US2696904A

US2696904A - Digester filling chute

Info

Publication number: US2696904A
Application number: US196477A
Authority: US
Inventors: Nels H Sandberg
Original assignee: Waldorf Paper Products Co
Current assignee: Waldorf Paper Products Co
Priority date: 1950-11-18
Filing date: 1950-11-18
Publication date: 1954-12-14
Anticipated expiration: 1971-12-14

Description

Dec. 14, 1954 N. H. SANDBERG 2,696,904

DIGESTER FILLING CHUTE Filed Nov. 18, 1950 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR.

fi e/s H. Sandbar WW-Elan ATTURN Dec. 14, 1954 v N. H. SANDBERG 2,696,904

DIGESTER FILLING cntm:

Fild NOV. 18, 1950 .3 Shets-Sheet 3 INVENTORQ Ale ls .h'. 5cm dbery ATTORNEY DIGESTER FILLING CHUTE Nels H. Sandberg, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to Waldorf. Paper Products Company, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application November 18, 1950, Serial No. 196,477

4 Claims. (Cl. 19852) My invention relates to an improvement in digester filling chute wherein it is desired to provlde a simple and effective means of filling rotary digesters and the like.

In the manufacture of paper pulp, the pulp forming material is often placed in a rotary digester where it is cooked for a predetermined period of time. Difliculty is experienced in completely filling these digesters. Wood chips when poured into the digester have a tendency to build up in conical form, leaving void spaces near the top of the digester. It is usually necessary for a workman to enter the digester and shovel the chips laterally in orderto completely fill the digester. In some 1nstances it has been found necessary to close the digester opening, rotate the digester for a period of time to scatter the chips, and then to open the digester in order to fill the remaining space with chips. Such procedures are costly and time consuming.

The present device comprises a chute for guiding wood chips and the like from a lateral conveyor to the digester. opening. This chute acts as a movable conduit connecting the source of material supply and the digester opening. The chute is provided with a rotatable paddle wheel at its lower extremity which acts to scatter the chips in all directions from the lower end of the chute. As a result the digester may be quickly filled without the necessity of entering the digester and manually moving the rlnaterial or rotating the digester to scatter the materia A feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a chute which attaches beneath an opening in a conveyor and in providing a door in this, opening which is movable into and out of closed position. The chute is first attached in place leading into the digester opening and the door is moved so as to allow the chips or other material to enter the chute.

An added feature of the present invention lies in the provision of a chute having a movable deflector therein which acts to deflect the chips onto the scattering device by means of which they are spread in a circular path. This deflector is movable so as to deflect the chips toward any side of the chute and acts to prevent clogging of the chute with the material.

These and other objects and novel features of my invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawings forming a part of my specification:

Figure l is a diagrammatic view partially in section showing the chute in use in a digester.

Figure 2 is an elevation view of the digester.

Figure 3 is an elevation view of the upper portion of the chute showing the manner in which it is attached to a conveyorjor the like.

Figure 4 is a sectional view through the lower portion of the chute showing the rotatable deflector blade and the bafile.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the bafile removed from the chute.

Figure 6 is a sectional view showing the deflector, the position of the section being indicated by the line 6-6 of Figure 4 Figure 7 is an elevation view of the upper portion of the chute.

The chute is designed for use in conjunction with a rotary digester illustrated in general by the letter A. The digester A is shown as being spherical in shape and having an opening 10 by means of which the body may be filled and emptied. This opening 10 is normally I 2,696,904 Patented Dec. 14, 1954 ICE closed by a pressure door when the device is in operation. Usually steam gauges, steam pipes, and other fittings are connected to the digester, these elements not being illustrated in the drawings, as they are well known in the art. I

A pair of trunnions 11 extend axially from the digester body and rotatably support the body. These trunnions 11 are supported in bearings such as 12 supported by suitable standards or framework illustrated in general by the numeral 13. The digester body is usually rotated bymeans of a gear or worm wheel 14 rotated by a cooperable worm or gear 15.'

The digesters A are often mounted beneath a floor or platform 16 provided with apertures such as 17 which I may align with the digester opening when this opening is in one rotative position. The digester is ordinarily filled through the opening 17 by any suitable means.

The chute for use in filling, the digester is indicated in general by the numeral B. The chute Bis usually employed to deliver wood chips or similar pulp forming material from a horizontal-conveyor C. The conveyor C may be of any suitable type such as a screw type of conveyor rotatable in a trough-shaped body 19. The

conveyor body 19 is provided with a downwardly directed sleeve or elbow 20 which is normally closed by a closure plate 21. One such sleeve 20 is provided for each digester of the series. The door 21 is ordinarily provided with a rack 22 on its undersurface, this rack being engageable with a pinion 23. The pinion 23 is 6 supported upon a transverse shaft 24 providedwith a hand wheel 25 by means of which the shaft may be rotated. The plate 21 is supported in opposed channel brackets 26, which extend downwardly to provide bearings for the shaft 24. The channel brackets 26 are formed of two opposed angle iron members connected marginally by a spacing flange slightly deeper than the thickness of the closure plate 21.

As illustrated in Figure 7 of the drawings, a pair of angle brackets 27 are provided with laterally extending flanges 29 resting over and secured to one of the brackets 26. These brackets 27 are also provided with laterally extending flanges 30 at the lower extremities.

A bar 31 is supported by the flanges 30 and extends longitudinally of the conveyor. This bar 31 forms a clamping bar for use in attaching the chute in proper location beneath a conveyor opening.

