US2402634A

US2402634A - Decorticating apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2402634A
Application number: US513367A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kaiser Karl
Original assignee: CALIFORNIA CENTRAL FIBRE CORP
Current assignee: CALIFORNIA CENTRAL FIBRE Corp
Priority date: 1943-12-08
Filing date: 1943-12-08
Publication date: 1946-06-25
Anticipated expiration: 1963-06-25

Description

June 25, 1946. K. KAISER 2,402,634

DECORTICATING APPARATUS Filed Dec 8, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 1 N Bnventor;

7&23 (Ittorneg.

. June 25, 1946- K. KAISER 2,402,634

DECORTICATING APPARA'IU S Filed Dec. 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZSnnentor W m 7 6s (Ittorneg.

June 25, 1946.

K. KAISER DECORTICATING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 8, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 llllll'lnlll llll'llllllllllllllll 72,119 Qttmeg.

Patented June 25, 1946 DECOltTICATING APPARATUS Karl Kaiser, El Centro, Calif., assignor to California Central Fibre Corporation, a corporation of California Application December 8, 1943, Serial No. 513,367

12 Claims.

This invention relates to decorticating apparatus and more particularly to a portable machine capable of being operated in the field for the decortication, cleaning and recovery of commercially valuable and useful fibers of various bast fiber producing plants, more especially the fibers of flax straw for use in the manufacture of paper,

such as cigarette paper and the like. In decortication, the woody center portion of the flax straw, commonly referred to as shive, and other chaff particles, are separated and'removed.

The general practice for the decortication of flax straw has been to bale the straw at the field and transport the same to a factory where it is run through stationary flax brakes. Because of the time and cost of transportation, as well as the factory equipment expense inherent in such an arrangement, attempts have been made heretofore to use portable machines in the field. The commercial success of these has been limited because of insufficient separation of shive and cleaning of the bast fiber for the ultimate intended use. Desired minimization of weight of the portable apparatus and compactness of structure also have created problems.

An object of the present invention is to improve the portable type of decorticating machine from the standpoints of simplicity and efficiency so as to attain speedily and economically a proper decortication of the straw without any undue breaking, and shortening of the best fiber.

The invention comprises particularly an arrangement of a special form of flufier and cleaner unit in direct cooperative working relation to transfer mean that conducts the partially decorticated material from a brake roll system into the fiuifer and cleaner unit. The'transfer means includes a rotating element that creates a forceful air blast which is directed into the fluiier and cleaner unit whereit converges tangentially'with t e air stream created in the flufier and cleaner unit itself. The thus combined air force is highly eifective in drawing the partially decorticated material from the transfer element, in loosening up and separating the fiber and shive, and in driving the shive and other separated foreign particle through a screen provided for the purpose in the fiuiier and cleaner unit.

Details of structure and functions thereof will become apparent from the following description of an illustrative but non-limiting embodiment of the invention when taken in conjunction'with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figs. 1 and 1a, viewedtogether, show somewhat schematically, a complete portable apparatus that includes the particular characteristic parts of the present invention;

Fig. ,2 is a view in partial top plan and horizontal section, illustrative of certain essential parts of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a view showing the cross-section of a practical form of rotor blade for the fiufier and cleaner; and

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the numeral I0 designates, generally, the carriage under frame of a complete portable machine illustrative of a practical adaptation of the invention. This carriage, as shown, is mounted on ground wheels II and I2, the wheels l2 being steerable, as indicated conventionally at l3, and

provided with a suitable draft-hitch. H! for attachment to a tractor in an ordinary manner.

The carriage frame l0 carrie a superposed machine body frame [4 of suitable construction which is essentially characterizedby lightness but yet sufficiently rigid and strong. At one end of the body frame I5 is placed, as a part of the machine assembly proper, a bale or mass feeder unit l6, to which a conventional inclined feeder conveyor I1 is detachably secured. Bales or compact masses of the fibrous material are placed on this conveyor l1 and carried thereby into the feeder unit l6, which latter is of suitable construction and arrangement to break-up, loosen and fiufi the bales or masses of material, whence such material is fed to a series of fluted brake rolls [8 arranged in pairs, in conventional manner. That is to say, there is a horizontal row of such rolls and above each roll is a companion roll intermeshing therewith, each companion pair of rolls being held in working relation to each other under spring pressure. The brake roll assembly is thus conventional except at the intake end of the assembly where the first two lower rolls [8A have no companion upper rolls. Ifhese two laterally adjacent single rolls I8A function as a roller feed table between the bale or mass feeder unit i8 and the first pair of cooperating upper and lower companion rolls l8, over which table the material iscarried and distributed in a layer that will enter between the first pair of companion brake rolls readily and without undue crowding.

