US1550592A - Roughage mill - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 18, 1925.

. P. sTRlcKLER ROUGHAGE MILL Fnd June 24. 1922 4 sheets-Sheet 1 ihm" I TIE- l Aug. 1s, 1925. .1,550,592

o. P. s'rRlcKLER ROUGHA'GE MILL Filed .June 24. 1.922 4 Sheets-Shee-t 2 O. P. STRICKLER ROUGHAGE MILL Aug.1s,192s. y 1,550,592

Filed June 24, 1922 Y 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 g mmwboz 036er Sink/Wer;

Aug. 1s, 1925.

wwwboz Oscar fi Sfricb'lef;

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 O. P. STRICKLER ROUGHAGE MILL Filed June 24.1922

Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

OSCAR P. STRICKLER, OF YORK, `PENNSYLVAN'IA, 'ASSIGNOR ,'IO YORK. FEED MACHIN- V ERY COMPANY, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ROUGHAGE MILL. Y

Appucationvled June a4, 1922. serial NoI 570,637. l

To all whomz'tvmay concern:

Beit known that I, OsoAR P. 'STRIGKLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at York, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful V,Improvements in Roughage rMills,v of which the following is a specification. s K This invention relates to rou'ghageV mills and has for its principal object the construcf tion of fa mill for cutting dry roughage particularly such as has the characteristics of dry corn fodder, or for grinding any 'kind of grain into a coarse or granulated meal.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a 'roughage mill so constructed to have an output capacity greater, for the size of mill, than that ofthe ordinary friction Y grinding mills. f

Another object ofthe inventionis to proL vide a' roughage mill having rotating knives cooperating with relatively fixed ycutters, the latter being however, yieldable to preventv Vjamming of the mechanism through non-'uniform feeding f of material between said knives and cutters.V

A further object of the invention .is the provision of a casing forming a receptacle in which is-journalled a cutting drum pro'- vided with knives, the lower peripheral wall ofthe casing being constituted vby a perforated screen having meshes of a size to deliver a product of the proper degree of lineness, and its upper side includinga concave member having cutters coi-operating with the Arotating knives, said concave member being so arranged as to be capable of slight universal movement, and also bodily fdisplaceabfle against a predeterminedl pressure to relieve the mill of the effects of overload when masses of excessive size are carried between the knives and cutters. f A Still anotherobject `of the invention is the provision of emergencymeansforthrowing open the concave memberv and simultaneously rendering the feeding mechanism in,- operative. A still further object of the inventionis the provision of means providing for, the equal and accurate adjustment of the knives so as to bring themwithintrue 'cutting relation to the cutters.

Other objects will appear as the descrip; tion proceeds. f v

The invention will first be hereinafter described inoonnection with the accompanying drawings, which constitute part of this specification, and thenrmore specifically defined in the claims at the end of the description.. v Y

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters are used to designate corresponding parts vthro-ughout the several views:- l A Figure l is a side elevation partly in section of my improved roughage mill.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same, parts thereof being broken away to show the interior of the casing.

Figure 3 is an end elevation taken partly in section.

Figure 4 is a. side elevation of the reverse 'f side of the mill from that shown in Figure 1, sho-wing the operating mechanism.

Y Referring now `in detail to the several figures the numeral Yl'. represents a casting which is generally rectangular in shape at the base, and provided with flat sides as shownat 2 in Figure 3. The interior of the v casting is hopper shaped, there being an opening 3 in the bottom thereof to provideA an irregular outline which is indicated inV Figure l at the points designated by the numeral l0. Said cast iron sides are spaced apart and braced by meansof the rigid bars 11, 12and 18. Between the ianges 7 which extend inwardlyV from the opposite sides of the casting is a removable screen'flli which is made with a mesh of an appropriate size to permit the passage therethrough of roughage or vgrain meal ground to a desired fineness, and said screen is interchangeable with screens of different mesh when the degree of fine-ness of the ground roughage is to be varied. The screen 14 is held in place against the lower faces of the flanges 7, by means of tie rods 15, one for each flange, which lie beneath said flanges and :are pivotally mounted to the casting by means of the pins 16 the latter being xed to the casting and surrounded by a looped portion 17 of the tie rods. The ends of the tie rods opposite the pivotal connection Vpass through a plate 18 which rests transversely upon :the top edges of the upwardly extended portion 5 of the casting 1, each side Aof said plate being provided with a projection 19 ,fitting in a recess in said casting. Nuts 20 threadedly engage the ends of said tie rods and are adapted to be tightened against the transverse plate 18. The screen 14 lies between the flanges 7 and the tie rods 15 and when the latter are tightened the screen is firmly clamped into position. The plate 18 likewise is securely held in place by the tensioning ofthe tie rods through tightening of said nuts. When it is desired, for any reason to remove the screen 14, the nuts 2O are loosened, the plate 18 raised so that the projections are unseated from the recesses, and the plate bodily moved over to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1. The tension upon the tie rods having thus been loosened the screen 14 may be pulled out from between the .flanges and tie rods and another screen substituted therefor.

