Improvements in Continuous Centrifugal Separators.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Feb., 1897
.
CL
1007
ALL
1007
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Continuous Centrifugal Separators.
I, HERMAN, DE VRIES ROBBE of Amsterdam, Holland, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows;
-
This invention relates to centrifugal separators such as are used in the sugar
industry for the purpose of separating the sugar crystals from the syrup, and in
which the action is continuous.
According to my invention, the undried material is continuously fed in at
the top of the separator, passing through the machine in one direction only, and
after having been deprived of the syrup passes out through the bottom of the
separator and falls into a suitable receptacle.
Broadly described the separator comprises the following ;-
An outer fixed casing provided with two channels or gutters at different
levels, the first syrup being forced, by centrifugal action, into the upper gutter
and the second syrup into the lower gutter. Inside the fixed casing a rotating
casing formed in two parts is carried, and it may be driven either from above
or below, but I will assume for the purpose of description that it is driven from
above. The inner casing consists of a cylindrical and a conical perforated casing,
the former being lowermost and the smaller diameter of the latter being upper-
most. The two casings are constructed of perforated sheet steel with an inside
lining of gauze, and are driven from the same spindle, only one spindle being
thus necessary; the casings are so connected to the spindle as to be capable of
relative axial movement so that the effective area of the cylindrical casing may be
capable of adjustment by altering the amount by which it is overlapped by the
conical casing, whose lower diameter is nearly equal to the diameter of the
cylindrical casing. This adjustment can be effected when the machine is not
running.
One mode of construction which admits of the necessary relative axial adjust-
ment between the casings is as follows;-
The cylindrical casing is carried by sloping T bars from an armed steel cast-
ing rigidly fixed to the upper part of the vertical shaft or spindle of the machine;
the conical casing is carried from a boss which slides on a cylindrical portion of
the above steel casting, and its vertical position is determined by nuts fitting on
a screwed part of the said cylindrical portion; the conical casing is driven by
forks attached to it which engage with the T bars which carry the cylindrical
casing. About half way up the conical casing a circular plate is carried, of such
diameter as to leave an annular space between its periphery and the said casing
or an internal ring thereon; this plate is also capable of adjustment axially,
which adjustment may be effected by carrying it from a boss which is screwed
on a portion of the boss of the conical casing referred to, which latter boss is
also screwed for the adjusting nuts. In this construction it will be seen, there-
fore, that there are three bosses;-an inner boss fixed to the shaft, a middle boss
carried on the inner one, and an outer boss carried on the middle one, and that

page_text: these three bosses carry respectively, the cylindrical casing, the conical casing
and the circular plate, the latter two of which are axially adjustable.
The arms of the casting which carries the T bars of the cylindrical casing are
of helical contour so that the undried material as it is fed in is forced down by
them, as they rotate, into the conical casing in the upper portion of which, above
the circular plate, the first syrup is expelled; this syrup is guided to the upper
of the two gutters referred to, by annular plates extending from the inner edge
of the gutter to the rotating casing, at a suitable level. The partially dried sugar
then passes through the annular space between the circular plate and the conical
casing into the lower portion of the said casing and thence through the cylindrical
casing where the remainder of the syrup and any added purifying syrup and
water is expelled; the latter are guided into the lower gutter (which is formed
in the foundation frame of the machine), and the dried sugar falls into a recep-
tacle placed below the machine.
The two gutters have a falling gradient to the outlet, and near the outlet an air
outlet is formed.
Suitable perforated pipes are provided for the admission of purifying syrup
and purifying water or steam.
The conical walls of the conical casing are, of course, carried up to the periphery
of the casting which carries the Ṭ bars of the cylindrical casing so as to form
the inlet for the undried material; an external annular ring may be attached
to the conical casing to further guide the first syrup into the upper gutter, and a
similar ring may be attached to the bottom of the cylindrical casing to guide
the expelled fluid into the lower gutter.
Suitable doors are provided in the outer fixed casing to give access to the
working parts.
It will be seen that in the machine described, the sugar is fed into the machine,
and passes through the machine, in a continuous stream, in one direction only,
and that it may be collected in a removable receptacle, which features very much
facilitate the handling of the sugar.
Although I have described the machine in reference to the drying of sugar it
may, of course, with slight modifications be applied to dry other materials.
Dated this 30th day of January, 1897.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES
Castle Chamber, 26 Castle Street, Liverpool.
