US1014280A - Feed-hopper. - Google Patents

Description

G. F. BALL.

FEED HOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 15, 1910.

' Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

HIIIIIIIIIII COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPN C0,,WASHINQTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. BALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO BALL & JEWELL, F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A FIRM.

FEED-HOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. BALL, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Richmond Hill, in the borough of Queens and city and State of New York, have 1nvented a new and useful Improvement in F eed-Hoppers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a feed hopper and more particularly to a feed hopper employed in feeding rubber waste or other mixed mass of material where the nature of the material being fed and the variation in the size and shape of the pieces have atendency to render the feed irregular and uncertain.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a view of the hopper in side elevation, partly broken away. Fig. 2 is an end view, the drive pulley being partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a top plan view. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section, and Fig. 5 is a section of the clutch in detail.

The hopper here shown is oblong rectangular in shape in horizontal section, its 0pposite sides 1 and 2 gradually approaching each other as they extend downward and finally running parallel to form the opposite sides 3 and 4 of the neck. This form is well adapted to the feeding of rubber waste for masceration preparatory to recovering the rubber, but I do not wish to limit myself to this particular use as the structure is suitable for various uses.

From the inner wall of one side of the neck, in the present instance, from the wall 1, a curved lip or guard 5 projects and extends half way, more or less, across the interior of the neck. Mounted on a shaft 6, extending lengthwise of the hopper in the upper portion of the neck, is a mutilated cylinder 7, the diametrically opposite sides of the cylinder being cut away forming concave depressions 8 and 9, the portions of the cylinder extending in opposite directions from the shaft constituting feed arms for forcing a quantity of the material down the neck as they successively sweep across the bottom of the charged hopper. A roller 10 is mounted in bearings 11 and 12 on the inner faces of the ends of the hopper, the bearings being set inclined toward the shaft 6 and elongated to permit the roller 10 to be bodily crowded away from the feed cylinder 7, whenever a piece or mass of material tends to jam between the feed cylinder and the roller. The shaft 6 may be rotated in any suitable manner, the means here shownconsisting of a spur wheel 13 fixed on a projecting end of the shaft 6 and engaged by .a p1n1on 14 carried by a clutch sleeve 15 on a shaft 16 mounted in the ends of the hopper, the said shaft 16 having secured thereon a cone. stepped drive pulley 17. The sleeve 15 is slid by a clutch operating lever 18, pivoted at 19 to a bracket 20 on the end of the hopper, into and out of engagement with the clutch member 21 on the hub of the pulley 17 To prevent the material in the hopper from becoming j ammed so as to bridge the interior of the hopper above the feed cylinder 7, the shaft 16 is provided within the hopper with an agitating roller 22 having teeth 23 which act upon the material to loosen and break up hard masses and cause it to travel into position to be acted upon by the wings of the feed cylinder.

In operation, the hopper receives the material supplied thereto in any convenient manner and the shaft 6 having been set in operation by sliding the pinion 14 into mesh with the spur wheel 13 and, at the same time the sleeve 15 into clutching engagement with the clutch member 21 on the drive pulley 17, the Wings or arms of the feed cylinder will bite off from the mass at the bottom of the hopper, substantially uniform quantities of the material and force it down the neck of the hopper past the lip or guard 5, the latter serving as an effective stripper and guard against the return of the quan tity fed. The yielding roller 10 coacts with the feed cylinder to regulate the quantity fed, but will permit any hard or larger piece of material than usual to pass through and thereby prevent a jamming or clogging of the feed.

It is obvious that changes might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention; hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the structure herein shown and described, but

What I claim is:

A hopper provided with a curved lip or guard projecting inwardly from the wall of the hopper, a mutilated cylinder provided With concave sides rotatably mounted at the In testimony, that I claim the foregoing 10 base of the hopper With its cylindrical suras my invention, I have signed my name in faces in position to travel in close proximpresence of two Witnesses, this 11th day of ity to the face of the curved lip or guard, a November, 1910.

roller mounted Within the hopper in 006perative relation to the said cylinder and free CHARLES BALL to move bodily away from the cylinder un- Witnesses: 1

der pressure and means for rotating the F. GEORGE BARRY,

cylinder. HENRY C. THIEME.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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