US3042321A - Paper fibre processing machine and method of working pulp fibres - Google Patents

Description

July 3, 1962 A. J. HAU-G PAPER FIBRE PROCESSING MACHINE AND METHOD OF WORKING PULP FIBRES Filed Oct. 1, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet l lll ATTORNEY July 3, 1962 A. J. HAUG 3,042,321

PAPER FIBRE PROCESSING MACHINE AND METHOD OF WORKING PULP FIBRES Filed Oct. 1, 1958 i 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MJZ ATTORNEY July 3, 1962 AU 3,042,321 PAPER FIBRE PROCESSING MACHINE AND METHOD OF WORKING PULP FIBRES Filed Oct. 1, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 4 32 FIG. 3

INVENTOR MJ ATTORNEY United States Pate t 3,042,321 PAPER FIBRE PROCESSING MACHINE AND METHOD OF WORKING PULP FIBRES Anton Joseph Haug, 64 Taylor St., Nashua, N .H. Filed Oct. 1, 1958, Ser. No. 764,676 2 Claims. (Cl. 241157) This invention relates to method and apparatus for working fibrous materials and in particular fibrous mixtures of the class commonly employed in the pulp and paper making art.

In processing pulp fibers it is customary to subject the fibers to more than one type of working in order to obtain varying degrees of defibering and separation of fiber bundles. One common procedure is to process relatively coarse material such as wood chips, flakes and the like in one machine and thereafter to carry out a secondary treatment in another pulp refining apparatus in order to obtain a more complete unrolling and separation of constituent fibers of fiber bundles. As illustrative of one desirable form for working relative coarse fibrous material there may be cited machines of the class described in US. Patents No. 2,674,162 and No. 2,719,463 issued to me in 1954 and 1955. These machines have been found to be highly successful in carrying out various types of fiber working operations and are commonly referred to in the art as Koller Mill machines."

It is a chief object of the present invention to improve methods of working fibrous materials and especially to devise a method of carrying out a unique brushing and curling action with respect to fiber bundles. Another object is to devise a machine for more completely defibering fiber bundles and flakes at a point at which the fiber bundles and flakes have already undergone treatment by crushing rolls and are in a partly separated state so that brushing and curling efiects are caused to take effect immediately after crushing and rolling forces have been exerted.

Another object of the invention is to provide a special fiber brushing mechanism which may be incorporated in a novel fashion as an integral part of the machines described in US. Patents No. 2,674,162 and No. 2,719,463 in order to eliminate the need for using secondary machines to complete a required defibering operation.

These and other objects and novel features will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross sectional view of a machine generally corresponding to the machines disclosed in Patents No. 2,674,162 and No. 2,719,463 and further including the fiber brushing mechanism of the invention.

FIG. 2 is another cross sectional view taken transversely of the machine shown in FIG. 1 at points closely adjacent to the fiber brushing mechanism shown therein.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view of portions of the machine shown in FIG. 1 and par-.

ticularly indicating in greater detail brushing shoe and brushing ring components of the fiber brushing mechanism of the invention. a

FIG. 4 is a detail elevational view of a fiber brushing shoe element shown removed from the machine; and

FIG. 5 is another detail elevational view of the brushing shoe element shown in FIG. 4 but illustrating an outer serrated surface portion of the brushing shoe element.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, and more particularly to FIG. 1, the structure shown therein represents a machine of a form generally corresponding to the structure shown in US. Patents No. 2,674,162 and No. 2,719,- 463 which machines are closely referred to in the art as Koller Mill machines. In this Koller Mill form of ma- M chine a revolving cylinder is employed to move a fluid mass of fibrous material in a thin circular stream which is subjected to a continuous rolling pressure while advancing periodically in an axially directed manner as further disclosed in the patents noted.

