US2059790A

US2059790A - Splitting machine

Info

Publication number: US2059790A
Application number: US34291A
Authority: US
Inventors: Orlic A Hawkins
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1935-08-01
Filing date: 1935-08-01
Publication date: 1936-11-03
Anticipated expiration: 1953-11-03

Description

3 o. A. HAWKINS SPLITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Attorney NOV. 3, 1936. Q, HAWKINS 2,059,790

SPLITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 3, 1936. o; A. HAWKINS SPLITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I nve'ntor Patented Nov. 3, 1936 UNITED S'i'A'iEg earner GFFICE Application August 1,

10 Claims.

My invention relates generally to apparatus for splitting and longitudinally dividing objects of relatively small cross section, and particularly to a device for accurately and cleanly longitudinally splitting yucca blades, reeds, and the like, and an important object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the character described which is relatively simple and inexpensive yet extraordinarily efficient.

Another important object of my invention is to provide apparatus of the character indicated above which is capable of quantity production at a relatively low cost for power and labor.

Another important object of my invention is to provide in apparatus of the character indicated above means for accurately and uniformly feeding the yucca blades to the cutters and away from the cutters, so that the yucca blades both before and after splitting occupy relatively the same positions and are positively prevented from being unduly twisted or otherwise displaced and mutilated.

Another important object of my invention is to provide in apparatus of the character indicated above semi-automatic means for feeding the yucca blades to the cutters.

Another important object of my invention is to provide adjustable means for keeping the cutters clean and for holding the yucca blades accurately in relation to the cutters during the cutting operation.

Another important object of my invention is to provide cutter means which accurately and cleanly split the yucca blades into predetermined sections.

Other important objects of my invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description in connection with the drawings, wherein for purposes of illustration I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings:-

Figure 1 is a general top plan view of apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational View thereof look ing upwardly in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an elevational view of a portion of the opposite side.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken through Figure 1 approximately on the line i l.

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional View through the adjustable guide assembly.

Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through one end of the cutter assembly.

Figure 7 is an elevational view showing the 1935, Serial No. 34,291

operative connections between the feeding rollers.

Figure 8 is a top plan view of the oscillating distributor.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of one of the guide fingers.

Figure 10 is a perspective view of one of the guide finger spacers.

Figure 11 is a perspective view of one of the cleaner plates.

Figure 12 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through one of the feeding rollers.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 5 refers generally to a suitable stand which includes legs 6 and a top 1 including the longitudinal top members 8 and 9.

Intermediate the ends of the side members 8 and 9 rise the vertical brackets Ill and ll between the upper ends of which is fixed the feeding hopper E? which includes the vertical wall it, the angulated bottom l4 and the sides l5 and I6.

Duplicates of the sides 15 and it which are generally designated ll are arranged across the bottom M to provide chutes for guiding the yucca blades and the like and properly disposing the same upon reception into the hopper. The bottom I4 is cut away as indicated at l8 and in the opening is located the oscillating plate or distributor M which is formed with longitudinally spaced rectangular openings 20 corresponding in number to the chutes and disposed in registry therewith as shown in Figure 1. The oscillating plate l9 has journal pins or stub shafts 2| and 22 at its opposite ends as shown in Figure 8 and the lower pin 22 (Figure 1) has fixed thereon the segmental crank 23 which has a crank pin 24 with which is engaged the upper end of a connecting rod 25 whose opposite end is connected eccentrically as indicated at 26 to a disk 21! fixed on the shaft 28 which is journaled in the uprights iii and ii and has thereon a pulley 29 operatively connected by a belt 3i] to a pulley 3! on the shaft 32 on which is the cutter assembly which is. generally designated 33, whereby the plate i9 is caused to angularly oscillate up and down so as to alternately enlarge and reduce the apertures presented for reception of the yucca blades in the chutes in the hopper.

