US2423425A - Apparatus for treating fibrous material - Google Patents

Description

. July 1, 1947. E. L. LUNDG REN APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed Jan. 15, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 N NM o .0, eflololahol e a i Q .Q a R o July 1, 1947. E. L. LUNDGREN APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed Jan. 15, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 1, 1947. E. L. LUNDGREN 2,423,425

APPARATUS EOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL v Filed Jan. 15, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 1 i Wu Wfi 02 MINIMUM! i INVENTOR.

BY MA July 1, 1947. E. LJLUNDGREN APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 15, 1944 IN VEN TOR. 57/0 L. mam/13m BY M4 5 SheetsSheet 5 will/1111111 a a Filed Jan. 15, 1944 E L. LUNDGREN APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL Jul 1, 1947.

v INVENTQR. Eric L. luwrem B Patented July 1, 1947 APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBROUS MATERIAL.

Eric. L. Lundgren,

Braddock Heights, Md, as.-

signor to Ox Fibre Brush Company, Inc a cor-- poration of Delaware.

Application January 15, 1944, Serial No. M85358.

11. Claims.

1 The processing of fibrous bodies. or masses to extract the fibers therefrom in a usable form has heretofore been anexpensiveand sometimes dangerous procedure. For example, the shredding or decorticating of the tough stalk-like material,

stripped from the buds of the cabbage palmetto has required either tedious, shredding by hand or very dangerous shredding with the aid of a, shredding machine in which, the slab-like fibrous materi-al was fed by hand against a rotating toothed shredding member, or the like. In either case, the job is likely not to be done thoroughly. The fibers are bound together by crusty or pulpy ma.- terial which is very undesirable in the finished fibers and should be completely removed.

According to the present invention, the shredding and cleaning process is performed automatically without danger to the operator and in a very thorough and satisfactory manner. Generally speaking, the process is performed by feeding the slab-like mass or boot automatically to the bite of a pair of spiked cylinders and moving it along in a direction converging toward said bite so that the. boot is shredded progressively from its free end toward its held end. Afterwards, the other end is likewise treated. Preferably the boot is fed by means of clamping one end between a pair of endless V-belts which draw the boot through a tortuous path so that it is held firmly at all times and so that it is turned constantly about the axis of the boot so that the spikes of the cylinder will penetrate through it at different angles. and thoroughly clean the undesired material therefrom. Preferably also the boot passes from the first holding means to another holding means which engages the cleaned end of the shredded boot to feed the other end into a second pair of spiked cylinders in like manner so that all the fibers of the boot are strippedclean.

Of course many other materials may be treated on the same or similar machines. Even fibrous material which is already clean and free may be combed and straightened out on such a machine. For some processes, the spiked cylinder may be replaced by other types of cylinders, such as brushes or buffers.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following escription and from the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the embodiment of the invention chosen for illustration;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the holding belts and the drive therefor;

Fig. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic sectional 2 view taken approximately on. the irregular line 3-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a similar View takenapproximatel-y on the irregular line 4-4 of Fig. 1,;

Fig, 5 is a fragmentary view showing the side elevation of one of the feeding units on a somewhat larger scale; and,v

i 6 is a. somewhat diagrammatic view taken approximately on the line. 6-43. of Fig. I.

A preferred form of the. invention has. been chosen for illustration. and. description, in compliance with, section 4888 of the Revised Statutes, but persons skilled in the art. will readily perceive other means: for accomplishing the same results, and the claims, are. therefore, to. be. construed as broadly as possible, consistent with the prior art.

General description For the purpose of; describing the invention. it will be assumed that the material tobe treated is made up of the, slab-like sections or leaves of the buds of the cabbage palmetto. For convenience, these leaves may be spoken of as. boots, the term being perhaps suggestive of their toughness and thickness.