The transverse plates 11, 12 and 13 and the screen 14 form a drum-chamber Yor receptacle `in which is mounted the rotating element of the roughage mill. This comprises a knife-carrying drum 21 which includes a hollow casting having end headers 22 and a peripheral portion 23 oined thereto and having the peculiar shape shown .in Figure 1. This peripheral portion comprises a series of knife seats with pockets adjacent thereto, said knife seats comprising the angularly disposed flat faces 24 and 25, the former being bored and threaded as at 26 for thel reception of the knife securingfbolts 27. The knives 28 are elongated blades as shown in Figure 3, beveled on their opposite longitudinal edges 29, Figure 1, and held in place between the flat shoulder 24 and a detachable plate 30 by means of thebolts 27. The ends of said knives project slightly beyond the sides of the drum and are notched as shown at 31 in Figure 3, providing a tool engaging mea-ns for said knives, in the act of adjusting' the latter when the bolts27 are loosened. The double bevel 29 `permits the knives to be reversed presenting a new cutting edge when the. old one has become worn.

The upper part of the drum-chamber between the plates 12 and 13 is open, and provided with a removable closure 32 which is concave in form and constructed in two parts, an outer part 121, of cast iron and an inner part 122 of hardened steel bolted thereto by means of the bolts 123, the lower surface of which being curved in the form of a circle and having grinding points 33 constructed thereon, and coopera-ting with the edges of the knives 28. The grinding points have V-shaped apexes the points of which are presented in the direction in which the roughage is fed into the mill. The concave member 32 is provided with extending ends 34 and 35 which overlap the plates 12 and 13 and are provided with set screws 36 which abut against the plates 12 and 13 and form means for adjusting the distance of the grinding points 33 from the edges of the knives 28. Said set screws also function as limit vstops -t-o prevent the concave member '32 from moving inwardly into the path of rotation of said knives.

On its outer back surface the concave member 32 is provided with spaced upstanding lugs 37 and 38 each provided with a slot 39 through which extend the angular ends 40 of the lever arms 41, Figure 2, the latter being secured to a shaft 42 journalled in bearings in the opposite sides of the sheetmetal members 8 and 9. The angular ends 40 are smaller in size than the slots 39 through which they extend so that the concave member 32 is capable of a limited up and down movement with respect to the angular ends 40, and also slight sidewise movement, both of said movements imparting to said concave member a slight universal freedom of movement. This provision is made to prevent jamming of the mechanism should larger pieces of roughage than lthe machine is set to handle be introduced between the knives and grinding points. A lever arm 44 is secured t-o the middle of the shaft 42 above theconcave member 32, bearing against an upstanding lug 125. Said lever carries an adjustable weight 45. It will thus be understood that the concave member 32 is always maintained in closed position by a predetermined pressure equal tothe weight 45 and variable by sliding said weight along the lever arm 44, and that it is capable of slight rocking movement transversely about said lever as an axis to an extentrpermitted by the slots 39. The roughage is therefore ground between the knives and :the grinding points under a uniform pressure determined by the mass and positionof said weight and when a quant-ity of roughage in excess of the capacity of the grindingelements is drawn between the latter the `concave member rises against the pressure of said weight permitting the passagethereby of said roughage. V

In order to facilitate the adjustmentof the knives 28 with respect to .thegrinding points the cast ironsides are provided with recesses 46 in Figure 1 onoppositegsides of support.

the mill for the reception of a 'knife gauge. This knife gauge is not shown in the drawings but may be a simple straight `edged member capable of seating` accurately upon the bottomsof the recesses 46, and against which the edges of the knives 28 are aligned before tightening the bolts 27. In order to insert the gauge in the bottoms of said recesses, it is essential that the concave member 32 be turned back, this being done through means, hereinafter to be described.

