US2351728A

US2351728A - Continuous beater and pulp selector

Info

Publication number: US2351728A
Application number: US454180A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wells Harold Donald
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1942-08-08
Filing date: 1942-08-08
Publication date: 1944-06-20
Anticipated expiration: 1961-06-20

Description

June zo, 1944. H, WELLS 2,351,728

CONTINUOUS BEATER AND PLP SELECTOR Filed Aug. 8, 1942 Patented June 20, 1944 coNrmUous scarsa AND PULP sumaron Harold mmm wenn, excursus, N. Y.

Application August 8. 1942, Serial No. 454,180

(c1. ca -23 'l Claims.

'I'he invention relates to improvements in beaters and selectors for use in the preparation of pulp for paper-making purposes.

A tank is provided within which waste papers, broke or the like, are beaten and circulated in an 'appropriate pulping liquid yby means of a rotary pulper and circulator. In machines of this nature, there is usually a continuous discharge of the prepared pulp as it reaches a predetermined state of ilneness, discharge screens being provided to hold back the pulp until it has reached said state. It is the principal object of thev present invention. however, to provides new and improved construction 4which does not require any such perforated or foramlnous screens, due to the fact that the rotary beater and circulator is cooperable with a wall of the tank in providing a restricted passage through which the prepared pulp may flow to the main outlet as it reaches the desired state of ilneness.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel structure in which the beater and circulator is adjustable with respect to the aforesaid wall so as to vary the size of the aforesaid restricted passage in accordance with the extent to which the pulp is to be reduced before discharge.

A still further object is to provide a simple and inexpensive, yet a highly efficient and desirable construction.

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, description being accomplished by reference to the accompanying drawing.;

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view partly in elevation.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the beater and circulator and related portions of the machine.

Fig. 3 is afragmentary top view of the beater and circulator,

is preferably of circular outline and provided at its peripheral edgel with a continuous ridge Il. Openings Il and `II are' formed through the plate Il, and one or both of these openings may serve as outlet means for the pulp selected for discharge. In the present showing, only the opening il is an outlet opening and it communicates with a selected pulp discharge pipe i8. The other opening I5 is closed by a suitable cover |`|v and may constitute a clean-out opening.

A vertical shaft bearing I8 is disposed below the plate Il and is rigidly carried thereby. Rotatably'mounted in this bearing I8 is a vertical shaft I9 which extends to a point above the plate il, and secured to the upper end of said shaft there is a beater and circulator 2c. This beater and clrculator covers the opening It and prevents the tank contents from directly discharging through said opening, said beater and circulator, however, being upwardly spaced from the plate Il a sumcient distance to provide a restricted passage 2l through which the pulp must pass before it can discharge through said opening i4. It will thus be seen that the size of the restricted passage 2i will control the state of fineness to which the pulp willbe reduced before dischargewTherefore. by varying the size of this passage 2l. the pulp may be reduced to any desired state of iineness. In order to so vary the size of the passage 2|, the beater and circulator 20 is adjusted toward or from the plate Ii. as the case may be, and obviously this may be accomplished in any suitable way. The construction described below is preferred.

The housing of the shaft bearing I8 is com posed of an upper section 22 integral with the plate Il, and 'a lower section 23 which is se- In the drawing above brieny described, the l numeral u denotes a beating and circulating tank having a feed opening 8 for pulp bales, waste papers. broke or the like. said tank also having a liquid inlet l. lZl'l'le bottom wall of the tank is denoted at 8 and the peripheral portion of said bottom wall'preferably curves upwardly at il to the side wall of the tank which is of cylindrical form. In the present disclosure, the central portion of the bottom wall 8 is formed with an opening lli which is covered by a plate Il, said plate being secured to said bot tcmwallbyscrewsorthelike l2. Thisplate cured to said section 22 by screws or the like 2d.

Upper and lower ball bearings 25 and 2t. for the shaft I9, are mounted in the lower housing section 23 and are spaced apart by a sleeve 2l. The inner ring or race of the lower bearing 26 is disposed upon a shoulder 28 on the shaft it. and a nut 29 on said shaft abuts the inner ring or race of the upper bearing 25. It will thus be seen that vertical adjustment of the bearing t housing section 23 will eifect similar adjust tion 2l may be eifected. or by adding a shim or substituting a shim of greater thickness, a downwar adjustment may be effected.

Where the shaft i3 passes through the plate Il, I provide a suitable stuiling box 3i. Beals I2 and 33 are also provided around the shaft at thelupper and lower ends of the 'housing section 23.

The part 3l, shown` in Fig. 2, is simply a water flinger."

The beater and circulator lpreferably comprises a squat conical disk 35 having an upstanding hub 33 in which the shaft I9 is securedl, the top of said disk 35 being provided with spilrally directed vanes 31 for not only beating the pulp but for circulating it as indicated by the arrows in Fig'. 1. Should any accumulation occur under the disk 35, it may be removed through the opening Ii, or loosened by inserting a suitable tool through said opening, so that it may discharge through the opening I4.

It will be observed that the rotor 20 with its vvanes 31 causesthe circulation of the stock and thus produces a debering or refining action on the pulp, and that the circulation is radially outward from the restricted passage 2| which is in eil'ect a single slot screen. The larger pieces of pulp are thus carried away from passage or slot 2i to be further reduced by the circulation and the beating action of rotor or beater 20 and its vanes 3'I. However, the velocity of the circulation indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1 is greater than the velocity of the stock discharging through the outlet pipe I8 and hence, the pulp that has been suihciently refined to pass through the passage 2I will be carried out continuously. The passage or'slot 2I together with the circulation thus forms a centrifugal classifier or'selector. The width of the slot may be quickly and easily varied bychanging the thicknessoi the shim or shims 30 to provide the fineness of pulp desired to make the quality of paper for a specied order. It is a great and novel advantage for the paper manufacturer to be able to quickly change in a few minutes the width of the restricted passage to get the iineness of pulp necessary tomake the right quality of paper.

