US1314903A - richardson - Google Patents

Description

J. N. RICHARDSON.

UNDERFEED MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. H. I916.

1,314,903. Pa tentedSept. 2,1919.

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J. N. RICHARDSON.

UNDERFEED MECHANISM.

1,314,903. APPLICATION men .APR. 11. I916. Patentedsept. 2,1919.

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JOI-IN N."RICI-IARDSON,'OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR THE WIIAIJIAMS ON HEATER COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION 'OF ,OHIOI.

UNDERIFEED MECI-IIANIISIIVI. 1

Application filed April 17,

To all whpm it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J oim NJRICHARDSON, a citizen of the United States, and residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Underfeed Mechanism, of which the following specification is a full disclosure. a

My invention relates to a fuel underfeed mechanism for'fu'rnaces, primarily intended for household heating and adapted touti lize pulverized coal or slack, and the principal object is to' provide means holding the charger rigidly in a horizontal plane when lifting the fuel forcharging.

In said invention the grate of the furnace is formed with a fuel charging port disposed in a horizontal plane so as to permit the fuel to be passed vertically and concentrically upward throughithe grate port into the lower portion of the'combustion chamber, and the ash-pit is formed with a fuel receiving opening in a vertical plane, permitting the fuel to be shoveled into the upper end of the container. 7

There isa fuel container or cylinder movably mounted'in the ash-pit, and means for bringing it into alternate registry with said i 1 port and opening, the cylinder being in vertical positionfor charging the fuel, andjn position for gravity filling when alined with the ash-pit opening.

There is a fuel charger or piston in the container or cylinder, and means for raising it when the cylinder is alined with the grate port,a1nd means for dropping the charger to the bottom of the container when the container is adj aeent to the fuel receiving opening. The piston is preferably operated by a flexible or'lever-type piston rod hinged to the under side'of the piston, and means are disposed outside of the ash-plt for rocklng the container and for operating the levertype piston 'rod,'preferably in step movements.

One of the objects of the invention is to compaet'theoperatire part of the mechanism which is within the ash-pit so as not to require an unduly large or vertically deep ash-pit.

Therefore, I have so constructed and arranged the interior operating mechanism that it lies and functions between thehorizontal axis'on which thecylinder is rocked Specification of Letter s Patent.

derfeed cylinder or its port-closing follower.

mama Sept. 2, 1919i 1916. Serial 1 10191307.

and the are described bythe upper endof the cylinder. This perniits'the cylinder to be pivoted in thdash-pit, slightly aluivemmeans forpositively guiding the piston 'axially when the cylinder is in its alternate 10- sltions.

The piston "and cylinder are designed to support and hold a rather heavy load of coal, say fifty pounds, which has to be lifted vertically through the cylinder and be forred through the grate port in'op'positioir to the weight of the fuel in the combustion chamber; Necessarily this load offuel cannot be evenly distributed over the piston areafand as the piston is moved through a lever hinged to the'undersideof the piston, it desirable to provide means indepemilen'l" of the piston rod which will hold the piston positively and accuratelyat right angle's to. the axis of the cylinder throughout the piston movement and when the cylinder -is in either one of its alternate positions. Therefore,'preferably, this guide provisiofrextends in a radial direction to the horizontal axis on which the eylinder is rocked.

In my underfced, I employanannulus grate providing a central opening constituting a fuel-charging port and enabling-the rocking or oscillating of the annulus gra'te in relation to the centrally registering'un- The general character of the me'chanisn'i is disclosed in a former joint application of myself and'Edward A. Muller, Serial "No. 8%,486, filed June 22, 1914, and also in my former "application, Serial No. 91,808,'filed April 17, 1916, patentedMa-reh 19,1918, No. 1,260,056, the objects of the" present improvement being above indicated and the differentiating mechanism being herein claimed.

These and other features 'oftheinvention will be more fully set forth in the description of theaccompanying drawings rfOlmlllg" a part of this, specification, and disclosing Fig. 2 is a similar viewshowing the cylinder in fuel receiving position, with the plunger and its operating rack at the limit of fuel charging position ready to be released to lower the plunger.

Fig. 3 is a detailed view of therack and pawl mechanism in released position.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the cylinder.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. '2,

showing the plunger in its lower position.

Fig. 6 is a similar sectional view showing the cylinder in charging position and the plunger in elevated position.

