US2899070A

US2899070A - murphy

Info

Publication number: US2899070A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1959-08-11
Anticipated expiration: 1976-08-11

Description

Aug. 11, 1959 J. T. MURPHY SAND AND GRAVEL DRYING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed. Oct. .4, 1955 JEREMIAH T. MURPHY,

ATTORNEY.

Au 11, 1959 4 J. T. MURPHY 2,899,070

' SAND AND GRAVEL DRYING MACHINE Filed Oct. 4, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JEREMIAH r MURPHY,- IN VEN TOR.

ATTORNEX United States Patent )1 SAND AND GRAVEL DRYING MACHINE Jeremiah T. Murphy, Sun Valley, Calif.

Application October 4, 1955, Serial No. 538,459

4 Claims. (Cl. 210-'523) This invention relates to a sand and gravel drying machine and more particularly to a drying machine in which the material is continually fed to the machine and the water is continually removed.

The drying machine of the invention utilizes a rotated, tilted pan into which the sand or gravel is fed and the water is removed at the lower position of the pan. The rotation of the pan serves to move the sand past the highest portion of the pan, during which time the sand encounters a number of angularly positioned bafiles. These bailles serve to squeeze the water from the sand so ithat the water will run back to the lower portion of the ;pan and be continuously removed. One of the baffles is :so positioned at an angle to the rim of the pan that rota- .tion of the pan will continually remove the dried material tby forcing the material over the side of the pan. Thus, sand or gravel can be continuously fed to the pan and the 'dried material will be continuously pushed over the side Eby the unloading baffle into any suitable container. .Since the sand or gravel will pile up against the bafiles, the weight of the sand will also force the water from the sand :at the bottom of the pan and some sand is permitted to pass underneath the baflle towards the unloading baffle :since it is in a fairly dry condition. Thus, the drying machine operates in two different manners to squeeze the water out of the sand. The present invention is more suitable than the centrifugal type now in use since the present type machines are not continuous in operation and are incapable of drying the sand or gravel sufiiciently for immediate use.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sand and gravel drying machine which is continuous in operation and utilizes a number of baffles to squeeze the water from the sand.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sand and gravel drying machine having a tilted, rotating pan into which the wet sand is continually introduced at the lower portion and from which the water, squeezed from the sand by a number of bafiles, is continually re moved from the lower portion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sand and gravel drying machine in which the wet sand is placed in a tilted, rotating pan and is rotated against baffles which act to squeeze the water from the sand and also to pile up the sand to remove the water from the sand at the bottom of the pan; the dried sand being forced over the side of the pan by one of the baflles.

These and other objects of the invention not specifically set forth above will become readily apparent from the accompanying description and drawings in which:

Figure l is a top plan view of the drying machine illustrating the position of the various bafiles.

Figure 2 is a side elevation View of the drying machine showing the drive mechanism for the tilted pan and the syphon for continuously removing the water from the pan.

Figure 3 is a vertical section along line 3--3 of Figure 2 showing the manner in which the bafiles are supported relative to the tilted pan.

Figure 4 is a partial section similar to Figure 3 showing a modification of one of the baflles wherein openings are located in the bottom edge to permit the passage of sand therethrough.

Figure 5 is a partial vertical section similar to that of Figure 3 illustrating a modification of one of the baflles wherein the bafile is spring loaded to prevent the baflie from becoming locked against the pan by large particles.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of a modification of the invention wherein a number of baffles are utilized to squeeze the Water from the sand.