Agents for the Applicant.
I, HERMAN DE VRIES ROBBE of Amsterdam, Holland, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment:
.
This invention relates to centrifugal separators such as are used in the sugar
industry for the purpose of separating the sugar crystals from the syrup, and in
which the action is continuous.
According to my invention, the undried material is continuously fed in at
the top of the separator, passing through the machine in one direction only, and
after having been deprived of the syrup passes out through the bottom of the
separator and falls into a suitable receptacle.
I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings in which
4

page_text: Fig. I is an elevation in medial section, the adjustable portions of the apparatus
being shown in their mean position: Figs. II, and III, are, respectively, frag-
mentary plan views of the spraying device and one of the driving forks; and
Fig. IV is a fragmentary section of one of the helical arms, on the line A. A.
Broadly described the separator comprises the following:-
An outer fixed casing provided with two channels or gutters at different
levels, the first syrup being forced, by centrifugal action, into the upper gutter
and the second syrup into the lower gutter. Inside the fixed casing a rotating
casing formed in two parts is carried, and it may be driven either from above
or below, but I will assume for the purpose of description that it is driven from
above. The inner casing consists of a cylindrical and a conical perforated casing,
the former being lowermost and the smaller diameter of the latter being upper-
most. The two casings are constructed of perforated sheet steel with an inside
lining of gauze, and are driven from the same spindle, only one spindle being
thus necessary: the casings are so connected to the spindle as to be capable of
relative axial movement so that the effective area of the cylindrical casing may be
capable of adjustment by altering the amount by which it is overlapped by the
conical casing, whose lower diameter is nearly equal to the diameter of the
cylindrical casing. This adjustment can be effected when the machine is not
running.
One mode of construction which admits of the necessary relative axial adjust-
ment between the casings is as follows:-
The cylindrical casing is carried by sloping T bars from an armed steel cast-
ing rigidly fixed to the upper part of the vertical shaft or spindle of the machine:
the conical casing is carried from a boss which slides on a cylindrical portion of
the above steel casting, and its vertical position is determined by nuts fitting on
a screwed part of the said cylindrical portion; the conical casing is driven by
forks attached to it which engage with the T bars which carry the cylindrical
casing. About half way up the conical casing a circular plate is carried, of such
diameter as to leave an annular space between its periphery and the said casing
or an internal ring thereon this plate is also capable of adjustment axially,
which adjustment may be effected by carrying it from a boss which is screwed
on a portion of the boss of the conical casing referred to, which latter boss is
also screwed for the adjusting nuts. In this construction it will be seen, there-
fore, that there are three bosses: -
: an inner boss fixed to the shaft, a middle boss
carried on the inner one, and an outer boss carried on the middle one, and that
these three bosses carry respectively, the cylindrical casing, the conical casing
and the circular plate, the latter two of which are axially adjustable.
The arms of the casting which carries the T bars of the cylindrical casing are
of helical contour so that the undried material as it is fed in is forced down by
them, as they rotate, into the conical casing in the upper portion of which, above
the circular plate, the first syrup is expelled: this syrup is guided to the upper
of the two gutters referred to, by annular plates extending from the inner edge
of the gutter to the rotating casing, at a suitable level. The partially dried sugar
then passes through the annular space between the circular plate and the conical
casing into the lower portion of the said casing and thence through the cylindrical
casing where the remainder of the syrup and any added purifying syrup and
water is expelled: the latter are guided into the lower gutter (which is formed
in the foundation frame of the machine), and the dried sugar falls into a recep-
tacle placed below the machine.
The two gutters have a falling gradient to the outlet, and near the outlet an air
outlet is formed.
Suitable perforated pipes are provided for the admission of purifying syrup
and purifying water or steam.
The conical walls of the conical casing are, of course carried up to the periphery
of the casting which carries the Ț bars of the cylindrical casing so as to form

page_text: the inlet for the undried material: an external annular ring may be attached
to the conical casing to further guide the first syrup into the upper gutter, and a
similar ring may be attached to the bottom of the cylindrical casing to guide
the expelled fluid to the lower gutter.
Suitable doors are provided in the outer fixed casing to give access to the
working parts.
I will now described the specific construction illustrated, by way of example,
in the drawings.
1 is the outer fixed casing provided with the two channels or gutters 2 and 3,
the upper gutter 2 to receive the first syrup and the lower gutter 3 to receive the
second syrup. The gutters 2 and 3 have, as shown, a falling gradient to their
respective outlets 21 and 31.