The space between the plates 11 and 12 forms a feed opening for the roughage mill, adjacent which is arranged the feed chute 49 which is rectangular in form as shown in Figure 2, and is pivotally supported upon the rod 50, which* extends transversely of said chute and is carriedl at the top Yof the vertical uprights 51 the latter being bent angularly at their ends as shown at`52 in Figure 2 and being secured to a stationary At its forward and back ends the chute is provided with shafts 53 and 54 on which are mounted the rollers 55 and 56 aroundwhich passes the belt conveyer 57. Uncut roughage is intended to be thrown upon this conveyer, with the ends of the stalks preferably presented longitudinally thereof and is carried thereby into the mill the feeding being assisted by the upper feed roller 58, shown in Figure 1, said upper feed roller andthe conveyer being. driven by positive means presently to 'be described;

It will be observed that the belt conveyer is imperforate throughout the course traversed by the material to be cut on its way to the cutting drumvthere being no cracks or interstices, through which small particlesmay drop, making 'the' conveyer adaptable for the feeding of small grains as for roughage.

In order to provide for uniform pressure upon the feed' as it is drawn into; the mill the chute 49 is constructed on its under side with a pair of extending lugs 59 through which passes a shaft 60, a bell crank lever 61 .being journa-lled upon said shaft. The other end of the lever is pivota-lly mounted upon a shaft 62 carried by the extended end 4 of the casting 1. The other end 63 of said bell-crank lever is weighted as shown at 64V the chute 57 being pressed upwardly by said weight. By this means the rollers 55 andv 58 are brought closer together or separated when variations occur in the thickness ofthe The mechanism for operating the rough age mill is best shown in Figures 3 and 4. The knife-carrying drum 21 is mounted upon a shaft 66 which rest-s in lower halfbearings 67 and 68, theV latter being secured tothe side plates 8 and 9. The upper halfbearings 69 and 70 are secured to the lower' half-bearings by means of bolts 71, but are not fastened to anything else. On the outer end of the shaft 66'the pulley 72 is mounted from which the power to operate the roughage mill is derived. A smaller spur geary 73 is keyed to the opposite end of the shaft 66, which is constantly in mesh with the large gear wheel 74 the latter being splinably mounted upon a shaft 75. The shaft is slidably carried in bearings 76 and 77 said bear`- ings being rigidly supported with respect to a. stationary part of the roughage mill. Loosely sleevedupon the shaft on opposite sides of the gear wheel 7 4 are the hubs 8G and 81, bearingthe sprocket wheels 78 and 79, said hubs being restrained from endwisemovement on said shaft'by being in spectively. rlhe hubs 80 and 81Y are'furynished with clutch depressions capable of being engaged by the key 86, when theshaft 75 is slid in one direction orthe other. hub- 84 of the gear wheel 74 has flat Vfaces adjacent the clutch faces of the hubs and is held from Vsubstantial endwise movement by the proximity of said clutch faces to its flat faces. Y

The gear wheel 74by being constantly in mesh with the gear 73 is always driven' in the same direction vand by being splinably mounted on said slidable shaft 75 it may be brought intoengagement with either of the sprocket wheels 78 or 79 or be permitted to assume a neutral position out of engagement with either of said sprocket wheels. operating the shaft 7 5 aV handy lever 88 is provided pivotally mounted as at 89 upon a stationary support and carrying a perfo rated lug 90 which loosely surrounds a reduced portion 91 of said shaft so as to permit slight angular movement of said lever relative to said shaft. A collar 92'pinned to the end of said shaft holds said lever in place. By moving the lever 88 in one direc- The tion or the other a sliding movement is imparted to the shaft 75 and to the 1key 86 placing it into clutching engagement 'with the gear wheel 74v and with either of the sprocket wheels, or in neutral position.

