US2662752A - Emulsifying apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 15, 1953 J. F. MILLER ETAL 2,662,752

EMULSIFYING APPARATUS Filed May 23, 1950 i BY WK/5m ATTORNEY Patented Dec. l5, 1953 EMULSIFYING APPARATUS James Franklin Miller and Michael C. Jaskowski, Pittsburgh, Pa.. assisnors to the United ,Stam of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Application May 23, 1950. Serial No, 163,6

4 Claims.

emulsions. The time consumed, the energy expended, the type of agitation (whether stirring, shaking, or inversion), and the personal equation, all changed the iinal product. After much study, it was discovered that the most reproducible and regular results were obtained by the simplest technique 0f merely inverting a cylinder containing the concentrate and water and returning it toits original position. 100 ml. graduated glass cylinders were used and the emulsions were examined by placing the cylinders containing the arranged to transmit light through the bottles so that their contents may be inspected after such rotation. The bottle support includes a casing 5 Open ,at the front side and closed at the bottom. and the two ends. the casing tcp 6 having a lid '1 hinged as at 8 so that the casing may be opened at the top to give access to its interior for placement or removal of the bottles. Fixed within the casing at .either end is a shaft bearing 9, In, said bearings being aligned to support a shaft ll and stub axle l2 aligned with. shaft Il. An elongated bottle rack, I3 is secured to shaft H at one end, and is ,fixed to the stub axle l2 at the other end; the arrangement being such that the longitudinal axis of the bottle rack I3 substantially coincides with the common axis of shaft lIl and stub axle I2. The bottle rack is open at the front and back to permit transmission of light therethrough, and has a lightreiiectins surface such. as ymilky Plexiglas I4 on which rest the lower endsof bottles or testtubes l5.- The Plexiglas 'sheet i4 extends beyond the confines of the bottle, as Fig. 3 clearly emulsions in front of alight source. Stabilities shows. A perforated bottle holder I6 is fixed of emulsions could be reproduced to abOllt 5%, 25 Within lille bOttle rack and-holds the bottles upprovided a single operator working with identical emulsion systems was active for short periods of time, say one hour. With dierent operators, widely diierent results were obtained even when they attempted to follow the same technique. Repeating the inversion produced results which were increasingly erratic as the In the accompanying drawings forming a part.

of this specification- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a rotator embodying the invention;

Fig, 2 is a vertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 of Eig. l.

In the drawings, we have shown a rotator which in general consists of a support for a plurality of bottles or other transparent containers, power means for rotating the support through one or more revolutions as desired, and, a source or light right and equally spaced as shown. Stoppers l'l seal the upper ends ol the bottles. To hold the Stoppers tight, a sponge rubber mat I8 is xed on the bottom of a strip I9 secured to a lid 2li .hinged as at 2i to the top of the bottle rack. Latches (not shown) may ksecure the lid 20 and thus hold the bottles immovably on the rack.

By the described construction one or more test tubes of bottles may be placed on the rack and held against relative movement, with no spillage of its contents possible, while the rack is rotated one 01 more times on its longitudinal axis- A single rotation of the rack: causes the bottle or bottles to be inverted and then restored to its original position. All the bottles are moved in the same manner and all are subjected to identical agitation or mixing; in fact, as the drawings indicate, each bottle is rotated about an axis which is half way between its upper and lower ends, After the rotation the bottles may be inspected with the aid of light from a source such as a pair of fluorescent tubes 24, 25 held on a support 26 including a reilector 2l, with a lightdiffusing panel 2l (such as milky ll=lexiglas) placed in front of the tubes. The light transmltted through the Plexiglas panel 28 shines through the bottles or test tubes and reveals their contents. Some of the light strikes the re- -llectlng sur-,face I 4 on which the bottles stand and is reflected into the interiors of the bottles, to 'give an improved view of the contents. The

source of electric current and the usual lightcontrolling switch are not shown but will be understood without illustration.

