US2791331A

US2791331A - Aggregate machine

Info

Publication number: US2791331A
Application number: US433560A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gerhardt W Van Drie
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1954-06-01
Filing date: 1954-06-01
Publication date: 1957-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 1974-05-07

Description

y 7, 1957 G. w. VAN DRIE 2,791,331

AGGREGATE MACHINE Filed June 1, 1954 [6 i=1].- M v INVENTOR. a G.W Van Drie States This invention relates to gravel cleaning machines, particularly adapted for removing foreign materials from aggregate for use on roadways and in mixing concrete, and in particular a housing having a receiving hopper at the upper end with adjustable bafiles in the hopper and housing, whereby the flow of material through the cleaner is adapted to be regulated and wherein the gravel is subjected to a blast of air as it drops downwardly by gravity, in the housing so that foreign materials, such as shale, coal, lirnonite, fossil corals, hematite concretions, lumps of clay, sticks, and other trash or dirt, the specific gravity of which is less than that of the gravel are blown from the gravel.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a gravel cleaning machine wherein the gravel drops by gravity through a screen of air in which bafiles and plates for controlling the supply of gravel and air, and also the passage of foreign matter removed from the gravel from the machine and the discharge of the cleaned gravel are adjustable.

Gravel used for surfacing roadways is required to meet certain specifications and owing to the different characteristics of the materials in different parts of the country the specifications are not consistent throughout the United States. As an illustration, the Highway Commissioner of the State of Iowa requires that the gravel shall contain not more than one percent of shale and coal combined. In other words, to meet the said specifications the gravel must not contain more than one percent of undesired substances, such as shale or coal, or coal and shale combined. In some parts of the country gravel used for roadways and building purposes will often contain dirt, fossil corals, l-imonite, and hematite concretions, and in other parts gravel will contain lumps of clay, sticks and other trash. In order to be accepted such substances must be removed from the gravel.

With this thought in mind this invention contemplates a gravel cleaning machine in which the gravel drops through the machine and also through a blast of air in the machine by gravity in which the supply of gravel to the machine, the circulation of air through the machine and gravel, and the discharge of the removed materials and cleaned gravel are each independently adjustable so that the machine may be set to clean gravel to meet the requirements of the diflferent parts of the country.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a gravel cleaning machine that is readily adjustable to clean gravel to meet the requirements of the different parts of the country.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gravel cleaning machine in which the passage of gravel through the machine is actuated completely by gravity.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a gravel cleaning machine in which both the supply of aggregate to the machine and the discharge of cleaned aggregate from the machine are adapted to be regulated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gravel or aggregate cleaning machine in which after being ad justed to clean gravel to certain requirements the machine is adapted to operate indefinitely without an attendant or operator.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a gravel or aggregate cleaning machine in which the ma chine is of a simple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in View the invention embodies a vertically disposed housing, rectangular-shaped in cross section, a receiving hopper atent positioned on and extended from the upper end of the housing, a baffle adjustably mounted in the hopper, a gate for admitting a blast of air positioned in the side of the housing from the upper end of which the'hopper extends, a motor driven blower mount-ed on a bracket at one side of the housing and positioned to discharge air through said gate, an adjustable discharge opening for foreign matter removed from the aggregate by air from the blower, a bafiie adjustably mounted in the housing for guidingthe foreign matter to the discharge opening, an outlet opening in the base of the housing through which the aggregate p asses'by gravity to bins or to con veying means, and a baffle adjustably mount-ed in the lower part of the housing for controlling the'fiow of the gravel or aggregate through the outlet-opening.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following-description takenin connection with the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view illustrating the improved a'ggregatecleanin'g machine with battles and adjusting plates "shown in dotted'lines and with a conveyor belt at the upper end of the machine and supporting legs extended downwardly from the housing broken away.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the machine also showing the device with the conveyor belt broken away.

Figure 3 is a detailshowing a portion of a front elevational view of the machine illustrating the adjusting plate of the discharge gate or opening.