The palmetto boot it is fed (after: preliminary treatment) to the machine at the left-hand end of the frame-structure H. as the machine is viewed in- Fig. 1. One end of each of the boots is placed between the holding belts l3, which are V-belts, as seen in Fig; 4, and which as seen best in Fig. 5 willgrip one end of the boot firmly and; carry it along the machine longitudinally. As it progresses, its free end come between two spiked cylinders M as is best seen in Fig. 3. As the boots progress along, they pass further and further in between the cylinders I4 so that relatively speaking, the cylinders begin shredding the boots at their ends and work further and further along the length of the boot. The teeth or spikes iii of the cylinders are so arranged that they intermesh so that no boot can pass through the bite and remain unshredded.

The cylinders, of course, exert a substantial pull on the boot. Although the force of this pull is not enough to pull the boot from between the holding belts, it is great enough to swing the boots into alinement with the direction of pull. Accordingly, the boots should be fed in approximate alinement. In the illustrated machine, the axes of the cylinders are displaced 22 /2 from the longitudinal direction of the belts l3 and hence the boots should be fed, the same angle from the perpendicular. When, the boots have passed the length or the first cylinders it, th y h swung around to the opposite inclination by interaction between a slow moving belt [8 or pair of belts engaging one end of each g oup an the fast moving belt is or pair of belts engaging the other end of the same boot. This interaction swings the boots to the approximate position shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 1 in which position, it is fed by the belts l8 and 9 to the second pair of holding belts 23 which carry the boots in the bite between the second pair of spiked cylinders 24.

The holding belts 23 and spiked cylinders 24 are similar to the holding belt l3 and spiked cylinders I4. As the boots travel the length of the cylinders 24, each boot is shredded from the end which was previously held in the belt l3, progressively longitudinally along the boot until all of the portion of the boot which was not shredded by cylinders M has been shredded by cylinder 2 They are then expelled from the machine by the holding belts 23 and are taken by hand or conveyor to the next stage of their treatment which may be a drier.

Holding belts An important feature of the present invention is in the means for holding the boots by one end thereof as they are moved through the machine. It is, of course, necessary that they be held firmly all the time that they are being acted upon by the spiked cylinders. It is also highly desirable that they be twisted constantly approximately about their longitudinal axes so that the angle of movement of the spikes through the boot will be constantly changed so as to present different sides of the boots to the spikes, thus preventing the mere slicing of the boot in parallel planes. According to the present invention, both the firm holding and the constant twisting are accomplished by gripping the boots between belts which are led between a series of guide rollers so positioned that all parts of the belt are arouately disposed about one or another of the guide rollers so that the belt tension is effectively applied at all points.

As seen in Fig. 5, the upper and lower holding belts I3 follow similar paths. Specifically the upper belt passes around drive pulley 26 under guide pulleys 2! and 28, around tensioning pulley 29, guide pulley 3i and end pulley 2'32 and back to the drive pulley 25 through the pressure pulleys 33 and 34. companies it through these The arrangement of series of V-type The lower belt acpressure pulleys.

the pressure pulleys 33 and 34 is best seen in Fig. 4. The lower pressure pulleys 34 rotate on fixed shafts. The upper pressure pulleys 33 rotate on shafts 31, each of which is pivoted as at 38 so as to be movable approximately vertically about the pivot 38. It is urged downwardly toward the pulleys 34 by a spring which may be adjustably tensioned by nut 41.

As seen in Fig. 5, there are no straight portions of the belts within the series of rollers 33 and 3 Hence the tension of the lower belt is applied against the upper belt throughout the curve around each of the upper rollers 33 while the tension of the upper belt is likewise applied toward each of the lower rollers 3 3 throughout the curve around said rollers. passes between a given roller 33 and an adjacent roller 34, the roller 33 will yield to accommodate the boot but the arcuate position of the lower belt will be maintained under the boot to hold it firmly at all points.

