US1131232A - Grinding-mill. - Google Patents

Description

F. D. GIDDINGS.

GRINDING MILL.

WITNESSES:

APPLIGTION FILED MAR. 28, 1914.

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F. D. GIDDINGS.

GRINDING MILL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.28,1914.

1 13mm, Patented M219, 1915.

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WITNESSES.-

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P. D. GIDDINGS.

GRINDING MILL.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 28, 1914.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

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lUFllfTE Tdlfid FRANK I). GIDDINGS, F FORT COLLINS, COLORADO.

GRINDING-MILL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 28, 1914:. Serial No. 827,955.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK D. GIDDINGs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Collins, in the county of Larimer and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grinding-Mills, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in grinding mills and more particularly in mills designed for grinding alfalfa and other similar products, to a meal suitable for animal fodder.

in accordance with my invention 1 provide a stationary concave into which the material to be ground is fed by suitable feeding mechanism which has been made the subject of a separate application for patent, and in which a grinding cylinder of the character shown and described in my ap* plication for Patent No. 733,846, has a rotary movement.

The object of the present invention resides more particularly in the construction of the concave, which includes simple means for coaction with the rotary element, to grind the hay, a perforated wall section for the discharge of the ground product into a suitable receiver, and cooperative devices for preventing breakage and injury of the operative parts of the grinding element by rocks, nuts, bolts or other obstructive objects fed into the concave with the hay, and for the discharge of the said objects from the concave during and by the operation of the mill.

In the accompanying drawings in the various views of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 represents a fragmentary plan view of the end of the mill at which the grinding element is located, Fig. 2, a section taken along the line 22, Fig. 1, Fig. 3, a transverse section along the line 3-3, Fig. 2, Fig. 1, a section along the line 4-4, Fig. 2, Fig. 5, a section taken along the line 5-5, Fig. 2, Fig. 6, a section along the line 66, Fig. 2, Fig. 7, a section along the line 77, Fig. 2, and Fig. 8, a section taken along the line 8-8, Fig. 2.

In the drawings, the numeral 2 designates the forward part of the supporting frame of the mill on which all its elements are mounted for cooperation.

3 designates the concave which is disposed in the upper portion of a casing 4 provided to receive the ground product discharged through the perforated section of the concave wall, 5 the grinding cylinder which has a rotary movement within the concave, and 6 and 7 cooperative members of the mechanism by which the material to be ground is fed into the mouth of the concave, and which has been made the subject of a separate application for patent, filed simultaneously with the present one.

The grinding cylinder is composed of a series of adjoining sections 8 which are mounted upon a shaft 9 and held in place thereon by a feather l0 and by nuts 12 which are screwed onto the ends of the shaft in,

engagement with the outer sections. Each of the cylinder sections has a series of equidistant, radially extending wings 18 reinforced by ribs and provided with holes to receive the shanks of bolts 14 by means of which the cutter bars 15 are rigidly and reversibly secured thereto. These bars which in length are equal to the width of the cylinder sections, have in their longitudinal edges, teeth of truncated, V-shaped formseparated by spaces of like shape and proportions, and their lower edges are disposed in recesses formed at the feet of the respective wings as shown at 16 in Fig. 2.

The shaft of the cylinder is rotatably supported in boxes 17 which are secured upon the angle-shaped side bars 18 of the supporting frame and which at their inner ends are provided with webs 19 extending adjacent the inner surfaces of the said side bars 1 which the ground meal passes into the casing 1 as will hereinafter be more fully described. The concave wall has at one of its sides a space 23 which provides a mouth or feed opening through which the material to be ground is fed by the feeding appliances here 7 inbefore referred to. The section of the well adjacent the upper edge of this feed opening is composed of a number of side to side adjoining hinged covers 24 which at their ends remote from the edge of the mouth, rest upon a sliding plate 25 which bridges the gap between the said ends and Patented Mar. 9, 1915.. j

the adjacent edge of the perforated section of the concave wall.

The perforated section of the concave wall is composed of two plates which are detachably secured upon shoulders formed concentrically on the two heads, as best shown in Figs. 7 and 8.

The plates are reenforced by segmental straps 26 fastened along their curved edges and by rods 27 secured between the said straps. The upper plate of the perforated Wall section is held in place upon the shoulders 28 of the heads, by set screws 29 which engage. the straps 26 of the plates and extend through threaded opening in segmental bars 30 which are hinged to the heads as at 31 and are rigidly secured to the same by means of bolts 32. The shoulders upon which the lower plate of the perforated wall section is supported, are formed by arcuate grooves 33 cut in segmental enlargements of the heads 20 and the said plate is held in place by set screws 34: which project through threaded openings in the said enlargement, into the grooves to engage the straps 26 which reinforce the plate along its curved edges. To remove the upper part of the perforated section for repairs or renewal, the bolts 32 are removed and the bars 30 turned about their hinges 31, and after the upper plate has thus been separated from the heads, the other plate may be readily removed by loosening the set screws 34 and then sliding it out of the grooves 33 into the place formerly occupied by the upper plate.

