GB1076423A - Improvements in machines for sorting and grading ores, minerals and analogous materials - Google Patents

Abstract

1,076,423. Classifying solids. C. STOCKTON. Jan. 18, 1965 [Feb. 3, 1964], No. 4579/64. Heading B2H. A machine for classifying materials into fractions of different sizes and/or weights comprises a rotatable throwing table 13 located at the centre of and surrounded by concentric catchment compartments 23-29 of successively smaller diameters and a hopper 19 for feeding the material to be classified on to the central zone of the table. The table 13 is mounted on a platform 8 vertically adjustably supported with respect to the hopper 19 on a fixed platform 4 by means hydraulic rams 6, 7. The shaft 12 of the table is driven through a variable speed gear box 10 by means of an electric motor 9. The table 13 includes a circular plate 15 detachably secured to its conical base portion 14 and formed with an upwardly projecting boss 16, Fig. 4 (not shown), and with radial vanes 17 having outwardly sloping upper edges to which is fixed an annular cover 18. The hopper 19, which may be vertically adjustable, is supported by the machine frame so that its discharge throat 20 enters the annular clearance between the root of the boss and the inner ends of the vanes. An anti-wear shroud 21 is secured within the throat 20 to enclose the boss 16 and provide an annular discharge channel 22. In a modification, the vanes 17a Fig. 5 (not shown) have a uniform depth and/or the boss 16 is replaced by a domed head 16a on the upper end of the shaft 12 and the hopper has an annular converging channel 22a for material to flow radially outwards. Each of the catchment compartments increases in depth from a minimum at each of two diametrically opposed regions to a maximum at each of two other diametrically opposed regions which are spaced from the first regions by 90‹. A discharge opening 32, Fig. 2 (not shown) is formed in the floor of each compartment at the two deepest zones thereof and may be provided with a gate or shutter to be closed or opened at will. In operation the material to be classified is fed on to the plate 15 of the table 13, passes under the action of centrifugal force, between the vanes 17 and is thrown clear of the table. The larger and heavier fractions are thrown against the wall 30 of the outermost compartment 23 and fall into and accumulate in that compartment and successively larger and lighter particles accummulate in the successive inner compartments with the smallest and lightest particles accumulating in the innermost compartment 29.