US1758445A - Cane-milling apparatus - Google Patents

Description

-May 13, 1930. I N. KAY 1,

CANE MILLING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 29, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l May 13, 1930. N KAY 1,758,445

CANE MILLING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 29, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 13, 1930 NORMAN KAY; or JOBOS, some nice CANE-MILLING A PARATUS Application filedSeptember 29, 1827 -Serial Nox222;896.

My invention relatesto eaneinilling apparatus, and more particularly to arotary cane knife designed for use in a canemillfor preparing theicanefor subsequent crushing'and I Bfjuicelexpressing operations.

A canemillgenerally includes one ormore preliminary Crushers in theform of cooperating pairs of rotary toothed rolls, whichcrush and disintegrate-the cane, which then passes through a tandem of three-rollmills, between therolls'of-which-the cane is heavilypressed to extract the juice. Thecane actedon by the preliminary crusher is generally inthe form of v a relatively deep tangled blanket of cane stalks; and considerablepower is required to drive the crusher in handling this blanket.

In order to reduce :the =-a1nou1'1t of. power necessary to drive the prelimiary crusher,

and to bring about ai thorough" disintegration of the oanaatan early -stage iii-its passage through the mill,-so that the subsequent juice expressing operations may .be efliciently carried out, it -has been ,proposed @to use a series s ofirotatable Fkn-ives,'-for cutting up the cane 2 before-itreaches the prelimin'ary crusher in order thatthe cane acted on-by "tlie latter-may be reduced to a somewhatshredded condition, whereupon it will feed through the crusher more readily and permit the crusher to nlore thoroughly separate the fibers of the cane. "ihe cane is =usually. carried to the mill by in'eans of an endless beltfand rotary knives have been'mounted above such belt, so as to engage the'cane as it passes to the mill. The knife contemplated .in the present invention is'in. general of the above mentioned type, and

may beused if desiiedfto act on cane while supported on a conveyor 'andpassing to a preliminary crusher, and the invention has for its primary object a'knife capable of op erating on'the cane'm'ore previously'known.

The knivesused heretofore have been pro- 'vided*wi th smooth cutting edges which are intended to slice into 'the cane and out it into fragments. Fhis arrangement of'knives is *effective to a degree'i-n bringing about acondition of *thecane blanket where it may be" HIOIQGfllCIQH'bl'Y acteden by the. crusher rolls,

but it has not produced the expected results efficiently than those as regards the'improvement of the millin Knives of the kind ordinarily used are aptto strike'the cane stalks with glancing blows, theeffect of which upon the cane body as a whole is negligible. My present invention contemplates the production of a power driven cane knife which preliminarily shreds the incoming mass of cane to a very consider able degree, and thereby materially reduces the amount of work to be done by the rolls following the knives, so that in manycases the number of rolls in a given canemillcaiibe .reduced to advantage if-my'cane knife is used for preliminary treatment of thecane.

In a more specific aspect-,it is a further obect of the invention to provide a knife of tlie abovetype, having a cutting edge provided with aserles'of serrations or notchesadapted 'to'hook into the cane and shred it, Inaddition Fig. 4c is a fragmentary viewofthe cutting edge of the knife shown in Fig. 3.

i Fig. 5, is a fragmentary View of a niodification; and I V p Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of the cutting edge of aknife shown ii -Fig. 5. y p I V Referring to the drawings in which I have showna preferred embodiment of my invention, the reference numeral 5 indicates in general. a portion of a cane milhincluding as a part thereof a'conveyer 6, provided with an endlessbelt 7, having secured on the outer surfacethereof a series of slats 8, adapted to *cOnduct cane to a preliminary crusher 9,

which may be of any well-known or preferred type. The conveyer 6 is provided with side walls 10, adapted to prevent the escape or" cane fromthe mill, and above the side walls is a rotaryshat't 11, mounted in bearings 12 and 13, supported in any suitable manner on the mill 5,01 onany convenient or adjacent support.

from the direction of movement of the knire,i

and provided with a cutting edge 19, which is i nterrupted by notches or serrations 20, eacn notch or seri'ation'having aycane engaging face 21, substantially at right angles or normal to the cutting edge ofthe blade, and another face 22 extending towardsIthe shank and intersecting the cutting edge of the blade at an acute angle. The edges-of the races 21 are bevel d as at 21 to provide relatively v l1 4 sharp cutting edges. The rotary shart 11 may be driven in any suitable manner, and above the conveyor 6 and partially surrounding the "prevent any pieces-of canelrom being rotary knives 16 is a shield 23 adapted to out o'tjthe mill by the rotating knives,

In the form shown in Figs. 0

gradually sloping surfaces 22F, but the a shoulders 21? in this case are not beveled or chamfered. In both cases, however, the

abrupt. shoulder is directed away from the.

tree'end of the knife and tacestoward the axis of rotation and presents a cane penetrating edge of some width, disposed generally transversely tothe kn fe and to the line.

of travel of the cane bony. As shown in the drawings, the active or leading marginal edge portion ofthe knife blade is beveled or cut away at opposite sides so as to be reduced in thickness towardthe extreme edge. The I i I 7 1 J. leading edge toward the heel is shaped to cut ina lengthwise direction OIIlY'bllt the leading edge of the; curved outer end portion is cut away (as shown inFig. {l or in Fig. 6) to present a plur-ality oi the transverse pro ections alternating with whichare short longi- 'tudinally cutting portions formed leaving the beveled edge uncut at those points.