The extent to which the boot is twisted about As the end of a boot 7 its longitudinal axis as it passes between the rollers depends upon the spacing of the rollers. Of course it is desirable to have the twisting extend through a fairly wide angle so as to present the different sides of the boot to the spikes which operate in vertical planes. However, it has been found that if the angle is made more than approximately degrees, the belts have a tendency to ride off of one another and, therefore 120 degrees or slightly less is the preferred angle of twisting of the shoes about their longitudinal axes. It may be noted that this refers to the apparent angle of twisting, i. e. the angle about a roller axis through which the belt is in contact therewith. The tension of the belt and the thickness of the boot may reduce this by spreading the upper and lower rollers apart. Of course any twist ing is beneficial and a very small amount of twisting would probably produce nearly complete separation of the fibers, although it might not cause them to be cleaned off as thoroughly as with the preferred l 29 degree angle. The larger twisting also has the advantage that it is accomplished with fewer pressure rollers. For less twisting, the rollers in the upper series should be spaced more closely together and the rollers in the lower series should be spaced more closely together so that the angle from the center of one roller to the center of the two adjacent rollers in the other series would be less than the angle shown. Of course with the same size rollers, this would necessitate greater vertical separation of the centers of the rollers.

Around each of the pressure rollers, the firmness of the gripping of the boot will depend somewhat on the tension of the outer belt. This tensioning is adjusted by nuts 42 which adjust the compression of spring 53. The spring 43 tends to tilt the beam 44 so as to raise or draw out the tensioning pulley 29. For the sake of simplicity, the tensioning devices have been omitted from other figures.

The construction is substantially the same in connection with the second pair of holding belts 23.

Drive of holding belts Although the holding belts could be driven in a variety of ways, that illustrated is at present preferred and has a definite advantage of simplicity with a minimum of wear on the belts.

A motor 38 drives a gear reducer ll through a belt 48. A chain 49 is driven by the gear reducer and passes around sprockets 5i and 52.

With slight variations in the belt thickness or in the size or groove shape of the pulleys 26, the upper and lower belts would be driven with different peripheral speeds if the sprockets 5i and 52 drove their respective drive pulleys 26 at the same speed. This would cause a constant rubbing of one belt surface on the other with resultant wear of the belts and less firm holding of the boots. According to the present invention, the drive of the belts is automatically equalized.

This can be explained best with reference to Fig. 4. Sprocket 52 which is driven by chain 43 is keyed directly to shaft 53 on which lower drive pulley 26 is also keyed. Sprocket 5!, however, is not keyed to shaft 5 1 on which upper pulley 23 is keyed, but drives it through a friction clutch or slip device 56. Furthermore, the sprocket 55 is slightly smaller than the sprocket 52 so that it makes one revolution with less movement of the chain 39 and hence has a higher rotational speed. In other words, the sprocket El tends to drive its belt I3 faster than sprocket 52 drives its belt IS. The clutch 56 slips just enough to permit the two belts to move at equal peripheral speeds. The tension on the clutch 55 is adjustable by a nut 58. Although there is constant slippage within the clutch, unless the belts just happen to move at the same speed without such slippage, the amount of the slippage is very slight and the wear is spread over the various faces of the clutch disks 59. Accordingly, the deterioration of these disks will be slight and they will not often need replacement.

The speed reducer il also drives a chain or belt 6!,which in turn drives a shaft 6'2 to drive a chain 549 which drives the belts 23 in the same manner as the chain d drives the belts I3.

Turning belts As previously stated, it is desirable that the bootsbe fed to each pair of cylinders 24 with the longitudinal axis of the boot lying in a plane perpendicular to the axes of the cylinders so that the pull of the spikes on the cylinders will be longitudinally of the boots. If the boots are to be moved along a generally straight course, it is, therefore, necessary for them to be turned from the position shown at the left in Fig. l to the position shown at the right in said figure. This is accomplished by a transfer conveyor including the turning belts l8 and it onto which the boots pass as they leave the grip of the belts 3. The belt 18 moves slower than the belt l9 so that the end of the boot on belt 19 moves faster than the end of the boot on belt is and hence the boots are turned to the desired position.

