US1340607A - Pea-huller - Google Patents

Description

F. HAMACHEK.

PEA HULLER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1914- 1,340,607; Patented y 18, 1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1- F. HAMACHEK.

PEA HULLER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-13.19M-

Patented May 1&1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

F. HAMACHEK.

PEA HULITER. APPLICATION men AUG-13, 1914.

1,340,607. Patented May 18, 1920.

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1 r raw/vs! A W/T/VKJTEJ UNrrEn STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

FRANK HAMAGHEK, OF KEWAUNEE, WISCONSIN.

PEA-HULLER.

Application filed August 13, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, F RANK HAMAOHEK, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Kewaunee, in the county of Kewaunee and State of WVisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pea-Hullers, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

This invention relates to pea hullers or separators for threshing tender green peas on the vines as harvested, and has for its object to improve the efliciency of the hulling beaters by making them incline forwardly with their intermediate web portions narrower than their outer beating edges to induce the vines and unopened pods to con tact witha greater area of surface of the hulling boaters.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lifting bar with a maximum amount of narrow pea sifting spaces between the parts thereof and between said parts and the walls of the screen drum. I

Another object of the invention is to improve upon the screening surface of the screen drum by providing such surface of an open network material instead of employing perforatedv sheet rubber for this purpose.

Another object of. the invention is to provide novel means for rotatably supporting the screen drum with a minimum amount of friction.

Another object of the invention is to improve upon the construction of the angular roller about which the separating canvas or apron passes so as to maintain the apron centrally in position in its frame.

Another object of the invention is to improve upon the construction of pea hullers or separators.

\Vith the above and other objects in view the invention consists in the pea huller as herein claimed and all equivalents.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts in the different views:

Figure 1 is an end elevation, with parts sectioned, of apea huller constructed in accordance with this invention, the View being taken at the feed end of the screen drum and parts unnecessary for the explanation of the novel features being omitted;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the screen drum, its inner drum and the heaters thereon;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1920.

Serial No. 856,523.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the screen drum and the inner drum;

Fig 4 is a sectional detail view of the end of the screen drum showing the supporting rollers thereof;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of one of the suporting rollers for the screen drum;

Fig. 6, 7 and 8 are detail views showing lifter bar fingers of various shapes;

Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are detail views of fragments of open mesh fabric for the screening surface of the screen drum;

Figs. 12 and 13 are side and plan views respectively of the hulling beaters at the receiving end of the screen drum;

Figs. 14, 15 and 16 are end, plan and side views of the hulling heaters in the intermediate part of the screen drum;

Figs. 17 and 18 are side and plan views respectively of the hulling heaters at the discharge end of the screen drum;

Figs. 19 and 20 are detail views showing the batten strips as provided with openings and the relation of the openings to the lifting ribs or the fingers;

Fig. 21 is a detail view showing the lifting fingers brought into engagement with the batten strip, the openings in the batten being in alinement with the spaces between the lifting fingers;

Fig. 22 is a detail plan view from below showing a portion of the perforated batten, a portion of the transverse screen bars and the means for clamping the batten thereto.

In these drawings 20 indicates a frame which has rotatably mounted in it a screen drum 21 driven from a countershaft 22 by means of chains 23 passing around sprocket wheels on the shaft and around sprocket teeth on both ends of the screen drum.

Within the screen drum 21 is contained an inner drum 2 1 which is preferably hexagonal in cross section and is mounted on a shaft 25 which is suitably journaled in the frame and is driven in any desired manner in the same direction as the turning of the screen drum but at a higher speed.

Hulling heaters 26 are mounted on the inner drum 24 along the corners thereof and are inclined or bent forwardly in the direction of rotation of the inner drum and rotate in a space inward of the innermost portion of the lifting ribs. The hulling beaters 26 are also oblique with respect to the axis of the inner drum so as to present the edge nearer the feeding end of the screen drum foremost and create a current of air from the feeding end of the drum toward the discharge end thereof. The forwardly inclined position given to the hulling heaters in order to overcome or offset the centrifugal action of the rapidly rotating hulling heaters in throwing the vines outwardly against the walls of the drum and to counteract the fanning action of the hulling heaters in producing radial currents of air which would tend to hold the vines against the walls of the drum instead of permitting them to drop into contact with the hulling heaters as desired for opening the pods and liberating the peas. The forwardly inclined position of the hulling heaters causes them to act as scoops to draw air inwardly, instead of fanning it outwardly as would he the case if they were radially positioned or rearwardly inclined.

Instead of the sides of the forwardly advanced hulling heaters being substantially parallel or tapering outwardly it is found that when made wider at their outer ends the space at the contracted sides of the hull ing heaters between such broadened or laterally projecting end portions and the inner drum induces a current of air to pass around the sides of the hulling heaters through such spaces and thereby draws the vines farther down on the face of the hulling heaters so that the pods are subjected to a glancing blow by a greater area of surface of the hulling heaters and the efficiency of the pod opening operation thereof is consequently increased. Without this side space the hulling heaters, even though inclined forwardly to counteract their fanning action, have their impact with the hulls practically confined to their extreme outer edges or a small area of surface along their outer edges because of the high speed of rotation of the inner drum. lVith these cutaway portions at their sides. however, the vines are given a tendency to spread over a greater area of surface of the hulling heaters to more assuredly subject the unopened pods to a glancing blow from the hulling heaters and thus effect the opening thereof and the liberation of the peas.

The degree of obliquity of the hulling heaters to the axis of rotation of the inner drum is gradually increased from the receiving end of the drum to the discharge end thereof so as to increase the vine advancing action of the hulling heaters as the vines approach the discharge end of the drum. and thus keep the vines from becoming clogged in a tangled mass within the drum.