As shown in FIG. 1, numeral 2 denotes a cylinder which is rotated by suitable drive means as pulley members 4 and 6 which are adapted to receive belts. Stock is advanced into the cylinder by means of a conveyor screw 8 extending inwardly from the right hand side of the machine as viewed in FIG. 1 and this stock is subjected to repeated crushing and rolling action of a large roll 16 on which the cylinder is supported for rotative movement. The roll It} is driven by suitable pulley means as 12. Another independently driven screw 14 cooperates with the roll 10 to periodically deflect and advance stock along the cylinder from which it passes to a discharge outlet 15. Further details of the construction and operation of the machine shown in FIG. 1 may be had from an inspection of the disclosure appearing in the two patents noted above. In accordance with the present invention I combine my improved fiber brushing mechanism with the discharge end of the cylinder 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the cylinder 2 is mounted on upright sections 16 and 18 with the right hand end of the cylinder 2 as shown in FIG. 1 being contained in an enclosure part 20. The fiber brushing mechanism is mounted at the other end of the clylinder 2 and generally includes a stationary part 21 with a revolving ring 22. The ring 22 is fixed to the cylinder 2 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 34 and rotates with the cylinder when the latter member is driven by the pulley members 4 and 6. The revolving ring 22 preferably flares outwardly in a substantially frusto-conical shape as indicated and the inner surface of this ring member is provided with a roughened or serrated surface 22a, best shown in FIG. 2. In a preferred form of the invention the serrations of the surface 22a are arranged so that they incline rearwardly on the ring 22 with respect to its axis of rotation to provide fiber engaging surfaces which are designed to exert a unique fiber holding and brushing action.

The stationary part of the fiber brushing mechanism comprises the fiber engaging shoe element 21 above noted, consisting of a curved arm pivotally mounted on a shaft 24, as best shown in FIG. 3. The shaft 24 is received in a hub portion 26 and includes a tension spring 28 secured at one end and having its opposite end anchored to a central bearing portion of the arm 21. By suitably adjusting the spring 28, the shoe element 21 may be caused to resiliently lie in slightly spaced relation to the serrated surface 22a of the ring 22. The outer surface of the shoe element 21 is also formed with serrations as 30 and 32 which may be arranged to lie parallel to the axis of pivoting of the shoe on the shaft 24, or may extend forwardly in a direction opposite to that of the inclination of the serrations in ring 22.

As will be observed from an inspection of FIG. 2, the curvature of the fiber brushing shoe element 21 is chosen so as to form a gradually decreasing space between its serrated surfaces 30 and 32 and adjacent serrations 22a of ring 22. By means of the spring mounting described, it will be apparent that the shoe element 21 in response to pressure is adapted to pivot inwardly and yield to a mass of pulp passing between itself and the ring 22, thus constantly exerting a controlled pressure. It is pointed out as fibrous material enters the relatively widest space between the shoe element 21 and the ring 22, indicated by the arrow S in FIG. 2, the constituent fiber bundles are immediately engaged and subjected to a reverse rolling effect which operates to pull the fiber bundles apart and brush out individual fibers in a manner which accomplishes a very desirable separation of the material.

The decreasing space between the shoe element and the serrated surface of the ring operates to progressively brush out fiber elements in a very minute and thorough degree which is comparable to defibered and brushed effects heretofore carried out with secondary machine treatments.

It will be obvious that the precise degree of defibering which may be desired for any particular stock can be controlled Within predetermined limits by varying the clearance between the shoe element and the ring 22. Similarly, for some types of stock, it may be desired to increase or decrease the spring tension by varying the setting of the spring member 28, or by employing various other torsion springs, levers, weights and fluid pressure devices. The combination roll squeezing and brushing shoe treatment of the invention is not designed for use with low consistency pulps and does not work satisfactorily with low consistency pulps that are commonly worked in disc mills where consistencies run from 4% to 8%. When stock of a consistency of 4%, for example, is fed into the machine of the invention, the stock is not worked at all, but rather is squeezed back in front of the roll and leaves the machine untreated because it has not substance enough for the rolls to engage over. Therefore, preferred consistencies of material for which the present machine of the invention is designed include consistencies of from 10% to 30% and higher.

