US1771436A - Cleansing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

July 29, 1930. GUETT 1,771,436

CLEANS ING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 16, 1923 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented July 29, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MONROE GUETT, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE ARROW- HART 6t HEGEMAN ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT CLEANSING APPARATUS Application filed November 16, 1923.

The invention provides a convenient, rapid and very effective means for treating or cleansing small manufactured parts such as screws, bolts and the products of automatic parts-making machinery, and more particularly for removing from such articles the oil which was applied to them in the course of their machine manufacture.

In the accompanying drawing the principle of the invention is illustrated in its preferred form in vertical central section.

The main tank 1 is intended to be set on the floor or in a low position and contains a cleansing or other liquid which may be water containing any suitable detergent, usually an alkali, or any desired chemical reagent. It is conveniently of cylindrical form, somewhat higher than "wide, and provided with an over flow pipe to carry off excess liquid and particularly the soapy material that is formed by the action of the alkali on the oil. The articles to be cleaned or treated are placed in a bucket-like receptacle 2 having a foraminous or perforate bottom wall, or lower part, and a bail handle by means of which it may be carried about by the workman and inserted in and removed from the cleansing tank. This receptacle is preferably also cylindrical and of greater height than diameter and its cylindrical side wall is preferably impel-f0- rate, and its upper end is open. Within the scope of the invention, this receptacle may be supported in the liquid tank 1 in any suitable way so as to be subject to the action of the cleansing liquid which is caused to flow or circulate with appropriate agitation, through the mass of articles in the receptacle, overflowing from the open top of the latter and passing back in the tank around the exterior of the receptacle. Its upper end, when seated in the tank, is above the level of the tank liquid. Preferably, but not necessarily, the seat for the receptacle is located in the lower part of the tank, being normally submerged by the tank liquid and, preferably also it is situated on or forms part of the means whereby the flow is produced.

Thus the preferred organization comprises a member which may be a casting, placed on or secured to or near, the bottom of the tank.

Serial No. 675,136.

A portion of the upper part of this member forms the seat referred to, which is marked 3, and is adapted to form a substantially closed joint with the bottom of the receptacle 2 when the latter is placed thereon, that is to say, a joint which prevents undue liquid flow through it. Around this seat surface there is an upstanding wall or rim, the purpose of which is to guide the article-holding receptacle to its position on the seat, wherein it will be concentric with the tank. Preferably suchwall is formed as a cylindrical or tubular, imperforate sleeve 4 set in or fastened to the seat member and extending up to near the level of the cleansing liquid or above it. The article-holding receptacle 2 can be accurately and easily introduced and lowered through this sleeve into correct position on the seat 3' and the sleeve affords the further advantage that heat imparted to the interior of the receptacle will be thereby retarded in its escape to the surrounding liquid in the tank.

The center of the receptacle-support and joint-forming member is provided with, or shaped as, an ejector tube 5 and a steam jet nozzle 6 is axially located therein and preferably fixed and supported thereon as indicated. This nozzle is supplied with steam or an equivalent pressure fluid through a pipe controlled by a shut-off valve 7, which latter is desirably situated on or near the fioor and arranged to be foot-operated.

When the article-holding receptacle has been placed on the seat 3, the operator opens the valve 7 the resulting steam jet creates an upward vigorous flow of the cleansing liquid which has no escape except through the receptacle and the articles therein. This flow becomes a circulation of liquid as soon as the liquid overflows the receptacle and passes back along the outside of the receptacle and sleeve and between the leg members of the support to the entrance end of the,

ejector tube. Such flow or circulation is preferably upwards through the articles and downward in the space around them as above stated, although this direction is subject to reversal if desired, and, furthermore, an approximation to the results of this invention may be secured if the circulation is entirely When a steam jet is employed'as the liquid moving a ent, the flow is intermittent, as the steam as the effect of producing a surging of the liquid into or through the mass of screws or other articles in the receptacle and this surging effect is found most effective in saponifying the oil and removing the dirt. The steam also quickly heats the cleansing 3 liquid and the articles, which of course facilitates the cleansing action as well as the subsequent drying of the articles after the have been lifted out of the tank. Heat directly applied in this way is effective and economical. The gradual accumulation of water of condensation from the steam serves the useful purpose of keeping the liquid level at the point established by the overflow outlet and of carrying off, through that outlet, the soapy material which rises to the surface with the dirt entrained in it, thus keeping the cleansing liquid at all times clean and ready for use, no attention to it being required except for the occasional addition of more alkali to compensate for the gradual dilution. The use of the steam jet is preferred for these reasons. With any flow-producing means, however, the flow through the receptacle, and into the tank space surrounding.

it, carries off the removed oil and dirt, into the latter so that when the flow is stopped none of the soa y scum is left in the receptacle, on top 0 the articles and no rinsing is required and the articles may be therefore immediately dumped into the bin for distribution and use as required. This is the effect of the elevation of the open receptacle top above the normal liquid level and of the provision for the circulation of the liquid upwardly through the articles and downwardly outside of the receptacle, as will now be evident. Inasmuch as the dirt tends to float, the submerged ejector device acts to. move only relatively clean liquid, taken from the bottom of the tanks, through the articles.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a tank for liquid, a member secured in the tank forming a seat and ejector tube, and a removable article-holding receptacle adapted to engage the seat intercepting the liquid flow from said ejector tube.

2. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a liquid tank, a seat below the liquid level, guiding means adjacent the seat and spaced from the tank walls, an article-holding receptacle adapted to be guided by said means to a position wherein it forms a joint with the 'seat and means for causing circulating flow of the tank liquid in one direction through the articles in the receptacle and in the return direction between the guiding means and tank walls.

3. Apparatus of the kind described comprisin a liquid tank havin overflow means, an article-holding receptac e therein having a perforate'lower part and having its top above the liquid level determined by said means, and means for moving the liquid u wardly through the receptacle out of tiie upper end of the same and into the tank space ad acent the overflow means.

4. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a liquid container, anopen topped article holding receptacle having a retlculated bottom and communicating adjacent its upper and lower ends with the container respectively above and below the liquid level therein, and a pressure fluid jet adapted to cause a surging flow of the liquid upwardly through the receptacle into the container.

5. Apparatus of the kind described comprising a liquid container, a parts holdin receptacle adapted to be removably located within said container and having a reticulate bottom means for supportin said bottom beneath the liquid level in sai container and spaced above the bottom thereof, and an upwardly directed fluid pressure nozzle mounted in said container directly below said reticulate bottom and adapted to cause a surging flow of the liquid upwardly through the receptacle into the container.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

MONROE GUETT.

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