Improvements relating to Centrifugal Machines.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Sept., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 17th June. 1890-Accepted, 13th Sept., 1890
PROVISIONAL
SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Centrifugal Machines.
1, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., The General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agents do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from abroad
by William Price Abell, of L'Union, Essequebo, British Guiana, Whitworth Scholar
and Engineer) to be as follows:-
My invention relates to centrifugal machines for drying or filtering granular.
crystalline and other substances and for separating solid from liquid substances, the
object being to render such machines continuous in their action and to enable thein
to operate in a better manner than hitherto.
My invention consists essentially in so constructing a centrifugal machine that a
constant feed of masse-cuite thereto is mechanically effected, the solid are separated
from the liquid constituents and the grain, crystals, or the like are caused to leave the
machine at one outlet and the liquid or syrup at another.
For this purpose I cause the masse-cnite to continuously pass from a pug-mill into
a hopper which discharges it into one or more baskets revolving about or outside a
common centre or spindle. These baskets also revolve in their own bearings on their
own centres, or axes, whilst being carried bodily round their common centre after
the manner of an epicyclic train; the masse-cuite on entering one of the baskets or
separators is led to its perforated periphery and is carried with and in the basket round
the centre of the latter whilst the said basket and masse-cuite is being carried or revolved
round another centre. The liquid is thereby thrown or forced through the perforations
into a suitable receptacle outside whilst the solid substance is retained by the gauze
This action continues until the said basket
or perforated periphery of the basket.
has revolved sufficiently on its own centre to cause that segment of the periphery
containing the part of the substance under consideration to revolve on the inside of
the said basket's own centre, that is to say, until the substance has been carried between
the common centre and the basket centre and meeting with no resistance it then flies
from the periphery segments onto and down a cone embracing or encircling the
centre of the said basket, this cone projecting outside the basket discharges the cured
or dried substance into a receptacle or receiver.
Each basket is adapted to be rotated round its own axis, at any desired rate, by
gearing whilst the said baskets are themselves being carried or revolved round the
common axis; the centrifugal force of one basket counterbalances that of the other by
ineans of rings, bands or chains passing round their outer bearing points or
spindles.
When the said baskets are arranged upon suspended spindles such as are used in
the Weston type of machine, or when using the ordinary suspended baskets, especially
in the absence of an attendant, I prevent any undue or dangerous oscillation of the
baskets, and thereby prevent them from knocking against the sides of the casing, by
means of a bottom guide or ring which encircles the bottom of the spindle but does
not touch it, except when the spindle and basket oscillate to a great extent.
Dated the 18th day of September 1889.

page_text: Improvements relating to Centrifugal Machines.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., The General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agents do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication from abroad
by William Price Abell, of L'Union, Essequebo, British Guiana, Whitworth Scholar
and Engineer) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to continuous centrifugal machines for drying or filtering
granular, crystalline and other substances and for separating solid from liquid substances.
that is to say, to centrifugal machines into which the material is introduced and from
which it is discharged in a continuous manner; and it comprises the improvements
hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a centrifugal machine, constructed according
to my invention, for drying sugar, the said machine being provided with a spindle of
the Weston type.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation shewing the said machine and the means for feeding
and driving the same.
Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 are views of modifications of parts hereinafter described.
Similar reference letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
In carrying out my invention I provide a hopper a (Figures 1 and 2) which receives
the masse-cuite from a pug-mill A (Figure 3) and discharges it through spouts a¹, n¹
into perforated baskets or separators b, b. In the drawings three of the said baskets
and spouts are shewn, but a greater or less number may be employed. These baskets h, b
are mounted in a frame e comprising two plates cl; c², the upper of which forms the
bottom of the hopper and is secured by screws to arms of projecting from a boss c.
while the lower plate c² is formed integral with the said boss. The boss is keyed to
a central shaft or spindle d so that the frame and consequently also the baskets
carried thereby will revolve with the said shaft. Each basket is also capable of rotating
upon its own axis parallel or substantially parallel with the axis of its revolution for
which purpose it is provided at the top and bottom with journals b', respectively
adapted to run in bearings e, el in the plates c¹, c² respectively. The journals bare
provided with openings 63 through which the spouts a, al project into the baskets,
and the journals be with openings through which the solid portions of the substance
introduced into the baskets are discharged.