To effect and control rotation of the bottle rack, several different mechanisms may be used. The one herein shown consists of an electric motor 30, a reduction gear box 3l coupled with the motor and driving a shaft 32 slowly, a coupling 33 directly connecting shaft 32 with shaft ll, a pinion 34 driven by shaft 32, a spur gear 35 driven by pinion 34, a microswitch or cut-off switch 36 connected into the motor circuit, and a pin 37 xed to and extending out from gear 35 in any desired position (as by screw threads on its end, not shown, engaged in one of preferably ten tapped bores 38 in the gear) and adapted to depress the contact of the microswitch 3G once during each revolution of the gear to open the motor circuit. Now the pinion 34 may have sixteen teeth, while the spur gear may have 160 teeth, or a 1:10 ratio, making the spur gear rotate once for each ten rotations of the pinion. The bottle rack, of course, rotates synchronously with the pinion. Depending on the angular position of pin 37 relative to the microswitch at the start, the bottle rack will rotate from one to nine times before the parts are brought to rest. f a tenth rotation, or a larger number of rotations,

are desired, the operator `will swing the microarranged in front on the rotator, with the necessary circuits. By placing a light source of constant intensity at the rear so that the light will be directed through the emulsions to the cells, variations in the concentration of oil droplets will variably aifect the light cells, and with the proper calibrated instruments the rate of creaming may be measured. Observation by the eye is capable of determining only large differences in droplet concentration, whereas lightsensitive cells would make possible the measurement of very small droplet concentration differences.

In actual use, the described apparatus has demonstrated its value for making emulsions of various mixtures and for visual inspection of the emulsions. The device is easily built, operated and kept in service. No particular skill is required and results are substantially uniformi.

Obviously, a number of changes may he made in the described apparatus Without departure from the spirit of the invention. Thus, in some instances natural light, for example, that .fr om a window, may be used in lieu. of the source of artificial light 24, 25 shown in the drawings. Other minor changes will occur to those skilled in the art.

What we claim is:

l. Emulsifying apparatus comprising a support which is open from one side to the other so that light may pass therethrough; a bottle holder inclosed by the support; means for clamping a bottle against movement on the bottle holder, means for rotatably mounting the bottle holder on the support so that the bottles are turned end over end when the bottle holder is rotated; power driven mechanism for rotating the bottle holder, said power driven mechanism including an electric motor, reduction gearing driven by said motor, and a shaft driven by said reduction gearing for rotating the bottle holder inA one direction only; a switch electrically connected with said motor for opening the circuit of said motor;

means moved by said shaft to operate said switch to stop said motor, said last-named means being operator-adjustable to change the number of rotations permitted the bottle holder in each cycle of the machine; and a support upon which said circuit-opening switch is hingedly mounted in such position that the operator may swing the switch out of the path of said last-named means so that the bottle holder may then rotate as long as desired.

2. Emulsifying apparatus comprising a casing which is open from one side to the other so that light may pass therethrough; a bottle holder surrounded by the casing; means for clamping a bottle against movement on the bottle holder; means for rotatably mounting the bottle holder on the casing so that the bottle is turned end to end when the bottle holder is rotated; power driven mechanism for rotating the bottle holder; a light-diffusing plate mounted on the casing for cooperation with a bottle on the bottle holder, and light reecting means provided on the bottle holder and disposed adjacent one end of the bottle and extending laterally therebeyond to reflect light up through the bottle.

3. Emulsifying apparatus comprising a casing which is closed at the top, bottom and ends but open at each side so that light may pass from one side to the other, a bottle holder surrounded by the casing, means for clamping a bottle against movement on the bottle holder, means for mounting the bottle holder in the casing to rotate about a horizontal axis so that the bottle is turned end over end when the bottle holder is rotated, means for rotating the bottle holder, a verticallydisposed light-diifusing plate mounted in the casing for cooperation with a bottle in the bottle holder, and light reecting means provided on the bottle holder and disposed adjacent one end of the bottle and extending laterally therebeyond to reflect light up through the bottle.

4. Emulsifying apparatus comprising a rectangular casing which is closed at the top, bottom and ends but open at each side so that light may pass from one side to the other, a bottle holder surrounded by the casing, a pivoted lid mounted in the top of the casing and over the bottle holder, means for clamping a bottle against movement on the bottle holder, means for mounting the bottle holder in the casing to rotate about a horizontal axis so that the bottle is turned end over end when the bottle holder is rotated, means for rotating the bottle holder, a vertically-disposed light-diffusing plate mounted in the casing for cooperation with a bottle in the bottle holder, and light reecting means provided on the bottle holder and disposed adjacent one end of the bottle and extending laterally therebeyond to reflect light up through the bottle.

JAMES FRANKLIN MILLER. MICHAEL C. JASKOWSKI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 423,362 Wells Mar. 11, 1890 1,301,536 Bee Apr. 22, 1919 1,376,273 Hansell Apr. 26, 1921 1,448,617 Doe Mar. 13, 1923 1,502,915 Neuwerk July 20, 1924 2,131,662 Holmes Sept. 27, 1938 2,268,098 Weathers Dec. 30, 1941 2,286,836 Sachtleben June 16, 1942 2,368,350 Ellison Jan. 30, 1945

Images