US468453A - Wool-washing machine - Google Patents

Description

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No. 468,453. Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

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FREDERICK G. SARGENT AND ALLAN C. SARGENT, OF GRANITEVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

WOOL-WASHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 468,453, dated February 9, 1892.

Application filed December 4, 1890. Serial No. 373,532. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FREDERICK G. SAR- GENT and ALLAN O. SARGENT, of Graniteville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in 'Wool-lVashing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our improvement relates to machines for washing wool and other fibrous substances; and it consists in certain new and useful constructions and combinations of certain parts thereof, substantially as hereinafter described and clained. In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a wool-washing machine containing ourinvention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal elevation of the same with one of the sides removed.

A is the bowl of the machine, which is constructed in the ordinary form with feet to support it on the door and is provided with a perforated false bottom a and an escapepassage in the bottom closed by the valve on for cleaning out the dirt in the usual way.

a is the carrier-bed, and O is the carrier, which is moved up and down the carrier-bed and lifted by the pitinan rod 0 from the crank 0 The squeeze-rolls 1t 1% are placed at the feed-out end of the bowl and the lower one is set in a trough D, formed by the curved-up bottom a of the bowl and the partition a which extends transversely across the bowl to its top, which is above the upper end of the curved bottom a of the bowl and corresponds in height with that of the bowl at its feed-in end. The carrier-bed is connected with the squeeze-rolls by the intermediate rollers 1 2, which incline downward toward the nip of the squeeze-rolls from the upper end of the carrier-bed and revolve in the direction of the arrows, so that while the fiber is allowed to drain off into the trough D the movement of the rolls will transfer the fiber to the nip of the squeeze-rolls.

It will be readily seen that the water-level in the trough D, which is indicated by dotted line y y, is below the Water-level in the main part of the bowl A, which is indicated by the dotted line mm. In order to continually clean out the trough D, we provide the pump P,

which has an outlet-opening 3 from troughD and is connected by the pipe E c with the receptacle c at the feed-in end of the bowl, the receptacle e discharging into the bowl at the water-level through the mouth 6?. A valve e in the pipe E shuts it off, so as to discharge its contents into the receptacle c.

Next beyond the feed-in end of the bowl is located across the top the transverse pipe e having a series of nozzles or spouts c and the pipe a is connected to the pipe E by a branch pipe, as shown by dotted lines in Fig.

2. The capacity of the pump and pipe E is,

greater than that of the mouth-piece c and hence the washing-fluid will be discharged from the nozzles e", as well as the mouthpiece.

Next beyond the nozzles c is located the shield d, which inclines downward on its feedin side from above the water-level toward the false bottom of the bowl and then inclines upward above the water-level on its feed-out side, leaving a space between it and the false bottom, under which the fiber will be forced by the streams ejected from the nozzles 6 The cylinder Z) next carries the wool forward, being provided with arms I) b, which strike the wool as it rises under the shield d and advance it forward to the carrier. The circulation of fluid caused by the pump therefore carries the wool forward from the feed-in end of the machine to the carrier by the aid of the cylinder 1). The carrier-bed a is perforated, and in order to supply the trough D with the additional fluid besides that drained from the wool an opening 4: is made through the partition a", which is provided with a valve 5, that has a piston G, passing through a stuifing-box 7 in the bottom of the bowl and provided at its lower end with a handle 8, by which the valve 5 may be slid up and down over the opening 4 to regulate the amount of fluid that shall pass from the main part of the bowl into trough D to keep the pump supplied With the necessary amount of fluid above what drains down between the rolls 1 and 2. The valve 5 is held in place by bars 9, proj eoting from the sides of the machine,between which and the partition a the ends of the valve slide up and down. If the drainage from between the rolls 1 and 2 is sufficient to furnish the pump, the valve 5 will be entirely closed. If not, it will be opened a suflicient amount to keep the water-level in trough D up to the highest point allowed by the curved bottom (L The water-level in the main part of the bowl will stand above thatin the trough D, because the pump will keep all surplus water from overflowing the curved bottom a, since it continually carries the water out of the trough, so as to prevent its overflowing. The advantage of maintaining the fluid in the trough D at a lower point than the fluid-level in the main part of the bowl is that the squeeze-rolls R R can be dropped down lower with relation to the upper end of the carrierbed without increasing the distance to which the upper end of the carrier-bed is extended above the water-level of the main part of the bowl. The wool is therefore carried more easily up the incline of the carrier-bed above the fluid level of the bowl, as this is made shorter, and after leaving the carrier-bed is assisted in reaching the squeeze-rolls by the downward inclination of rolls 1 and 2, and is allowed to drain when passing over these rolls instead of when passing over a greater extension of the carrier-bed above into trough D, certain small fibers pass down into it with the fluid which drains off, and these, as well as the fiber washed from the surface of the lower squeeze-roll, are at once carried out of the trough by the powerful suction of the pump and delivered again into the bowl through the mouth-piece e at its feed-in end. This prevents the trough D from being clogged up by the fibers of wool settling in it, as has heretofore been the case. The higher water-level 0c :20 of the main part of the bowl also causes a constant current to move from the. feed-in end through the perforated carrier-bed a and the opening 4 in partition a and deposits the fiber on the carrier-bed in proper position for the carrier to take it and transport it up the latter.