The chute is provided with a funnelshaped top 32 i of proper dimensions to receive the chips or other material dropping from the conveyor C when the corresponding door 21 is opened. The funnel shaped chute top 32 I is provided with a pair of spaced angle brackets 33 which connect the chute with a channel 34. The channel 34 is supported with its base on a substantially vertical plane and its opposed sides on parallel substantially horizontal planes. A pair of clamping screws 35 extend through the lower flange of the channel 34 and are designed to clamp against the clamping bar 31 on the conveyor.

When the chute is in place the channel 34 embraces a portion of the bar 31 and is held in this position by the clamping screws 35. By loosening these screws 35, the chute may be disconnected from the bar 31.

The chute B includes a tubular inclined body portion 36 which is connected at its upper end to the lower end of the funnel shaped top 32. The lower end of the tubular section 36 leads into the vertical tubular section 37. Thus the material to enter the digester A drops into the funnel shaped top 32, drops through the inclined chute section 36 and also through the vertical chute section 37.

A generally rectangular frame 39 is connected to the chute section 36 by transverse braces 40. This frame 39 supports an electric motor 41 having a pulley 42 upon its motor shaft 43. The frame 39 also supports a vertically extending shaft 44 by the use of spaced bearings 45. A pulley 46 on the shaft 44 is connected by a belt 47 to the pulley 42. Thus upon rotation of the motor 41, the shaft 44v is similarly rotated.

The shaft44 is supported substantially axially of the tubular section 37 of the chute. A disc 49 is provided with a hub 50 mounted upon the lower extremity of the shaft 44 beneath the lower end of the chute section 37. A series of angularly spaced angle members 51 are supported upon the upper surface of the disc 49 as indicated in Figure 6. These angles 51 act as blades to throw chips and similar material outwardly.

The frame 39 also supports a pair of bearings 52 which support a transverse shaft 53. The shaft 53 is mounted in sleeves 54 at the lower extremity of an inverted U-shaped yoke 55. The yoke 55 straddles a portion of the apparatus and acts to support the same. The upper extremity of the yoke 55 is connected by an adjustable turn buckle 56 to a hook 57 supported by a trolley 59 mounted upon a rail 60. Thus the filling device may be moved from one position to another along the rail 60. Furthermore, the device may be pivoted about the axis of the shaft 53 so as to raise the lower extremity of the chute out of the aperture inthe digester for use of the aperture 17 in the floor or platform 16.

A baffle 61 is supported by a clamp 62 to the upper extremity of the tubular chute section 37. This baffle 61 includes an anchoring end 63 designed to extend along the wall of the tubular section 37 and an inclined end 64 which inclines toward the opposite wall of the chute section from that to which the baflle is anchored. The deflector end 64 is bifurcated by a slot 65 forming two

separate baflie portions

66 and 67 designed to extend on opposite sides of the shaft 44. Preferably one end 66 of the battle is bent along a transverse line as indicated at 69 to extend downwardly axially of the tubular member while the other end inclines across the chute section.

When it is desired to fill a digester A, the opening 10 of the digester is uncovered and the chute B is moved into position above the digester. The lower chute section and the deflector plate 49 "are inserted through the

open ings

17 and 10 to terminate within the digester. Simultaneously the channel 34 at the upper end of the chute is positioned to engage the clamping bar 31 and to be held in place thereupon by clamping screws 35.

When the chute is properly located, the motor 41 is turned on so that the deflector 49 will rotate. The hand wheel is next operated to roll back the door 21 from its closed position. The chips or other materials which are conveyed along the conveyor 19 will now fall through the door opening of the elbow or sleeve 20, will drop into the upper end of the chute down through the

chute sections

36 and 37 and onto the deflector 49. This deflector throws the material outwardly in a generally circular pattern insuring the proper filling of the digester.

It will be seen that with such an arrangement much time and eifort may be saved. In any event where a conveyor is used to convey the pulp forming material, some 4 type of chute must be provided to guide the chips into the digester. By use of this filling chute the necessity of entering the digester to manually spread the chips is avoided. Furthermore, the task of closing the digester, rotating the same to spread the chips and reopening the digester is obviated. As a result the operation may be completed in a fraction of the time previously required.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principles of construction and operation of my digester filling chute, and while I have endeavored to set forth the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that obvious changes may be made within the scope of the following claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A filling chute for use in distributing material in cluding a substantially vertical chute section, an inclined chute section connected to the upper end of said vertical chute section, a rotarydeflector positioned beneath said vertical chute section, a deflector shaft extending through said vertical chute section, and a baffle supported within said vertical chute section and supoprted at a downwardly inclined angle, said baffle filling substantially onehalf of the cross sectional area of the vertically extending chute section.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 and including a bl lilll'cfiid end on said baflle straddling said deflector s t.

3. The structure defined in claim 1 and in which the bafile includes a vertically extending support, and including a means for supporting said support in adjustably fixed relation to said vertical chute section.

4. The structure defined in claim 1 and in which the bafiie is provided with a bifurcated end straddling said deflector shaft, and in which one side of said bifurcated end is bent out of the inclined plane of the baflle to elxtt'nd substantially in a plane through the axis of the s a t.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 204,308 Fascher et a1 May 28, 1878 228,048 Fascher May .25, 1880 1,157,935 Gray Oct. 26, 1915 2,497,406 Graham Feb. 14, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 570,866 France Ian. 23, 1924