to their specific gravity or
density and are collected in receivers placed at the respective distances from the
centre of rotation.
The object of this invention is to separate and remove the dust mingled with such
grain or material by means of an air current and also to modify the action of the
machine and provide for adjustment as hereinafter described.
The air current is caused to pass from the outside towards the centre of rotation
that is to say in a direction contrary to that of the outwardly flying grains.
By this means the grains are cleaned by outward passage through the air and
pass outward at all times into cleaner air.
The air may be admitted at the base of the circular concentric receivers in which
the grains fall and in such amount, distribution and strength of current as to
prevent dust from settling in these receivers. The inlet openings may be made
adjustable with slides and may also serve as outlet for the grains from the several
receivers.
To make the receivers adjustable to receive or exclude grains of less or greater
density, their walls are made adjustable in a direction perpendicular to the plane of
rotation by means preferably of sliding rings or sections.
Dated this 31st day of March 1891.
HERBERT & CO.,
· Agents to Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Centrifugal Sorting Machines.
We, HERMANN PAPE and WILHELM HENNEBERG, Engineers, of No. 8
Königstrasse, Hamburg, in the Empire of Germany, 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 :-
It is a well known fact that a mixture of granular matter, for instance broken
minerals, broken or hulled cereals or any other mixture consisting of parts of
different gravity or different size, can be sorted according to weight and size by
throwing out the mixture centrifugally into a reception vessel provided with different
chambers for collecting the separated grains. In applying this principle it some-
times happens that the material treated contains dust or some other light stuff
which is not fully subjected to the centrifugal force and has no tendency to fall
quickly.
This dust spreads through the whole of the reception vessel and falls pretty
equally in all collecting chambers and so soils all the sorted products.
It is therefore necessary either to remove the dust etc., from the granular mixture

page_text: before passing the latter into the separating machine or this machine must be con-
structed in such a way that an efficient extraction of dust is combined with the
process of separation. The latter is especially necessary when the hulling or
grinding process is directly combined with the sorting by using a disintegrator,
grindstone or the like directly as a centrifugal throwing disc.
Further it is desirable when the apparatus runs with high peripheral speed of the
distributor or which is the same, with high initial speed of the material to be separated,
to have a slowing counterforce for the separated parts of the material so that the
breadth of the reception vessel can be comparatively small.
To attain these two purposes that is, dust extraction and speed regulation, of the
flying grains in centrifugal dry separators either separately or combined with each
other, we apply a current of atmospheric air or any other kind of gas which flows
from all directions towards the centre of the apparatus so that the thrown material
moves in an opposite direction to this current. In this case the separator consists
of a rotating central distributor, disk, tube turbine, grindstone or such like around
which the reception vessel is arranged concentrically as shown in the accompanying
drawings of which
Fig. 1 represents a sectional view of a machine in which the air enters at the top
and leaves at the bottom.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a machine with air outflow at the top.
Fig. 3 is a view in section and Fig. 4.plan partly in section of a modified
machine and
Fig. 5 is a detailed view in section on a larger scale showing the mode of
suspension of the distributor.
The air enters this vessel through the outer shell of the latter by holes or slits a a
(Fig. 1) or through the cover of the vessel by holes or slits bb or the air can be
introduced into the apparatus by holes or slits cc (Figs. 2 and 3) in the bottom of
the vessel. In the latter case the separated grains are subjected to the action of
the air not only during their flight but also when fallen. Their freedom from dust
is therefore more certain and they will fall down more smoothly.
The current of air which is caused to flow into the centre of the apparatus from
all sides is carried away centrally either downwards (Figs. 1 and 3) or upwards
(Fig. 2).
Sometimes it is desirable to regulate the speed of the air over the upper edges of
the rims of the single collecting chambers.
For this purpose we arrange movable slides d d by which the distance between
the cover of the reception vessel and the edges of the rims of the single collecting
chambers can be altered or we move the rims of these chambers with equal effect.
We also provide at the air inlets a b c, slides e e, traps ff, plates 9 g, or any other
form of mechanism by which the quantity of air entering the whole reception vessel
and each individual collection chamber can be regulated. In Figs. 1 and 2 the
distributor is attached in the well known manner to a vertical shaft standing in a
foot bearing. As at times the lubrication of foot and collar bearings will be
attended by difficulty we may suspend the distributor so that every part requiring
lubrication is situated above the reception vessel. Fig. 4 shows the whole arrange-
ment while Fig. 5 shows the details of the suspension. In Fig. 5o is a fixed
stationary shaft with central bore for the passage of the lubricating material to the
cone at the lower end of this spindle. This cone carries the shaft which rotates
and to which the distributor is attached. The sleeve at the head of the shaft r
contains the bearing by which the shaft r is supported and kept in the right
position. When the machine runs the oil rises out of the space under the cone of o
by centrifugal force and passes along the surface of the bearing 1 thus lubricating
the sliding parts of the apparatus. The oil which goes over the rim of the bearing
is caught by the rotating box pout of which the oil flows down again when the
apparatus is stopped. The shaft o and so the whole machinery is elastically carried
on the frames by means of an india-rubber plate u. The fact that the washer t
which is pressed down by the nut m and the counterbearing of the shaft o towards

page_text: the frames are turned in spherical form allows a sufficient movement of the shaft o
in all directions so that the apparatus when started easily gains its equilibrium.
The spindle is journalled in an elastic collar bearing h; it receives its motive
power by a pulley or any other suitable means, for instance by direct electric motor.
Fig. 5 shows as a distributor a disc to which a rotating deflection plate is
attached. Of course any other kind of distributor could be mounted with our
suspension construction. Fig. 3 shows besides the suspension of the distributor also
the construction of the bottom of the reception vessel in the form of an appropriate
number of hoppers by which the separated grains are gathered in a continuous way.
In the drawing two collecting rings formed of hoppers are shown. There can be
any number of hopper rings. These rings can be formed by only two surfaces ; i
leaving a slit c for the outlet of the grains or by addition of cross plates i² ² so
that every ring has several smaller outlet openings c. In the former case the
separated grains are collected in gutters k k and removed from there by brushes, in
the latter case the grains fall directly into bags or any other receptacles.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. In centrifugal separators for granular mixtures the provision of an air current
flowing centripetally through the separating chamber and leaving the latter centrally
in upward or downward direction for the purpose of dust extraction and regulation
of the speed of the single grains.
2. In centrifugal separators for granular substances the construction of the
separator vessel so that the width between the cover of the vessel and the rims of
the collecting chambers can be varied.
3. In centrifugal separators for granular substances the arrangement of each
collecting circle as a series of hoppers so that the grain received flows continually
into sacks or receptacles placed under the mouths of said hoppers.
Dated this 14th dov of Novomhan 1001
HERBERT & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.