GB1290496A - - Google Patents

Abstract

1290496 Separating apparatus H A NORLYK & SONNER AS 10 Dec 1969 [10 Dec 1968] 60208/69 Heading B2H [Also in Division B8] Apparatus for separating stones and lumps of earth from potatoes comprises an endless belt conveyor 2 onto which the potatoes, stones and lumps are delivered, the conveyor having upstanding flexible, e.g. rubber, fingers of such stiffness that only the stones and lumps sink between the fingers, and are discharged over one end of the conveyor while the potatoes remain on top of the fingers and are removed laterally of the conveyor by means of individually flexible members 4, e.g. rubber teeth or bristles, arranged in a row obliquely across the conveyor and having imparted thereto a to-and-fro movement transversely of the row. The members 4 may be pivotally mounted as a comb assembly on a shaft 3 driven by an eccentric mechanism which imparts the to-and-fro movement. Several combs may be arranged behind each other in the direction of travel of the conveyor. Instead of being pivotally mounted, the members 4 may reciprocate to-and-fro, in which case several combs arranged behind each other may be fixedly interconnected and may be driven by the same driving mechanism. In operation, stones, lumps of earth and potatoes are fed on to the conveyor 2 via a hopper 9 and an upwardly moving conveyor 1. The potatoes are discharged on to a side conveyor 5 and the stone and lumps on to an end conveyor 8. Rubber barriers 6, 7 arranged respectively at the side of the conveyor 2 and along the conveyor between the fingers 4 with their upper edges level with the free ends of the fingers direct the sunken stones and lumps towards the conveyor 8 while allowing the potatoes to be discharged laterally.