It makes little difference whether the one belt is speeded up or the other retarded. At present, it is contemplated that one be retarded. This is easily accomplished by driving the belt ill by pulley 63 fast on shaft 64 which is driven by pulley 66 also fast on shaft E56. The pulley 66 in turn is driven through a belt 6'! by a smaller pulley (58 which is driven through shaft 68 with one of the end pulleys 32. The second pulley H for belt 3 is an idler pulley on the shaft 69. Since the pulley 63 is smaller than the pulley 65 and since the pulley 63 is smaller than the pulleys 32 (and 1!), the speed of belt is is considerably less than the speed of belt 23 which is the same as the speed of belts l3 and E9. The belt I9 is driven by a pulley l2 which is fast with the pulley 26 on shaft 53. In fact, pulleys l2 and 26 may be made up as a double pulley. The belt l9 also extends around an idler pulley T3 suitably carried by the frame structure.

With some materials or under some conditions, it may be necessary to provide pressure belts above the belts l8 and I9. Of course they can readily be provided if necessary and can be driven if necessary. Also a wide belt between the other two belts and of an intermediate speed could be provided.

In order to accommodate boots of different lengths, it may be desirable to shift the boot endwise or laterally of the machine an adjustable amount as it is turned. If a line is drawn through each of the two sets of gripping belts in Fig. 1, there will be a certain spacing between the lines. This spacing might depend either on the length of boot for which the machine is designed or on the diameter of the cylinders, or both. In any event, with a given machine, it may be desired to treat boots which are shorter than the distance between the two imaginary lines mentioned. In that event, it will be necessary to shift the boots endwise after they leave one set of gripping belts in order for them to come into alignment with the other set of gripping belts. It is, therefore, preferred that pulley 63 b adjustabiy positioned on shaft 64 and that pulley it be likewise adjustably positioned on its shaft. In the case of short boots, each of these pulleys will be moved toward the end of its shaft, thus, in effect, swinging the transfer conveyor to run at an angle slightly cross-wise of the machine. In fact, the pulleys 63 and 13 have been shown slightly out of their alined positions. By using V belts narrower than the belt receiving grooves at their'peripheries so that the belt rides slightly inside of the periphery, a lateral movement of four inches with. a longitudinal movement of 28 inches has been found to be practical. If an intermediate fiat belt is used, its drive roller may be driven through a universal joint.

Cylinders The spiked cylinders It may be constructed in any suitable manner. The form at present preferred is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 6. Each cylinder is made up of a number of spoked wheels 16 mounted on a shaft 11, and a plurality of spiked bars 18 bolted or otherwise secured to the rims of the wheels 46. It is desired that the bars be removable for replacement since the spikes gradually wear down. The spacing of the spikes along the bars is largely a matter of choice, but a spacing of of the spikes on each bar is regarded as satisfactory.

Because of the wear on the spikes, the span.- ing between the cylinders is preferably adjustable. In fact, it is preferred that the two ends be independently adjustable sinc the spikes are likely to wear more rapidly at one end of the cylinder than at the other. To this end, the two ends of one of the shafts i! may be mounted in selfaligning bearings 14 Which may be moved toward and from the other shaft by loosening nuts 15 and turning suitable srews 15'. Of course the other shaft Tl may have such bearings also, even if the vertical adjustability is not provided for them. Roller type self-aligning bearings may be used if preferred. At least one bearing on each shaft should provide for end thrust so as to maintain the spikes of the two cylinders properly spaced. For example, collars 14' with set screws may position shaft ll in bearing 14.

In order that there be the least possible opportunity of the fibers to escape the spikes without being separated, it is'preferred that the spikes intermesh in approximate alignment and the spacings of the cylinders be such as to produce a considerabl overlapping of th spikes of one cylinder with thos of the other, as illustrated.

The drive for the cylinders is best seen in Fig. 3. A separate motor it! may be provided for each pair of cylinders and it may drive these cylinders by a chain at, as clearly seen in Fig. 3, the angular disposition of the parts being seen more clearly in Fig. 1. The motor i9 which drives the first pair of cylinders is preferably connected through a cut-01f switch which is controlled by a chain across the feeding position of the apparatus so that if an operator who is feeding the boots to the belts it should put his arm too far forward, or should be caught in the machine, the cylinders would automatically be stopped. As a matter ofv fact, it is also preferred that the drive motor 49 for driving the belts l3 be sto ped in like manner.

