US1657414A - Endless screen conveyer - Google Patents

Description

'Jan. 24, 1928. 1,657,414

- J. w. SILVER ENDLES S SCREEN CONVEYER Filed May 2, 1927 Patented Jan. 24, 1928.

JAMES XV. SILVER, 01E OGDEN, UTAH.

ENDLESS SCREEN CONVEYER.

Application filed May 2,

This invention relates to improvements in endless screen conveyors, of the slatted belt type, which have their conveying surface formed of spaced br :5 extending transversely between and carried by side sprocket chains or their equivalent.

Although the improvements primarily have been designed as further desirable equipment for the sugar beet screening conveyer covered in the J. A. Lynch United States patent, for beetdumps, No. 1,432,195 of October 17, 1922, and while the improvements shall hereinafter be disclosed more particularly in such relations, still it is to be understood that they are not to be limited in this respect, but may be employed in any other equivalent or analogous uses.

A vertically agitating motion is preferably imparted to the upper or conveying portion, of such conveyers, to cause a shaking or abrupt raising and lowering thereof for more effective screening purposes, which motion may be attained by impacting means located underneath said upper portion, The inner end of the conveyer is associated with the open top of a tare receptacle or dirt hopper, and the lower or return portion of the conveyer is positioned, along its forward zone, immediately over an apron base or skirt board therefor, discharging into said receptacle for important reasons well understood in the weighing and screening of dirty loads of beets, the dirt and leafy refuse being fed along said board by the scraping action of the spaced bars of the conveyer traveling thereon.

These types of screening conveyers in the main serve their aims very well indeed, but obviously there is a materially destructive wear on their spaced cross bars, as they ride upon said base board, which wear is greatly augmented by an abrading action of the dirt itself. Also, the leafy refuse of the beets, although normally more or less free to drop between said spaced bars during the latters conveying travel, when fed along said base board under the scraping force of said bars, on the return travel of the latter, some of said leafy refuse not infrequently becomes entangled across the bars, being thus carried around the upper conveying zone, so that to some extent such leafy refuse obstructs the spaces between the bars, and accordingly in terferes with maximum screening of the dirt from the beets, which beets are discharged over the outer end of the conveyer. Even 1927. Serial No. 188,270.

more important still, however, in actual operations under some soil conditions, say in wet weather and especially with muddy and the more tenaciously clinging clay soils, considerable difficulty and trouble have been experienced in attempting to maintain said base board clean or clear of sticky soil or hard deposits formed thereby and accumulat tical embodiment of the improvements, in

which drawings Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a bar screen conveyer of the type aforesaid, with my improved equipment applied. and as associated with the dirt receiving hopper or tare receptacle fragmentarily shown; Figure 2 is an analogous View but broken away in parts and drawn on a substantially larger scale; Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view looking down on Figure 2 at a position where one of a series of scraping units is attached, in accordance with the main feature of the improvements;

Figure '1 is a transverse sectional view through one of the elements of such scraping units. where such scraping units areof sectional construction which is preferred, and being shown as of triangular shape; and Fig ure 5 is a central vertical longitudinal sec tional View of Figure 4. 1

Referring briefly to the bar belt screen conveyer itself, which in beet dumps or the likeis either directly or indirectly associated with a main inclined conveyer to receive the discharge therefrom, the numeral 10 indicates the series of spaced cross-bars that may be supported at their ends by side sprocket chains but which, as actually shown, embody suitably bent ends 11 to provide link-like hooks or looped connections between adjacent bar ends. This bar belt conveyer reeves over end supporting rollers which may 0011- sistof head sprocket or toothed wheels 12,

keyed to a drive shaft- 13 therefor, and a pair of tail idlers 14 which may be toothed or otherwise. Side guards for the conveyer are indicated at 15, but only the one on the far side actually appearing on the drawings, and 16 are suitably mounted idler. rollers, which may be employed for supporting the upper portion of the bar belt intern'iediately of said head and tail rollers, while the numeral 17 indicates the aforementioned apron base or skirt board, disposed immediately under the forward return portion ofsaid bar belt, and discharging into the dirt hopper or tures are broadly old, as disclosed inmy own prior application or in the Lynch patent aforesaid.