The fuel cylinder or container 1 is pivotally mounted within the ash-pit, and when .in vertical charging position, as shown: in

Fig. 1, registers with a charging port 2 in the grate 3. A charging plunger or fuel elevator 4 slides in the cyl nder, its upper surface and the upper surface ofa shield 5,

. which'extends rearwardly from the top of the cylinder, form, when the plunger isin its 7 being preferably positioned just slightly above the floor line. The fuel container or cylinder 1 is formed with extensions 52 proj ecting radially downward from opposite sides of the bottom of the cylinder, in the lower ends of which the pivots 51 have bearings, thus enabling the cylinder to rock into alternate registry with the grate port and the'fuel receiving openlng. v p

The cylinder is limited in its rearward swing by a lug,6, upon whichthe rear end of theshield 5 rests when the cylinder'is in charging position. To the web 7 of the cylinder is pivoted an arm 8, which is connected to, the plunger 4, bya link 9, said pivot extending through the web 7 and having secured thereto an arm 10, to which is pivotally connected the toothed charging or ratchet bar. 11. To the side of the cylinder is pivotally connected :the tilting link '12, which extends exteriorly of the ash-pit and is pivotally connected to a rocker element or tilting plate 13. Said plate is pivoted at 14,-

on abase extension 15, and is provided with a handle socket 16, receiving the tilting handle 17. 18 represents a fulcrum pin which is securedin the tilting plate and projects through anelongated slot 19 in the toothed ratchet bar 11, thereby serving as a support andguide for the outer endthereof.

i Loosely pivoted on the fulcrum pin 18, between thetilting plate and the ratchetbar is an oscillatory actuator member or pawl carrying plate 20, which is provided with a socket 21, receiving a charginghandle 22.

ratchet elements 23, 24, which engage the upper and lower toothed edges 25, 26, of said bar. The pawl 23 is a gravity pawl and the pawl 24' is provided with a pin 27, which projects through a slot 28 formed in the forward arm of a release lever 29. Said release lever is pivoted on the pin 18 and has a weighted arm 30 extending to the rear of its pivotal point.

This construction, in fact, makes the pawl 24 also a gravity pawl through a second ele-- ment, (the weighted release lever). The pawl 23 has a downwardly projecting arm 31, carrying a pin 32, which is in the path of i movement of shoulder 33 of the release lever 29. The release lever has a fo0tplate34 at its forward end and by an examinationof Fig. 3, it will be seen that a downward pressure on the foot-plate 34 will'rockthe releaselever 29 and disengage both pawls from their respective toothed edges 25, 26, ofthe i charging bar 11. Such disengagement will permit the charger 4 to drop by gravity un til the rear edge of the arm 8 strikes a ledge 35 on the web 7. To prevent the charger from dropping too rapidly, a retarding'device has been incorporated in connection with the release lever and consists'in a brake arm 36, which is secured to the forward arm 30 of the release lever and hasan inturned lower end projecting beneath the V ratchet bar. The lower edge of the ratchet bar ad acent to the teeth is undulated and when the release lever is rocked, (see Fig. 3), theinturned end of the brake arm 36 en]- gages these undulations, with the effect of' retarding the lateral movement of, the ratchet bar.

In the positionv shown in Fig. 1, therelease lever is inoperative to trip the pawls, 7 because as soon as it 'is rocked slightly, its

forward end will contact with the floorplate 38; This would partly withdraw the I pawl 24, but such movement is not suflicient to bring the shoulder 33 of the release lever 7 into contact with the pin 32 of the awl 23 to rock said pawl unless there is su cient free play in the parts to permitthe charging handle 22 to rock backward beyond its normal "the rearwardly projecting arm thereof. The forward hooked end engages over a pin 43 on th e pawl carrying plate 20 and retains it in 1ts normal position. When the tilting plate 13 is rocked, the pin 43 rises into a .notch 44 in the latch plate 40, which pre whenthe pawls aretr pped.

Q The :3

. e .9 ope ati a fe ows: Referring j to" 1,

it will be assumed that thecylinder is "full of fuel and it ,is desired to chargethe furnace. H The charging handle 22 is rocked backward andforward totransmitastep by step movement to the ratchet or charging barll, thrbu thepawland1 tooth mechanism, After t e char eri t y tilte forwardly 'to' fuel receivlng, position, 69 Fig.

s fully. elevated, the cylinder is engage the pawls and to allow, theplunger to drop under control of the retarding brake arm 36, the efiectiveness of which depends upon the pressure applied to the footlate 34. The cylinder is now refilled with" resh fuel and the tilting lever 17 is ro cked forward to swin the cylinder to charging po the axis of the cylinder, and also radially with relation .to the horizontal axis on which the cylinder rocks. The piston 4 is relatively thin, and its periphery is formed with downwardly extending flanges 54, formed with the keys 55 extended below the piston and fitting into the key seats 53. This key seat arrangement preferably extends radially to the are of cylinder swing, and holds the. piston rigidly and accurately at right angles to the axis of the cylinder throughout the piston movement when the cylinder is moved to either of its alternate positions. Also, this axially extended keyseat provision enables the use of a relatively thin piston, which is desirable when slack or pulverized coal is to be used, as a piston thick enough to prevent tilting would involve too great dimensions of bearmg surfaces, and fine fuel working in between the peripheral portions of the piston and cylinder would cause binding.