Washing It is desirable that the non-fibrous material which is loosened from th fibers be washed away. To this end, nozzles 8|, connected to a suitable water supply, are provided adjacent the end of each cylinder to direct streams of water into the cylinders. It will be understood that the bars 18 serve as centrifugal impellers to direct the water and air from within the cylinder outwardly thereof. The nozzles 8| are preferably so disposed that the great bulk of the water therefrom is thrown onto the boots at approximately the portions thereof which are being acted upon by th spikes. However, the water, of course, has a tangential velocity and hence it flows at high speed longitudinally of the fibers in the direction toward the free end of the boot, and hence continuously washes from the fibers all the loosened material. Suitable means for catching the water, such as a sluice 83, is provided. This sluice preferably leads to a suitable drain and both the sluice and the drain may be periodically flushed. The air stream which is also impelled along the fibers by the bars 78 aids in the cleaning operation.

From the foregoing it is seen that apparabus has been provided for thoroughly cleaning and separating the fibers of a palmetto boot or other material automatically and without danger tothe operator and with an exceptionally high degree of efficiency. The boot is moved along a straight path while being constantly twisted about its longitudinal axis and while being progressively fed into the bite of a pair of spiked cylinders which quite thoroughly clean it from one end to a mid-portion thereof after which it is fed in lik manner to another pair of cylinders which clean th other half of it.

Before the boots are run through the machine, they will preferably be suitably treated for softening the pithy or resinous matter which binds the fibers together. The softening treatment may include any conventional treatment, such as boiling the boots under any suitable pressure and temperature in water or other fluid or steaming them. Preferably also they are hammered, especially at the thicker and tougher ends of the boots. A convenient way of hammering them is to run them through sort of hammer mill which may compris an anvil roller beneath the boots and above the boots a series of steel rings carried fioatingly On pins between a pair of rotating disks; the spacing of the disks from the anvil roller preventing contact of the rings with the anvil roll, when no boot is between them, and determining th hammering force exerted on th boots. The rings are internally many times larger than the pins so that they may freely yield against centrifugal force as they strike the boot. This hammering with conventional softening adapts the boots very satisfactorily for being run through the illustrated machine. The thick tough end is preferably shredded first since it would be difficult to hold the boots in position from the other ends after the other ends had been shredded.

For some types of material tobe treated, it is desirable to support the material between the holding belts l3 and the cylinders. This can be accomplished by providing a table 9] and a seies of water or air nozzles 92 connected to a header 93 and having their outlets disposed to direct streams of water across the table 9| in directions lying approximately in vertical planes perpendicular .to th axes of the cylinders. If water is used, the stream of water serves both for drawing the fibers out straight and for lubricating the table. Under some conditions, the tables could be dispensed with since the water itself or air could be adequate for supporting the fibers. Nozzles 92 may be above or below the stream or both, although the lower position is preferred. It may also b preferred in some instances to arrange the cylinders side by side horizontally (instead of one above the other) and position the belts i3 above them so that the fibers may hang down toward the cylinders. In that event, it is probable that the nozzles 92 may be dispensed with even with very flexible fibers.

A wide variety of other materials can be treated in the same machine and other embodiments of the same principles or some of them may be used for treating an even wider variety of materials. For example, the spikes could be replaced by polishing material for imparting extra luster and stiffness to such fibers as horse hair, waxed vegetable fibre, etc.

I claim:

1. Means for processing material including treating means along which said material is to be moved, and holding means for holding the material and moving it along the treating means, said holding means comprising a pair of endless belts disposed with adjacent runs forming an elongated bite, and a plurality of pressure rollers on opposite sides of said adjacent runs and pressing the runs toward one another, the pressure rollers on one run being staggered with respect to those on another run and the two sets of rollers having their axes sufficiently close together to cause the runs to be substantially curved about one or another of the pressure rollers with the curved portions at least as close together as the width of the units of the material whereby the material will be firmly gripped between the runs substantially throughout the bite, and means for exerting a driving force on each belt independently of the other belt, the means for driving at least one of the belts including a device adapted to permit it to accommodate its speed to the speed of the other belt.