Brackets 34 extending from the uprights l0 and i i in a. left hand direction journal the opposite ends of the upper feeding roller 35 which is a cylinder 35 formed on its surface with projecting small pins M which dig into the yucca blades or the like so as to gain a good traction or pull thereon for pulling the blades out of the chutes of the hopper, while the blades are somewhat bent or contorted in a downward direction as they come through the opening l8 and the openings 28 in the oscillating plate !9. A similarly mounted lower feeding roller 38 below and to the right of the roller 35 engages the underside of the yucca blades while the roller 35 engages the upper side thereof in cooperative action. On the end of the shaft 28 opposite the pulley 29 is a small pulley 39 which has a belt 40 trained thereover and also on a pulley 4| on one end of the roller 35, whereby the roller 35 is driven in the proper direction. A reversing belt 42 trained over the pulley 4| and also over a pulley 43 on the lower roller 38 operates the roller 38 in an opposite direction at a slower speed than the roller 35.

Feeding tubes 44, one for each of the chutes, are downwardly angulated as indicated in Fig ure 4, and have their upper ends directly below and in receiving relation to the

feeding rollers

35 and 38 and have their lower ends cut oii at an angle close to the cutter assembly 33 for feeding the allocated yucca blades through the cutters corresponding to the individual tubes.

The cutter assembly shaft 32 is journaled in

bearings

45 and 46 on the respective side mei bers 8 and 9 of the supporting frame. A pulley 41 at one end of this shaft is arranged for the. application of suitable power for driving the machine, while a smaller pulley 3| fixed on the opposite end of this shaft has the already de scribed belt 3!! trained thereover for driving the feeding rollers and the oscillating plate above described.

The cutter assembly consists of the shaft 32 which is plain and smooth and has thereon the circular knife cutters 50 which are in circular disk form with sharpened edges 5|, the spacers 52, the reduced threaded end portion 53 on which is the lock nut 54 which looks the knives and spacers in their selected positions, and the smooth portions 55 on the opposite ends of the shaft which turn in the

bearings

45 and 46 and fixedly support the pulleys 3| and 41. The knives 5B are arranged in groups of five with an extra spacer 52 between groups as indicated in Figure 1, the groups corresponding to the tubes 44 so as tobe in cutting relation to the yucca blades as they issue from the corresponding tubes. Desired re-arrangements of the groupings of the knives may be readily made by loosening the nuts 54 on the opposite ends or at only one end of the cutter assembly and then re-arranging the spacers 52 and tightening the nuts 54 again. It is obvious that the number of knives in the groups may be changed at will.

A generally similar arrangement of operative elements and spacers is provided for the guide finger assembly which is generally designated 55 and which contains the square shaft 56 with the reduced threaded ends 51 and 58 on which are arranged the clamping nuts 59 and 80. Outward of the threaded portions are smooth portions 6| and 62 which turn in the supports it and H and outwardly of these smooth portions are further reduced threaded portions 62 and 63 on which are threaded the adjusting levers 64 and 65 which are clamped in place by

nuts

66 and 61.

The levers are arranged on pivots 58 and 69 which traverse the supports Ill and II and are locked in place by nuts 1'0 and M. It will be obvious that by swinging the levers 64 and 65 up and down the relation of the groups of guide fingers 72 to the lower edges of the corresponding groups of cutter blades can be changed, and that further angular changes may be arranged by loosening the nuts 66 and 6'1 and turning the shaft relative to the levers. The shaft 56 is square in cross section and the elongated fingers 12 have square openings '53 receiving the shaft and the washers M have correspondingly squared openings 15 so that the fingers cannot turn on the square shaft and the proper grouping and spacing of the fingers is produced. In the embodiment shown four fingers 72 for each group of five cutter blades is provided, the fingers being located between the blades and within the outer ones of each group.

It is obvious that the yucca blades upon issuing from the tubes 44 are pushed downwardly by the clockwise rotating knives and that they are prevented from falling out of relation to the knives by the presence of the extremities of the fingers 72 between the cutting edges of the blades as indicated in Figures 1 and 4 and that the yucca blades are thereby properly positioned and held relative to the knives so as to be accurately and cleanly cut for their full length and delivered in proper position to the receiving tray 15 which is supported between the left hand legs 6 and extends in a left hand direction beyond the support 5 and empties into a receiving hopper it which is supported on a bracket ll connected to the legs 5, so that the split blades fall into the hopper in an orderly manner and stack up therein without requiring re-arrangement, so that the split blades may be easily removed from the hopper in proper position for further manufacturing operations.