At the delivery end of the brake roll unit the .last bottom roll 18B has no companion top roll.

This single fluted roll IBB serves to fill the gap between the last pair of cooperating companion rolls and a transfer element to be presently de- 3 scribed. In effect, this single roll |8B functions as an intermediate roller transfer table.

In passing between the respective pairs of brake rolls I8 the tangled fibrous material is partially decorticated by'the fracturing and loosening of the shive but without substantial breaking and shortening of the bast fibers. For the particular purposes of the present invention the fluted brake rolls are of a special light weight, high speed type. These rolls are usually rotated at a sped of 325 R. P. M.

The partially decorticated fibrous material from the brake rolls is delivered onto a rotating transfer drum 20, which is covered over by an arched hood or housing I8. This transfer drum 20, as shown in detail in Figs. 2 and 4, is in the form of a hollow cylinder comprising a smooth,

sheet steel, cylindrical jacket 20A, welded or otherwise secured firmly on heavy,-circular, flywheel members 2! which have hub portions 22 secured on a shaft 23 that serves not only as an axle for the transfer drum but also as a drive shaft for the entire machine, as will be later more fully described.

Secured on the circumference of the cylindrical jacket 20A and thus completing the transfer drum, are radial blades 24. in the form of angle iron sections, which extend from end to end of the drum. This element 20, in addition to functioning as an important part of the material treatingsystem of the machine, also serves as a flywheel governing and balancing the transmission of the driving power from the shaft 23 to the several other operating elements of the ma.-

chine.

As shown in Fig. 4, there are six of the radial blades 24 on the transfer element 20, which particular number and arrangement is found satisfactory in the usual adaptation of the invention, although, in some cases, a greater or lesser number of blades may be provided.

In operation, the transfer element 20 rotates clockwise as viewed and indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4. The rotation of the element is at a relatively high speed, such as for example- 650 R. P. M., in order t create a high velocity draft and take away the material as fast as-it is delivered from the brake rollsystem l8, which latter, for the desired efficiency and economic advantages to be attained, is also operated at a substantially high speed. This high speed rotation of the transfer element 20 is not only for the effective pick-up, loosening and conveyance of the material, but its fanning action creates an air blast of substantial volume and force. This blast extends into the adjacent fluifer and cleaner unit 25 and therein is merged effectively with a circulatory air stream set up by another rotary element located in this unit.

Inasmuch as the transfer drum, operating at normal speed, creates a substantial air blast through the chamber or hood iii in which it located and the blast-is directed towards the fiufier and cleaner unit 25, the fiber coming directly from the last pair of brake rolls I8, is lifted from the table roll or transfer support I8B towards the ceiling of the transfer drum hood or chamber, whence it is propelled along the hood or chamber ceiling into the conical fiuffer and cleaner. In this transfer of the fiber from the brake roll unit to the fluifer and cleaner unit the bulk of the fiber hardly touches the single table roll I8B, the transfer drum itself, or even the entering edge of the. tangent shield at the bottom of the throat 33 between the transfer the rotor 26.

drum 20 and the fluffer and cleaner. Therefore, no scutching takes place as might occur if a top brake roll were present to resist the free upward movement of the fibers directly adjoining the transfer drum. Also, the drum 2! does not pic the fiber as is commonly done with pickers.

The fluifer and cleaner unit 25 is tapered or substantially conical in shape and is horizontally disposed with its longitudinal axis crosswise of the machine. An agitator rotor 28 works in this unit with such effect that not only is a stirring action set up but the material which is taken in atthe smaller end of the unit is moved to the larger end lengthwise thereof, where the separated, cleaned and iluffed bast fiber is discharged for recovery and ultimate use. In operation the rotor 26 is usually rotated at a speed of 580 R. P. M.

The opposite ends of the unit 25 are straightwalled, and closed, 1. e., they are imperforate except for a central opening that is necessary for accommodation of an axle or shaft 21 carrying The circumferential wall 28 of the lower half of the unit 25 is truly semi-conical, i. e., its curvature at every point throughout its length is circular but on progressively different? radii from the axis of the shaft 21, from end wall to end wall of the unit. This lower or bottom wall 28 is foraminous, preferably wire screen fabric, with openings of proper size to retain the fibers yet permit passage therethrough of shive and other waste particles that are separated from the fibers in the cleaning process.

