Improvements in Apparatus for Separating Substances of Different Sizes or Specific Gravities.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 18th May, 1893-Accepted, 8th' July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Separating Substances of Different
Sizes or Specific Gravities.
I JOHN UNWIN ASKHAM of Yorkshire Steel and Engineering Works, Sheffield,
in the County of York, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
This invention relates principally to apparatus such as is described and claimed
in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 1455 of 1885 granted to Thomas
William Bassett Mumford and Robert Moodie and has for its object to effect
certain improvements therein or connected therewith as hereinafter explained.
In order to prevent the fan spindle from oscillating at its lower end I provide a
bottom bearing, or footstep, for the said lower end, the said bottom bearing, or
footstep, being carried by means of struts, or bars, attached to any suitable part of
the apparatus, such, for instance, as the bottom frustum, or louvre.
Upon the spindle, near its lower end, I mount a cover which is preferably keyed,
or otherwise secured, to the spindle, so as to revolve with it. It is so formed and
situated as to cover the bearing and prevent access of dust thereto. For the
purpose of lubricating this bearing, I cast, or drill, or otherwise form, a hole in
the bottom of the bearing and attach thereto a pipe passing to the outside of the
separator casing and fitted with a Stauffer, or other suitable lubricator.
In order to obtain quick and easy access to the fan I form in the side of the
casing an opening, or openings, with a door or doors, so that the fan may be
examined and repaired without taking the separator to pieces; and to enable the
fan blades to be removed without cutting the fan I attach the fan vanes, or blades,
to the top and bottom plates of the fan by bolts and nuts instead of by rivets :
I connect the upper part of the separator to the bottom portion by means of clips,
or bolts, hinges, or centered, to one of the parts so that they can be turned into,
and out of, notches in the periphery of the other of the parts and be secured by
nuts screwed upon them. To facilitate removing the fan spindle I employ split
bearings with ordinary caps, or keeps.
I may arrange the apparatus in two separate chambers one an agitating chamber
into which the material is to be fed and the other a settling chamber into which by
a fan or the like fine material is drawn from the agitating chamber the fine
material being deposited in and passing off from the settling chamber and the
coarse material or tailings depositing in and passing off from the agitating
chamber the two chambers being connected by pipes or passages so that a
circulating current of air is maintained by the fan throughout both chambers. A
convenient arrangement on this plan is to place the agitating chamber at a lower
level than the settling chamber and connect them by means of air pipes one
opening from the upper part of the agitating chamber into the upper part of the
settling chamber and the other opening into the settling chamber by an enlarged
termination surrounding the first named air pipe and terminating in the lower part
of the agitating chamber or in a space surrounding the lower part of the agitating
chamber with passages down from the said space and up into the settling chamber.
The agitating chamber is provided with an inlet for the material to be separated
and a revolving distributor which may consist of discs with bars connecting them
round their periphery so that the material fed between the discs passes between
the said bars into the agitating chamber in a distributed shower.
The upper
part of the settling chamber is provided with a fan the air current created by
which fan withdraws fine material from the agitating chamber and carries it up

page_text: the one pipe into the settling chamber through the fan the air returning by the
other pipe to the agitating chamber to take up and carry forward to the settling
chamber more fine material and so on continuously whilst the apparatus is in
action.
.
Dated this 18th day of A 1900
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents. .
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Separating Substances of Different
Sizes or Specific Gravities.
1 JOHN UNWIN ASKHAM of Yorkshire Steel and Engineering Works Sheffield
in the County, of York Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
aud in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates principally to apparatus such as is described and claimed
in the Specification of Letters Patent No. 1455 of 1885 granted to Thomas William
Bassett Mumford and Robert Moodie and has for its object to effect certain
improvements therein or connected therewith as hereinafter explained.
In order to prevent the fan spindle from oscillating at its lower end I provide a
bottom bearing, or footstep, for the said lower end, the said bottom bearing or
footstep being carried by means of struts, or bars, attached to any suitable part of
the apparatus, such for instance as the bottom frustum or louvre.
Upon the spindle, near its lower end, I mount a cover which is preferably keyed,
or otherwise secured. to the spindle, so as to revolve with it. It is so formed
and situated as to cover the bearing and prevent access of dust thereto. For
the purpose of lubricating this bearing I cast or drill or otherwise form, a
hole in the bottom of the bearing and attach thereto a pipe passing to the outside
of the separator casing and fitted with я " Stauffer or other suitable lubricator.
In order to obtain quick and easy access to the fan I form in the side of the
casing an opening or openings with a door or doors so that the fan may be examined
and repaired without taking the separator to pieces and to enable the fan blades to
be removed without cutting the fan I attach the fan vanes, or blades, to the top
and bottom plates of the fan by bolts and nuts instead of by rivets; I connect the
upper part of the separator to the bottom portion by means of clips or bolts hinged
or centered, to one of the parts so that they can be turned into, and out of, notches
in the periphery of the other of the parts and be secured by nuts screwed upon
them. To facilitate removing the fan spindle I employ split bearings with ordinary
caps or keeps.
I may arrange the apparatus in two separate chambers one an agitating chamber
into which the material is to be fed and the other a settling chamber into which,
by a fan or the like, fine material is drawn from the agitating chamber the fine
material depositing in, and passing off from, the settling chamber and the coarse
material, or tailings, depositing in, and passing off from, the agitating chamber the
two chambers being connected by pipes, or passages, so that a circulating current
of air is maintained by the fifn throughout both chambers. A convenient arrange-
ment on this plan is to place the agitating chamber at a lower level than the
settling chamber and connect them by means of air pipes one opening from the
upper part of the agitating chamber into the upper part of the settling chamber
and the other opening into the settling chamber by an enlarged termination
surrounding the first named air pipe and terminating in the lower part of the
agitating chamber or in a space surrounding the lower part of the agitating
chamber with passages down from the said space and up into the settling
chamber. The agitating chamber is provided with an inlet for the material to