For keeping the cutting edges of the various groups of blades clean and unencumbered, there is provided a cleaner assembly which is generally designated 78. This assembly includes the

uprights

79 and 35 which are mounted on the frame support side members 3 and 9 to the left of the

bearings

45 and 46. Each upright has pivoted thereto as indicated at 8i and 82 at the inner side thereof a

hand lever

83, 84 through one end of which is mounted the square shaft 85 on which is disposed a. number of groups of cleaner plates 85 provided with square holes 81 receiving the square shaft 85. The cleaner plates 86 are aligned with the

levers

83 and 84 and when the levers are swung on their pivots the cleaner plates are moved toward or away from the sides of the cutter assembly 33. Square washers similar to those shown in Figure 10 are used to space the cleaner plates 85 on the shaft 85 in groups of four to be aligned with the guide fingers '12. The groups of cleaner plates are arranged to correspond with the described groups of cutter knives and yucca blade feeding tubes 44. By positioning the free ends of the cutter blades as shown in Figure 4, accumulations on the cutting edges of the blades are shorn ofi" and prevented from reducing the cutting efiiciency of the blades.

Although I have shown and described herein a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be definitely understood that I do not desire to limit the application of the invention thereto, and any change or changes may be made in the materials and in the structure and arrangement of the parts, within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A yucca blade splitting machine comprising a chute, a plurality of rotary cutting knives, a

guiding and allocating tube in receiving relation to said chute and in feeding relation to some of said knives, positive feeding rollers interposed between the chute and the tube for forcing the yucca blades into position in the tube and into engagement with the knives, and adjustable guide fingers extending beyond the delivery end of the guide tube and disposed between adjacent onesof the knives for causing the yucca blades to engage the edges of the knives in a predetermined manner.

2. A yucca blade splitting machine comprising a chute, a plurality of rotary cutting knives, a guide and allocating tube in receiving relation to said chute and in feeding relation to some of said knives, positive feeding .rollers interposed between the chute and the tube for forcing the yucca blades into. position in the tube and into engagement with the knives, and adjustable guide fingers disposed beyond the delivery end of the guide tube and between adjacent ones of the knives for causing the yucca blades to engage the knives in a predetermined manner, and knife cleaning means preventing accumulation of matter on the knives.

3. A yucca blade splitting machine comprising a chute, a plurality of rotary cutting knives, a guide and allocating tube in receiving relation to said chute and in feeding relation to some of said knives, positive feeding rollers interposed between the chute and the tube for forcing the yucca blades into position in the tube and into engagement with the knives, oscillating apertured allocating means located between said rollers and said chute for allocating and feeding the yucca blades in said chute to the correspending tube and knives.

l. A yucca blade splitting machine comprising a chute, a plurality of rotary cutting knives, a guide and allocating tube in receiving relation to said chute and in feeding relation to some of said knives, positive feeding rollers interposed between the chute and the tube for forcing the yucca blades into position in the tube and into engagement. with the knives, said knives comprising a cutter assembly containing a shaft, a plurality of disk knives thereon, a plurality of washers slidable on the shaft and located between the disks, and means longitudinally mo-vabie on opposite ends of the shaft for clamping the knives and washers together in selected relation.

5. A machine for longitudinally splitting yucca blades, said machine comprising first means for holding and feeding the yucca blades, conduit means into which the blades are selectively fed from said first means, rotary cutters against the edges of which said blades are adapted to be pressed for longitudinally splitting the blades, and second means located between said first means and said conduit means for admitting only a selected number of the blades from said first means into said conduit means, said second means acting to intermittently admit the blades into said conduit means, and opposed rollers interposed between said second means and said conduit means for forcibly positioning the admitted blades in said conduit means and against the cutting edges of the rotary cutters.