The difficulty in the use of intermediate rolls like 1 2 for transferring the wool from the carrier-bed to the squeeze-rolls has always been that their upper surfaces were obliged to be placed on aline pitching downward from the carrier-bed to the hip of the squeeze-rolls, in order to keep them from slipping under wet and greasy wool, and its being piled upon them without passing through the squeezerolls. WVhen the upper peripheries of the intermediate rolls were thus pitched downward sufficiently to prevent the slipping, this brought the drainage-trough D, in which the lower squeeze-roll is located and revolves to cleanse itself, so far below the upper end of the carrier-bed that attempts to connect this drainage and cleansing trough directly with the bowl created a new difficulty. This difficulty was owing to the fact that the drainagetrough could not well extend, practically, above the axis of the lower squeeze-roll and deliver the wool automatically over that edge, and therefore the level of the washing-fluid in the bowl could not extend above this line, since the bowl and trough were freely connected by a pipe or passage, and therefore, again, this compelled the extension of a large part of the upper end of the carrier-bed above this fixed fluid-level in the bowl to get above the uppermost intermediate roller 2. By so much of the carrierrbed above the fluid-level of the bowl the fiber not only was drained off on that part of it, but also thereby was rolled over and felted by the carrier in being transported up the bed and delivered over its upper end, which is the important thing to be avoided. We obviate this difficulty by keepin g the fluid-level of the bowl against the carrier-bed higher, so that the wool shall not felt when being carried up thebed beneath the fluid and for a short distance above the fluid-surface, not having time to drain off,while at the same time we allow the fiber to drain off between the transferring-rolls land 2 and to pass easily down their inclined upper surfaces to the nip of the squeeze-rolls. This drainedoft fluid serves to cleanse the lower squeezeroll by falling into its trough at a lower level than it had in the bowl, which two levels are kept in that relation by the constant action of the pump. WVe are thus enabled to drain off the wool suificiently to have it enter the nip of the squeeze-rolls to the best advantage without subjecting it to handling, which will felt it after it has drained off while being transferred from the bowl to the squeeze-rolls.

What we claim as new and of our invention 1. The combination of the bowl A, the trough D, with its upper edge located below that of the bowl, whereby the water-level in the main part of the bowl may be kept above that of the trough, the carrier-bed a and carrier 0, arranged to carry the fiber up the carrier-bed, the squeeze-rolls R R, having the lower one located partly in the trough D, the intermediate rolls 1 2, arranged with their upper peripheries on a line inclining downward from the carrier-bed to the nip of the squeeze-rolls, over which to transport the fiber from the carrier-bed to the squeeze-rolls and allow it to drain off between them, and the pump Pand pipes E 6, leading from the trough D to the feed-in end of the bowl and arranged to keep the water-level of the main part of the bowl above that of the trough D, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the bowl A, the trough D, with its upper edge located below that of the bowLwhereby the water-level in the main part of the bowl may be kept above that of the trough, the carrier-bed a and carrier 0,

feed-in end of the bowl and arranged to keep 10 the water-level of the main part of the bowl above that of the trough D, substantially as described.

FREDERICK G. SARGENT. ALLAN (3. SARGENT. Witnesses:

ARTHUR B. ILIMPTON, W. A. HARRIS.

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