Referring to the embodiment of the invention illustrated as Figures 1 to 3, the pan 10 is rotatably mounted about a tilted axis 11 which is connected to variable speed reduction gearing contained within housing 12 and the reduction gearing is connected through a pulley 13 and belt 14 to motor 115. While the pan is illustrated as tilted from the horizontal approximately 10 degrees, it is understood that the tilt of the pan can be adjusted to the desired angle by changing the tilt of axis 11. Also, the speed of the pan can be adjusted by adjustment of the gearing to provide theproper operating speed for the machine. The pan has a uniform rim 16 of suitable height to retain the sand during rotation of the pan and bottom '17 is connected to axis 1 1. The bottom 17 has a high portion -18 and a low portion 19 as a result of the tilt of the pan. A stationary frame 20 for the baflles is positioned around the pan and has

Vertical legs

21 and 22 which are secured to support 23 for the machine. The leg 21 is higher than the leg 22 so that cross member 24 can be connected to the top of each leg and positioned parallel to and over the top of the pan. A first baffle 25 is secured to cross member 24 by two supports 26 and 2.7 which are riveted or otherwise attached to the cross member and to the back of the bafile. Also, the end of the bafile is supported by the cross member 24 by a bracket 28 which has one end 29 secured to the end of the baffle and the other end 30 is connected to the cross member. The bracket 28 and supports 26 and 27 serve to position and hold the baffle 25 at an angle to the radial line of pan 10 and the top of the bafile is tipped slightly in the direction of rotation as indicated by the arrow of Figure 1. A second baffle 31 is secured at its upper edge to the cross member 24 by suitable means such as rivets or bolts, and the top of this baffle is also tipped slightly away from the direction of rotation. The bafile 31 is positioned at an angle to the radial line of the pan such that the baffie and rim 16 form a wedge to continuously accumulate and discharge the dry sand.

The wet sand or gravel is continually introduced at the low portion 19 of pan 10 through a chute 32 which is connected to a supply of wet material contained in a hopper or similar container and the sand can be continually fed into the pan at a desired rate. In order to continually withdraw the water which has been removed from the sand by the bafiles, a syphon 33 has an enlarged end 34 positioned directly above the bottom surface of the pan at the low portion 19 and the smaller end 35 is positioned below the water level 36 in a tank 37. The tank 37 is supported by a stand 38 and a bracket 39 serves to support the syphon 33 from the stand 38. The level 36 is continually maintained by discharge 40 at the same level as the desired level of the water within the low portion of the pan so that the end 34 of the syphon can be maintained under water and the water can be continually removed.

The lower edge of

baflles

25 and 31 are spaced slightly from the bottom 17 of pan 10 to form

spaces

41 and 42, respectively, which permit a thin layer of sand on the bottom of the pan to pass under the baffles. This layer will be relatively dry because of the fact that the sand which piles up on each bafile will squeeze the water from the layer. The spaces also prevent the bottom of the pan from becoming locked against the batfies, since oversized particles can pass through the spaces without becoming wedged bet-ween the baffles and the bottom of the pan. Also, the bafiie 25 contains a notch 43 at the lower end nearest the aXis 11 for the purpose of permitting dry sand to pass underneath the batfie.

The operation of the drying machine will now be described. The wet sand or other granular material is continually fed into the pan through the chute 32 and the sand will rotate with the pan until it comes in contact with the first stationary bathe 25. The sand will pile up against the first baffie causing the water to be squeezed out of the sand and the water removed from the material will drain back to the low portion of the pan. Because of the angle of baflie 25, the sand piling up on the battle will be moved along the first battle by the rotation of the pan and will leave the baffle at the end closest the axis 11. The sand will then be rotated by the pan until it comes into contact with the second bafile 31. Since sand is continually piling up on b afiie 25 and being moved along the bafile, a considerable height and weight of sand is continually present at the baflle. Thus, the water in the sand on the bottom of the pan will be squeezed out of the sand even though the bottom of the pan is covered with water. to pass through space 41 at the bottom of the bathe and through the notch 43 which passes a higher layer at the discharge end of the bafile where the height of the sand on the bafile is the greatest. The water removed at bathe 25 will be removed by the end of the syphon 33 positioned at the lower portion of the pan.

The sand engaging the baffle 31 will pile up in the same manner as on battle 25 in order to squeeze additional water from the sand. Since the bafile 31 is positioned at an angle to the rim 16 to form a wedge between the rim and the bafiie, the rotation of the pan will move the sand along the battle towards the rim 16 where the dried sand will be permitted to fall over the edge into a suitable receptacle. The water removed by battle 31 will fiow back to the lower portion 19 of the pan where it will be removed, along with the water from bafiie 25, by the syphon 33. It is apparent that the sand leaving baflle 25 will move to the higher portion of the pan where no water will be present because of the tilt of the pan and thus, no water will contact the sand prior to engaging baflle 31.

