US1231778A - Pneumatic grain elevator and separator. - Google Patents

Description

C. P. NALL.

PNEUMATIC GRAIN ELEVATOR AND SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, l9l5.

123mm, Patented my 3, 19m

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

C. P. NALL.

PNEUMATIC GRAIN ELEVATOR AND SEPARATOR. APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1915.

1,981,?78" Patented. July 3, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- %%ZM:W

C. P. NALL.

PNEUMATIC GRAIN ELEVATOR AND SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 1915.

Patented July 3, 191?.

HEETSSHEET 3 zzziwwsw 351% a W Q/ fl human snares rarmvr onnroa CHARLES P. NALL, 0F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO NALL SEPARATOR AND ELEVATOR COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

PNEUMATIC GRAIN ELEVATOR ANIl) SEPARATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1911 "3.

Application filed May 19, 1915. Serial No. 29,040.

To all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES P. NALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Grain Elevators and Separators; 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 appertains to make and use the same.

My invention provides a very simple and highly eflicient pneumatic device for conveying and elevating grain and various other materials, and for separating therefrom, relatively light materials, such as dust, dirt and chaff, and is capable of a very wide range of use. For example, it may be used to elevate or otherwise convey wheat, oats, barley, seeds, shelled corn, and the like, and even such heavier materials, as sand. The use of the invention will be made clear by description of its use for taking grain out of a wagon and loading the same into a car.

The complete device is preferably made in the nature of a self-contained portable plant mounted on a suitable truck so that it may be readily moved from place to place.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views. Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a plan view of the complete machine; I

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

.Fig. 3 is a detail in vertical section on the line 22 m on Fig. 5, some parts being shown in full;

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line w m on Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the machine some parts being removed; and

Fig. 6 is a view partly in front elevation and partly in vertical section showing the separating hopper and certain. associated parts of the machine.

As a suitable motive power for driving the running parts of the machine, I preferably employ an explosive engine indicated as an entirety by the numeral 1. This engine and all of the other parts of the maa belt 3, pulley-equipped counter shaft 4 and twin belts 5 and 6, drives a pair of fans or blowers 7 and 8. Thecasing of the fan 8 is provided with a suction tube 9 and with an air discharge tube or hose 10. The suction tube 9 leads from one of two compartments of a vertically divided hopper 11 that is suitably supported from the platform of the truck and is provided with a depending leg 12 that connects to a cylindrical discharge chamber 18. Within the leg 12 is a gravity closed cut-oil" valve 14 that is automatically opened by the pressure from within the casing. The hopper 11 and upper portion of the leg 12 are divided into chambers or compartments 11 and 11", by a vertical partition The hopper 11 serves as a separating chamber, and mounted therein and extend ing through the partition 15 is a nearly horizontal tube 16. lVithin the chamber 11 the tube 16 is connected to an upright tube 17, the lower end of which extends below the said tube 16 and opens quite close to the inclined bottom of the hopper. The upper end of the said tube 17 extends through the top of the hopper and is connected to a flexible intake tube 18. That portion of the tube 16 that extends into the chamber 11, is open at its inner end, and near its inner end is connected to the lower end of an upwardly extended suction pipe 19 which, in turn, is connected to the suction tube 9, and within the said compartment 11 is provided with circumferentially spaced air ports 20 arranged to be opened and closed to a greater or less extent by an oscillatory, circumferentially perforated valve 21. This valve 21 has a projecting arm 22 that is connected to an operating rod 23 extended outward through the front side of the hopper. The hopper is preferably provided with removable plates 24:, which, when removed, afford access with the hand and arm to the interior of the compartments 11 and 11 The casing of the fan 7 takes in air through one eye in the usual way and is provided with a tangential discharge neck 25 that is connected to one end of a blower pipe 26. The intermediate portion of this blower pipe 26 is connected to, or in other words, opens through the lower cylindrical portion of the discharge casing 13, so that it intersects the same at a right angle. The outer end of the blower pipe 26 is connected to a flexible deliver-y tube or hose 27 that is adapted to be freely moved about. Working within the discharge casing 13 is a sort of a paddle wheel :28, the shaft of which is journaled in suitable bearings on the :Sitld. casing, and at its outer end, is connected by miter gears 29 to a counter shaft 30 journaled in a suitable bearing on the said casing andprovided at its outer end with a pulley 31, over which latter and a pulley on the main counter shaft at, runs a. belt "32 for transmitting motion to the said paddle wheel.

Operation.

The operation will be made clear from the following description of the use-of the machine for taking grain, for example, from a wagon anddelivering the same into a car.

The free .end of the intake tube 18 is placed in a wagon in contact with the grain which is to be taken up, and the free end of the delivery tube 26 is placed within the car to be loaded. The engine being then in ac- .tion, the blowers or fans are driven at high speed. The blower 8 produces a suction or partial vacuum in both of the chambers 11 and 11 of the separating hopper 1'1, and under this action, the grain from the wagon will be picked up and drawn through the intake tube 18. The greater part, to-wit, about four-fifths of the grain will be dropped directly to the bottom of the chamber 11 but the lighter particles, such as withered grain, oats, dust, chaff and small seeds, will be carried onward into the said tube 16. By adjustment, the lightest of the particles drawn into the tube 16 will be carried with the air upward through the suction pipe 19 and suction tube 9, through the blower 8 and with the air out through the discharge tube 10, while more or less of the relatively heavier particles will be thrown outward through the end of the said tube 16 and precipitated into the hopper chamber 11 When the valve 21 is adjusted to close the ports 20, all of the air drawn in through the horizontal tube 1 6 will be caused to make a turn directly upward into the suction pipe 19, and this has the greater tendency to carry the particles into the suction tube 9 and thence, out through the fan or blower 8. When, however, the valve 21 is set to open the said air ports 20, a part of the air will pass directly outward through the open end of the tube 16, into the chamber 11, and from thence, back into the suction pipe 19 through the said ports 20; and this gives a greater tendency to deposit light particles within the said hopper chamber 11". Thus, it will be seen that by adj-ustment of the valve 21, the device may be regulated so that it will carry from the hopper more or less of the relatively light particles. When it is desired to use the-(1a through the fan '8.

through a *leg VlCQzGSPGClELllY as-a separator, the valves 21 should be adjusted so that such particles as oats will be carried from the wheat out Obviously, when such separation 1S made, the oats may be caught in a suitable receptacle.

The wheator grain cleared of light foreign material, as above stated, is delivered 12 into discharge chamber or casing 18 where it is taken up by the paddle wheel 28 and positively delivered to the blower pipe 26. Here it is important to note that .the blast of air from the fan or blower L7 is directly through the alined peripheral compartments of the paddle wheel and that the grain is delivered to the said blower pipe, one small load at a time, and in an even order of succession. This paddle feed wheel is constantly drivenso that a constant and even supply of grain is delivered to the said blower pipe. The said paddle wheel when loaded with grain also prevents escape of the air from the blower pipe up through the leg of the hopper.

TVhatI claim is:

1. The combination with a closed hopper, of an intake tube extended downward within said hopper with its open lower endabove the bottom thereof and an approximately horizontal tube within said hopper extended from the intermediate inner portion of said intake tube, a vertical partition dividing said .hopper into two chambers and through which partition the said horizontal tube is extended, a suction tube extended upward the bottom thereof and an approximately horizontal tube within said hopper extended from the intermediate inner portion of said intake tube, a vertical partition dividing said hopper into two chambers and through which partition the said horizontal tube is extended, a suction tube extended upward from said horizontal tube, and having air ports within said hopper, and a blower having its intake connected to said suction tube.

3. The combination with a closed hopper, of an intake tube extended downward with in said hopper with its open lower end above the bottom thereof and an approximately horizontal tube within said hopper extended from the intermediate inner portion of said intake tube, a vertical partition dividing said hopper into two chambers and through which partition the said horizontal tube is extended, a suction tube extended upward from said horizontal tube, and having circumferentially spaced air ports within said hopper, a valve for opening and closing said ports, and a blower having its intake connected to said suction tube. 7

4. The combination with a closed hopper, of an intake tube extended downward within said hopper with its open lower end above the bottom thereof and an approximately horizontal tube within said hopper extended from the intermediate inner portion of said intake tube, a vertical partition dividing said hopper into two chambers and through which partition the said horizontal tube is extended, and a blower having its intake 10 CHARLES P. NALL.

Witnesses:

F. D. MERCHANT, HARRY D. KrLeoRE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner oi Patents, Washington, D. G.

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