In the drawings the fiber brushing shoe element has been shown with a spring and a stop 25 which constitutes one means of adjusting the spacing. Various other arrangements may, of course, be employed for this purpose. Similarly, I may desire to employ a plurality of the fiber brushing shoe elements as has been suggested, for example, in broken lines as denoted by the numeral 21'. In this case the fiber brushing shoe element is arranged at diametrical opposite points with respect to the fiber brushing ring member. Still other changes may be resorted to comprising deflecting plates for guiding material into the passageway between the shoe element and the ring at some particular point. Various other changes may also be carried out. For example, I may provide means for driving the brush ring 22 independently of the cylinder so that different speeds may be realized. In this connection, I may also desire to combine the brush mechanism of the invention with other forms of fiber Working machines or fiber containers.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have disclosed a desirable form of fiber brushing mechanism which is adapted to eliminate and unroll fibers thereby to accomplish a very complete defibering action. By combining the mechanism described with a machine of the class disclosed in the patents noted, a complete defibering process may be accomplished in a single machine without the need for subjecting stock to a secondary working.

While I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the machine generally, it should be understood that modification may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine for mechanically working fibrous paper making material the combination of a frame, a revolving cylinder mounted in the frame for receiving and guiding fibrous material in a circular path of travel around the inside of the cylinder, means for feeding material into the cylinder, an outlet housing fixed to the machine frame and located around an open end of the revolving cylinder to provide a passageway through which material may pass out of the open end of the cylinder, a roller located through the cylinder for engaging and rolling fibrous material, rotating conveyor means supported in the circular path of travel of the fibrous material and periodically deflecting portions of the fibrous material in directions axially of the cylinder, a cylindrical fiber brushing component rotatable with the revolving cylinder within the said outlet housing, said fiber brushing component consisting of a conical extension presenting inner fiber engaging surfaces which terminate in spaced relation to the end wall of said outlet housing and an inner fiber brushing component yieldably supported on the outlet housing in spaced relation to the outer fiber brushing component to define a restricted fiber brushing passageway of annular conformation and said inner fiber brushing component including a pair of pivoted members each of which is variably spaced from an adjacent serrated surface of the outer fiber brushing component and each of said pivoted members being formed with serrated portions for engaging and rolling fibers passing through the restricted fiber brushing passageway.

2. In a machine for mechanically working fibrous paper making material the combination of a frame, a revolving cylinder mounted in the frame for receiving and guiding fibrous material in a circular path of travel around the inside of the cylinder, means for feeding material into the cylinder, an outlet housing fixed to the machine frame and located around an open end of the revolving cylinder to provide a passageway through which material may pass out of the open end of the cylinder, a roller located through the cylinder for engaging and rolling fibrous material, rotating conveyor means supported in the circular path of travel of the fibrous material and periodically deflecting portions of the fibrous material in directions axially of the cylinder, a cylindrical fiber brushing component rotatable with the revolving cylinder Within the said outlet housing, said fiber brushing component consisting of a conical extension presenting inner fiber engaging surfaces which terminate in spaced relation to the end wall of said outlet housing and an inner fiber brushing component yieldably supported on the outlet housing in spaced relation to the outer fiber brushing component to define a restricted fiber brushing passageway of annular conformation and said inner fiber brushing component including a pair of pivoted arms presenting serrated surfaces and a pair of stop members located adjacent extremities of respective pivoted arms for limiting the arc of turning of these arms, said arms being formed with serrated portions for engaging and rolling fibers passing through the restricted fiber brushing passageway.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,750,088 Bragard Mar. 11, 1930 2,035,994 Sutherland Mar. 31, 1936 2,087,559 Tolman July 120, 1937 2,674,162 Haug Apr. 6, 1954 2,719,463 Haug Oct. 4, 1955 2,734,685 Saito Feb. 14, 1956

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