US568225A - Machine for cleaning fiber - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(N0 Model.)

S. B. ALLISON. MAGEINE EOE CLEANING EIBEE.

No. 568,225. Patented Sept. 22, 1896.

2 Sheets-Sheet v2.

No Model.)

S. B. ALLISON.

" MACHINE POR GLEANING FIBER.

Patented Sept. 22, 1896.

Tn: nonms PETERS oo. Hom-uwe., WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL BENJAMIN ALLISON, OF NEW' ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING FIBER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 568,225, dated September 22, 1896.

Application filed February 24, 1896. Serial No. 580,506. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL BENJAMIN AL- LIsON, a resident of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Cleaning Fiber; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to amachine for separating the iibrous and woody parts of various leaves and plants; and its object is to effect this in an economical and efcient manner without rehandling the material; and the invention consists in the matters hereinafter described and particularly pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a partial section of the machine. Fig. 2is a similar view of a modification.

Numeral l indicates the main frame of the machine, shown only in part.

2 is an endless belt to feed stal-ks, leaves,

or the like to the machine.

3 andt denote belt supporting and moving rollers. About three-sixteenths of an inch above roller 4 and cooperating therewith is a circumferentially-grooved roller 5 to split the stalks, which are next immediately moved between and transversely broken by a longitudinally-grooved roller 6, coperating with a roller 7. The woody parts of the stalks having been split and broken are drawn up between roller 6 and a curved bed 8, formed in the adjacent face of a block 9 or other equivalent construction. At the lower end of said bed 8 is a roller-scraping edge l0, adapted to clear roller 7 and guide the material upwardly.

1l denotes a scutching-roller provided with curved blades 12 and elastic rubbing-bars 13 or other like devices. This roller rotates in the direction of the arrow under a hood or cover 14, and bymeans of the air-current thus generated and the coperating eect of the said blades and bars the material is bent across the upper edge of the block and down between the roller and said block, which latter has a longitudinally grooved or corrugated working bed l5, conforming to roller ll. 1G indicates the ribs, corrugations, or proextend below to about the vertical central plane of the roller.

23 denotes a guard to prevent the refuse woody fragments carried beyond the edge of the bed 15 from falling onto a roller 17, situated below. The block 9 preferably extends under roller l1 near to orbeyond its vertical central plane to prolong its curved bed 15, so that its lower extremity has nearly a horizontal situation. The lower edge of the bed l5 may be protected, if desired, with elastic material IIS. At this edge the curtain of iiber jections on the bed. The corrugated bed may is largely separated from the broken wood,

which is driven and blown out in an approximately horizontal direc-tion, as indicated. The sliver falls and is drawn in between a smooth concave bed 19 and the roller 20, provided with brushes 2l and circumferentiallygrooved rotating combing-rollers 22. The latter comb the sliver and straighten the fibers, and the brushes separate therefrom more of the refuse wood.

The guard 23 is curved about roller v17 as indicated, and together with the working bed 19 incloses an air-space through which rushes a current generated by the rapid rotation of said roller. By the said air-current and the centrifugal action of the brushes and bars the fiber is wafted between small grippingrollers 24 and 25, the separated wood being dropped between the roller 17 and a guard or guide-plate 26. From the gripping-rollers the fiber passes between the endless belts-27, suitably supported and moved by rollers, as shown, the arrows indicating the direction of the movement.

Upon the belts are secured transverse combing and rubbing or scraping bars 28, which are preferably provided with teeth, (indicated at 29.) These bars mesh and draw, rub, and comb the ber thoroughly, disengaging woody remnants and fine refuse, which fall on the lower belt between its bars and may be dumped at the outer end of said belt. The lower belt may be made longer than the upper to provide a support for the cleaned fiber, adapted to permit its manipulation thereon, or the ber may be dropped onto a bar 33 or onto a carrier.

The roller 11 is adjustable to and from the IOO bed 15 by means of devices of usual construction, (indicated at 31.)

32 indicates like devices for adjusting roller 17 to and from bed 19. These adjustments will be made according to the character and condition of the material under treatment.

The improvement is not limited to particular dimensions; but I have found that feeding-rollers of five inches diameter run at a speed of iifty feet per minute. Scutchingrollers of eight inches diameter and brushing-rollers of sixteen inches diameter are very suitable.

Each roller or belt will have a greater velocity than its predecessor, in order to keep the fiber taut and draw it through the machine. The blades and bars of the scutching-roller may have a velocity of from two thousand four hundred feet to about two thousand six hundred feet a minute and the brushes and combing-rollers a velocity about ive times as great, by which the sliver will be veryeliciently brushed, straightened, and rubbed against the smooth bed 19. The combined action of the scutching-blades co operating with the ribs or projections of bed 15 and the extension of said bed toward an exit between the scutching and brushing rollers, as set forth, so that woody fragments are first beaten loose and then thrown out of the machine, as indicated, are important features of the improvement. The guard or guideplate 23, which serves to protect the brushingrollers from falling refuse and cooperates with the bed 19 and the rapidly-rotating roller 17 to produce an air-current, is believed to be new in the combination specified and also the parallel belts provided with meshing devices to clean the fiber as it is drawn from the machine, which matters, together with the others, will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In Fig. 2 is illustrated a machine comprising modifications. The rotating frame is made larger and preferably with a diameter of about eighteen inches. 34 denotes a device adapted to sprinkle with water or chemical solutions and also to deflect the stalks, leaves, or plants. 35 denotes a pipe which preferably will carry a sprinkler for washing away refuse blown into the chute 3G. .A longitu dinally-corru gated roller 37 rubs the fiber against a smooth bed 19', formed in the block 9. Said block is situated under the rotating frame and extends around its lower side, substantially as indicated, so that its outer end approaches a vertical line tangential to the circumference of the frame, with the effect to direct the separated refuse beyond said line. The length of the block and bed may, however, be varied. Belts 2", provided `with bars 2S that mesh, receive the fiber immediately from said bed and roller and eifectually rub, comb, and clean the same, as above described in connection with Fig. 1.