In operation, sugar cane is'carried by the Y J conveyor belt 7, andthe slats 8 thereon, to the i prel minary crusher 9,; passingv under the rotary knives 16, which extend into the conveyor to a point closely adjacent the slats def the belt 7, and are rotated at a relatively high Q speed. The cutting edges 19 ofthe blade 16 engage the cane to cut it up into pieces, the teeth t'ormed by the notch-es 20 ofthe blades hooking into the cane and. tearing it and shredding it, in addition to the normal cutbill own 7 and 6, the

notches 2O are in generalo t the same shape 1 and disposition as the notches 20fpreviously described,having abrupt shoulders 21 and ting and chopping action of the blade. The notches orserrations are so formed as to provide on each revolving blade or arm a plurality of claws, spaced apart longitudinally of the arm, which repeatedly engage and tear apart the stalk portions supported on the belt 7 to the preliminary crusher is of con-' siderable depth and the rotating knives 16 are so arranged in the conveyor 7 as to cut into the blanket of the cane to'quite a depth,

in order that substantially all of the blanket maybe acted on and shredded by. the

knives. In practice, it has been found that itis desirable to separate'the knives 16 from the slats 8 about 8 inches, although this distance may be varied tosuit conditions;

By shredding the cane previous to its being acted on by the preliminarycrusher, the

amount of power necessary to drive the crusher s reduced, and the cane more thoroughly disintegrated atan early stage in it's'passage through the mill, wherebythe juice expressing OPQIEtt-IODS may be more el'iciently carried out. a a Inpractice, my improved cane knife has shredded toa quite complete and satisfactorydegree the entire body or mass of cane moving toward the, mill on the conveyor. This I ascribe to the serration oi the kiiife blades, and more particularly to the fact that the blades are provided with a plurality of transverse ca'neshredding edges located at the edge of the bladein' planeswhich are approni mately normal to the plane of the ade itself. These shreddmg'edges grip, bite into and tear apart the cane stalks,which lie-upon the conveyor in a dense mass so as to offer eli'ec'tive-resistance and prevent displacement of the stalks away from the rearwardly bent or curved tips of the blades. This shredding action is in addition to the cutting or chopping action produced bythe cutting edge with which the notches or serrations are associated, but this ordinary cutting edge running lengthwise of the blade is not essential in all aspects oi" the invention.

- Owing to the location 01' the knife so that the blade tips extend into close proximity to the conveyer, and so that the blades penetrate substantially to the lowermost layer of cane onthe conveyer, the entire mass of cane on the conveyer is subjected to the shredding action and quite uniformly shredded. As a result, it has been possible to feed the cane into the mill in a considerably disintegrated condition, thus decreasing the amount of work to be done by the mill rolls, and matejuice extraction.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood thatthe same is not to be limited wall the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a cane mill, means for feeding cane, and means for engaging and shredding the cane while being fed, said last named means comprisinga rotary shaft, aseries of cutting knife blades carried on said shaft and extending outwardly therefrom, and clawlike means formed on said blades adapted to hook into and shred cane.

2. In a cane mill, means for feedingcane,

and means for engaging and. shredding the cane, while being fed, said last named means comprising a rotary shaft, a series of knives mounted on said shaft, and extending outwardly therefrom, and notched cutting edges on the forward or leading edges of said knives, each of said edges being constructed to penetrate the cane along lines generally transverse to its direction of travel.

3. In a cane mill, means for feeding cane, and means for engaging and shredding the cane while being fed, said last named means comprising a series of circumferentially spaced rotatable arms and a plurality of clawlike teeth on the forward or leading edge of each of said arms to hook into and shred the cane.

4:. In a cane mill, means for feeding cane, and means for engaging and shredding the cane while being fed, said last named means comprising a rotary shaft, a series of arms on said shaft extending outwardly thereupon, the outer ends of said arms being curved back from the direction of movement of said arms, and a plurality of teeth on the curved outer ends of each of said arms presenting shoulders subtsantially normal to the leading surface of the arm. I

5. In a cane mill, means for feeding cane, and means for engaging and shredding the cane While being fed, said last named means comprising a rotary shaft, a series of knives mounted on said shaft, and cutting edges on said knives, there being angular notches in said cutting edges, each of saidnotcheshaving one side thereof substantially normal to the adjacent edge of said knife.