However, in addition to the scraping units before mentioned, which perhaps are the more important feature of the present im' provements. there isalso embodied in the present case improved means for more effectively in'iparting a vertically agitating motion to theentire conveying portion of the bar belt, with a wave-like shaking motion as it were. and which feature will now be 'described in advance of the detailed description of the scraping units.

The agitator shaft 19, located towardsthe inner end of theconveyer to be disposed over the dirt hopper 18, is supplemented by a plurality of such shafts carrying rotary agitators, two being actually shown between said first agitator and the outer end of the conveyor. These additional shaftsiare inclicated at 2t and 25, and may mount sprocket wheels 26 and 27, or their equivalent, shown in dotted outline at Fig. 1, which are driven by the element 22, but it-is obviousthat other means may be employed for driving the several shafts.

As these rotary agitators, or. beater-like shakers,are of the same construction, there will only be described the central one which is shown'on anenlarged scale at FigureZ.

The cross'shaft 2 1 mounts a spaced pair of sidesupports, shown as spider elements emltiodying three equidistantly spaced radial armsQS, for each said spider,and between each of the complementary arms thereof there is disposed a cross-member 29, which may be an elongated roller if desired,-adapted in its revohitions to engage and rccede from the underneath side of the upper or conveying portion of the bar belt, causing at predetermined intervals. the raising and lowering of the latter, at the position of the particular agitator. These rotary agitators are so ar anged, in geared relation, that the cross-members 25) of the alternate agitators are relatively in and. out of approximate operative engagement with said upper conveyor portion, being always out of engagement with the lower portion thereof. Jrccord ingly, with a plurality of these rotary agitators or their equivalent, disposed along the underneath side of said upper conveyor portion, the latter is vertically agitated or j igged', approxi matcl y along its whole length, with an undulatory or wave-lilce shaking motion, which insures the more UllCCljlVQ screen ing of the dirt and other refuse from the beets conveyed along said upper conveyor portion.

l Vith reference to the aforementioned scraping units. these are carriedas a suitably spaced series by said bar belt, being generally designated as complete units by the numeralSO in Figures 1 to 3, and the number of these units to be employed will largely be dependent upon the actual length of the conveyer and the particular operating condi tions. In some instances the scraping units might be spaced approximately three feet apart, while in other instances the distance could be greater. In broad princi 'ile each of these scrapingunits could he a single clc ment', or itsequ' alent, and, whether integral. or-scctional in structure, each of said units could have :ugrcater number of sides than three. As a matter of practice and present preference,however, each unit is shown as being of sectional form, see Figure 3, with each sectionthereof beingof triangular shape and mounted for either conjoint or independent pivotal motion, which imlcpemlent pivotal motion has its own mrticular advantages as will later appear.

Referring now more particularly toFigures 3. to each of the triangular setztions or blocks should providemcans'for the facile mounting and dcmounting thereof. as may be desired tor replacements or other-purposes. A practical and preferred means for doing this is to provide one base side with a substantially deep slot 31, extending centrally and longitudiually for the full length of that side. and which side is also provided with paired slots atcach side of said cen tral slot whirh paired end slots open asrecc" s to therespective other two sides of the sc. on. adjaccntly of the ends thereof, as respectively indicated at .li.2l3 and 3 1- 135. The central longitudinal slot BI. is adaiiitcd -to freely encompass a desired one of the cross-bars 10 of the conveyor, and the section ispivotally hold thereon by an clongatcdre taining bar 36 that extends along within the base of said slot. being securely held inplace as by means of bolts or rivet rods il'i'.

As shown at Figure 3, the iil'ltll'lflllltll"illtltfli sections are disposed in endwise relation on their conveyer bar 10, the several sections embodying a complete one of the said scraping units, and may be held against undue lengthwise displacement thereon by any suitable means, such as segmental collars or the like indicated at 38.

Also, at Figure 3, different respective base sides of the triangular block sections are shown as disposed uppermost to illustrate that the sections may hang at any positions during their travel, except during their travel along said base board 17 when they become normally disposed with one of their base sl des, although it is immaterial which one, adapted for riding along upon said base board, in cleaning or scraping relation therewith,

In operations, it is understood that the material, such as sugar beets associated with dirt and other refuse from the field, is gradually fed upon the inner end upper portion of the conveyer, being carried forward thereby for discharging the cleaned product over the outer end thereof, whereas the refuse there from drops through between the upper spaced bars, and this screening operation is more effectively attained, as heretofore set forth, by the particular arrangement and functioning of the aforesaid rotary agitators.