In practice the scutching devices carried by the upper frame (illustrated in Fig. 1) will be driven at from three to ve hundred rotations per minute and the brushes and combing-rollers at from seven to ten hundred per minute. The devices carried by the rotating frame (illustrated in Fig. 2) may be driven at the rate of about six to seven thousand feet per minute and the material fed at the rate of about iifty feet per minute. The endless cleaning-belts may run about five times as fast as the rubbing-roller 37, which will insure a thorough rubbing, combing, and cleaning action. The speed of the various devices may be varied to suit different conditions of material.

I am aware that endless chains provided with loosely-supported rollers adapted to interm esh and thereby break stalks are not new. My improvement has relation both to the construction and operation of the intermeshing parts or bars and their situation relative to stalk-breaking and wood-separating devices. In my machine the material is first broken and the coarse refuse separated, and then the approximately clean fiber receives a filial rubbing action between bars fixed to carrying-off belts, the latter being thereby put to anew use. Said bars fixed to the belts intermesh in close contiguity as suitable for the nearly-finished product, and they rub the fiber with the effect to loosen and separate fine refuse, which drops upon the lower belt between the bars and is separately carried out of the machine. The bars are also preferably notched or toothed to separate the sliver or curtain into parts situated in different planes, whereby the discharge of refuse is further facilitated.

I am also aware that endless belts have been employed to remove the sliver from the machine. Itis characteristic of myimprovement that belts are provided with devices suitable to act closely upon the sliver after the woody refuse has been discharged therefrom, the purpose being to remove the tine filaments of liber and minute particles often found in so-called cleaned fiber, said belts being a-dapted to deliver the final product of the machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a machine for separating the liber of plants, the combination of feeding-rollers, a working bed conforming to the upper feedin g-roller, a roller carrying iiber-cleanin g devices,a curved working bed conforming thereto, a curved bed adjacent to and reversely situated with respect to the second-named bed and joined thereto by a fiber-bending edge, a roller carryingfiber-cleaning devices situated adjacent said latter bed, and a guard to prevent woody fragments from falling on the latter roller and to direct an air-current under the last-named bed, substantially as described. 2. In a machine for separating the fiber of plants, the combination of feeding-rollers, a working bed conforming to the upper feed- IOO IIO

ing-roller, a roller carrying ber-cleaning dcvices, a curved working bed conforming thereto, a curved bed adjacent to and reversely situated with respect to the second-named bed and joined thereto bya ber-bending edge, a roller carrying ber-cleanin g devices situated adjacent said latter bed, a guard to prevent woody fragments from falling on the latter roller and to direct an air-current under the last-named bed, ber-gripping rollers, and parallel endless belts provided with bertreating devices to receive the ber from the gripping-rollers, substantially as described. 3. In a machine for separating the ber of plants, the combination of plant-feeding rollers,plantbreakin g devices, ref use-separating and ber-treating devices and parallel endless belts situated at the delivery end of the machine and adapted to carry the approximately clean ber out Of the machine, said belts having intermeshing devices to closely press and rub the sliver to liberate ne residual refuse, substantially as described.

4. In a machine for separating the ber of plants, the combination of plant-feeding rollers, ber treating and conveying devices and parallel endless belts situated at the delivery end of the machine to receive the approximately clean ber and carry it outof the machine, said belts having intermeshing bercleaning devices consisting of transverse bars xed to the belts contiguous each other and adapted to press and rub the ber, substantially as described.

5. In a machine for separating the ber of plants, the combination of plant-feeding rollers, ber treating and conveying devices, and parallel endless belts situated at the delivery end of the machine to receive the approxicarry said refuse while the ber rests on the bars, substantially as described.

6. In a machine for separating the ber Of plants, the combination of plant-feeding rollers, devices to break the plants receiving the same from the feeding-rollers, devices to separate ber and refuse arranged to act after the breaking devices, gripping-rollers to receive the ber from the refuse-separating devices, and parallel endless belts situated at the delivery endof the machine and having intermeshing ber-cleaning devices, said separating devices being adapted to closely rub and press the sliver and the belts adapted to move the ber out of the machine, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a rotating frame provided with ber-cleaning devices, a block having a working bed conforming thereto, a working bed formed in the block on a side opposite the bed rst named, a guard to guide refuse separated on the rst bed out of the machine, a passage for ber between said block and guard, and a roller to rub the separated ber against said second bed, substantially as described.

8. The combination of a rotating frame provided with ber-cleaning devices, ablock having a Working bed conforming thereto, a working bed formed in the block on a side opposite the bed rst named, a guard to guide refuse separated on the rst bed out of the machine, a passage for ber between said block and guard, and a roller to rub the separated ber against said second bed, said guard being adapted on its under side to direct air against ber moving through said passage, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL BENJAMIN ALLISON.

Witnesses:

J. C. S. CHURCHILL, GEO. W. MOORE.

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