6. In a cane mill, means for feeding cane, and means for engaging and shredding the cane while being fed, said last named means comprising a rotary shaft, and a series of knives extending outwardly therefrom, said knives being provided with cutting edges, the outer ends of said cutting edges being curved back from the direction of movement of said knives, there being a series of abrupt transverse ..:shredd'ing shoulders along the eurved portions of-rsaid cutt'ijng edges. I

27.;A shTedding device forcane millsy'comprising arotary shaft having eirenniferentially spaced arms with reanw-ardlycurved n endsyand shredding teeth associated with said ends presenting shoulders substantially nor- :Hlill totheleading surfacesv ofthearms. a

8. A 4 cane disintegrating device comprising a plurality of revolving arms having 75 generally transverse projections presenting clawlike portions'ontheirleadingsurtaces to tear apart the cane stalks.

9. A cane disintegrating device comprising a pluralit-y ofarms revolvable as a:-unit and having clawllke 13014310115 facing toward the-axis of revolution. I r I 10. A cane disintegrating device -.comp 'rrsing aplurality of outwardly 'extending fiat' I-arms having a commonaxis of.rotation and presenting clawhke ,edge port ons to the cane. I H g 11. A device such as described, comprising a shaft,arms securedto andextending out wardly therefrom and havin .free zouter;-,-,=

ends, .and abrupt cane sln'edding-shoulders on-the arms facingaway from said free ends.

=12. A device such as described,-comprising .a-rotary shaft, anarm extendingoutwardly therefrom, and abruptoane shredding shoulg ders of some width extending transversely of the arm and-facing awayfrom the free-end :thereof. 3 y I 18. A rotary cane disintegrating unitihav- 'ing an outwardlyextending arm with afreeyueo backwardly turned outer end portion, and'a-a plurality of clawlike projections associated with the leading edge of said back-wardly turned portion.

'14. A rotary cane .ing arms with free.backw-ardlyturned outer end -portions notched on their leading edges to present "a series of spaced 1 cane-tearing shoulders facing away from the free Lends of the arms.

1 5. A rotary cane disintegratingiunit having arms with: free backwardly turned outer end portions notched on their leading edges to present :a series of spaced cane tearing shoulders :facing away from the freeends ofggiis the arms, said shoulders extending generally transverselyof the arm and being ofiappreciable width.

16. The combination witha travellingconveyor for feeding va bodyofcane,of-a de-ttli vice adjacent thepath oftravel ofsaidconveyor for disintegratingthe passingcane-on the conveyor, sald device.comprisingaseries of rotary arm members each having longitudinally spaced shoulders substantially fac-szi ing the axis of rotation and presenting a plurality of canepenetrating "teeth.

17.;"Ihe combination with a cane shredding device comprising power driven members each having a series of clawlike caneitil-so disintegrating unit hav- 1.195,

engaging and shredding projections, of a travelling conveyor'i for feeding cane on "which E the cane is supported and shredded by "said projections while in transit.

l8}v The combination with a travelling cane-conveying belt, ofapower driven cane disintegrating device in a fixed position rela- I tively-to' thej-belt ifor action on the passing I "cane-on the upper belt face and having. a

10 series of angularlyf-notched clawlike cane shredding edge portions arranged to be presented toward the belt and to move into and through a portion ofthec'ane body supported on'the beltb 'f i 5 19. A revolving cane knife having a cane "cutting'edge portion presented in the directionoi cane travel andatransverse shred- .ding edgeportion. a

I QOJ AreVOlVing cane knife having a mar- V2 0 ginal 'portio'n reduced in thickness toward the extreme edge and provided with a plurality of transverse shoulders facing away from the free end; 5

" 21. Arev0lving cane knife having a inarginal portion reduced in thickness toward 40 like projections.

the extreme edge, parts of said marginal portion presenting cutting edges disposed .in the direction of cane travel, andother parts presenting a plurality of transverse cane shredding shoulders.

r 22. A revolving caneknife having a marginalportion presenting a plurality of longitudinal cutting edges and a plurality of transverse cane shredding shoulders.

* 23; A revolvingcane knife 'bent back at the oute'r end, the-leadingedge toward the heel being shaped to cut in a lengthwise direction only but the leading edge of the outer end portion presenting'aplurality of claw- 24L A caneiknife' having its blade edge provided witha series of transverse cutting portionsand *a series'of longitudinal cutting portions. i i i 25,A cane knife having its blade edge provided with a series of transverse cutting portions and aseries of longitudinal cutting portions, said portions alternating.

26. A cane knife blade having wide transverse shredding portions spaced along its edge andiacing away from the blade tip.

27; The f combination with a rotary cane disintegrating unit having-a multiplicity of abrupt transverse shoulde rsat the periphery 55 presenting clawlike elements for tearing apart the caneyof a travelling conveyor for feeding cane toand past said unit, a substantially flat-surface of said conveyor sup-y porting the- -cane while acted upon by said clawlike elements; I

I f In witnesswhereof; I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of September, 1927.

'NORMAN KAY.

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