The inner surface of the semi-conical screen 28 is smooth throughout and without any protuberances, such as bailie ribs and the like. Thus, the materia1 within the flufier and cleaner unit 25 is freely movable over the screen 28 under the stirring action of the agitator rotor 25. This rotor 26 comprises a central, tubular, core 30 sleeved concentrically over the shaft 21 and having iiiternal hub members 29 at its opposite ends, by which it is secured on the shaft so as to rotate therewith. At intervals throughout its length the rotor core 30 is provided with diametricallyopposed pairs of agitator blades ll, of different lengths corresponding to the taper of the semiconical screen 28. The lengths are such that the outer ends of all of the members 3| travel in substantially the same spaced relation to the adjacent encircling portion of the screen. The distance between the end of each blade 3 and the screen 28 is slight, but, in any case, sufficient to prevent contact of the blades'with the screen 28 and thus avoid scutching or breaking effect on the fibers, yet close enough for the members 3| to cause travel of the material over the surface of the Screen with removal of shive through the screen.

The forward edge portion of each blade member 3| is formed rather blunt so as not to have any appreciable cutting or breaking effect on the fibres but only act to fluff or bloom the body of fibres and effect separation and removal of the shive and other foreign particles therefrom. A practical form for the members 3| is to have their forward working edges beaded or' formed with rounded bulbous enlargement, such as the slotted tube 32 shown in Fig. 3. As shown, the

bead 32 is provided by welding a longitudinally split tube on the blade 3|, but the bead may be cast, rolled or otherwise formed integrally on the blade.

Communication between the transfer element 20 and the fluifer and cleaner unit 25 is through a somewhat restricted though amply capacltated throat 33. This throat is inclined downwardly and tangentially from the top of the element 20 and it is directed substantially tangentially and flufled (or "bloomed as the loosening and fiufiing is usually termed) fibrous materialin the unit moves towards the larger end of the unit, whence it is discharged. It discharges through a lateral outlet opening and passageway or chute 34 which is narrower but deeper than the throat opening 33 and of ample capacity to discharge the cleaned fibres without any choking of the outlet or interference with the material-treating action within the unit 25. I

The bottom of the throat 33 comprises an in .clined tangent shield or breast-board 35 which may be either a wooden board or a metal sheet, preferably the wooden board and covered with wear-resistant, relatively thinner sheet metal sheathing 36 in the region next adjacent the transfer element 20.

This throat 33 is for practical purposes usually of a width approximately one-half the axial length of the cleaner unit 25 (see Fig. 2). The discharge chute 34, located adjacent the larger end of the unit 25, is narrower but deeper than the throat opening 33 and is of substantially the same capacity as the throat opening. This relatiye proportioning of intake and discharge openings is an important feature of the invention. It will also be noted that the throat 33 is slightly flared toward the fluifer and cleaner. This serves to keep the fiber from lodging and jamming in the throat.

A particularly important feature of the present invention is the form and arrangement of the upper half or hood portion of the fiufler and cleaner unit 25. As shown more clearly in Fig. 4, the portion 31 of the hood remote from the throat 33 of the transfer unit 20 is circular and concentric with the axis of the agitator rotor 26, and it is semi-conical in form corresponding to that of the lower screen portion 28 of the flufier and cleaner unit. So, too, this concentric portion 31 of the hood is spaced substantially the same distance from the ends of the agitator blades 3|. This truly circular portion 31 of the hood extends up from the screen portion 28 to a point approximately on a vertical line coincident with the axis of the agitator rotor 26 and indicated by the numeral 31A.

From this point 31A the hood is gradually curved eccentrically, outwardly from the axis of the unit and downwardly towards the transfer unit, as at 38, and thence with return curvature downwardly and inwardly, as at 33, thus producing a somewhat restricted, rounded ofl's'et or bulge 40. For the particular purposes of the present invention, the maximum depth of the offset or bulge 40 is centered on a radial line 40A from the axis of the agitator rotor 23 at an angle of approximately sixty five degrees (65) from and below the point 31A and twenty-five degrees (25) from and above a horizontal plane 26A through the axis of the rotor 25. This angle may be varied somewhat in different structural adaptations of the invention but in all cases the 6 location of the offset or bulge should be relatively near to such horizontal plane 26A and adjacent the throat 33. It is also important that the turned-in and downwardly extending wall portion 39 of the hood serves as a deflecting lip which joins edgewise, as at 4|, with the top wall of the throat 33 where the mouth 42 at the end of the throat communicates with the interior of the conical fiuifer and cleaner unit 2-5.

