US2825936A - Apparatus for feeding fibrous materials - Google Patents

Description

Mariih 1958 J. FLEISSNER ETAL 2,825,936

' APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FIBROUS MATERIALS Filed May 28, 1956 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FIBROUS MATERIALS Johann Fleissner and Gerold Fieissner, Egelsbach, Germany, assignors to Fleissner & Sohn Maschinenfabrik, Egelsbach, Germany, a German firm Application May 28, 1956, Serial No. 587,782 Claims priority, application Germany June 28, 1955 4 Claims. (Cl. 19-105) The present invention relates to an apparatus for feeding loose fibrous material to a machine in which such material is to be treated.

The loose fibers are usually fed to such machines either manually or by means of a simple mechanical conveyor, or by the cylinder of a carding mechanism, all depending upon the kind and consistency of the fibers to be treated. Thus, for example, only special types of fibers may be passed through a carding mechanism before being dried, carbonized or treated otherwise. Long-staple fibers, such as wool, for instance, might be damaged if passed through a carding mechanism. The single feeding mechanisms known prior to this invention for feeding all different kinds of fibrous materials to the respective processing machine therefore always required the removal of the carding mechanism before a sensitive material could be worked upon. Such removal of the carding mechanism, however, always entailed a considerable waste of time which was annoying especially if the type or quality of the fibrous material was changed frequently.

The present invention relates to a feeding mechanism which permits the type of feed to be changed very quickly and without effort so that the fibrous material may be supplied to the respective processing machine either by hand, by a simple mechanical conveyor, or by the carding mechanism. 1

Another object of the invention is to provide a feeding atent anism, from which it will then be thrown upon the lower belt to pass to the processing machine.

Such pivoting device for pivoting the upper belt into or out of operation may obviously be of various designs, the most convenient and elficient, however, being one in which the conveyor belt passes over two rollers, one of which is located closely adjacent to the carding mechanism, while the other roller which is spaced therefrom is connected by a suitable bar to a point either at or near the axis of the first roller, and mounted at such point so as to be pivotable upwardly to a substantial vertical position by means of a simple lever. Thus, when the'upper belt is pivoted to its lower, substantially horizontal position, it will convey the fibers to the carding mechanism, while when such belt is pivoted upwardly, it will be com pletely out of the line of fall of the fibrous material which is thus able to drop directly upon the lower belt.

When the upper belt will thus be pivoted to its upward position, it will also be out of the way so as to permit the fibrous material to be applied by hand directly upon the lower belt leading to the processing machine. In such event, the two other conveyor belts may be stopped entirely.

By the simple operation of a single lever, it will thus be possible to switch quickly from one to another of the three different feeding methods if a change in the type or quality of fibrous material should also render a different type of feeding either necessary or desirable. I

Further objects, features, and advantages of the pres ent invention will be apparent from the following de-. tailed description thereof which is to be read with reference to the accompanying drawing which diagrammatis mechanism which may be converted from one type of 1 feed to another merely by the manual operation of a simple lever.

Aninventive feature of the new feeding mechanism broadly consists in the provision of three conveying devices, one of which is designed to pick up and convey the fibrous material to either of the other two device s, one of which leads directly to the respective processing machine, while the other first passes the fibers through a carding mechanism.

More specifically, it is a feature of the invention to provide three conveyors of a suitable type, for example, belt conveyors, the belts of which may, if desired, be of the corrugated or ribbed variety, and to dispose these conveyors in such a relation to each other that the first conveyor may pick up the loose fibrous material, elevate the same to a higher point, and then allow it to drop in a free fall upon either of the two other conveyor belts. In order to permit such selection, these two belts are disposed one above the other, the upper one leading to the carding mechanism, while the lower belt leads directly to the processing machine. The upper belt is provided with a very simple device to permit it to be pivoted into or out of the line of fall of the fibrous material dropping from the elevated point. Thus, when the upper belt is pivoted to one position, the fibrous material will drop past such belt and directly upon the lower belt to be conveyed thereby to the processing machine, while when the upper belt is pivoted to the other position, it will receive the material and pass the same to the carding mechcally illustrates one preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing, a drum 10 of a willow or sieve drum drier or the like is to be supplied with a fibrous material, for example, by a conveyor belt 11. A cardingmechanism including a cylinder 12. is mounted above the con: veyor belt ll'and supplied with the fibrous material, for example, by means of a conveyor belt 13. A further elevating conveyor belt 14 is mounted in front of conveyor belt 13 and passes upwardly over a roller 20 which .is disposed above conveyor belt 13. Thus, belt 14 will pick up the loose fibers at its lower end and lift the same to its upper end on roller 20., from which they are, dropped upon belt- 13 which then feeds the fibers to cylinder 12 of the carding mechanism from which they are then thrown upon the conveyor belt 11 which finallypasses the.

