US1259828A - Automatic sugar-cane-feeder regulator. - Google Patents

Description

e; A. BRONDER. AUTOMATIC SUGAR CANE FEEDER REGULATOR. APPLICAI'ION FILED IAN. 1'5. 191?.

1,259,828. v Patented Mai-19,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET L A, W 419: I

G. A. BRON-DER.

AUTOMATIC SUGAR CANE FEEDER, REGULATOR.

APPucA'non man MN. 15. 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

. tion of any'motor that may be employe for UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GASTON A. BRQNDER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC .SUGAR-CANE-FEEDEB REGULATOR.

To all whom it may concern:

a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at- 1874 East 12 street Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and state of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Sugar-Cane- Feeder Regulators, fully described and represented in the following specificatlon and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention provides a means of securing a regulated supply of sugar-cane or similar material to devices adapted to operate upon such material; and 1s especlally suited for feeding sugar-cane to crushingrolls, so that the rolls may be Sub ected constantly to the same strain, and the uice may be extracted from the cane more unlformly.

It has long been common to employ a traveling platform or slatted conveyer to feed the cane to the crushing-rolls; but in practice, the cane is dumped from field-cars-= directly upon the conveyer and in conse quence a very uneven layer of the cane 1s produced, some parts of the layer be ng very thin and others very thick, the thlckness varying in practice from six inches to three feet.

The attempts heretofore made have not succeeded in automatically deliverin the cane to the crushing-rolls in a layer 0 even thiclmes s.

The present invention accomplishes the object by providing a pair of gage-wheels to bear separately upon the same line across the layer of cane, and at a considerable distance apart, the wheels being mounted to independently rise and fall, and the mean of their inde endent movements being imparted to sultable means for varying the speed of the conveyer inversely to the mean thickness of the layer.

The invention is applicable to the re lapropellingthe conveyer, and the nature of such means and the mode in which it is operated by the gage-wheels ,will be fully understood by reference to the annexed drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a conveyer with an engine for driving the same and a governor connected with the gage-wheels and controlled by their oscillations.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 19,1918.

, Application filed January 15, 1917. Serial 1%. 142,393.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; Fig. 3 an end view of the guide-box for the shaft of the gage-wheels; Fig. 4 a side view of the guide-box with the shaft and portion of one of the gage-wheels; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section upon the middle line of F1 2; Fig. 6 is a. cross section where hatche on line 6-6, in Fig. 1; and Fig. 7 is a vertical section of a centrifugal governor adapts ed to cooperate with the gage-wheels. Fig. 8 shows the sleeve-connections enlarged.

a designates the slats of a conveyer carried by chains b which extend over sprocketwheels I).

The shaft 0 of these wheels is mounted upon a frame at with a steam-engine e, and the crank-shaft of the engine is connecte to the shaft 0 by cog-wheels 0'.

The conveyer carries the cane upwardly to a sufiicient height to be delivered into a trough having a floor f and sides 7', the

floor being inclined downwardly to deliver the cane automatically to the crushing-rolls.

The conveyer moves between side-walls a which retain the cane g thereon.

As shown in Fig. 5, and by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the cane is distributed unequally upon the conveyer so that the layer may, in practice, vary from six inches to thirty-six inches in depth, and a uniform layer can only be delivered into the trough f, f, by varying the speed of the conveyer inversely to the thickness of the la er.

The thicker portions 0 the layer are thus carried slowly over the highest point of the elevator and delivered gradually into the trough, and the thinner portions of the layer would be delivered from the conveyer more rapidly, and thus compensate for the deficiency of thickness by the increase in speed of delivery.

The engine 0 is provided with the usual governor h to compensate for variations in steam-pressure, and would maintain the engineat a uniform speed, but I provide the governor with a special attachment and con.- nect such attachment to the gage-wheels i, which rest upon the same as it is propelled by the conveyer, and thus vary the governors operation,

The gage-wheels are shown located over the highest point of the conveyer but may be at any other point, as the variations in the layer arethe same as at such delivery point.

steady and support the axle while Two gage-wheels are em loyed, as-shown in Figs. 2 and 6, and are p aced at opposite ends of a shaft or axle j, the middle point of which is ivoted in the guide-box k by a bolt is so t at it ma oscillate in a vertical plane, and permit t e wheels to rise and fall independently of one another in accordance with the thickness of the layer beneath such wheels.