2. Means for processing material including treating means along which said material is to be moved, and holding means for holding the material and moving it along the treating means, said holding means comprising a pair of endless belts disposed with adjacent runs forming an elongated bite, and a plurality of pressure rollers on opposite sides of said adjacent runs and pressing the runs toward one another, the pressure rollers on one run being staggered with respect to those on another run and the two sets of rollers having their axes sufficiently close together to cause the runs to be substantially curved about one or another of the pressure rollers with the curved portions at least as close together as the width of the units of the material whereby the material will be firmly gripped between the runs substantially throughout the bite, aand means for driving the belts with uniform peripheral speeds in spit of variations in belt and pulley dimensions comprising a frictional slip device, means driving one belt at a given speed, and means tending to drive one of the belts through said slip device at a faster speed, said device being adjusted to slip more readily than the belts slip with respect to one another.

3. Means for treating fibrous masses including means for carrying the masses generally longitudinally through th machine in two stages, rotating treating means in each stage, each tending to pull the masses from the carrying means and disposed at an angle with respect, to the other, and means between the two stages for swinging th masses from the angularity appropriate for the first stage to the angularity appropriate for the second stage comprising belts adapted to engage the masses at spaced points thereon and means for driving said belts at differential speeds.

4. Means for separating the fibers of fibrous masses comprising a pair of spiked cylinders disposed to form a bite therebetween and each rotatable about its axis, means for driving the cylinders, means for firmly grasping th masses at points remote from one end of each thereof to resist the pull of the spikes, and moving the masses along the length of the bite in a direction converging toward the bite whereby said ends first and then successively additional portions of said masses are fed to said bite toseparate the fibers thereof progressively from the ends of the masses, the spikes of the two cylinders intermeshing with one another lengthwise of the cylinders and being synchronized to reach th common axial plane of the two cylinders approximately simultaneously so that no part of the material being worked upon can escape passing directly between the spikes of one cylinder.

5. Means for separating the fibers of fibrous masses comprising a pair of spiked cylinders disposed to form bite therebetween and each rotatable about its axis, means for driving the cylinders, means for firmly grasping the masses at points remot from one end of each thereof to resist the pull of the spikes, and moving the masses along the length of the bite in a direction converging toward the bite whereby said ends first and then successively additional portions of said masses are fed to said bite to separate the fibers thereof progressively from the ends of the masses, means for adjusting the overall spacing of th cylinders from each other, including means for adjusting th spacing at one end independently to take up for any excessive wear of the spikes at one end.

6. Apparatus for separating the fibers in fibrous bodies including a, pair of endless V belts disposed with runs adjacent one another to form an enlogated belt clamp therebetween for receiving and holding the bodies without rupture thereof, a plurality of staggered V type pressure rollers on th opposite sides of the adjacent runs so disposed that said runs are substantially continuously curved about one or another of said pressure rollers whereby the bodies moving through the bite are constantly firmly clamped between the belts and are twisted back and forth, resilient means for independently urging each of the pressure rollers on one side of the belts toward the belts, independent resilient means for maintaining a predetermined tension on each belt, and a pair of spiked cylinders disposed to form a bite therebetween with said bite lying approximately in a plane centered along the belt clamp and substantially closer to the belts at the delivery end thereof than at the receiving end thereof whereby bodies moving along the belt clamp will have first the remote portions thereof presented to the cylinders and then progres- 10 sively closer portions thereof presented to the cylinders, said cylinders rotating in a direction tending to pull the bodies away from said belts, and said belts effectively restraining the bodies against said pull.

7. Means for processing fibrous material including a rotatable cylinder having its peripheral body formed of spaced bars and having at least one end substantially open, means for driving the cylinder with a high rotative speed, nozzle means external of the cylinder and adjacent a substantially open end'thereof for directing a stream of cleaning liquid internally of th cylinder and against the 'bars near the point where the work is engaged whereby the liquid, and air, drawn in through the open end, will be churned by the bars and ejected onto the work through the spaces between them with a speed comparable to the peripheral speed of the cylinder in a direction generally tangentially along the material whereby the mixture of air and liquid will sweep loose matter along the material.