By virtue ofthe offset or bulge 40, together with the eccentric enlargement 38 leading to said bulge in the hood portion of the unit 25, the agitator rotor 26 sets up a circulatory air current within the shell, which current expands into the pocket afforded by the bulge 40, and thence travels downwardlyin a direction tangential to the screen 28. This tangentially directed air current is thus caused to merge and coact with the air blast from the transfer drum 20 without any turbulence such as would be caused by an abrupt crosswise interception of the one stream by the other. Thus is effected a uniform and thorough directional movement of the fibrous material around the inner surface of the unit 25. Such movement transfers the fibrous material away from the feed'throat 33 and thereby prevents clogging of the material in this throat and around the drum 20 and end rolls of the brake l8. The air blast action of the transfer drum 20 establishes a positive pressure in the cleaner 25 which propels the fiber therethrough and avoids the necessity of a suction fan for the cleaner 25. i

The decorticated material delivered into the fluffer and cleaner unit 25 from the transfer unit is not only agitated and carried round and round over .the surface of the wire screen bottom 28 but also up and over the surface of the hood, against which surfaces the material is thrown by centrifugal force of the blades 3i whose ends travel in proximity to said surfaces although not close enough to cause any substantial scutching and shortening of the bast fibers but primarily a breaking effect upon the shi've and other waste parts of the straw. Also, at the same time, due to the general conical shape and horizontal position of the unit 25, the rotation of the agitator rotor causes travel of the contents from the smaller end to the larger end of the unit, without the necessity of any spiral vanes or other deflecting protuberances or projections on the faces of the screen and hood, and this in avoidance of any appreciable scutching and breaking of the bast fibers.

The particular location of the bulge 40 and downwardly inclined deflector lip 39 is an important feature of the present invention, in that they cause the circulatory air current set up by the rotor 26 and the fibrous material propelled thereby to be deflected into and merge with the air blast coming from the throat 33 in a downwardly inclined direction tangentially to the screen 28. Thus, the shive and chaff particles are separated from the fibers and driven forcibly to the bottom screen 28, through which they pass outward to a shive conveyor 55 described below.

By the above described action and treatment of the decorticated material in the fluffer and cleaner unit 25, the bast fibers are freed of a large portion of the shive and chaff particles beforereaching the larger end of the unit where the fiber discharge outlet 34 is provided. Adjacent this outlet is placed an upwardly inclined conveyor 43 7 suitable collecting and concentrating medium, a baler, or a vehicle of transportation. For complete field operation a conventional portable baling apparatus .(not shown) can be placed conveniently to receive the fibers from the elevated discharge end of the conveyor 43. As conventionally indicated in Fig. 1a a supplemental lateral conveyor 44, including a receiving hopper or receptacle 45, may be located beneath a delivery spout 45 depending from the end of the conveyor 43 for conveying the cleaned fibers to the baler.

The conveyor 43 in the drawings is of a shaker, longitudinal walker element type. It has multiple, parallel, cam-crank-actuated, alternately acting, serrated carrier members 41 that convey the cleaned fibers up to the delivery spout 45. As shown, the conveyor 43 is provided with side shields 48 extending the length thereof to prevent loss of fiber at the sides of the conveyor, and beneath the walker elements 41 is a hopper housing 4,,which receives shive that is shaken out of the fiber by the walker elements 41, due to the movement of these elements in operation. This hopper housing 49 is tapered so that its bottom wall 50 is at a steep inclination downwardly from its upper end in order that the waste material sifted between the conveyor members 41 will slide readily to the larger lower end of the hopper and be discharged into a transverse conveyor trough or suction pipe 5| which is located adjacent the discharge end of the decorticating and cleaning machine.

As shown in Fig. la, the transverse conveyor trough or suction pipe 5| is placed in a trench 5 IA such as may be readily dug in the field in instances where the decorticating and cleaning machine is to be kept stationary during its operation. In such instances a sectional waste conveyor frame 52 may be laid and leveled on the ground and have the machine rolled onto it as indicated in Figs. 1 and la, with the ground wheels ll, i2, blocked or otherwise suitably chucked to hold the machine in place. For the accommodation of the machine on the frame 52, the frame is provided with longitudinal trackways 53 along opposite side portions thereof. As shown, theframe 52 is made in separable sections which are detachably joined, as at 54, and when detached the sections may be placed on the portable machine for transportation to and from the field where used. In this connection it is further noted that the detachable feeder conveyor i1 and the delivery conveyor 43 which is also detachable, as well as other extraneous and detachable appurtenances, may be transported on the portable machine.