The series of covers which conjointly provide the portion ofthe concave wall adjacent the upper edge of its month, are each composed of an angular plate, the interior surface of which is partially curved in conformity with the circumference of the concave, and partially flattened for the application of a toothed bar 35. The plate has exteri'orly along its longitudinal edges, curved flanges 36 which terminate at their rearward ends in knuckles 37 and are at a point forward of the same, connected by means of a curved transverse rib 38. The covers are hinged on a support 39 by means of a pintle rod 40 which extends through alined bores in the knuckles of the covers and correspondingly formed knuckles 41 on the support 39. The support 39 which is secured transversely of the supporting frame, upon the longitudinally extending side members 18 of the same, forms the up per-edge of the mouth of the concave and its lower edge remote from the latter engages the roller 6 which is part of the appliance by which material is fed into the concave in the operation of the machine. The mouth of the concaveis closed at its lower edge by an apron 42 made of canvas or other flexible material, which along one of its edges is fastened to a transverse bar l3 at the edge of the feed opening against which the lower perforated plate of the concave wall abuts, while its opposite edge is held on a plate 4% which is secured to a suitable part of the machine and engages the surface of the endless conveyor belt 7 which carries the hay to be ground to the mouth of the concave. The apron 4-2 provides a bag for receiving rocks or other obstructive objects ejected from the concave, as will hereinafter be more fully explained.

The covers 24 are provided upon the inner surfaces of their curved portions with transverse angle bars 45 which are detachably secured by means of bolts 46 and which in the outer edges of their inwardly projecting parts, are serrated in conformity with the teeth of the cutter bars on the grinding cylinder which during the latters rotary movement, pass through the interdental spaces of the bars for grinding the hay. The inwardly projecting edges of the bars 35 which as hereinbefore explained are secured upon the inner surfaces of the flattened portions of the covers are serrated similarly to the angle bars 4-5 and positioned for the passage of the teeth on the cutter bars of the rotary cylinder through their interdental spaces. The angle between the two parts of the inner surfaces of the covers is such that when the latter are in their normal position the toothed bars 35 secured against their lower flattened parts, will extend into the concave slantingly with relation to the direction of rotation of the grinding cylinder, thereby causing the cutter bars on the latter to pass them at an obtuse angle, a feature which is of considerable value in the operation of the machine, as will hereinafter be described. The edges of the covers remote from their ends at which they are hinged upon the support 39, are reduced in thickness to provide lips e7 which normally rest upon the before-mentioned plate 25 which is slidingly supported at its ends in grooves 4 8 formed slantingly in the inner surfaces of the heads 20 of the concave. The grooves extend from the peripheral edges of the heads slantingly inwardly in substantial tangential relation to the wall of the concave of which. the assembled covers form part, so that a rock or other solid object moved through the concave by the rotary motion of the grinding cylinder, will, when it engages the lower edge or other inwardly projecting portion of the plate 25, move the same outwardly in the grooves in which it is supported and thus prevent possible breakage or injury of the mill parts. The covers 2% are normally held against outward movement about their common, pivotal axis, by means of springs 4L9 which engage blocks 50 secured upon the outer surface of the plate 25 by means of bolts 51. These springs which as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, are substantially of U-shaped form, are secured upon the covers by means of bolts 52, with their normally parallel, laterally flexible members 53 projecting beyond the lips 47 of the same.

The blocks 50 on the plate 25 have at opposite sides, upwardly sloping shoulders, as best shown inFig. 6, which when the parts are in their normal position are engaged by thev ends of the spring members 53 and thus retain the covers against outward movement when they are subjected to the ordinary pressure of the material passing through the concave in the operation of the mill. An angle bar 54; secured at the outer edge of the plate 25 engages with an outwardly turned bar at the adjacent end of the perforated section of the concave wall. The concave is as mentioned hereinbefore, partially disposed in a casing at which incloses the perforated section of its wall, to receive the ground meal discharged through the same in the operation of the machine. This casing which extends to the base of the supporting structure has at one of its ends, inlets 55 for air and at a point opposite thereto, an outlet 56 which in practice is connected with a suction fan or other similar device for drawing the contents of the casing to a sacking appliance or to a suitable depository. The upper part of the casing is made separate from the lower or body portion of the same and hinged as at 57 to afford access to the wall of the concave when it is desired to clean, remove or replace the perforated plates which form part thereof.