While one embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the above referred to'drawings, his to be understood that they are merely for the pu-rpose of illustration and that various changes in construction may he resorted to in the course of manufacture in order that the invention may be utilized to the bestadvantage according to circumstances which may arise, without in any way departing from the spirit-and intention of the device, which is to be limited only in accordance with the appended claim. And while there is stated the 'primary field of utility of the invention, it remains obvious that it may be employed in any other capacity wherein it may be found applicable.

In preparing gravel for surfacing and paving highways the gravel is first crushed to a size commensurate with the requirements and specifications of a highway commissioner of a certain locality. The crushed gravel is screened to a particular 'size whereby aggregate of substantially uniform size is obtained and this product may contain shale, coal, clay, sticks and other trash, the specific gravity and density of which is less than that of the gravel.

In the accompanying drawings, and in the following specification, the same reference characters are used to designate the same parts and elements throughout, and in which the numeral 10 refers to the invention in its entirety, numeral 12 indicating a housing, rectangularshaped in cross section, numeral 14 a feed hopper having a bafile 16 therein, numeral 18 a pulley of a belt conveyor 20 that is positioned to supply gravel to the hopper 14, numeral 22 a blower actuated by 'a motor 24 for circulating air through the gravel as it drops from the hopper 14, numeral 26 a baffle for guiding foreign matter removed from the gravel or aggregate to a discharge opening of the housing, and numeral 28 a bafile for guiding the gravel or aggregate to the outlet opening in the lower part of the housing.

The housing 12 is formed with a front wall 30 having a discharge opening 32 therein and the size of the opening is readily adjustable with a plate 34, the edges of which are held by L-shaped members or angles 36 and 38. The plate 34 is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced openings 49 through which a bolt 42, mounted in an opening in the front wall 30, extends, and by moving the plate so that the bolt may be placed through different openings therein the size of the opening may be adjusted.

The batfie 26, which is positioned to coact with the opening 32, is pivotally mounted by a pin 44 in bearings 46 on the inner surface of the wall 30, and the extended end of the baflle is adjustably held by a rod 48 which extends through ears 50 on the under side of the baflle, and also through spaced openings 52 in side walls 54 and 56 of the housing.

The bafile 28 is adjustably held by a rod 58 at the lower end and a rod 60 at the upper end, and the rod 60, which extends through ears 62 also extends through spaced openings 64 in the side walls 54 and 56. The rod 58, which is pivotally connected to the bathe 28 with bearings 66, is positioned to extend through openings 68 in vertically disposed legs of angle bars 70, and with both the upper and lower ends of the baffle held in spaced openings the battle is readily adjusted to correspond with the size of the outlet opening. The outlet opening is adjusted by a plate 72 that is slidably held in the angle bars 70.

The housing, which is supported by corner posts 74, is also provided with a rear wall 76 that is provided with an opening through which air is circulated through the housing by the fan or blower, and the opening for the air is regulated by plates 78 and 80 that are held in position with bolts 82 and 84. The bolts 82 and 84 are mounted in the rear wall 76 and the plates are provided with vertically spaced openings positioned to receive the bolts whereby the plates are adapted to be moved upwardly or downwardly to adjust the size of a gate formed between edges of the plates and positioned to register with the opening through the rear wall of the housing.

The blower 22 is mounted on a platform 86, which is secured at one end to the rear wall 76, and the opposite end, which extends outwardly from the rear wall is supported by braces 88 which connect the extended end of the platform to the rear wall. A smaller platform 90 is also supported by the braces 88 at one end and by the rear wall at the other, and the motor 24 is secured to the platform 90 with bolts 92. The blower is provided with a housing 94 having a neck 96 that is secured to the rear wall, and a base 98 of the blower is secured to the platform 86 with bolts 100.