8. Means for treating fibrous masses including means for carrying the masses generally longitudinally through the machine in two stages, rotating treating means in each stage, each tending to pull themasses from the carrying means and disposed at an angle with respect to its carrying means and at an angle with respect to the other, and means between the two stages for swinging the masses from a plane approximately perpendicular to the axis of the first rotating means to a plane approximately perpendicular to the axis of the second rotating means before the treating means of the second stage is encountered by the masses.

9. Means for treating fibrous masses including means for carrying the masses generally longitudinally through the machine in two stages, rotating treating means in each stage, each tend ing to pull the masses from the carrying means and disposed at an angle with respect to its carrying means and at an angle with respect to the other, and means between the two stages for swinging the masses from a plane approximately perpendicular to th axis of the first rotating means to a plane approximately perpendicular to the axis of the second rotating means before the treating means of the second stage is encountered by the masses, the rotating treating'means comprising spiked cylinders.

10. Means for separating the fibers of fibrous masses comprising a pair of spiked cylinders disposed to form a bite therebetween and each rotatable about its axis, means for driving the cylinders, means for grasping the masses at points remote from one end of each thereof, and moving the masses along the length of the bite in a direction converging toward the bite whereby said ends first and then successively additional portions of said masses are fed to said bite to separate the fibers thereof progressively from the ends of the masses, a second pair of spiked cylinders, means spaced a fixed distance laterally from alignment with the first grasping means for likewise grasping and feeding the other ends of said masses and progressively the remainder of said masses to said second cylinders, and conveyor means for moving the masses generally in the same direction as their movement by the grasp-ing means and adjustable to change the direction of movement to include a component transverse to said direction and endwise of the masses to accommodate for different length of 1 1 masses in feeding them to th second grasping means.

11. Apparatus for separating the fibers in fibrous bodies including a pair of endless V belts disposed with runs adjacent one another to form an elongated belt clamp th'erebetween for receiving and holding the bodies without rupture thereof, a plurality of staggered V type pressure rollers on the opposite sides of the adjacent runs so disposed that said runs are substantially continuously curved about one or another of said pressure rollers whereby the bodies moving through the bite are constantly firmly clamped between the belts and are twisted back and forth, resilient means for independently urging each of the pressure rollers on one side of th belts toward the belts, independent resilient means for maintaining a predetermined tension on each belt, and a pair of spiked cylinders disposed to form a bite therebetween with said bite substantially closer to the belts at the delivery end thereof than t the receiving end thereof whereby bodies moving along the belt clamp will have first the remot portions thereof presented to the cylinders and then progressively closer portions thereof presented to the cylinders, said cylinders rotating in a direction tending to pull the bodies away from said belts, and said belts effectively restraining the bodies against said pull.

ERIC L. LUNDGREN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 140,050 Lamb June 17, 1873 321,863 Smith July 7, 1885 1,258,571 Humphrys Mar. 5, 1918 806,787 Ellis Dec. 12, 1905 905,345 Mudge Dec. 1, 1908 1,023,152 Hollier Apr. 16, 1912 1,937,794 Selvig Dec. 5, 1933 2,078,419 Selvig Apr. 27, 1937 1,017,104 Lavedan et a1 Feb. 13, 1912 1,255,065 Teresa Jan. 29, 1918 551,801 Villamor Dec. 24, 1895 439,913 Weicher Nov. 4, 1890 506,866 Weicher Oct. 17, 1893 2,086,448 Takata July 6, 1937 485,903 Acosta Nov. 8, 1892 2,297,573 Macdonald Sept. 29, 1942 2,355,100 Nordquist Aug. 8, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 185,255 Great Britain Apr. 18, 1922 465,590 Great Britain May 10, 1937 548,807 France Nov. 2, 1922 351,345 Germany Apr. 5, 1922

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