The sectional frame 52 has mounted therein an endless conveyor 55 of sufficient length to underlie all portions of the machine where shive and particles of waste material sift down from the bale feeder, decorticator, transfer, and fluffer and cleaner units, said conveyor 55 at one end overhanging the transverse conveyor trough or suction pipe 5|. In addition to the lower longitudinal waste conveyor 55 a superposed conveyor 55A may be provided on the lower body frame it) directly beneath the brake roll unit, transfer unit and finder and cleaner unit (see Fig. 4). This The shifted particles of material, principally the shive and other waste particles, received on the conveyor and discharged into the transverse conveyor trough or suction pipe 5!, are either piled for burning on the field as delivered from the conveyor trough or suction pipe 5|, or

else conveyed into some portable receiving medium for transportation.

The several conveyors and appturtenances of the general machine assembly may be operated in any conventional manner from a suitable power take-ofi provision, not shown in detail. For practical purposes, however, the transfer drum 20, necessarily rotated at a high speed, is made heavy enough to function as a flywheel and its shaft 23 is utilized as the main power shaft of the machine, said shaft being provided with a driving pulley 56 driven by a belt 51 from a source of power (not shown) which latter may be an extraneous unit or incorporated as a self-contained part of the machine. As shown, the fluffer and cleaner unit directly associated and coordinated in operation with the transfer unit has the shaft 21 of its rotor 25 driven directly from the transfer v drum shaft 23. Thi is by a crossed belt 58 connecting a driving pulley 59 on the shaft 23 to a driven pulley 60 on the rotor shaft 21. same token a master shaft 5! (see Fig. id) for driving the brake rolls III is provided with a pulley 62 which is belted, as at 53, to a driving pulley 54 on the transfer drum shaft 23. The several pulleys, of course, are of relative diameters to produce the desired speed ratio at which the brake rolls I 8, transfer drum 20 and rotor 26 are to be rotated. Other operating elements such as those of the bale or mass feeder unit l5 and the several conveyors in the apparatus may be powered mainly from the transfer drum shaft 23; and some requiring minimum power not detracting from the efliciency of the rotor 25 may be driven from its shaft 21, the aim being to maintain a well balanced momentum in the operation of the entire machine as a complete portable self-contained working assembly.

I claim:

1. In a decorticating machine, the combination of a rotary drum transfer member, having a pluconveyor extends at one end well beyond the inrality of air-blast generating flanges projecting from the surface of said drum that effects airborne transfer of the decorticated material, with a closely positioned cleaner and a divergent throat member connecting said drum with said cleaner, said cleaner having an air current-generating rotor and said throat member directing the air blast from said transfer member so that it merges tangentially with the air current generated in said cleaner.

2. In a decorticating machine, a partial decortication means, a flufling and cleaning unit having a rotary element for creating a circulatory air stream therein and adapted to open and loosen material received from said partial decortication means, and an interposed rotary transfer element creating an air blast for taking ma.- terial from said partial decorticator and trans- By the I faring the material air-borne and without appreciable scutching to said iiufllng and cleaning unit, means located between said rotary transfer element and said cleaning unit to direct the air blast as created by said transfer element and said air-borne material into said hotter and cleaner unit and reticulated, non-scutching means located in said cleaning unit for. receiving the partially and eflecting decorticated air-borne material separation therethrough of the shorter, undesired component of to material.

3. Ina decorticating machine, a partial decortication means, a iiufling and cleaning unit comopen and loosen material received in the housing from said partial decortication means, said agitator element creating a circulatory air stream in thehousing, which stream travels downwardly past said eccentric bulge of the housing and expands into said bulge in its travel across the same and thence substantially tangentially to the bottom of the housing, and a transfer element comprising a high-speed rotary drum interposed between said partial decortication means and said fiufllng and cleaning unit, said drum having peripheral flanges creating a substantial air blast for conveyance of the partially decorticated material to the flufllng and cleaning unit, and means for directing the air blast from said transfer element downwardly and tangentially into the circulatory air stream below said eccentric bulge of the housing of the ilufiing and cleaning unit.