6. A machine for longitudinally splitting yucca blades, said machine comprising first means for holding and feeding the yucca blades, conduit means into which the blades are selectively fed from said first means, rotary cutters adjacent the conduit means for longitudinally splitting the blades as they are discharged from the conduit,

and second means located between said first means and said conduit means for admitting only a selected number of the blades from said first means into said conduit means, said second means acting to intermittently admit the blades into said conduit means, said second means comprising a plate mounted for oscillation on a longitudinal axis thereof, said plate being formed with an aperture adapted to substantially register with said conduit means in one position of said plate so as topermit a predetermined number of yucca blades to pass from said first means into said conduit means, said plate being arranged to occupy another position at another time wherein said aperture is out of registry with said conduit means whereby yucca blades in said first means are positively prevented from passing from said first means into said conduit means.

7. A machine for longitudinally splitting yucca blades, said machine comprising a hopper including individual declining chutes, a battery of declining guide tubes having their receiving ends aligned with the lower ends of said chutes, a battery of rotary knives adjacent the lower ends of said guide tubes, an oscillating plate supported on a longitudinal axis thereof and interposed between the lower ends of said chutes and the upper ends of said guide tubes, said plate being formed with individual apertures, said apertures being arranged to register with the corresponding chutes and guide tubes in one position thereof so as to permit a predetermined number of yucca blades to discharge from each chute into the corresponding guide tube, said apertures in another position of said plate being out of registry with the corresponding chutes and guide tubes so as to prevent any yucca blades from passing from the chutes into the guide tubes, said guide tubes being arranged to guide the yucca blades into engagement with the rotary knives.

8. A machine for longitudinally splitting yucca blades, said machine comprising a hopper including individual declining chutes, a battery of declining guide tubes having their receiving ends aligned with the lower ends of said chutes, a battery of rotary knives adjacent the lower ends of said guide tubes, an oscillating plate supported on a longitudinal axis thereof and interposed between the lower ends of said chutes and the upper ends of said guide tubes, said plate being formed with individual apertures, said apertures being arranged to register with the corresponding chutes and guide-tubes in one position thereof so as to permit a predetermined number of yucca blades to discharge from each chute into the corresponding guide tube, said apertures in another position of said plate being out of registry with the corresponding chutes and guide tubes so as to prevent any yucca blades from passing from the chutes into the guide tubes, said guide tubes being arranged to guide the yucca blades into engagement with the rotary knives, and opposed rollers supported intermediate said oscillating plate and the upper ends of said guide tubes and acting to forcibly position the yucca blades in the guide tubes and into engagement with said rotary knives.

9. A machine for longitudinally splitting yucca blades, said machine comprising a hopper including individual declining chutes, a battery of declining guide tubes having their receiving ends aligned with the lower ends of said chutes, a battery of rotary knives adjacent the lower ends of said guide tubes, an oscillating plate supported on a longitudinal axis thereof and interposed between the lower ends of said chutes and the upper ends of said guide tubes, said plate being formed with individual apertures, said apertures being arranged to register with the corresponding chutes and guide tubes in one position thereof so as to permit a predetermined number of yucca blades to discharge from each chute into the corresponding guide tube, said apertures in another position of said plate being out of registry with the corresponding chutes and guide tubes so as to prevent any yucca blades from passing from the chutes into the guide tubes, said guide tubes being arranged to guide the yucca blades into engagement with the rotary knives, and adjustable yucca blade supporting fingers arranged along said rotary knives for supporting the yucca blades relative to said rotary knives as the yucca blades issue from said guide tubes.

10. A machine for longitudinally splitting yucca blades, said machine comprising first means for holding and feeding the yucca blades, conduit means into which the blades are selectively fed from said first means, rotary cutters adjacent the conduit means for longitudinally splitting the blades as they are discharged from the conduit, and second means located between said first means and said conduit means for admitting only a selected number of the blades from said first means into said conduit means, said rotary cutter comprising a rotary shaft having a squared portion intermediate its ends, cutter disks having squared openings disposed on said squared portion, spacers between the disks, said shaft having threaded portions containing nuts clamping said disks and spacers together on said shaft.

ORLIE A. HAWKINS.