Each of the baskets b, b is provided with a conical chamber in the centre, into
which the masse-cuite falls as it is discharged by the spouts a,, the space between
the said chamber and the wall of the basket being divided into compartments by
partitions Openings connect the chamber with the said compartments. In
the drawings six compartments are shewn but I may use any other number.
Each basket bis provided with a ring of spur teeth y which gear with a pinion / on
the spindle d. This pinion is adapted to be rotated independently of the spindle d and
for this purpose the said pinion is connected by a sleeve h¹ to a pulley i. Another
pulley fixed to the spindle d serves for imparting motion to the said spindle. These
two pulleys i, are arranged so that they can be driven by one driving belt B from
the main shaft C as shewn in Figure 3, and are of slightly different diameters to cause
the pinion / to revolve at a speed slightly different from that of the spindle thereby
causing the baskets also to slowly revolve on their axis as will be obvious.
centrifugal force of the baskets b. b due to their rotation on the spindle / would cause
a considerable amount of friction in their bearings I provide rings j, k, or bands or
chains, which enclose the journals b, b, so that the centrifugal force will cause the
said journals to bear against the said rings, the bearings e, el being open towards the
peripheries of the plates c², c, and made slightly oval (not shewn) for the purpose.
As the

page_text: By this it will be seen that very little friction will be produced, as the rings j, k
will be caused to turn round by reason of the journals 61, 6 rolling against
them.
For the purpose of steadying the rings j. k provide friction rollers,
on pins attached to the plates and the arms et of the frame c.
mounted
is the casing of the machine into which the liquid constituents of the masse-cuite
are received and from which they are discharged through an opening, and m is
an interior conical casing for directing the solid constituents of the masse-cuite
discharged from the baskets to an opening at the central part of the bottom of the
casing
The operation of the machine is as follows, that is to say, I feed the masse-cuite
continuously from the pug-mill A, Figure 3, into the hopper from whence it passes
through the spouts a¹, a¹ into the chambers in the baskets b, b, which baskets are
caused to revolve around the axis of the spindle d and at the same time rotate on
their own axes, as hereinbefore described, through the medium of the pulleys i, .
Owing to the centrifugal action due to the revolution of the baskets round the axis
of the spindle the masse-cuite is caused to pass into the compartment of each
basket farthest from the said axis to the portion of the perforated wall belonging to
the said compartment. The liquid constituents of the masse-cuite are thereby thrown
or forced through the said perforated portion of the wall into the casing (, whilst
the solid substance is retained in the compartment. As the rotation of the baskets
upon their own axis continues each compartment of each basket reaches a point
between the axis of the basket of which it forms a part and the axis of the spindle,
when owing to the continued centrifugal action, the said solid substance flies from the
perforated periphery of the basket containing it against the wall of the conical
chamber This wall projects downwards through the opening &, as shewn,
and thereby directs the cured or dried substance into the casing m, through
the opening a of which it is discharged into a receptacle or receiver D shewn
at Figure 3.
Instead of revolving the pulleys i, i¹ by means of one belt I can make use of two
helts; and when treating different qualities of masse-cuite I find it advantageous to
use different sizes of pulleys so as to obtain suitable speeds for the baskets. In order
to effect this I provide for removing the lower pulley i as shewn in Figure 4. This
pulley is made in halves and provided internally with a projection having V-edges,
one of which is pressed into engagement with a corresponding groove on the
exterior of a hollow boss 8, attached to the sleeve, by means of a nu
which nut screws onto the boss and bears. against the other V-edge by means
of a correspondingly shaped end. By slackening the nut sufficiently, the pulley can
be removed.