' The gears 93 and 94 are respectively secured to the outer ends of the shafts 53 and vstub shafts 98 and Y 99 carrying sprocket wheels 100 and 101 respectively.r The sprocket wheel 100 is connected with the For sprocket wheel 78 by means of the chain 102 130 and the sprockets 79 and 101 are similarly connected by means of the chain 108. Wfl/Then the gear wheel 7 4 is in clutching engagement with the sprocket wheel i 8 the latter is driven in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4, driving the shaft 98 and the gear 96 which is attached thereto in a clockwise direction and imparting a counter-clockwise movement to the gear wheel 98. rt the same time a gear wheel 104 which also is mounted upon the shaft 98 meshes with the gear 97 on the shaft 99, rotating the latter in a counter-clockwise movement to the gear wheel 94. This direction of movement to the gears 93 and 94, acts to feed the roughage into the mill. During this phase of movement'of the operating mechanism the sprocket wheel 7 9 rotates freely on the shaft in a counter-clockwise direction, being impelled by tne chain 108.

lffhen the lever 88 is thrown so that the gear wheel 7 4 clutchably engages the sprocket wheel 's' 9 the sprocket wheel 101 is rotated in a clockwise direction by the chain 103. This imparts a direct counter-clockwise movement to the gear wheel 94 and an indirect clockwise movement to the gear 93 through the gears 96 and 104 which are mounted on the shaft 98. This reverses the direction of the feed, drawing the material away from the mill.

Notwithstanding the constructional expedients herein provided for preventing the jamming of the mill mechanism, it is inevitable that sometime something will be introduced between t-he kni es and the grinding point, in the nature of foreign bodies such tools, rocks etc. carelessly fed in with the roughage, which will interrupt the operation of the inill. For the quick elimination of such objects an emergency means is provided consisting of the hand lever 105, fixed to one end of the shaft 42 upon which are carried the lever arms 41 which support the concave memben 82. llfhen a stoppage of the machinery occurs this lever may be manually thrown toward the left, as viewed in Figure 1, instantly opening the concave member 82 which is capable of swinging to an extreme position shown in dotted lines at 100 in Figure 1. Simultaneously with the swinging open of the concave member the key throws the gear wheel 7 into clutching engagement with the feed reversing mechanism by means of the bell-crank lever 107, having an arm 108 thereof engageable with the end of the shaft 75. Said bellcrank lever is pivotally connected at 109 to a bracket supported by the side of the roughage mill. The opposite end of the bellcrank is provided with a groove 111 in which is loosely seated an operating rod 112 the upper end of which makes pivotal connection as at 113 with a crank 114 on the end of the shaft 42. In order to prevent the opening of the concave member 32 by normal operation of the lever 88 the npper end Vof the operating rod 112 is slotted as at 115 in Figure 4 providing a lost motion through which the operating rod may freely reciproate when the lever 88 is moved.

The side plates 8 andY 9 ofthe roughage mill are cut away as shown in Figure 2, forming sector shaped openings 116 extending from the upper edge of said side plates to the lower half-bearings 67 and 68 in which the shaft G6 is mounted. rlhe edges of the side plates adjacent these cutaway portions have secured thereto t-he flanged frames 117 and 118 as in Figure 2, the flanged 4portions of said frames cooperating with the edges of the side plates to form channels in which are seated the edges of the sector shaped members 119 and 120. These members are removable for the purpose of permitting the withdrawal of the knife-carrying drum with its shaft from the drum chamber, and to render visible the clearance between the knives 28 and the grinding points, sol that the set screws 86 may be manipulated to adjust the concave member 82 to secure the proper clearance.

ln the operation of this device, the roughage which, as hereinbefore stated, is in general of the character of dry corn fodder, is placed upon the conveyer belt 57 and drawn into the drum-chamber by means of the feed rollers 55 and 58 rotating in a forward direction. As it enters the druin-chamber the roughage is engaged by one of the knives 28 and cut into short lengths which fall into the concave pockets and are then thrown out by centrifugal force into contact with the grinding points on the under surface of the concave member 82. Here they are engaged by the knives which cooperate with the grinding points to cut the roughage into small particles. As the roughage is carried around in the pockets of the knife-carrying' drum it is thrown againstthe screen 14 by centrifugal force, and if fine enough to pass through the screen lit is forced outwardly into the hopper formed by the casting 1 and finds its way by gravity into an appropriate receptacle placed beneath the grinding mill, preferably upon the floor below. Moving of the weight 45 along the lever 44 regulates the pressure of the latter upon the concave member and controls'the degree of fineness of the ground product. Material which `is not of sutlicient fineness to passthrough vthe screen is carried around in the pockets and again thrown against the grinding points to be acted upon a second time by the'knives 28 and the proce-ss is carried onfuntil all of the roughage is properly ground. 'i

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is i 1. A roughage mill comprising a receproll toward the roll having the fixed axis,

and means for positively operating said rolls.

2. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting elements mountedl in said receptacle, means forming a part of the wall of said receptacle and provided with grinding points cooperably arranged with respect to said cutting elements, said means being mounted for slight universal movement with respect to said cutting elements.

3. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting elements mounted in said receptacle, means forming a part of the wall of said receptacle and pro-vided with grinding points cooperably arranged with respect to said cutting elements, said means being mounted for slight universal movement with respect to said cutting elements, and adjustable stops on said means to limit its inward movement toward said cutting elements. l

4. A roughage mill comprising agreceptacle, rotatable cutting elements mounted in said receptacle, means forming a part of the. wall of said receptacle, carrying grinding points cooperably arranged with respect to said cutting elements, lugs projecting exteriorly of said grinding point carrying means, said lugs being provided with perforations, means carried by said roughage mill and extending through said perforatio-ns, said means being sufliciently smaller than said perforations to permit, movement in all directions of said grinding point carrying means relative to said cutting elements.

5. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting element-s mounted within said receptacle, means forming a part of the wall of said receptacle and carrying grinding points, lugs extending exteriorly of said grinding point carrying means and provided with perforations, a shaft carried by said roughage mill, arms secured to said shaft having portions thereof extending through said perforations, said extending portions being of sufficiently smaller dimensions than said perforationsto permit slight movement in all directions of said grinding Point Carrying means, and means associated.

'withY said shaft toimpose anormal limit to the V'opening movement of said `grinding pointca'rrying means.

6. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting elements mounted in said receptacle, means forming. a part of the wallVA of. said receptacle Aand carrying grinding points, vlugs 'projecting "exterior'ly ffro'm' saidgrinding point carryingmeanS,said lugs being provided with perforations, a shaft carried by said roughage mill, arms secured to said shaft and having portions thereof extending through said perforations, said extending portions being of sufciently smaller diamensions than said perforations to permit slight movement in all directions of said grinding point carrying means, a weighted lever secured tosaid shaft for imposing a normal limit to the opening movement of said grinding pointJ carrying means and manual means for rotating said shaft in opposition to the weight of said lever for opening said grinding point carrying means.

7. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, cutting elements rotatably mounted in said receptacle, meansforming a part of the wall of said receptacle and carrying grinding points, said grinding point carrying means being mounted so as to permit slight universal movement with respect to said cutting elements, a shaft mounted upon said roughage mill, arms carried by said shaft and associated with said grinding point carrying means to limit the universal movement thereof, means for pressing said grinding point carrying means toward closed position by a predetermined pressure, manually operable means for opening said grinding point carrying means, a feed device for said roughage mill, means for operating said vfeed device and means actuated by said manually operable opening means for reversing the feed device operating means.

8. A roughage mill comprising a casting forming a hopper, side walls secured to said casting and extending aboveit, a screen mounted within said casting and forming with side walls a receptacle, a drum rotatably mounted within said receptacle, cutting elements carried by said drum, said drum being provided withy pockets between said cutting elements, a grinding lpoint carrying element forming a part of the wall of said receptacle and provided with grinding points, a feed device for supplying roughage to said roughage mill, said drum functioning to throw said roughage Vinto contact with grinding points by centrifugal force, to collect the ground roughagein said pockets and to throw it against said screen by centrifugal force whereby the finely ground portions are expelled into said hopper and the insufficiently ground portions are returned t0 .Saud grinding pomts soY 9., A roughage mill comprising a reoepmovement in all directions With respect to ta'lol'e, rotatable cutting elements mounted in said cutting elements, adjustable stops on l0 said receptacle, means forming a part of the said means to limit its inward movement Wall of said receptacle and provided With toward said cutting elements. grinding points cooperably arranged With 1n testimony whereof I have hereunto set respect to said cutting' elements, said grindmy hand. ing points being detaehably secured to said means, said means being mounted with slight OSCAR P. STRICKLER.

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