4 is the cylindrical part of the rotating casing which is carried by a number
of bars 5 from a helical armed steel casting 6 securely keyed to the main
spindle 7, a curved plate 8 being employed to connect the bars 5 to the cylindrical
casing 4. The conical part 9 of the inner casing is carried from an armed steel
casting 10 which is capable of sliding axially on the cylindrical boss 61 of
the casting 6, the axial position of the conical casing relatively to the cylindrical
casing being adjusted by the lock nuts shown. The double thickness of the
casings proper shown in the drawings represents the outer perforated metal and
the inner lining of gauze, the latter being secured in position by the rings shown.
11 is the circular plate carried from the boss 12 which latter slides axially on
the boss 101 of the casting 10, the axial position of the plate relatively to the
conical casing being adjusted by the lock nuts shown. A ring 13 which serves
to hold the gauze lining also serves in conjunction with the adjustable plate 11
to form an annular passage of adjustable radial width through which the material
passes downward and by which its descent is controlled. It will be noticed that
the plate 11, being carried from the boss 10' which carries the conical casing,
moves with the latter once its rative position thereto is determined by the position of
the lock nuts.
14 are the forks attached to the conical casing 9, the open ends of which
embrace the bars or arms 5 and so transmit the driving force from the latter to
the conical casing. A plan view of one of the forks is shown in Fig. III.
15 is the spray pipe supplied by the pipe 16, and 17 is a tray provided with a
drain pipe 18: these pipes and tray are shown in the fragmentary plan Fig. II.
I provide an annular plate 19 which in conjunction with the ring 20 on the
conical casing serves to guide the first syrup into the gutter 2, and in order that
the height of the plate 19 may be adjusted as the conical casing is raised or
lowered, I carry it by means of adjusting screws 21 and provide depending
plates 22 which in conjunction with the plate 23 form an adjustable side wall
for the gutter 2.
The material after having passed down through the machine is received in a
hopper 24 being guided thereto by a conical guide 25: the second syrup is guided
to the gutter 3 by the peripheral plate 26.
The outer fixed casing is provided with covers 27 and the upper conical 4
portion 28 of the casing may be formed in halves with a suitable joint.
When the material is first fed into the machine its passage downwards is
facilitated by the propelling action of the helical arms of the casting 6; a section
of these arms on the line A. A. is shown in Fig. III.
It will be seen that the action is continuous and unidirectional and that in 5
the arrangement shown the passage of the material through the apparatus is, at
each point in its path, assisted by gravity, and that it may be directly collected
in a removable receptacle, which features very much facilitate the handling of
the sugar.
. Although I have described the machine with reference to the drying of sugar 5
it may, of course, with slight modifications be applied to dry other materials.

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:-
1. The improved continuous centrifugal separator which consists of a fixed
casing with gutters for the syrups, and a rotating casing open at the top and
bottom through which the material passes continuously in a downward direction:
said rotating casing comprising a lower open ended cylindrical part and an
upper open ended conical part with its larger diameter lowermost, both parts
being carried from and being driven by a central spindle, but. being axially
adjustable relatively to each other: substantially as described and illustrated.
2. In a continuous centrifugal separator, in combination: a fixed casing with
gutters, and a rotating casing open at the top and bottom and comprising a lower
cylindrical part, an upper conical part and a circular plate or diaphragm within
the said upper part, the three protions of the rotating casing being driven from
and carried by a central spindle but being axially adjustable relatively to each
other substantially as described and illustrated.
3. In combination with the fixed casing: a rotating casing comprising a
helically armed rotating piece which forms the inlet and which carries the open
ended cylindrical part forming the outlet below, and the conical part with its
circular plate, the latter being axially adjustable relatively to the conical part
and both being axially adjustable relatively to the rest of the casing: substantially
as described and illustrated.
4. In combination: the helically armed inlet keyed to the shaft and rigidly
attached to the lower cylindrical part 4, the conical part 9 adjustable axially on
the boss 6', and the plate 11 adjustable axially on the boss 101: substantially as
described and illustrated.
5. The combination and arrangement of parts forming the improved con-
tinuous centrifugal separator, substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated this 30th day of October 1897
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES
Castle Chambers, 26 Castle Street, Liverpool.
Agents for the Applicant.