page_text: be separated and a revolving distributor which may consist of discs with bars
connecting them round their periphery so that the material fed between the
discs passes between the said bars into the agitating chamber in a distributed
shower. The upper part of the settling chamber is provided with a fan the
air current created by which fan withdraws fine material from the agitating
chamber and. carries it up the one pipe into the settling chamber through the
fan, the air returning by the other pipe to the agitating chamber to take up
and carry forward to the settling chamber more fine material; and so on
continuously whilst the apparatus is in action.
And in order that the said invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to the
several figures on the annexed sheets of drawings the same letter of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
Fig. 1 is an elevation partly in section of a separating machine of the kind
mentioned shewing my improvements applied thereto and
Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the bottom bearing and the lower end of
the spindle and also shewing two carrying arms therefor.
Fig. 3 is an enlarged edge view of part of the fan.
A is the upper casing of the separator and B is the spindle carrying the fan.
CC the bearings above the separator the said bearings being made one half in the
fixed bars and the other half in straps screwed onto the bars. C' is the footstep
bearing for the lower end of the spindle B which lower end is provided with the
dust cover D shaped like an inverted cup and covering the bottom bearing as
shewn. E is the lubricating pipe leading from the lubricator and opening into
the orifice e passing through the footstep bearing so as to supply oil at the lower
end of the spindle. G G are stays supporting the footstep C. H is the door,
covering a hole in the casing and 1 is a vane, or blade of the fan. These vanes or
blades are secured to the upper and lower plates (3) of the fan as shewn in
Fig. 3 by angle bars i and screws securing the upper and lower plates and blades
together.
Fig. 4 shews the arrangement of the apparatus in two separate chambers as
hereinbefore explained. A' is the casing of the agitating chamber provided at top
with an inlet at a into which the material to be separated is fed. J'is a distributor
consisting of two discs j connected by bars which distributor receives through an
opening in its upper disc j the material from the inlet a. The said distributor is
driven by any suitable means such for example as the gearing shewn in the drawing.
A is the casing of the settling chamber which is closed in and is provided with a
fan I driven by any suitable meaus such for example as the gearing shewn in the
drawing. K is a pipe opening from the upper part of the agitating chamber A¹
and passing through the side of the settling chamber A2 and up there-into and
terminating at k inside or near to the fan. Surrounding the termination of this
pipe K is an enlargement of the pipe L which passes through the casing A' and
communicates with the lower part of the agitating chamber A'. The material
being fed into the distributor in the agitating chamber A' is distributed in a shower
inside the said chamber and the finer parts are drawn through the pipe K by the
fan, the very finest particles or impalpable powder only being carried by the air
current into the settling chamber A and depositing therein or into a receptacle
placed at the lower end of the said chamber. The air passes back by the pipe L
to the chamber A'. The coarse portions or tailings deposit in the chamber A' or
in a receptacle placed at the lower end of the said chamber. It will be seen that a
circulation of air is by this arrangement maintained in the apparatus.
In Fig. 5 I have shewn a modification of the connection of the pipe L with the
chamber A wherein the said pipe instead of entering directly into the said chamber
enters a casing or belt m surrounding its lower end and then passes down between
the part n and the lower end of the chamber and then up into the said chamber
through its open end.

page_text: 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
1st. The addition of a bottom bearing or footstep to the fan spindles of
separating machines, of the kind mentioned for the purpose of securing the vertical
shaft in a central position substantially as hereinbefore described and shewn.
2nd. The combination with the lower bearing of the machine of a cover which
protects the said lower bearing from dust substantially as hereinbefore described
and shewn.
3rd. In combination with a bottom bearing as described a lubricator and
lubricating pipe communicating with an orifice made through the said bottom
bearing substantially as herein before described and shewn.
4th. In separating machines of the aforesaid description an opening or openings
closed by a door or doors in the casing in combination with a fan with vanes or
blades which are secured as described to the upper and lower plates in such manner
that the said vanes or blades can be removed and renewed without taking the
machine to pieces.
5th. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting a separating machine
as hereinbefore described and shewn in the accompanying drawings.
6th. An apparatus for separating substances of different sizes or specific gravities
consisting of a first chamber into which the material is fed and a second chamber
provided with a fan the chambers being connected by air pipes or passages so that
the finest particles or impalpable powder drawn from the first chamber is obtained
in the second chamber substantially as herein before described and illustrated by
Figs. 4 and 5 of the accompanying drawings.