4. In a decorticating machine, a brake assembly for partial decortication of the material, a flufling and cleaning unit for receiving, opening, fiufllng and cleaning the material, and a transfer element comprising a rotary drum, peripherally flanged for creating a substantial air blast for conveyance of the partially decorticated material from the brake assembly to the fiufllng and cleaning unit, saidfiufiing and cleaning unit comprising a horizontal housing of conical form and a flufling and cleaning rotor rotating about a horizontal axis therein, the bottom portion of the housing being foraminous and the upper portion being imperforate and formed with an eccentric bulge forward of a vertical plane through the axis of the housing and located in proximity to a horizontal plane through such axis, with a downwardly and inwardly inclined ledge below said bulge, the air blast created from rotation of said transfer drum entering said fiufiing and cleaning unit housing through a downwardly inclined throat beneath said inclined ledge below the eccentric bulge of the housing whereby the air blast merges tangentially downward with the circulatory air stream in the housing with force sufllcient to drive separated particles of material through the foraminous bottom of the housing.

5. In a decorticating machine, a flufiing and cleaning unit for receiving, loosening and cleaning partially decorticated material, such unit comprising a generally conical housing, horizontally disposed and having a blunt-bladed rotor rotating about a horizontal axis therein, said rotor setting up a circulatory air stream in said 1o housing and causing agitation, loosening an cleaning of the material in the housing but without substantial scutching of blast fibers, said housing having a foraminous bottom and an imperforate upper portion, the forward upper portion of the housing having an eccentric bulge whose greatest depth is centered on a radial line from the axis of the housing and located a slight distance above a horizontal plane through such axis, with a downwardly and in'wardly inclined ledge below said bulge, the air stream set up in the housing by said rotor traveling across said eccentric bulge and expanding therein, and a transfer element arranged to deliver partially decorticated material from a decorticating means to said flufilng and cleaning unit, said transfer element in operation creatingan air blast of substantial force to convey the material without any scutching and fiber shortening effect and having a delivery throat directed downwardly and inwardly into the fiufling 'and cleaning unit whereby the air blast from said element merges downwardly and tangentially with the circulatory air stream below said eccentric bulge and inclined ledge in said fiufling and cleaning unit.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 5, and the material intake of the flufilng and cleaning housing being further described as adjacent the smaller end of the housing, and the housing having an outlet for the cleaned material adjacent its larger end and toward which the material is moved by rotation of the rotor in the housing.

'7. In apparatus for decorticating and cleaning fibrous material, the combination of sequentially arranged and cooperative means comprising,

means for breaking the material to loosen the longer fiber from the shorter shive component and produce a tangled mass or tow, rotary transfer means for effecting free, air-borne transfer of the tow, without scutching, a cleaner for receiving said air-borne tow from said rotary transfer means, said cleaner having a reticulated member against which the air-borne tow is projected and through which some of the shorter shive component is caused to pass, and said cleaner having means for tumbling and fiufiing the remainder of the tow in the cleaner without scutching and having means for effecting travel of the tow through the length of the cleaner without scutching.

8. Apparatus for decorticating and cleaning fibrous materials as defined in claim 7, and in which the rotary transfer means is a drum having spaced peripheral flanges that create, upon rotation of the drum, an air blast which effects air-borne transfer of the tow. I

9. Apparatus for decorticating and cleaning fibrous materials as defined in claim '7, and in which the cleaner has a housing with a smooth inner surface void of scutching elements, a rotor with a plurality of spaced, fiat, blade-like projections thereon for propelling said fibrous material in a circulatory path around the interior of said cleaner, and said blade-like projections having rounded, bulbous edges that are adapted to catch and move the fibrous material without any substantial scutching of the fiber.

10. Apparatus for decorticating and cleaning fibrous materials as defined in claim '7, and in which there is located between said rotary transfer means and said cleaner, a divergent, covered,

11 which the cleaner has a conically shaped housing that eflects lengthwise travel 01' the tow through thecleaner.\

12. Apparatus for decorticating and cleaning fibrous materials as defined in claim 7, and in which the cleaner has an upper, imperi'orate housing and a lower perforated housing adapted for separation therethrough of the undesired components of the fibrous material and for re- '12 a taining the desired component within the housing, said upper lmperiorate housing having a substantially cylindrical and concentric curvature extending over about one half of the upper housing and an eccentric curvature extending over the remainder of the housing and forming a distinct bulge in the housing about 25 above the horizontal axis 01 the cleaner.

- KARL KAISER.