According to the invention, conveyor belt 13 which may, if desired, be corrugated or ribbed, is mounted on an outer roller 15 and an inner roller 19. Roller 15 is mounted on a lever 17 which may be pivoted about an axis 16. A handle 18 may be provided to pivot lever 17 together with conveyor belt 13. If roller 15, together with belt 13, is pivoted upwardly, as indicated in dot-anddash lines, the fibers will then by-pass the carding cylin der 12 and drop from roller 20 directly upon conveyor belt 11. Thus, by simply pivoting conveyor belt 13, it will be possible to eliminate the operation of the carding mechanism 12 and to pass the fibers from conveyor 14 directly to drum 1t). Conveyor belt 11 may also be disposed so as to allow the fibrous material to be placed thereon by hand, in which case conveyor 14 may be stopped. In this manner it will be possible to use either one of the three possible types of applying the fibers and to switch over very quickly from one type to the other, depending upon the kind and consistency of the fibrous material. If a rather sensitive material is to be treated, belt 13 may then simply be pivoted upwardly so that the fibers will no longer be fed to the carding mechanism 12 but directly to belt 11 leading to. the willow or sieve drum drier 10.

Obviously, if desired, roller 15 may also be mounted so as to be pivotable about the axis of roller 19 adjacent to carding mechanism 12.

Although our invention has been illustrated and describe-d with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, we wish to haven't understood thatit'is in noway limited to the'details'of such embodiments, but iscapable of numerous modifications within :the scopeof the appended claims.

Having thus fully disclosed our invention, what we claim is:

1. A selective feeding mechanism, for feeding loose fibrous material to a fiber processing machine, comprising a lower conveyor belt, carding "means above and spaced from said lower belt, an upper-conveyor belt in front of said, carding means for feeding said material to said carding means, driving means for moving said belts in a direction toward said machine, means for conveying said. material to a point above said belts and for dropping said material upon one of said, belts when in the line of fall of said material from said point, and means for quickly moving said upper belt into and out of said line of fall, whereby said material drops upon said upper belt when moved into said line of fall so as to convey said material to said carding 'means to pass therethrongh and then to fall upon said lower belt to be conveyed to said machine, and whereby said material drops upon said lower belt when said upper belt is moved out of said line of fall of the material.

2. A: selective feeding mechanism for feeding loose fibrous material to: a fiber processing machine, comprising a lower conveyor belt, carding means disposed in a listed position above andspaced from said lower belt, an upper conveyor belt normally disposed in the same plane 'as and in front of said carding means for feedingsaid :material to said carding means, driving means for moving said belts in a direction toward said machine, means for conveying said material to a point above :said belts and for dropping said material upon one of said belts when in the line of fall of said material from said point, and mechanical means for quickly moving said upper belt into and out of said line of fall, whereby-said material drops upon said upper belt when moved into said line of fall so as to convey said material to said carding means to pass therethrongh and then to fall upon said lower belt to be conveyed to "said machine, andwhereby saidkmaterial drops'npon said lower belt when said upper belt ismoved out'o'f said line of all of the material.

, "3'. A selective feeding mechanism for feeding loose fibrous: material to a fib'e'r processingrnachine, comprising a lower conveyor belt, carding means disposed in a fixed position above and spaced from said lower belt, an upper conveyor belt normally disposed in the same plane as and in front of said carding means for feeding said material to said carding means, driving means for moving said belts in a direction toward said machine, means for conveying said material to a point above said belts and for dropping said material upon one of said belts when in the line of fall of said material from said point, and means for pivot-ing said upper belt about a fixed point into and out of said line of fall, whereby said material drops upon said upper belt when pivoted into said line of fall so as to convey said material to said carding means to pass therethrough and then to fall upon saidl'owerbelt to be conveyed to said machine, and whereby said material drops upon said lower belt when said upper belt is pivoted out of said line of fall of the material.

4. A selective feeding mechanism for feeding loose fibrous material to a fiber processing machine, comprisinga lower conveyor belt, carding means disposed in a fixed position above and spaced from said lower belt, an upper conveyor belt disposed in the same plane as and in front of said carding means for feeding said material to said carding means, means for conveying said material to a point above said belts and for dropping said material upon one of said belts when in the "line of fall of said material from said point, a pair of rollers each rotatable about a shaft for supporting said upper belt, means for connecting said shafts at a spaced relation to each other, means for pivotally mounting said connecting means at a point near said carding means for pivotal movement of said belt into and out ofsaid line of fall of the material, a lever on said connecting means at said pivot point for pivoting said connecting means and said belt, and driving means for moving said belts in a directi'on toward said machine, whereby said material drops uponsaid upper belt when pivoted downwardly into said line of fall so as to convey said material to said carding means to pass therethrough and then to fall upon said lower belt to be conveyed to said machine, and whereby saidmaterial drops upon said lower belt when said upper belt is pivoted upwardly out of said line of fall of the material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 847,230 Brockt Mar. 12, 1907 849,689. Kleven Apr. 9, 1 907 1,227,072 Riley et a1. May 22, 1917 1,321,784 Bird Nov. 11, 1919 1,876,194 Wuest Sept. 6, 1932

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