As the water level at the lower portion of the pan rises above the level 36 in tank 37, it will be continually removed by the syphon 33 and discharged through the passage 40. Since a thin layer of sand can also pass underneath the baffie 31, because of space 42, the end 34 of the syphon is enlarged and positioned slightly above this thin layer so that sand will not be removed along with the water by the syphon. The end 34 of the syphon is positioned ahead of the chute 32 so that the sand being loaded into the pan will move directly toward the battle 25 and away from the end 34 of the syphon. It is understood, of course, that the syphon can be replaced by any suitable water removal device, such as a suction pump, in order to continually remove the water from the lower portion 19 of the pan. The squeezing action of the baflies results from the fact that the battles require the sand to change its direction of movement since the rotation of the pan wants to make the sand go in a circular path whereas the bathe causes the sand to take an angular path in respect to the radial line of the pan. The thin layer of dried sand passing underneath the bathe 25 can mix with the dried sand leaving the inner end of the baffle so that a part of this layer can pile up on the baflle 31 along with the other sand. The space 41 permits a layer of sand to pass under baffle 31 solely to prevent wear and jamming between the bafile and the pan.

The angle of the

bafiles

25 and 31 can be adjusted in order to provide proper operation of the machine and This sand will be permitted the bafiies can be vertically positioned rather than tipped back from the direction of rotation. As illustrated in Figure 4, the notch 43 could be replaced by a number of circular openings 44 which can be positioned along the lower edge of the bafiie, either over the full length of the baffle or over any portion of the length, such as at the inner end only as illustrated. The size, number and spacing of the openings can be selected to give the desired operation. The circular openings serve to permit the sand dried from the weight of the sand on the 25 to pass in the same manner as the notch 43. Of course, the unloading baffle 31 will not contain the notch 43 or openings 44 since it is desired to remove all the dried sand piling up on this bafile.

Referring to Figure 5, a modification of the support of the

bafiles

25 and 31 is illustrated in which the bafile 25 is shown as being spring mounted from the cross member 24. The baflle 25 has threaded openings to receive the end of bolts 45 and 46 which are slidably mounted in openings in the cross member 24. The springs 47 and 48 are positioned around the bolts 45 and 46, respectively, between the upper edge of the bafile and the lower edge of the cross member 24 so that the baffle 25 is held in position by engagement of the heads of the bolts with the cross member. Thus, in the event that large pebbles or other obstructions enter the space 41, the bafiie 25 can move upwardly against the springs to let the oversized particles pass without binding the pan against the battle. It is understood that the same structure can be used to support baffle 31.

Another modification of the invention is illustrated in Figure 6 wherein only the position of the various bafiies is indicated and it is understood that suitable supports for the baffles can be provided to hold the bafiies in rigid position. In this modification, five batfies, 49, 50, 51, 52 and 53 are utilized in order to obtain additional squeezing of the sand and thus remove additional water. The battle 49 is angularly positioned to receive the sand from chute 32 and the same will be moved inwardly along the bafile and leave the inner end of the bafiie at a position opposite the inner end of battle 50. The bafile 50 is positioned. at an angle to move the sand received from battle 49 toward the rim 16 and the sand will leave the outer end of bathe 50 at a position such that it will rotate against the outer end of the bafiie 51. The sand received by baffle 51 will move towards the inner end of the battle because of the rotation of pan 10 and will leave the bafile in position to move against the inner end of battle 52. The sand leaving battle 52 will be received by bafile 53, which is positioned at an angle to the rim to form a wedge between the rim and the battle, and the baflle '53 will unload the dry sand from the pan in the same manner as batlle 31 of Figure 1. The pan has a rim 16 which consists of a fine screen 16" continuous around the rim and rigidly supported by members 54 positioned around the pan and secured to the bottom of the pan. The openings in the screen are smaller than the grains of material within the pan so that water removed by bafiles can continually drain through the screen at the lower portion of the pan without loss of material. The screen eliminates the need for syphon 33 so that either the screen or the syphon could be utilized in the machine of Figures 1 and 6. While the modification of Figure 6 shows the use of five bafiles, it is understood that the invention contemplates the use of any suitable number of bafiles positioned to provide the proper drying of the sand. The bafiles illustrated in Figure 6 can be rigidly or spring supported in any suitable manner and can have openings or notches in the lower edges to permit the passage of dry sand.