The baffle 16 of the feed hopper 14 is pivotally mounted in side walls of the hopper with a rod 102 that extends through bearings 104 on the under side of the baffie, and also through openings 106 in the side walls, and the opposite end of the bafile is adjustably held by a rod 108 that is positioned in cars 110 on the under surface of the baffle, and that extends through openings 112 in the side Walls. The openings 112 are positioned ona radius from the center or axis of the rod 102 and with the openings spaced, as shown, the position of the baffle is readily adjustable.

The battle 16 is positioned to coact with an inlet gate formed with a plate 114 that is provided with spaced openings 116 which are positioned to receive a belt 118 positioned in an upper panel 120 of the housing. The plate 114 is adapted to slide on the panel 120 in order to adjust the size of the inlet opening which is indicated by the numeral 122. p

The side walls of the feed hopper 14 are provided with extensions 124 and the extensions are provided with openings 126 in which a shaft 128 of the roller or pulley 18 of the conveyor is rotatably mounted.

With the pulley 18 rotating in a clockwise direction gravel or aggregate traveling in the direction of the arrow 130 is deposited upon the baffle 16 of the feed hopper, and from the baffle the aggregate drops downwardly by gravity, as indicated by the arrows 132, dropping through the outlet opening in the lower end of the housing. In passing the gate positioned between the edges of the plates 78 and 80 foreign matter, and particularly materials of lower specific gravity and lower density, are blown from the aggregate and deposited upon the baffle 26 from which the foreign matter passes through the discharge opening 32.

The blower 22 is driven by the motor 24 with a belt 134 which is trained over pulleys 136 and 138 on the blower and motor, respectively, and with a variable speed motor, the current or blast of 'air is adapted to be regulated. With the current of air regulated and with the size of the gate through which the air is driven also adjustable, substantially any amount of air desired may be circulated through the aggregate.

In addition to regulating the air passing through the aggregate or gravel, the baffle 16 in the feed hopper is adapted to be adjusted to regulate the feed of the aggregate to the housing, and the

bafiles

26 and 28 which control the discharge of the foreign matter and passage of the aggregate through the outlet opening are also ad- 'justable. By this combination of adjustable elements the machine is adapted to be set to remove substantially all foreign matter from the aggregate regardless of the part of the country in which the machine is used, or of the type of material from which the gravel or aggregate is taken.

With substantially all foreign matter removed the final product is comparatively clean and adapted to be used freely for road surfacing and paving and also for mixing concrete.

From the foregoing specification, it will become apparent that the invention disclosed will adequately accomplish the functions for which it has been designed' and in an economical manner, and that its simplicity, accuracy, and ease of operation are such as to provide a relatively inexpensive device, considering what it will accomplish and that it will find an important place in the art to which it appertains when once placed on the market.

It is thought that persons skilled in the art to which the invention relates will be able to obtain a clear understanding of the invention after considering the description in connection with the drawings. Therefore, a more lengthy description is regarded as unnecessary.

Changes in shape, size, and rearrangement of details and parts, such as come within the purview of the invention claimed may be resorted to, in actual practice, if desired.

Having now described the invention that which is claimed to be new and desired to be procured by Letters Patent, is:

In a machine for treating gravel, the combination which comprises a vertically disposed housing having an inlet opening in the upper end, an outlet opening in the lower end and aligned with said inlet opening, an air gate in the rear of the housing and a discharge opening in the front thereof, each of said inlet, outlet,

'and discharge openings having an adjustably mounted plate positioned to coact therewith to regulate the sizes of said opening, and said air gate having adjustable upper and lower plates positioned to coact therewith to regulate the area of the air gate, a feed hopper positioned on the upper end of the housing, baflles positioned to guide materials to the inlet, outlet, and discharge openings, means for adjustably mounting the baffies in the hopper and housing, means for adjusting the positions of the baffles, a platform mounted on one side of the housing and positioned below said air gate, a blower positioned on the platform and adapted to discharge air through said air gate, a motor for actuating the blower, and means for feeding aggregate to said feed 7 hopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES'PATENTS 460,73] Stone Oct. 6, 1891 1,420,593 Titchmarsh June 20, 1922 2,272,649 Smith Feb. 10, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany June 22, 1953