US588215A - Apparatus for handling pulp in wine-making - Google Patents

Description

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L. J. BORIE. APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PULP IN WINE MAKING.

N0. 588,215. Patented Aug. 17,1897.

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- L. J. BORIE.

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING PULP IN WINE MAKING.

No. 588,215., Patented Aug. 17,1897.

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LOUIS JULES BORIE, OF SAN FRANCIS CO, CALIFORNIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 588,215, dated August 17, 1897.

Application filed October 17 1896. Serial No. 609,208. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it know-n that I, LoUIs J ULES BORIE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Handling the Pulp or Product of the Crusher in Wine-Making, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in 1 handling and distributing the pulp or crushed grapes from the crusher in the manufacture of wine, and the same has for its object to simplify the labor, to secure greater cleanliness in the preliminary operation of converting the grapes into pulp, and conveying that product to the fermenting tanks or receptacles, and to reduce the expense and the waste of material. attending this part of the general process or operation of wine-making as followed at the present time.

The nature of my said improvement and the advantage which I secure by the same will be better understood by a brief reference to the means employed prior to the date of my invention.

Heretofore in the crushing operation it has been the practice to carry away the pulp from the crusher to the fermenting-tanks in open sluices placed at proper inclination to cause the pulp to travel by gravity from the crusher to the tanks, the crusher being placed in the top story of the winery at a considerable distance from the ground-floor, on which the tanks are situated,in order to obtain the necessary fall, and the grapesbeing raised from the ground to the crusher above by means of an elevator. .This modeof carrying on the crushing operation is attended with several objections. It is clumsy and laborious. It is more or less expensive both in the amount of labor consumed in handling the grapes on one hand and the pulp on the other and in the waste of the material, and owing to the exposure of the pulp to the atmosphere in its course from the crusher to the tanksit is more or less unclean.

As an improvement on such prior mode my present invention consists in the described construction and arrangement of apparatus for handling and conveying. the pulp from the crusher to the vats or fermenting-tanks,

as hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the drawings that accompany and form part of this specification.

Figure 1 isa general view, in side elevation, of the apparatus; Fig. 2, an elevation of a special construction of pump which I have devised for the purpose; and Fig. 3, a vertical section of the pump, on an enlarged scale.

A indicates a grape-crusher of anysuitable construction; B, the fermenting-tanks; C, a suction and force pump situated in position close to the crusher, so that the pulp is discharged from the crusher into a hopper O, that feeds the pulp to the pump.

D is a pipe or hose connected to the discharge end of the pump and laid from it to the tanks, which maybe located at anypoint more or less distant.

G is a platform from which the grapes are fed to the crusher.

X indicates the framework of the building within which the apparatus is arranged for operation.

The pump and the crusher may be run from the same power-actuated shaft by proper connect-ion of the said parts with that shaft.

A pump of the suction-and-force type is employed, but for handling this product or material I have devised a pump of peculiar construction that will be found specially adapted for forcing this material through a hose or pipe. The construction and operation of this pump will be understood from Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

The body 1 of the pump is cylindrical, with a conical lower end 2, having a central outlet 3 in the bottom and a cylindrical enlargement beneath the conical portion forming a chamber greater in circumference than such outlet. Thischambercontainsasphericalcheckvalve 4:, for which a seat 5 at the top of the cylindrical chamber is formed around the aperture 3, and to the bottom of the chamber is bolted a flanged head provided with a screwthreaded coupling 6 for connecting to the outlet in the bottom of this chamber a pipe or hose D. Over the center of the open top of this pump-cylinder a tubular guide 7 is supported by radial arms or ribs that unite the guide with a ring or circular flange resting on the flanged rim of the cylinder to which it is portion across which these arms extend the tures 9 above and the conical chamber and bolted. Two of these arms or ribs with stand- 1 1 8 works in this guide and carries on the lower ing webs taper'from the guide 7, where they are of equal depth with the guide down to the top face of the ring, as shown in Fig. 3, where the section is taken through the guide 7 and through the arms or ribs. Excepting for that top of the cylinder is open. 'The piston-rod end a piston 13 without valves fitted to work closely in the cylinder, the upper end being connected with a crank-shaft 17 by a connecting-rod 11, by means of which the piston is moved.

In the sides of the cylindrical body of the pump at a short distance below the head are large apertures 9 9, and at the bottom line of these openings a circular plate or broad flange 10 extends horizontally outward around the body of the cylinder and flush with the bottom edges of the apertures. This flange 10 forms the floor of a hopper G, the sides 12 of which are carried upward from the flange with an inclination outward to a greater or less height above the top of the pumpcylinder, so that the pump-body extends through the bottom of the hopper with the inlet-aperoutlet below the hopper-bottom.

In the side of the pump-body just above the conical lower portion is an air-inlet 14, fitted with a short tube in which is a checkvalve 15 and a stop-cock 16. This inlet and its fittings operate in conjunction with the check-valve 4 to create in every upward movement of the piston made from the lowest point up to the lower edge of these apertures 9 a partial exhaust or vacuum sufficient in degree to cause the pulp or matter in the hopper to flow into the cylinder as soon as the bottom edge of the piston passes above the lower edge of the apertures 9 and thus produce an inflow of the material from the hopper without the use of mechanical devices or the necessity of feeding by hand. From the nature or character of the material as it comes from the crusher it is diflicult to produce a flow or movement of the material from the hopper into the pump, and without the use of some means to force it into the cylinder it will choke in the inlet-apertures and will not move when the piston rises above the inlets, and this I overcome by closing the opening in the bottom of the cylinder at the upstroke by a check-valve 4 and admitting at such time only a comparatively small quantity of air through the air-inlet 14 and only sulficient to prevent the piston from working too stifii y in the upstroke.

The valve 1 isformed of a light ball, which allows the pulp to readily pass through the valve-chamber, and is lifted quickly to its seat and held by the back pressure as the piston moves upward.

In the downstroke of the piston the ball- Valve is kept away from the outlet by the stops 18 on the sides of the valve-chamber.

The stroke of the piston is about equal to the length of the cylindrical chamber of the pump-body, and at the end of its upstroke it clears the inlet-apertures 9.

For the conductor D either a rubber hose or metal pipe may be used. The flexible hose has the advantage of being changed from one point of discharge to another, so that when one tank or vat is filled the hose can be readily carried to another tank.

By this arrangement of apparatus it will be seen that the expense of operating an elevator is avoided and the cost of the same, together with the cost of inclined sluices, is overcome. The pulp is handled also more quickly,with greater cleanliness, and at much less expense in time and labor than has been possible with the apparatus heretofore provided, and the waste of must or liquid that accompanies the present mode of handling and conveying that material is entirely avoided.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a hopper, a pumpcylinder situated within the hopper having inlet-apertures on a level with the hopperbottom and an outlet in the bottom having a coupling for a hose, a valve-chamber in the pump-body above said outlet, an upwardlyacting check-valve in said chamber, a reciprocating piston and piston-rod, and an airinlet in the side of the cylinder located above the level of the seat of the cylinder checkvalve and provided with a check-valve and a stop-cock, as described for operation as set forth.

2. The combination, with a pump-cylinder having a reciprocating piston and provided with inlet-apertu res at or near the top, an outlet-aperture in the bottom and an upwardlyacting check-valve controlling said outlet; of an air-inlet aperture located in thelower part of the cylinder above the seat of the cylinder check-valve and a check-valve and stop-cock for controlling said air-inlet, for operation as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

LOUIS JULES BORIE. [L. s]

Vitnesses:

EDWVARD E. OSBORN, M. REGNER.

ICC

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