US1494307A - Drying machine - Google Patents

Description

May 13. 1924.

F. HINNEKENS DRYING MACHINE Filed' Sept 2 1922 ATTURNEV Patented May i3, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

FLORENT HINNEKENS, 0F PATERSO'N, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO VAN VLAANDEREN IIACHINE COMPANY, 0F PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW TER- l BEY.

y DRYING MACHINE Application led September 2, 1922. Serial No. 585,894.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FLORENT HINNEKENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drying Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of drying-machines in which flexible material (it may be a fabric to be dried or a flexible sheet on which is suitably held some such substance as tobacco, for example-the term flexible material being hereafter used to comprehend both) is carried through a drying chamber on a conveyor having crosspieces and the material is in some way formed into loops or festoons, as by feeding the material to the conveyor faster than the latter travels, both running constantly, or by advancing the material constantly and the conveyor intermittently so that the materail falls in the loops or festoons between the cross-pieces during the stopping periods of the conveyor.

A fault with these machines as heretofore constructed has been that the erossepieces produce an irregular drying of the material, so that if it is a delicate fabric, for example, there will be left in the dried product more or less distinct streaks which impair its quality. The object of this invention is to overcome this fault, and this l accomplish by arranging the cross-pieces so as to revolve on their own axes while being advanced by the conveyor, their revolving motion being effected in any way, as by causing them to travel at the period when they are supporting the material in loops in contact with a stationary rail. They may be caused to rotate in either direction, which, in order to form the loops properly, is only a matter of timing the rateof feed of the material accordingly; in the example herein described and illustrated they are arranged to rotate in the same relative direction as the conveyor (here an endless conveyor) travels.

In the accom anying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a si e elevation of a dr ing machine of the class indicated embo ying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of certain details illustrating the invention on a larger scale; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of what is shown in Fig. 2.' l

a indicates a structure including the drying chamber a', which has means, as the usual fan b, for causing .circulation of air (as suitably heated air) therein so that it will move in an up-and-down direction for the purpose of drying the looped or festooned fabric. Said structure also includes at the ends of the drying chamber extensions a2 a3 of the latter in which, respectively, the loops or festoons are formed and, after passing through chamber a', paid out to the folding or other means (not shown) to receive the dried material.

In suitable bearings on the uprights a,4 a of structure a are journaled the horizontal shafts of the revolving guiding members or supports c for the conveyor d, which is of the usual construction, comprising chains or other flexible members as shown, excepting that at regular intervals they are provided with opposed bearings d; these bearings receive the cross-pieces to be described. One of the members c may include sprocket wheels c whose teeth engage the chains and which at intervals to conform with the spacing of the bearings d may have peripheral recesses c2 to receive said bearings; one of said members, as the one last mentioned, may receive from any suitable driving means the power for advancing the conveyor by rotating such member, said means being herein illustrated as a belt e extending around a pulley f on said member. The conveyor extends through chamber a and its extensions a a2.

g is the drum over which the fiexible material to-be dried (designated A) passes. It is journaled in structure a and may be driven by a belt h extending around a pulley 'i on the shaft of the drum. After passing this drum the said material extends over a smaller drum or roller j journaled in structure a and adapted to be driven in any suitable way, as by a belt c extendingr around ulleys on the shafts of the two drums. l

esignates the delivery drum, or roller, also journaled in said structure and being here simply anv idler, the means (not shown) which is to fold or otherwise receive the dried material being assumed to take up or maintain a draft on the ymaterial at a speed conforming with that at which it is fed to the convevor bv the feeding means g j. As-

suming the conveyor to have associated with it at intervals cross-pieces on which to form the material A into loops or festoons, and the feeding and take-up means to be advancing thematerial at a speed which exceeds that of the conveyor (which in the present example is assumed to be constantly 1n motion), t e loops or festoons A will be formed in a way well known in the art and unnecessary of particular description herein. According to the present inventionthe said cross-pieces are rotated on their own axes while being advanced by the conveyor, and for this purpose they are constructed and arranged as follows: c'`

In each two opposed bearings d of the conveyor is journaled a shaft m on which are fixed a plurality of disks or spiders 'n to which are secured,- at their peripheries, the slats o, so that the slats are spaced from the shaft. rlhe slats are also equally spaced from each other a suitable distance. 'lheir outer surfaces are prefere-bl turned to a cylinder whose axis is sha m. On the s afts are fixed pinions p which when they roll in contact with a suitable surface as the conveyor advances cause rotation on their own axes of the cross-pieces each of which in the present instance comprises the mentioned parts m, n,- o and p. In the present example these pinions roll in contact and mesh with racks g which are placed horizontally on struts or rails r which connect the uprights a4 a of the structure a, extending through chamber a.

While the conveyor and material A are being4 advanced, resulting in the formation of t e loops on the cross-pieces as already explained, those cross-pieces which are in action supporting the looped part of the material are rotated by the intermesh of the pinions with the racks g, the direction of their rotation being in the present instance relatively the same as the direction of advance of the conveyor. Con uently, while the material is being a vanced through the drying chamber each crosspiece acts with a rolling effect, as it were, on the face of the material presented thereto, and since this results in a shifting of the place of contact of any cross-piece with the material alongthe surface of the latter meneer the streaking of the material or the insucient drying thereof which takes place in existing machines where the material contacts with the (non-rotating) cross-pieces is entirely avoided. 4I prefer to form the cross-pieces hollow and with openings yin their peripheral portions (as at o', between slats o) because this construction permits each cross-piece to have adequate diameter to insure perfect tractive effect on the material A and allows the drying air to have access to that part of the material which directly straddles the cross-piece at any cross-pieces- Vjonrnaled each on its own axis in the bearings, and means cooperative with the cross-pieces to arrange said material thereon in loops hanging therefrom in alternation therewith, in combination with means between said supports and extending from one tothe other and affording an underneath rolling contact to and support for each cross-piece. n

2. Mechanism; for forming into loops flexible material to be dried includingan elongated conveyor and means to support and advance the same longitudinally in a lateral direction, spaced cross-pieces operatively connected with the conveyor to move therewith and extending transversely of the path of travel thereof and substantially horizontally and each journaled on its own longitudinal axis, and means cooperative with the cross-pieces to arrange said material thereon in loops hanging therefrom in a1- ternation therewith, each cross-piece having openings extendin therethrough for passage of the drying uid, in comblnation with means to rotate the cross-pieces while the material hangs therefrom in such loops.

In testimon whereof I atlx my si ature.-

LOB-ENT .HINNE NS.

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