It will be further noted that the plate III is of slightly greater diameter than the rotor or 'beater 20 and that the width of the raised ridge 4 I3 is such that it extends slightly under the peripheral edge of the beater. The ridge thus vforms a relief ring so that any pieces of pulp that are large enough to just enter the passage or slot 2i will not bind or build up by gathering additional pieces and act as a brake, but will freely pass through the passage or slot to the discharge. That structure. together with the fact that one wall oi' the passage or slot 2| is constantly moving, makes it unnecessary to use wipers or scrapers, and the machine has been found to be nonclogging and highly eillcient in operation.

I have illustrated a multiple4 V-belt drive 38 connecting the shaft I9 with an electric motor 39 but other appropriate driving means could of course be employed. When a vertical adjustment of the shaft I9 is carried out to vertically adjust the beater and circulator 20 as required, either the motor 39 maybe bodily adjusted vertically, or a pulley oi the drive belt may be adjusted so that the belts will still operate in planes truly at right angles to the shaft axis.

From the foregoing taken in connection with .the accompanying drawing, it will be seen that novel and advantageous provision has been made while preferred details have been disclosed, variations may of course be made. Moreover, it is not .essential that the beater and circulator and associated elements coact with the bottom wall of the tank, for they could well be positioned to cooperate with a vertical wall.

I claim:

1. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating. and circulating tank, one wall of said tank having a selected pulp outlet. a circular beater-and-circulator in said tank and rotatably mounted on an axis perpendicular to said wall, said beater-and-circulator covering said selected pulp outlet and forming the sole means for barring direct discharge of the tank contents therethrough, said beater-and-circulator being spaced suiilciently inward from said wall to leave a restricted annular screening passage between the bottom edge of said beater-and-circulator and the underlying DOrtion of said wall through' which .properly reduced pulp may flowto said outlet,

and means for driving said beater-and-circulator.A

2. A structure as specied in claim 1; together with means for adjusting said beater-and-circulator with respect to said wall to vary the screening action of said annular restricted passage.

3. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tank having an opening in one wall, a plate secured against the inner side of one wall vof said tankover said opening and having a selected pulpoutlet. said plate .having an annular inwardly projecting ridge on its inner face. a rigidly mounted shaft bearing at the outer side of said plate, a shaftrotatably mounted in said bearing and extending inwardly from said plate, a circular beater-and-circulator centrally secured to the inner end of said shaft and covering said selected pulp outlet to form the sole means for preventing direct discharge of the tank contents therethrough, said heater-andcirculator having its periphery overlying said ridge and being suillciently close to provide space only for properly reduced pulp to flow between said ridge and said beater-and-circulator to said selected pulp outlet, and means for driving said beater-and-circulator. l

4. A structure as specified in claim 3; together with mea'ns for adjusting said shaft bearing with respect to said plate to vary the distance between said beater-and-circulator and the ridge on said plate according to the extent to which the pulp is to be reduced before discharge.

5. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tank having an opening in the center of its bottom, a circular plate secured against the inner side of said bottom over said opening and having a. selected pulp outlet, said plate having a central aperture and an upstanding annular ridge onits upper face adjacent its edge, a vertical shaft extending through the aperture in said plate, a bearing for said shaft, a sectional housing for said bearing hav.- ing an upper section carried by the underside of said plate and a lower section to support said bearing, a circular beater-and-circulator centrally secured to the upper end of said shaft,

and covering said selected pulp outlet to form the sole means for preventing direct discharge of the tank contents therethrough, said beater-andcirculator having its periphery overlying said ridge and being suiciently close to provide space only for properly-reduced pulp to ow between the ridge and the beater-and-circulator to said selected pulp outlet, means for vertically adjusting the lower section of said housing to vary the space between the beater-and-circulator and said ridge, and means for rotating said shaft.

6. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tank, one wall of said tank having a selected pulp outlet, a plate secured to said wall and having a dat circular portion surrounding said outlet, a rotatable shaft perpendicular to said Wall and positioned concentric with said fiat circular portion of the plate, a circular beater-and-circulator in said tank fixed to said shaft and covering said selected pulp outlet to form the Sole means for barring direct discharge of the tank contents therethrough, said beater-and-circulator having its periphery spaced sulllciently inward from said flat circular portion of the plate to leave a restricted annular screening passage between the bottom edge of said beater-and-circulator and the underlying fiat circular portion of the plate through which properly reduced pulp may ilow to said outlet, means for driving said shaft, and means for adjusting said beater-and-circulator with respect to the at circular portion of said plate to vary the screening action oi.' said restricted annular pas- Sage.

7. A pulp beater and selector comprising a beating and circulating tank, one wall of said tank having an opening, a plate secured upon the inner surface of said wall over its opening. said plate having a flat circular portion adjacent its edge and also having within said edge a selected pulp outlet, a shaft perpendicular to said one wall and extending centrally through said plate, a hollow cone-shaped beater-and-circulator xed to said shaft and positioned to overlie said plate with its periphery spaced from the ilat circular portion of the plate to provide therebetween a restricted annular screening passage through which properly reduced pulp may flow to said outlet, means on the outer side of said plate for supporting said shaft, means for adjusting said supporting means to vary the space between the periphery of said beater-and-circulator and the fiat circular portion of said plate according to the extent to which the pulp is to be reduced before discharge.

HAROLD DONALD WELLS.