Instead of revolving the baskets b, b by means of pulleys as described I can employ
gear-wheels as shewn in Figure 5. In this arrangement I fix a spur-wheel o upon
the spindle and another spur-wheel upon the sleeve, and to a spindle q
journalled in a fixed bracket q' 1 attach a pair of spur-wheels q of the same
size, through the medium of which motion is transmitted from the spindle d to the
sleeve h¹. The wheels o and pare practically of the same size except that one of them
is made with one ог two teeth inore than the other thereby allowing the
baskets b, bo slowly rotate on their axes while revolving round the common
axis as herein before described. The same result can be obtained by making
the difference in the number of teeth in the wheels q². q instead of in the
wheels o and p.
To prevent the excessive friction and heat which would be caused by the thrust
from these wheels I encircle them with two rings of and p having flanges o² and p²
respectively so as to bear upon and receive the thrust from the said wheels which
roll against the inside of the said rings. The bracket q' is formed with a receptacle o
for oil for lubricating the spindles d and 7, and the lower and upper edges
respectively of the rings of and p' are formed, as shewn, for the reception of oil.
When the baskets b, b are arranged upon suspended-spindles such as are used in

page_text: the Weston type of machine as shewn in the drawings, or when using the ordinary
suspended baskets, especially in the absence of an attendant, I obviate any undue
or dangerous oscillation of the baskets. in order to prevent them from knocking
against the sides of the casings l or m. For this purpose I employ a bottom guide
or ring which encircles the bottom of the spindle c but does not touch it, except
when the spindle and basket oscillate to a great extent. This ring is provided with
arms supported in brackets s, s attached to the bottom of the casing 4, the arms
being held in place by nuts sl, 8 and washers s², s of elastic material, the said washers
serving to receive the shock caused by the spindle striking the ring in the
direction of the length of the arms, when the baskets oscillate. To allow the
shock, caused by the spindle e striking the ring at any other part than that just
described to be communicated to the washers s², &, I sometimes joint one of the arms
to the ring as shewn at in Figures 6 and 7 which represent a side elevation
and plan respectively of a ring so constructed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said.
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. A centrifugal machine having a basket or baskets which or each of which is
adapted to rotate upon its own axis, and at the same time to revolve around an axis
outside its circumference, substantially as described.
2. A centrifugal machine comprising a series of baskets mounted in a frame so as
to revolve around a common axis, and each of which is capable of rotation upon its
own axis, substantially as, and for the purposes, described.
3. In a centrifugal machine having a basket or series of baskets as herein-
hefore described, providing such basket or each of such baskets with a number
of compartments arranged around its axis, the wall of each compartment adjacent to
the said axis being inclined or curved, substantially as, and for the purposes, described.
4. A basket of the kind herein before described divided into compartments
and having a central conical chamber which serves to receive the material to be
treated, and the external surface of which serves to direct the solid constituents
of the said material to the discharge opening of the said basket, substantially as
described.
5. In a centrifugal machine of the kind hereinbefore described the use of
rings, bands or chains against which the journals of the baskets hear during
their revolution around the common axis, substantially as, and for the purpose,
described.
6. In a centifugal machine of the kind bereinbefore described, the combination
with the rings, bands or chains referred to in the preceding claiming clause of friction
rollers, substantially as, and for the purpose, described.
7. In a centrifugal machine of the kind herein before described, the arrangement
of mechanism, substantially as described with reference to Figure 1 of the drawings.
for causing the baskets to rotate upon their own axes, and at the same time to revolve
around the cominon axis by means of a single driving belt.
8. The modified arrangements of driving mechanism, substantially as described
with reference to Figures 4 and 5 of the drawings.
9. The combination with the driving mechanism shewn in Figure 5 of the drawings
of rings for preventing excessive friction, substantially as described.
10. In a centrifugal machine, the employment of a guide or ring encircling the
bottoni of the main spindle, substantially as described.
11. The manufacture and use of the improved centrifugal apparatus hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 17th day of June 1890.
G. F. REDFERN & CO..
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant,