US1078520A - Ore-separator. - Google Patents

Description

F. O. STROMBORG.

-ORB SBPARATOR.

APFLIGATION FILED EEB. 6, 1913. 1,078,520. Patented Nov. 11, 1913 z SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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F. 0. STROMBORG.

ORE SEPARATOR.

APPLIGATION FILED FEB. e, 1913,

1,078,520. Patented Nov. 11, 1913.

2 SHBETBSHBET 2.

COLUMBIA P'LANOGRAPH cu..\vA5HlNnTON. D. c.

FRITZ OSCAR STROMBORG, F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

ORE-SEPARATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led February 6, 1913.

Patented NOV. 1 1, 1913.

Serial No. 746,591.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FRITZ Osc-AR STnoM- nous, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of vWashington, have invented certain new and useful improvements in i Ore-Separa tors; and l do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as `will enable o-thers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to separators, and more especially to those employed for the separation of material while in its dry state and by the action of a blast of air operating on the falling material in a direction the reverse of that in which the material is deliv j ered into the separator boX, to blow the lighter particles backward toward the rear end of said box and to permit the heavier particles to be projected toward the front end of said box so that particles of different specific gravity will drop into different hoppers and the mass will be separated into grades.

The invention is designed more particularly as an improvement on the device covered in my United States Patent Number 1,042,836, issued October 29, 1912; and its details are Vset forth in the following speciiication and claims, and shown in the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of this machine complete, taken from what l will call,

the rear side. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, showing also a trent side elevation of the fan casing, and Flg. 3 1s a plan View of the machine in its position as seen in Fig. 2.-

Fig. 4- is a horizontal section through the separator box or casing, on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective details respectively of the upper and lower partitions. Fig. 8 is a perspective detail showing the means for adjusting one of the wings, and Fig. 9 is an enlarged vertical section through the handle o1 the crank shown in Fig. 8j.

ln the drawings the numeral 1 designates the bed or framework which in the present case is illustrated as seated upon a Hoor 2 having therethrough an opening 3 for a purpose yet to appear, and at the front end of this bed is a fan 41 or other means for producing a blast of air which is delivered through the trunk 5 and into the separator box or casing 6. The top of the latter is preferably formed by two doors 7 and 8 hinged at 9 and connected to each other and to the sides of the casing by hooks 10 or other suitable means, thereby producing an angle at the center of the top of such casing, for a purpose to appear below. The rear end of this casing has an opening 11 through which the ore or other material to be acted upon is fed, and its bottom is also open as seen at 12. Above the opening in the bottom are disposed transverse shafts 13 which are journaled in the side walls of the casing and each oi' which has a crank handle 111 at its cuter or front end as seen in Fig. 8. The hand piece of this crank handle is made in the shapeV of a pin 15 movably mounted in the outer end of the crank and projected normally inward by a spring 16 so that the tip of thc pin will engage one of a series of holes 17 formed in the wall of the casing as shown, but when the hand piece is retracted to compress the spring the inner end of the pin will be disengaged from this hole and the crank may beset to engage the pin with some other hole. On the shaft 13 inside the casing is iixcdly mounted a wing 17, and the arrangement is such that two or three of these wings are grouped above the open `upper end of each of three hoppers 18, 19,

and 20 as shown in Fig. 2. Said hoppers are by preference mounted on cross bars 21 whose ends rest on the sills of the bed 1 as seen in Fig. 1, so that the entire gro-up oi.

hoppers may be adjusted forward or back-` ward beneath the bottom of the casing along the opening 3 and possibly to such an extent that their open upper ends will come under diilerent wings as will be clear. Meanwhile each wing may be adjusted to any angle desired, by the crank handle and stop mechanism above described, or by any other snit- `able and equi\f*alent adjusting device which may be substituted therefor. l desire it understood that the adjusting means just described is simply typical of any which may be employed at this point, but the setting of the various hoppers at different distances from the inlet opening ll is an improvement over my prior patent above referred to.

VJithin the casing are disposed several substantially horizontal partitions, and by preference l would have no less than two as shown herein, although there might be more. These may be of wood or metal, solid or hollow, and by preference they fill the entire space between the side walls of the casing and are sharpened at their front and rear edges so as to eut the blast of air forced through the trunk and deliver it in strata with as little resistance thereto as possible. In the present illustration the uppermost partition is slightly longer than the lowermost partition and has both its upper face 26 and lower face 27 inclined upward from its sharp front edge 28 to obtuse angles 29 about two-thirds of the way from its front to its rear edges, and thence inclined downward on converging lines to its sharp rear edge S10-the upper face 2G substantially paralleling the lower face of the doors 7 and S which constitute the top of the casing. The upper face 36 of the lower partition v is similarly formed, but its lower face 37 is substantially flat, although it has sharp front and rear edges 38 and 89 as shown. rEhe construction and purpose is such that the channel l0 between the contiguous faces of the two partitions shall be of substantially one size throughout its length, when the partitions stand in their normal positions as best seen in Fig. 2, the same as the channel al above the uppermost partition is also of one size throughout its length, although both channels incline upward and are then inclined downward Linder the angle at the center of the casino'. The space 42 below the fiat lower face 3'( of the lowermost partition, on the contrary, gows larger from the trunk 5 of the casing toward. its outlet end where occurs the opening ll. By this construction it foll-ows that a blast of air passing inward through the trunk 5 is cut by the sharp front edges of the partitions into a plurality of strata, whereof one stratum passes upward along the channel el and is directed toward and almost into the opening ll, another stratum passes along the channel 40 between its two partitions and is directed at a point a little below the opening ll so that the material passing into the lat-ter is struck forcibly by this blast of air, and. the stratum of air below the front edge of the lowermost partition passes into a channel 42 which grows larger toward the rear end of the casing with the result that the air finds less and less resistance as it progresses and moves slower and slower across the upper edges of the wings-all for a purpose hereinafter to appear.

While any suitable means may be ei-- ployed for adjusting the positions of the partitions, l have illustrated one such means herewith and will describe it as follows, although I do not wish to be limited thereto. Through each partition near its front and rear edges are formed slots 45, and through the sides of the casing at proper points to register with the slots are formed upright series of holes d6. Through the latter and through the slots are passed eye-bolts l? whose eyes stand at one side of the casing as seen in Fig. l and serve as handles, while thumb nuts i8 are screwed onto their threaded ends which project beyond the other side of the casing, so as to hold the eye bolts in place and support the partitions in their adjusted positions. This device will answer for holding the partitions and for permitting them to be adjusted, but in order that it may not be necessary for the operator to get inside the casing to effect such adjustment l preferably make use of a crank shaft e9 journaled in the side walls of the casing near each end of each partit-ion and somewhat below it as shown and having a crank handle on its front end by means of which it may be turned, and I connect the crank 5l of each shaft by means of a pitman rod 52 with the adjacent end of the partition as best seen in Fig. 2. Yfhen the eye bolt in this end is withdrawn, the crank handle may be turned to rock the crank shaft and, through its pitman rod, to raise or lower this end of the partition as desired-after which the eye bolt will be reinserted in the proper pair of holes 4G and its thumb nut 4&8 applied to hold it in place.

The feed mechanism for this improved separator is also an improvement over my prior patent above referred to. By preference the material to be treated is dropped onto or delivered through a chute 55 which is carried by a suitable support 56 on a light framework 57 hinged at 57 to uprights 5S at the rear end of the bed l, and said framework has bearings in which is journaled a shaft 59. The rear end of the framework is adjusted between other uprights or standards 60 rising from the bed, by means of a pin or bolt 61 inserted in one of the series of holes G2 to sustain the outer end of the framework 57, as illustrated at the right of Fig. l. By this or any equivalent means said framework may be adjusted vertically at its outer end, but here again l reserve the privilege of changing the details of construction, illustrated herewith as merely typical. Said shaft 59 is rotated by any suitable means as by a pulley 63 on one end thereof, connected by a belt 64 with a pulley 65 on one end of the shaft of the fan 1l, and said fan may be driven by any suitable a second endless apron '70 which moves over rollers 7l and 72, and the latter is mounted in spring bearings 73 directly above the roller 67, whereas the other roller 71 is mounted over the belt 68 and in bearings 74 carried by the light framework at a suitable point, and stands forward of the lower end of the chute 55. llt follows that material flowing down the latter passes under the rear roller 7l of the upper apron `70, and is `carried forward between the two aprons and between the forward rollers 6'? and 72; and if a large lump of material should be thus fed into the machine, the belt G8 will yield and the spring bearings 73 will permit the upper inner roller 72 to rise so that no injury will result to the feed mechanism. Vlas shown, said mechanism delivers the material through the opening l'l to the rear end of the separator casino'.

lilith the above construction of parts, the action of this machine is as follows: Power being applied through the belt 66 or otherwise, the fan a sets up a blast of air through out the trunk -5 which is split by the sharp front edges of the partitions into strata passing over and beneath and between the partitions in the manner above described, and such stratum as passes along a channel which has an angle within its length is (theoretically) delivered from the rear end of said channel in what might be called a cloud which is rolling slightly reversely to its direction of Jtravel, rat-her than proceeding straight along its course without the collateral inliuences of any currents in it which have been set up by the structure of the channel through which it passed. lf the partitions be so adjusted that the channel grows smaller toward the rear end of the casing, the blast of air or stratum progresses faster and faster as it proceeds along said channel; conversely the reverse is true and a blast of air would progress slower and slower if the channel grew larger toward its rear end. l find, however, that the action of these strata of air upon the material being forced in through the opening 1l is precisely what is desired in a machine of this charactor. The rapidly moving belt 64E connected with the feed mechanism causes the material to be fed into said Vopening l1 at consid/arable velocityso that in efiect it is tossed into the rear end of the casing and toward the rear edges of the partitions. .lhose par ticles which are large and heavy will ordinarily be thrown by this action into the intermediate vhopper 19 or the front hopper QO-according as the various wings may be set. Those particles which have less specificgravity and perhaps greater size will feel the influences of the various strata of air more, and while they will be tossed with considerable velocity they will be retarded or detlected as they fall so that ordinarily they will drop into the intermediate hopper l9-again, according as the wings are set. Finally, those particles which are `light in weight or small in size or both will almost invariablybe blown backward toward `the rear end of the casing, so that they will fall into `the hopper 18. lt will be at once obvious that the setting of^ the wings is an important factor in the successful operation ofthis device, as also `the adjustment of the various partitions and the consequent variation in the size of the channels. However,

the adjustment of the wings will ordinarily depend upon the material being fed, whereas the adjustment of the partitions will depend upon the volume ofair and the climatic conditions existing; and both adjustments will need considerable experiment in order to teach the ope ator how best to apply them to the grades of ore `being separated or to the kinds of grain or other material being treat ed in this machine. ln fact, despite his en perience it may become necessary to effect adjustments while the machine is in action, and this accounts for my preferred employment of means for setting the wings and adjusting the partitions from the exterior of the casing without necessarily stopping the motion of the machine. rli'he parts are of the desired sizes, shapes, proportions, and materials and-as above suggested-l do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction, especially of features herein typically shown only for purposes of illustration.

What is claimed as new is:

l. ln a dry separator, the combination with a fixed horizontal casing having openf ings at its extremities and in its bottom, and hoppers beneath the latter, of feeding mechanism for tossing the material to be treated into the rear end of the c: sing, means for adjusting the angle at which said material is delivered, and means for delivering a blast lili of air into the opening in the front end of t the casing.

2. In a dry separator, the combination with a. iiXed horizontal casing having' openings in its bottom, hoppers beneath the openings, and means for adjusting the posh tion of the mouths of said hoppers; of feeding mechanism for tossing the material to be treated into the rear end of the casing, means for adjusting the angle at which said material is delivered, means for delivering a blast of air within the casing and toward said material, and means for varying the size and shape of the channel through which said blast flows, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a dry separator, the combination with the casing having a series of hoppers communicating with its bottom at diierent points; ot means for delivering a blast of air into the front end of said easing, meehanism for cutting said blast into strata, means for tossing the material to be treated into the rear end of said casing on a line directed across the mouths of the hoppers and toward said air-strata, and means for adjusting' the position of said mechanism to vary the angle of this line to said strata.

i. ln a dry separator, the combination with the casing having a series of hoppers communicating with its bottom at different points; of means for delivering a blast ot air into the front end oli' said casing, means for cutting said blast into strata, and mechanism for feeding the material to be treated into the rear end or" said casing comprising a pair of endless aprons whose contiguous sides Contact with each other and move toward said easing, rollers supporting said aprons, that supporting the uppermost being mounted in spring bearings, a light framework supporting all suoli bearings, and means for adjusting the angle of the framework to the direction of said strata ot air.

5. ln a dry separator, the combination with a easing; of a plurality of partitions standing within said easing in approximate parallelism with each other and with the top wall of the easing, each having a slot through it near each end, the side walls of the casing having upright rows of holes registering with said slots, a series of eye bolts whereor each passes through a pair otl said holes and through the slot in the intervening partition, a thumb nut on the threaded end of said eye bolt, and means for adjusting the position of said partition, for the purpose set forth.

G. ln a dry separator, the combination with a casing having upright side walls and its top wall converging to an angle between its front and rear ends, the latter being provided with openings, means for delivering a blast of air into the front opening, and means tor tossing the material to be treated into the rear opening; of a series of hoppers communicating with the bottom of the Casing, and a plurality of partitions within said Casing whereof the upper tace of the uppermost partition normally parallels the top oi the casing.

7. In a. dry separator, the combination with a casing having upright side walls and its top wall converging to an angle between its front and rear ends, the latter being provided with openings, means for delivering ablast of air into the front opening, and means for tossing the material to be treated into the rear opening; of a series of hoppers Communicating with the bottom of the casing, and a plurality of partitions within said casing whereof the upper face of the uppermost partition normally parallels the top ot the casing and the lower face has an angle in its length didering from that in the upper face, and the u iper face of the partition next below normally parallels the lower face of the uppermost partition and its lower face is fiat, tor the purpose set forth. Y

8. In a dry separator, the Combination with a easing having upright side walls and doors at its top wall converging to an angle between its front and rear ends, the latter being provided with openings, means for delivering a blast of air into the front opening, and means for tossing the material to be treated into the rear opening; oit a series of ioppers communicating with the bottom oit the casing, and a plurality of partitions within said easing whereof the upper tace of the uppermost partition normally parallels the doors at the top ot the casing, and its lower face is out ot' parallel with its upper tace, and means Yfor adjusting said partition.

9. ln al dry separator, the combination with a easing having upright side walls and its top wall converging to an angle between its front and rear ends, the latter being provided with openings, means for delivering a blast of air into the front opening, and means for tossing the material to be treated into the rear opening; of a series or" hoppers Communicating with the bottom of the Casing, a plurality of partitions within said casing and independent means for adjusting the front and rear ends ot said partitions independently of each other whereby the blast of air may be split into various strata.

l0. ln a dry separator, the combination with a iiXed horizontal easing having openings atits extremities and in its bottom, hoppers beneath the latter, and means for adjusting the position of the mouths of said hoppers; of feeding mechanism for tossing the material to be treated into the rear end of the easing, means for adjusting the angle at which said material is delivered, and means for delivering a blast of air into the opening in the front end of the casing and cutting it into strata directed toward said material.

ll. ln a dry separator, the combination vith a iiXed horizontal easing having openings in its extremities and in its bottom, hoppers beneath the latter, and means for adjusting the position of the mouths ot said hoppers; of feeding mechanism tor tossing the material to be treated into the rear end of the casing, means for adjusting the angle at which said meterals delivered, means In testimony whereof I have hereunto set for delvei'ng e blast of air into the openmy hand in presence of two subscribing Witng in the front end of the casing and cutmesses.

ting it into stl'atedireeted toward said mete- FRITZ OSCAR STROMBORG. rial, and means for Varying the size and Witnesses:

shape of the channels through which said A. LARsoN,

strate flow, for the purpose set forth. W. J. EVANS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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