In this invention, preferably, the pistonflange keys extend down to or beyond the point Where the piston rod or lever is pivotally connected to the under side of the piston and so effectually prevent the piston from tilting in the cylinder. Also, the extension of the key ways onto the radial legs 11 enables the piston to be moved to the extreme lower end of the cylinder. These key seats and keys extend radially from the horizontal axis on which the c linder swings, so that the piston is held rigidly at right angles to this radius in either position of the c linder. Preferably, the upper face 0 the by rockin the tilting platel3, by means of the han le 17.. The release lever 29 is now rocked, (see Fig. 3), to dispiston has a spherical contour to coincidev with the contour of the apron 5 when the piston is-atthe upperjend of its"movement. j

The mechanisms, 1 are 'compact, easily op-t erated by, nonskilled attendants, and the mechanisms operate'on, rinciples effectually preventing the malfuncioningof theparts. At the same timethis mechanism' may be readily applied" to a furnace or ordinary y dimensions without taking up too much7'5 roo'mjin the cellarand the mechanism can 7 be easily connected up" with the fuinace.

The principles of the invention are susceptible of wide varieties inthe light of this disclosure. e

It is most 1 important to anama and mount the gratein relation to the underfeed in' a manner permitting saidgrate to' be" oscillated'about its"vertica1 axis whilei, either the piston inits uppermost position or the follower is in registry with ,thecens, tral grate opening, e'nabling' 'the ashes to be shaken out, the central portion of the fuel bed being supported stationary by the underfeed elements, while the marginal fuel body is supported by the oscillating grate and can be moved around this fixed center, thus torsionally breaking up the fuel bed most advantageously thereby freeing the ash. This is effected by providing the grate with an annular rib 56 resting on a vertical roller 57 pivotally mounted in a bracket 59, the grate being guided by a horizontal roller 58 also pivotally mounted in the bracket 59 and bearing against the inner side of the rib 56 of the grate. There are several pairs of these rollers distributed around the margin of the grate, but in the drawings only one pair is shown.

Certain phases and features of the mechanism herein disclosed but not claimed are made the subject-matter of a separate application filed of even date herewith, Serial No. 91,808.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A fuel underfeed for furnaces comprising a circumferential grate providing a central fuel port, a cylinder and port closer in the ash pit movable into and out of registry with said port, a piston having a key slide engagement within the cylinder, means for moving the cylinder, and independent means for moving the piston.

2. A fuel underfeed for furnaces comprising a circumferential grate movable on its axis and providing a central fuel port, a cylinder and port closer in the ash pit movable into and out of registry with said port, a piston having a key slide engagement within the cylinder, a rod hinged to the piston, means for moving the cylinder, and independent means for operating said hinged piston rod.

3. A fuel underfeed for furnaces com- 'prisinga circumferential grate movable on movable into and out of registry with'said" prt,;a piston forinedwith a thin peripheral edge in said cylinder, the, piston and cylinder beingform'edwith a key"slidefen gagement, a rod hinged to said piston, means for moving the cylinder, and independent,

means for moving the piston.

114. A .fnel nnderfeedg ferifurna ce's colnv prisingacircumferential grate providing a c entralfuel port, a cylinder and port closer in the, ash fpit movable into and out of registry With'said port, a thin peripheral edged piston in the cylinder havlng flanges formed with a. key slide engagement within thecylinder, a rod hinged to the piston, means for moving the cylinder, and independent means vfor operating the hinged'piston rod.

(topic: et this iatentmyfbe obtained for five cents each, by ("addressing the Cpmmissibner 'of Patentsi i 5 A, fuel underfeed for furnaces com prisingan annular grate ha ingfla 'fnel port, a cylinder and port'closer fin the ashjpit" movable into and out o? registry yv'ith said raising'the piston in 'seriesOfshOrt, defi;

nite steps f or'positively supporting, thepis-f ton atthe end of each step, and means 01 returning the pistenflin a single movement" When'the cylinder "is Out ofregistry with thefliel port.- 1

In Witness Wherebf, I herenntdsubscribemy'name, as attested 'by thejtwe subscribing Witnesses. i v,

JOHN RICHARDSON] Witnesses: I v EMMA SPENER,

LIA. BECK.

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