/ The guide-box isconnected to a rockerbar Z by an arm consisting of two anglebars m, such bars being attached to a plate k upon the guide-box A crank-arm n is attached to the rockerbar and connected by a rod 0 to a regulatorsleeve 9 upon the top of the governor it, as shown in Fig. 7.

The governor-balls are carried by and rotated around a spindle and a spiral-spring is fitted upon the spindle between the movable collar 8 of the governor-balls and a pressing washer t which is actuated b the regulatorsleeve p. The .collar 8 is s ownconnected in the usual manner, by rod u, with a balanced valve a which supplies the engine with steam, and any pressure of the washer it upon the spring 1* produces a resistance to the expansion of the overnorballs, and causes the valve to glve more steam to the engine than it would under the normal operation of the balls, and thus increases the speed of the engine and the conveyer connected therewith.

Such pressure upon the washer is exerted by an upward pull upon the rocker-sleeve p, and such pull is produced directly by a lifting of the gage-wheels when any thic er portion of the cane passes beneath them.

Th contrary effect is produced u on the governor when the gage-wheels are owered by a thinner portion of the cane.

As the cane lies very unevenly upon the conveyer it may be a foot or more thicker near one wall of the conveyer than the other, and the two wheels are supported at a sufiicient distance apart to be afi'ected by such difierences in the la er, so as to impart a vertical movement, to t e pivot, which expresses a mean of their movements, and i'ndicatesthe mean thickness of the layer.

It is obviou that the same freedom of oscillation can be imparted to the wheel-shaft j if the guide-box were dispensed with, and

the end of the arm m were provided with a pivot equivalent to the bolt is.

The only purpose of the guide-box is to ermitting it to oscillate in accordance with the independent rise and fall of the wheels.

The mean of the wheels movements which corresponds to the mean thiclmess of the layer, is constantly transferred to the rockerbar and from that bar to the means for varymg the speed of the conveyer.

The gage-wheels are preferably made -of aaeaeas suitable weight so as to press down upon the loose stalk of the cane, and thereby indicate the true thickness of the layer.

The wheels in practice are spaced a distance apart equal to one-half t e width of the trough so as to gage the thickness of the layer upon the same transverse line at a secure the uniform delivery of the cane to the trough which feeds the crushing-rolls, and it is therefore immaterial whether steam or water-power be used, or an electric motor, as controls are known for all of these powers and can be so actuated byconnection with the gage-Wheels as to vary the movement of the motor and the conveyer in the manner described.

The device which makes the governer subject to regulation by the gage-wheels is not claimed specifically herein, and is made the subject of a separate application.

Aprons hinged at one end over a conveyer have been used to rest at the other end upon a variable layer of material and age the thickness of such layer; but it is obvious that such an apron extending over the entire breadth of the layer is affected always by the highest part of the layer, and does not furnish any independent means of gaging the thickness of the layer at opposite edges of the conveyer, and does not measure the mean thickness of the layer or actuate the regulating device in accordance with such 'mean thickness.

My invention therefore effects results which cannot be secured by an apron or other instrumentality bearing upon the entire width of the layer.

It will be observed that my feed regulator is not limited in its operation to the delive of sugar-cane to crushing-rolls, but is applicable to feeding any variable layer of stock to the operating device.

Hav ng thu set forth the nature of the lnventlon what is claimed herein is:

1. In a sugar cane feeder, the combination, w1th a conveyer and a motor for propelling the conveyer, of a feed gage consisting of a pair of osclllating s aced gage-wheels above said conveyer and a apted to bear on a layer of material thereon, means for supporting the wheels for independently rising and fallmg upon the said layer of material, and means actuated by the oscillation of the wheel for varying thetspeed of the motor inversely to the mean thickness of the la er.

2. In a sugar cane feeder, the combination, wlth a conveyer and means for operating the said conveyer, of a shaft sustained transversely over the conveyer and having gagewheels upon its opposite ends, said shaft having a transverse pivot-support at the middle movable vertically, whereby the Wheels have independent vertical movement and means connected with the said pivotsupport and with the conveyer operatingmeans for varying the speed of the conveyer inversely to the mean thickness of the layer.

3. In a sugar cane feeder, the combinatlon, with a conveyer and means for operatingthe said conveyer, of a rocker-bar ournaled transversely over the conveyer, an arm projected from the rocker-bar with a transverse guide-box upon its end, a shaft pivoted in 5 the ide-box' nd having gage-wheels rotatab e upon its opposite ends, and means connected with the rocker-bar for varyingthe speed of the \conveyer inversely to the mean thickness of the layer.

. 20 In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

GASTON A. BRONDER.

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