Steel from other Substances.
Year: 1886

page_text: Steel from other Substances.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, Fel. Inst. P.A. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and
323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention (a communication from abroad by Frank E. Fisher
of Detroit, County of Wayne, State of Michigan, United States of America,
Inventor) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention consists of the combination of devices and appliances hereinafter
specified and more particularly pointed out in the claims.
In the drawings,
Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the apparatus embodying the invention.
Figure 2 a plan view of the electric apparatus shown in section in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a separate view of one of the magnets.
The object of the invention is to produce an apparatus for extracting particles of
steel or iron from grain, or from cinders, or from any other mass which may carry
it in suspension. Self binders upon harvesting machines where the binding
material is iron or steel are quite common, and in bundles of this character it not
infrequently happens in passing through a threshing machine that particles of the
wire are severed, and pass through with the grain into the seed box, and are not
separated from the grain, but are eventually fed forward in the mill to the mill-
stone and results either in great injury to the millstone or in pulverizing the metal
and incorporating it with the resulting flour. So also, about machine shops,
foundries etcetera and in the cinder and ash piles common about such works, large
quantities of iron or steel, filing borings, scrap etcetera are thus lost.
It is the purpose of this invention to gather these particles of the iron or steel,
either for the purpose of cleansing the grain or other material of these foreign
matters, or for the purpose of recovering the same as a measure of economy.
We will suppose this apparatus represented in the drawing to be employed
in connection with a grain chute in a mill, and will now proceed to describe the
same.

page_text: A represents a hopper A² a grain spout and A³ a chute for receiving the iron or
steel particles as hereinafter explained.
B is an electrical machine consisting of a cylinder so constructed that its
exterior surface shall be composed of magnet poles. These are composed preferably
of soft iron and are in the nature of electro magnets, each made substantially as
shown in Figures 1 and 3, in which b is the loop and b¹ the extremities or poles
the arms of the magnet being wound from end to end, as shown at b. The extremity
of the wire is connected with a brush or equivalent 63, while the other end is
connected at the other end of the magnet with the brush or equivalent 6, the
space between the poles b¹ being filled either with the insulator or with diamagnetic
metal b. The magnets are arranged in annular order about the shaft C, as shown
in Figure 1 and are secured rigidly to disks or heads D so as to revolve freely with
the shaft.
The magnets have broad faces and extend longitudinally the full length of the
cylinder and parallel to the shaft C, thereby providing a large magnetic surface
and rendering the apparatus much more effective in operation than where the
magnets extend obliquely or around the cylinder.
C represents the boxing of the journal bearings. To one of these journal
bearings is secured the stationary ring E. This ring is unbroken and the binding
post e forms a means for connecting it with the dynamo G. Upon this ring E
traverse the brushes as the cylinder B revolves and so maintain a constant
connection with the dynamo. At the other end of the machine is a similar ring E¹
except that this ring is divided, as shown in Figure 1, one of the divisions only
being connected by its binding post c¹ with the other pole of the dynamo: the
brushes 63 traverse on the periphery of this divided ring.
The operation of this part of the device will now be understood; as the cylinder B
revolves in the direction of the arrow.shown in Figure 1 the current from the
dynamo passes through all those brushes b³ which are in contact with the upper
half of the divided ring E thence the current is conducted through the coils on the
corresponding magnets and off through the brushes 64, and the ring E back to the
dynamo.
This converts each of the corresponding magnets into electro magnets and in
this condition they attract to the outer surface all particles of steel or iron
contained in the grain or other materials that is passing through the hopper.
These particles adhere to the magnets so long as they remain magnets. It will
be observed however, by examining Figure 1 that as soon as any magnet has
revolved into its lowest position opposite the conduit A¹, its brush will ride off
from that portion of the divided ring which is the binding post, onto that portion
of the ring which is disconnected from the dynamo. This breaks connection with
the dynamo, the current through the corresponding coil ceases and instantaneous
demagnetization is the result, causing the magnet to release its hold, dropping the
particles of iron or steel into the chute A¹.
It is possible, however, that the demagnetization may not be complete and some
particles might still adhere to the poles, there is therefore provided a brush H
which serves to brush off any such adhering particles and cause them to pass back
through the chute or off to any other suitable channel. The dynamo may be run
by any suitable power, and the same of the cylinder B.
Magnets have been employed for gathering and extracting particles of iron and
steel from grain and other chutes. This contrivance however, possesses the
advantage that it is self-cleaning and therefore is continuous in its operation and
does not require that the apparatus be removed, or that its load of debris be taken
away by hand. It is therefore specially well adapted for grinding mills, and also
for machine shops where carelessness in cleaning other forms of devices might
result in overloading an ordinary permanent magnet, and so permit iron or steel
particles to pass it.
By delivering the material to the magnetic cylinder from a hopper above the
same in contradistinction to delivering the material beneath the cylinder by an

page_text: apron, the metal particles will gravitate within the action of the magnets instead
of away therefrom.
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 :-
1. The combination of a magnetic cylinder composed of magnets extending
longitudinally the full length of the cylinder, a dynamo for producing a current
through the helices of the magnets and means substantially as described for
successively breaking the circuit of the magnets with a hopper located above and
extending partially around the revolving magnetic cylinder as and for the purposes
set forth.
2. The combination of a magnetic cylinder composed of magnets extending
longitudinally the full length of the cylinder and arranged parallel to and
annularly around the shaft of the cylinder, a dynamo for producing a current
through the helices of the magnets and means substantially as described for
successively breaking the circuit of the magnets with a hopper located above and
extending partially around the revolving magnetic cylinder as and for the purposes
set forth.
3. The combination of the hopper A, the spout A2 and the chute A¹ with the
magnetic cylinder located between the hopper and chute and partially surrounded
by the hopper and composed of magnets extending longitudinally the length of
the cylinder, a dynamo for producing a current through the helices of the magnets
and ineans substantially as described for successively breaking the circuit of the
magnets as they pass over the chute, as and for the purposes described.
4. The combination of a magnetic cylinder comprising electro magnets composed
of the loops b poles b' and insulators or diamagnetic metal 6 with the arms wound
from end to end, a dynamo for producing a current through the helices of the
magnets, a hopper located above and partially surrounding the cylinder a spout
and a chute below the cylinder, and means substantially as described for succes-
sively breaking the circuit of the magnets as they pass over the chute, as and for
the purposes described.
5. The combination of a magnetic cylinder comprising electro magnets extending
the full length of the cylinder and composed of loops b poles band insulators or
diamagnetic metal b³, a dynamo for producing a current through the helices of the
magnets and means substantially as described for intermittently breaking the
circuit of the magnets, substantially as described.