Improvements in Apparatus for Stirring or Mixing Fluids and other Substances.
Year: 1885

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Stirring or Mixing Fluids and
other Substances.
I FRANCIS BERNARD WELCH of the Manchester Chambers Market] Street
Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STIRRING OR
MIXING FLUIDS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to Improvements in apparatus for stirring or mixing
fluids and other substances and more particularly to the type of apparatus
described in the Specification to Letters Patent N° 2362 of 1876 and the objects
of these Improvements are:-(1) To prevent the fluid or other substance being
rotated bodily by the centrifugal action of the stirrer, (2) To secure a greater
efficiency for the apparatus, (3) To prevent "balling i of any solid substance
which it may be desired to mix with a fluid and (4) To enable fluids to be
effectually mixed or stirred without undue commotion.
"
To effect these objects I corrugate the tube within which the blades or stirrers
work, the corrugations having à longitudinal or a spiral direction. Instead of
corrugating the tube I may attach to the interior of the tube bars, baffle plates or
their equivalent. The tube may be open throughout or it may be closed at the
exit end by a perforated plate or it may have its exit end closed by a blank flange
in which case the sides of the tube in proximity thereto may be perforated, or the
perforated end plate may be used in combination with the perforated sides of the
tube. In cases where the perforated tube or end plate are employed I may also
use an inclined plane rotating with the stirrer to assist in forcing the material
through the perforations and a knife or scraper for clearing them or cutting up the
substance passing through the perforations. In addition to or in substitution for
the inclined plane, knife or scraper may also employ a brush or brushes.
The blades or stirrers may be one or more in number and they may all be
arranged radialy on the same or on different planes.
In some cases the tube may be dispensed with when two sets of concentric blades
or stirrers may be used. If these rotate in the same direction the inner series
of blades or stirrers may be formed as parts of a right hand screw or screws and
the outer series as parts of a left band screw or the reverse. If they rotate in
opposite directions the blades or stirrers may be inclined in the same direction in
both series.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Stirring or Mixing Fluids and
other Substances.
I FRANCIS BERNARD WELCH of Manchester Chambers Market Street Manchester
in the County of Lancaster Mechanical Engineer 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:―
This Invention relates to apparatus for stirring or mixing fluid and other
substances and more particularly to the type of apparatus described in the
Specification to Letters Patent N° 2362 of 1876 and these Improvements have
for their objects (1) To prevent the fluid or other substance being rotated bodily
by the centrifugal action of the stirring blades (2) To secure a greater efficiency
for the apparatus (3) To prevent "balling" of any solid substance which it may
be desired to mix with a fluid and (4) To enable fluids to be effectually mixed or
stirred without undue commotion.
And in order that this Invention may more readily be understood and carried
into practical effect I have hereunto appended a sheet of Drawings the Figures
thereon being marked with letters of reference, similar letters being employed to
denote similar parts in each of the Figures and reference being hereinafter had
thereto.
Fig. 1 represents in vertical section and Fig. 2 in horizontal section a stirring
apparatus having some of these Improvements applied thereto. A is the vat or
Within
tank containing the substance or substances to be stirred or mixed.
the vat or tank there may be mounted or secured a tube B, which has formed
upon or secured to its interior longitudinal or spiral corrugations bars baffle
plates or their equivalent. In the Figures longitudinal corrugations are shown,
this being the arrangement I prefer to adopt. These corrugations bars baffle
plates or their equivalent act as a drag upon the substances being mixed and
prevent their being bodily rotated by the stirrers. The tube B may be open at
each end or it may be closed at its exit end by a grid or perforated plate C, or
alternatively the exit end may be closed by a blank flange or by the bottom of the
vat tank or other vessel in which case the sides of the tube in proximity thereto
may be perforated, or a perforated end plate or grid may be employed in com-
bination with the perforated sides of the tube. In cases where the perforated
tube or end plate are used may also employ an inclined plane or scraper D,
rotating with the stirrer to assist in forcing the material through the perforations
and a knife or additional scraper outside the tube also rotating with the stirrers
for the purpose of clearing the perforations or cutting up the substance issuing
therefrom. In addition to or in substitution for the inclined plane or scraper D
or the external knife or scraper I may employ a brush or brushes for the like
purposes. These scrapers inclined plánes knives or brushes serve to prevent
balling" and tend to effect a more rapid and complete mixture of the substances
operated on.
The blades or stirrers E E may be of the usual or any suitable form and be
mounted upon and secured to a central shaft or spindle driven by gearing F F¹ in

page_text: In some cases the tube B, may be dispensed with when two concentric sets of
blades or stirrers may be employed.
One of these sets of blades or stirrers is attached or secured to a hollow shaft
which is driven by the bevel pinion F while the other set of blades is attached to
a frame or arms secured to the solid shaft which works within the hollow shaft and
is rotated by a second bevel pinion driven by the bevel wheel F. The two bevel
pinions are concentric one above the other and being driven by the same wheel it
follows that the two sets of blades or stirrers will be rotated in opposite directions.
Instead of the two sets of stirrers being mounted upon or secured respectively to a
hollow and to a solid shaft they may all be mounted upon or secured to the same
shaft as in Figs. 1 and 2 when alternate blades may either be parts of screws or
helices having different pitches or having different directions but in this case
prefer to employ them only in combination with the tube A Figs. 1 and 2.
Instead also of a rotating outer concentric set of blades or stirrers, a fixed set may
be employed which will then take the place of the tube B Figs. 1 and 2.
I do not claim as part of this my said Invention a plain tube within which
blades or stirrers are rotated nor do I confine myself to the precise details arrange-
ments or combinations hereinbefore described as these may be varied considerably
without departing from my Invention.
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) In an apparatus for stirring or mixing fluid or other substances, the tube B
having formed upon or secured to its interior longitudinal or spiral corrugations
bars baffle plates or their equivalent, substantially as hereinbefore setforth and
described.
(2) The combination or arrangement of the rotary blades or stirrers E, with the
tube A having an open outlet, substantially as hereinbefore setforth and described.
(3) The combination or arrangement of the tube A having a perforated outlet,
with the rotating blades or stirrers E, and the inclined plane or scraper D rotating
with the blades or stirrers, substantially as herein before setforth and described and
as illustrated on the appended sheet of drawings.
(4) The combination or arrangement of two set of blades or stirrers attached
respectively to hollow and solid concentric shafts revolving in opposite directions,
substantially as herein before setforth and described.
(5) The combination or arrangement of two sets of blades, one set being secured
to and rotated by a central shaft, the other set being stationary and concentric with
the rotating set, substantially as hereinbefore setforth and described.
(6) The combination or arrangement of the open or perforated tube A, with
blades or stirrers having dissimilar pitches or inclinations, substantially as
herein before setforth and described.
Dated this thirteenth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand
WILLIAM E. HEYS,
Agent for the Applicant.