US256057A - sargent - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

F. G.\& A. G. SARGENT.

WOOL WASHER.

Patented Apr. 4.1882,

M No

' (No Modl.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.'

F. G. 85 C. SARGEN'T.

WOOL WASHER.

N0. 256,057.' Patented Apr. 4,1882.

ETCR W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

FREDERICK Gr. SARGENT AND ALLAN G. SARGENT, OF GRANITEVILLE, MASS,

WOOL-WASHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 256,057, dated April 4, 1882.

Application filed June13.1881. (K011101101) I To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, FREDERICK Gr. SAR- GENT and ALLAN O. SARGENT, ofGraniteville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Wool-Washing Machine, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to machines in whic the wool to be scoured or cleansed is put into a bowl or tank containing a liquid suitable to scour or cleanse it, and by a mechanism contained therein moved forward to a pair of squeeze rolls, by which the saturating-fluid is squeezed from the wool; and the object of our invention is to provide a mechanism which shall move the wool forward through the bowl by means of a sliding-forward mechanism, which shall require no carriers to take the wool up from the liquid in the tank to the squeezerolls, and which shall separate and thin down the large masses as they pass into the machine. e accomplish this objectv by themechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section. Fig. 2 is a plan.

A is the bowl, trough, or tank, into which the scouring-liquid is placed.

B is a rotary fan-wheel or plunger, which takes the wool as it is fed to the machine and snbmerges it in the fluid contained therein. This fan-wheel has upon each of its wings a row of teeth, I). As the fan-wheel is driven at a slow rate, these teeth serve to hold the wool somewhat as it is taken by the hereinafter-described forwarding mechanism, and in coaction with it to separate or even out the larger masses.

0 (J are slide-conveyers lying upon the false bottom D, which is placed at such a height above the bottom of the tank as to hold the conveyers near enough to the surface of the fluid in the tank to prevent the wool from floating freely when saturated without coming into contact with the spines or teeth which form part of each conveyer. The conveyers G G are composed of the bars 0 c, which have attached to them the upward forward-projecting teeth,c 0 The slide-conveyers O O are given a reciprocating movement by the eccentrics E E, which are attached to the shaft 0. As the throw of the eccentric E is placed on the opposite side of the shaft from that of the eccentric E, the slide-conveyors will be moved in oppositedircctions at the same moment, so that while one is moving toward the squeezerolls the other will be moving in the opposite direction, and when the movement of the first is reversed that of the second will be also. The bars of the conveyers O O are placed suffi ciently far apart, so that the liquidin thetank can freely pass between them and through the holes in the false bottom into the body of the bowl below. The teeth or spines of the conveyers are placed at such an angle of forward inclination that the backward movement of the conveyers will have little or no tendency to pull the wool with them, and as will permit them to easily slide under the wool during such backward movement. This angle we have ascertained to be about an angle of thirty degrees with the slide-bars to which the teeth are attached; but in some cases it may be increased somewhat; but in no case must it be more than forty-five degrees.

G G are two conveyers, placed above or near the surface of theliqnid in the tank, having their slide-bars g 9 supported upon rods h h, which extend from one side of the bowl to the other and are connected therewith. These two couveyers have downward and forward projecting teeth m n, which extend downward in the liquid in the tank, and the conveyers have a reciprocating motion given them by the eccentrics K K substantially like that given the conveyers O 0, already described. The bars of the conveyers G G are placed above the spaces, which are between the lower conveyers O C, but maybe placed parallel with and directly above the lower conveyers, if so desired, and space be left between the lower and uppcrteeth for the fibcrbeing washed to pass.

L M N are squeeze-rolls, the roll L submerged and the rolls M and N being partly submerged, but being at their point of contact just above the surface of the fluid in the tank.

The operation ofthe machine may be thus described: The wool, being fed into the machine, will, by the rotation of the fan-wheel B, be submerged in the liquid in the tank, and as it is carried down it will be caught by the teeth or spines of the conveyers as they move forward, and the wool will thereby be pulled out from under the fan-wheel; but as many movements of the conveyers will occur during a single rotation of the fan-wheel, any large masses will be considerably separated or drawn out by the action of the conveyers, while still held by the fan-wheel and the teeth 1) upon its Wings. After the wool is carried out from under the fan-wheel it will, while floating in the liquid above the 'convcyers, be so submerged with the liquid contained in the tank that it will still bear upon the spines or teeth sufficiently, so that as the conveyers move forward the teeth will hook into the under part of the saturated masses of wool, pulling them downward and moving them forward, while with the return movement of the conveyers the wool will be lifted up by the inclined teeth,while they pass under it.

As the greatdegree ofinclination of the teeth from-the perpendicular permits them to lift the wool as they pass backward under it, such inclination also causes them to pull the wool down'iuto the liquid as the conveyers move forward, so that it is alternately pulled down and lifted up in the liquid, and the dirt and foreign substances washed out by the rush back and forth of the scouring-liquid caused by such movementof the wool. The escape of thedirt, &c., is also considerably facilitated by the separation of the fibers caused by the frequent entry of the tines of the conveyers into the floatingmasses as they pass through the machine, so that'by the time it reaches thesqueeze-rolls it will be quite thoroughly washed and freed from dirt and other foreign substances. WVhen the wool passes between the upper and lower conveyers the forward movement of the fiber audits undulatorymovementin the fluid is considerably assisted by the upper conveyers, so that the wool willpass from between them quite thoroughly cleansed. As the wool reaches the squeeze-rolls it will be compressed by therolls L N as it passes between them, and will be again saturated as it passes out; but as it is taken by the roll M and passes between the rolls M and N it will be squeezed again and be discharged above the surface of the liquid in the tank.

It will be observed that by this mechanism we avoid the use of vibrating rakes to move the wool through thefluid which must be raised and carried back over the surface of the liquid, and we also dispense with the carrier mechanism to carry up the wool from theliquidin the tank to the squeeze-rolls, thus making a very simple and cheap machine.

VVhat' we claim as new and ofourinvention 1. The combination of the bowl A and squeeze-rolls M N with the submerged conveyers (J O, placed horizontally in the bottom of the washing-space of the bowl, substantially as described.

2. The'oombination of the trough of awoolwashing machine with a series of reciprocating toothed bars, placed substantially horizontal in the bottom of the washingspace and adapted to feed the fiber forward under the liquor, in place of the ordinary overhead-rakes, all substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the bowl A, squeezerolls M N, plunger B, conveyors O, and conveyers G, substantially as described.

FREDERICK GRANDERSON SARGENT. ALLAN CAMERON SARGE ST. Witnesses:

ARTHUR B. PLIMPTON, H. W. Ouuncn.

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