The refuse that drops through between the upper bars, at the inner end of the conveyer, will also drop through the lower bars, at that end, and directly into the tare hopper 18. Forwardly of said hopper, however, the refuse matter will drop down upon the lower bars and partly, therebetween, upon the base board 17, along which said base bars are then traveling, and, heretofore, was dragged therealong, for discharging into said hopper, solely by and between said lower spaced bars. Under these prior arrangements, not only has this feed or dragging of the refuse material into the dirt hopper been at times more or less unsatisfactory, especially under certain sticky soil and clayey conditions as before set forth, but also as the spaced bars of the conveyer ride 1 directly upon said base board, they are subjected to considerable abrading wear.

By the present improvements, however, it will be observed that the lower spaced bars, when traveling along over the base board 17, are not in direct contact with the latter, but are in fact supported in substantially spaced relation therefrom by the scraping units, which feature not only permits the refuse material to more completely drop down upon the said base board, between said spaced bars, but which also relieves said bars from all abrading wear thereon, and the dirt and other refuse material being pushed or scraped along the base board by the action primarily of the scraping units themselves.

Regardless of the hanging position thereof, when the scraping units enter the zone of common to sugar beet loads from the fields, i

which may have become entangled upon or entwined about scraping units. Also, 1n traveling along the base board, if any of the sections encounter a heavy lump of mud or like obstruction, it will have a gouging-like action thereon, which would tend to forwardly tilt the scraping unit section momentarily, and this tendency causing a further shearing action, on any entwined leaves, relatively to the next adjacent triangular section.

From all of the foregoing, it is believed that the objects, advantages and functioning of the improvements will be clearly apparent, but although I have thus set forth the same fully, in accordance with my present preferences, it will nevertheless be under stood that I do not wish to unnecessarily confine myself to all of the details exactly as disclosed, excepting as they may come within the terms or tenor of the ensuing claims, or equivalent elements and combinations thereof, or as fairly interpreted in the light of the specification if necessary. What I do claim, as new and patentable 1s:

1. The combination of an endless screen conveyer, having spaced cross-bars, a base board over which said conveyer operates, an elongated block pivotally mounted on a complementary one of said cross-bars, in operative relation to said base board, said block having a substantially deep central longitudinal slot, opening to a base face thereof for the entire length of the latter, in which slot said complementary cross-bar is longitudinally disposed, a bearing and retaining bar, for said complementary cross bar, extending along within said slot exteriorly of said complementary cross-bar, and securing means holding said bearing and retaining bar in position.

2. The combination of an endless screen conveyer, having spaced cross-bars for its conveying means, a base board over which said conveyer operates, and a series of elongated flat sided scraping units carried by and extending transversely of said conveyer in operative contacting relation to said base board, each of the said scraping units being mounted for rotation, axially of its length, on and around a complementary cross-bar of said conveyer.

3. The combination of an endless screen conveyer, having spaced cross-bars for its conveyin means, a base board over which tacting relation:tosaid base board, each of the said scraping units being mounted for I rotation, axially cofits length, on and around a con'iplenientary crossbar of said conveyer.

4. The combination of an endless screen conver er, having spaced cross-bars for its conveying means, a base board over Which said conreyer operates and a series of sectional elongated scraping units carried by and extending transversely ofsaid conveyer in operative relation to said base board, each section of said respective units being mounted for IOtdtlOIl, axially of 1ts length, on and around a complementary cross-bar of said COIIVG YGL'.

5. The combination of an endless screen conveyer, having spaced cross-bars for its conveying means, a base board over which said conveyer operates, and a series of sectionally divided elongated scraping units carried by and extending transversely of said conveyer in operative relation to said base i ard, each section of said scraping units being;- oi. triangular shape in cross-sec tion and being mounted for individual rotation, axially of its length. on and around a colnplcnicntary cross-bar of said conveyor. In testimony whereof, I aflix my sigma tn re.

JAMES W. SILVER.

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