By the present invention, a novel sand and gravel drying machine is provided in which bafiles are utilized to continually squeeze water from the sand. The tilt of the pan can be adjusted in accordance with the size and weight of the material being dried and by the amount of liquid in the material. Also, the speed of the pan can be adjusted up to a speed where the material starts to move toward the outside edge of the pan under the infiuence of centrifugal force. When a single notch 43 is utilized, it is preferably positioned at the discharge end of the baffle since the sand is highest at this end, but the position of the notch can be varied since sand piles up over the whole length of the bafile. The angle, size and location of the individual baffles and the speed and tilt of the pan can be varied to provide proper operation of the machine for any material to be dried and it is understood that the use of the machine is not limited to the drying of sand and gravel. Various other modifications are contemplated and may be readily resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for drying granular material such as sand and gravel comprising a tilted pan having a flat floor and an upstanding rim, means rotatably mounting said pan around a tilted aXis providing a lower portion to which liquid from material in said pan will drain by gravity and a higher portion from which liquid will drain to said lower portion, means for rotating said tilted pan about said tilted axis, means for continually loading wet material into said lower portion of said pan, a first nonrotatable baffle depending into said pan with the lower edge thereof positioned adjacent to and spaced slightly above said pan floor and being arranged angularly to the radial lines of said pan to pile up Wet material and cause such piled up material to move by action thereon of said rotating pan in a direction across the radial lines of the pan, said first bafile serving to squeeze a portion of the liquid from said material, a second nonrotatable bafile depending into said pan and positioned adjacent to said pan floor and angularly to the radial lines of said pan to receive and pile up material leaving said first baffle, said second baffle being positioned to form a wedge with said rim at said higher portion of said pan and at such an angle thereto as to move the piled up material toward the rim at said higher portion and to cause discharge thereof over the edge of said rim adjacent to the upper portion of said tilted pan by the rotation of said pan and the liquid removed by the squeezing action of said first and second bafiles being directed to flow away from the discharge edge by the tilt of said pan and to return by gravity to said lower portion of said pan, and means located at the lower portion of said pan for continually Withdrawing liquid removed from the material.

2. A machine for drying granular material as defined in claim 1 wherein a plurality of additional depending nonrotatable baifies are spaced around said pan between said first and second ibaffies and formed of a length less than the radius of said pan, each of said additional baffles being angularly positioned with respect to the radial lines of said pan in order to pile up said material and discharge the material to the next baflle, one of said additional baflles receiving the material from said first baffie and another of said additional baffles discharging to said second baffle.

3. A machine as defined in claim 2 wherein passage means are provided at the lower edge of at least one of the baffies to permit a portion of the sand piled up against the baflie to move through the baflile after having been dried by the sand piling up above it on the baffie.

4. A machine for drying granular material as defined in claim 1 wherein a support bracket extends across the diameter of said pan above the rim thereof, and means fixed to said support bracket for upwardly resiliently supporting said first baflle in spaced relation and depending into said pan and spaced so that the lower edge of each of said bafiles is resiliently urged toward and positioned spaced from and adjacent to said floor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 773,593 Riensch Nov. 1, 1904 2,233,792 Mallory Mar. 4, 1941 2,711,251 Spinetta June 21, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 474,239 Great Britain Oct. 27, 1937 529,372 Great Britain Nov. 20, 1940 802,251 Germany Feb. 8, 1951