In the operation of the mill the cylinder 5 is rotated by means of a belt 58 shown in Fig. 2, which passes around a pulley mounted on the cylinder shaft, and the movement of the rotary grinding element is transmitted to the feeding mechanism of the machine, by means which do not form part of the present invention and have therefore been omitted from the drawings. The hay which in the operation of the machine is continuously fed into the mouth of the con cave, is engaged by the radially extending cutter bars 15 on the rotating cylinder and impelled upwardly into the annular space between the said cylinder and the circumferential wall of the concave. While passing between the teeth on the rotary element and those of the bars 35 and 45 secured to the portion of the concave wall provided by the assembled covers, and while moving along the inner surface of the perforated section of the said wall, the hay is ground until it is reduced to a fineness which will permit it to pass through the perforated plates, into the casing 4 from which it is removed by suction as hereinbefore described. A rock, nut, bolt or other obstructive object accidentally fed into the concave with the hay, will first of all, if of sufficient size, engage one or more of the bars 35 at the lower ends of the covers. By reason of the slanting position of these bars with relation to the radially extending cutterbars on the cylinder, they present no positive obstruction to the solid object, but they will, in case the object is of small proportions, compel it to move into one of the spaces between the cutter-bars of the cylinder, to be moved with the same until by centrifugal force it is ejected through the mouth of the concave into the bag 42, or, in case the object is of large dimensions it will on being impelled by the cutter bars against the slanting lower surface of the bars 35, by moving upwardly along the same, gradually compel the covers to open by releasing their laterally deflective springs from engagement with the shoulders of the respective blocks 50 on the plate 25. The opened covers provide an opening through which the object can be discharged from the concave without having injured the operative parts of the mill, or in the event of the object not passing through the outlet thus provided, they will prevent damage to the cutter bars and other parts of the mill until the object is ejected through the mouth of the concave and falls in the bag 42 from which it is afterward removed. Should the obstructive object after having passed the covers be projected against the plate 25, it will by engagement with the lower edge or other inwardly projecting part thereof, move the same outwardly through the grooves 48 in which it is slidingly supported. It will thus be observed that the danger of the mill being rendered inoperative by the passage of obstructive objects into the concave, as is a common occurrence in the operation of machines of this character, has

been reduced to a minimum and that in consequence the mill can be operated for a long period without requiring any attention other than that which can be given by any person without special mechanical skill.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters- Patent is:

1. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall of which includes a hinged outwardly movable, yieldingly-held section, and a rotary grinding element in said concave, the said section having an inwardly projecting, toothed bar, a surface of which slants in the direction of rotation of the said element, and the said element having teeth passing through those on the said bar, the said bar being disposed on the section with relation to the hinge of the same, to cause the section to open by outward pressure on its said slanting surface.

2. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall of which includes a section composed of'a series of independently outwardly movable, yieldingly held covers, and a rotary grinding element in said concave, the said covers having inwardly projecting, alined, toothed bars the exterior surfaces of which slant in the direction of rotation of the said element, and the said element having teeth passing through those on the said bar.

3. In a grinding mill, a concave having in its peripheral wall, a feed-opening adj acent an edge thereof, an outwardly movable section composed of a series of hinged, yieldingly held. covers, and a rotary element in said concave, said covers having their ends at the said edge of the feed-opening and at their said ends alined, toothed members proj ecting into the concave slantingly in the direction of rotation of the rotary element, and the said element having teeth passing between those on said members.

4. In a grinding mill, a concave having in 7 its peripheral Wall, a feedopening, adjacent an edge thereof, an outwardly movable section composed of a series of hinged, yieldingly held covers, and a rotary element having outwardly projecting cutter bars, in said concave, the said covers having their ends, at the said edge of the feed opening, and at their said ends alined members which project into the concave, and the lower surfaces of which slant in the direction of rotation of said element.

In a grinding mill, a concave including an outwardly movable, yieldingly-held section, and a rotary grinding element in said concave, having outwardly projecting cutter bars, the said section having at its end forward with relation to the direction of rotation of said element a member projecting into said concave with its lower surface extending slantingly in the said direction.

6. In a grinding mill, a concave including a section composed of a series of transversely alined, separately, outwardly movable and yieldingly-held covers and a rotary grinding element having outwardly projecting cutterbars in said concave, the said covers having at theirends forward with relation to the direction of rotation of said element alined members projecting into said concave with their lower surfaces extending slantingly in the said direction.

7. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall of which includes a hinged, outwardly movable section, and a member which provides a support for the end of said section remote from its hinge, a laterally deflective spring on said section, and a block on said member having a seat for the en gagement of said spring to yieldingly hold the section against outward movement.

8. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall, ofv which includes a section composed of a series of hinged, outwardly movable covers, and a member providing a support for the ends of said covers remote from their hinge, and codperative means on said covers and said member for holding the covers yieldingly against outward movement.

9. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall of which includes a hinged, outwardly movable section, and an outwardly slidable member which provides a support for the end of the said section remote from its hinge, and coiiperative means on said member and said section, to yield ingly hold the latter against outward movement.

10. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall of which includes a section composed of a series of hinged, outwardly movable covers, an outwardly slidable memher which provides a support for the ends of said covers remote from their hinge, and coiiperative means on said member and said covers to hold them separately, yieldingly against outward movement.

11. In a grinding mill, a concave the pe ripheral wall of which includes an outwardly movable, yieldingly-held section, and a rotary grinding element in said concave, the said section having a plurality of radially inwardly projecting toothed cutter-bars, and an inwardly projecting toothed cutter bar, the exterior surface of which slants in the direction of rotation of said element, and the said element having teeth passing through those on the said cutter-bars.

12. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall. of which includes a section composed of a series of outwardly movable, yieldingly-held covers, and a rotary grinding element in said concave, the said covers having each a plu ality of radially inwardly projecting toothed cutter bars, and an inwardly projecting toothed cutter bar, the exterior surface of which slants in the direction of rotation of said element, and the said element having teeth passing through those on the said cutter bars.

13. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall of which has a feed-opening and includes adjacent said opening, an outwardly movable, yieldingly held section provided with inwardly extending toothed bars, and a rotary grinding element having teeth which pass between those of the said bars, the interior surface of the section including two relatively angularly formed portions one of which forms part of the cylindrical working face of the concave and the other one of which extends outwardly therefrom at the edge of the said opening, whereby a bar secured upon the last-mentioned portion extends slantingly in the direction of rotationof theelement.

14. In a grinding mill, a concave the peripheral wall of which has a feed opening and includes adjacent said opening a section composed of a series of hinged, separately outwardly movable and yieldingly held covers provided with inwardly extending toothed bars, the interior surface of the said section including two relatively angularly formed portions one of which forms part of the cylindrical working face of the concave and the other one of which extends out wardly at the edge of said opening whereby bars secured upon the last-mentioned portion, extend slantingly in the direction of rotation of the said element.

15. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening, and a grinding element having a rotary movement within the same, the said concave including a hinged, outwardly movable section disposed adjacent its said feed-opening, and spaced from another portion of the concave, and a member which bridges said space and is slidably mounted for outward movement, with its inner portion disposed to be impellently engaged by objects projected outwardly by action of said element.

16. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening, and a grinding element hav ing a rotary movement within the same, the said concave including a hinged, outwardly movable section disposed adjacent its said feed opening, and spaced from another portion of the concave, and a member bridging said space and supporting the end of the section opposite to that at which it is hinged, the said member being slidably disposed for outward movement.

17. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening, and a grinding element having a rotary movement within the same, the said concave being composed of coaxial heads and a peripheral wall which includes a hinged outwardly movable section adjacent the said feed-opening and spaced from another section of the wall, and a member slidably mounted for outward movement in slanting grooves on said heads and supporting the end of said movable section opposite to that at which it is hinged.

18. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening and an open section for the discharge of ground material, and a rotary grinding element in the concave, the concave having between its said opening and its said discharge section, a movable section held yieldingly against outward movement and provided with an inwardly extending toothed cutter bar, and the grinding element having teeth passing between those on the bar.

19. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening and an open section for the discharge of ground material, and a rotary grinding element in the concave, the concave having between its said opening and-its said discharge section, a section capable of being moved outwardly by pressure of matter passing through the concave, and provided at its edge forward with relation to the direction of rotation of the element, with a toothed bar which projects into the concave slantingly in the direction of rotation of the element, and the said element having teeth passing between those of the bar.

20. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening and an open section for the discharge of ground material, and a rotary element in the concave having longitudinally extending, outwardly projecting cutter-bars, the said concave including between its said opening and its said discharge-section, a hinged, yieldingly held section provided with a longitudinally disposed member which projects into the concave free from engagement with said cutter-bars and the lower surface of which slants in the direction of rotation of said element.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK D. GIDDINGS.

Witnesses L. RHoAnns, Gr. J. ROLLANDET.

flopiea of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Batents- Washington, D. G.

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