The hulling heaters 26 preferably have the various forms illustrated in Figs. 12 to 18 inclusive, the form shown in l2 and 13 being the hulling heaters at the feed end of the drum with the long spike a at the forward end to catch the vines as they leave the feeder, while the inclined blade portion 6 deflects the vines inwardly to their other feeding movement through the drum, this inclined blade portion having the undercut rear edge 0 to leave a laterally projecting rounded horn at the end of the blade por tion. The next series of hulling heaters extending for some distance through the drum is thus illustrated in Figs. 14, 15 and 16 in which the undercut c is formed at both ends of the blade portion to leave laterally projecting rounded horns at both ends of the inclined oblique rounded outer edge of the hulling heaters. The last series of hulling heaters is thus shown in Figs. 17 and 18. The horn (Z at the rear edge of the blade portion projects outwardly and rearwardly at an incline to facilitate the casting off of the vines at the discharge end of the drum.

The screen drum 21 is made up of the usual screen frame 27 which, instead of being covered with perforated sheet rubber as usual, has an open mesh fabric covering 28 suitably secured thereto which may he made of cords woven or netted with a square mesh as shown in Fig. 9, or a square mesh of diagonal cords as shown in Fig". 11, or a diamond-shaped mesh of diagonal cords as shown in Fig. 10. This construction of the sieve surface forming the wall of the screen drum constitutes an improvement over the perforated sheet rubber construction heretofore employed as it affords a greater number of openings through which the peas may pass and is stronger and more flexible and more easily kept clean. The sieves now in general use are made of sheet rubber, but the holes which are punched therethrough are necessarily made quite far apart in order that the screen may be strong enough to stand the strain of the weight of the vines and the comparatively large area of unperforated surface impairs the sifting capacity thereof and the sieve is easily clogged by the accumulation of mud at the perforations when the vines are wet. i have experimented with sheet metal screens ith edges turned over and also with screens made of woven wire rolled smooth on the inner side and galvanized. but neither of these were satisfactory inasmuch as they damaged the tender peas to some extent. The present construction of woven or netted open mesh fabric made of cord or twine being more flexible than the sheet rubber screen will be given a greater lateral motion by the vines striking thereagainst and will thus tend to be kept free from obstruction by adhering dirt. The sieve, while thus being naturally self cleaning, is capable of being washed in the usual way.

While the screen fabric may be used with the lines of its mesh corresponding with the lines of the drum so that square openings are provided with their sides parallel with the ends of the drum, it may be found desirable to arrange the fabric on the bias so that the square openings will be diagonally arranged with respect to the drum as affording a better opportunity for the loose peas to pass through. 'Also it may be preferred to make the screen fabric of a diamond mesh, by stretching it before fastening it in place as shown in Fig. 10, to give the openings a greater length in their direction of travel, and permitting them to be large without allowing the pods to pass through.

The shape of the openings of the screen fabric or net of soft, pliable strands of fibrous cord may be varied by stretching the net .more or less before fastening it to the frames 27, and such frames and their fastening means, which may be tacks, staples, pegs or the like, constitute means for maintaining the shape of the screen openings and supporting the screen fabric.

Another feature of the present invention is a novel construction of the lifting ribs which are in the form of a rib member 29 connected with the two end rings of the drum by means of socket brackets 34.. This rib member may be of any shape in cross section but it is preferably beveled, as

shown, with the beveled surfaces toward the screens 28, and has a series of outwardly extending fingers 30 thereon arranged parallel with each other with a narrow space there between and terminating before reaching the wall of the drum so as to leave a pas sage between the rib and the screens for the peas to pass through. The ends of the fingers are preferably beveled as shown, but they may have square ends as shown in Fig. 8. The space between the ends of the fingers of the lifting rib and the walls of the drum, forms a longitudinal opening extending lengthwise of the drum and located at the outer ed es of the lifting ribs and this longitudina space, as well as the space between the fingers, permits the liberated peas to pass through while the vines and pods are lifted by the lifting ribs, thus enabling the peas to become more readily separated and discharged through the openings in the walls of the drum and avoiding their injury by being unnecessarily thrown into the range of the hulling beaters. The lifting rib, comprising the rib member 29 and its outwardly extending spaced fingers which terminate before reaching the walls of the drum, con tains a series of parallel transverse openings or spaces between the fingers communicating with longitudinal spaces between the outer ends of the fingers and the wall of the drum. The presence of the longitudinal openings assists the transverse openings in their sifting operation of sifting the loose peas from the vines and chaff while lifting the latter to drop them in the path of the hulling beaters by preventing to a large extent the closing of the transverse openings by the accumulations of mud and dirt and chaff in the valleys between the sifting screens at the outer edge of the lifting ribs. With these longitudinal openings the particles of dirt sliding over the surface of the walls of the drum may freely pass beneath the lifting ribs through such longitudinal openings without adhering to the lifting ribs and obstructing the sifting openings thereof. The present lifting rib construction with longitudinal openings will, therefore, not require cleaning as frequently as lifting ribs with transverse openings only, as shown in my issued Patent No. 1,153,304, and when cleaning is necessary the longitudinal openings facilitate the cleaning operation by enabling a brush or scraper to be moved longitudinally of the drum between the lifting rib and the drum wall to quickly remove the ad hering obstruction. Preferably, though not necessarily, some of the fingers 30 may have extensions 31 reaching to the strips 32 which form a part of the drum wall or the drum frame andto which the screens 28 are bolted, and bolts 33 may pass through such fingers and their extensions and the strips 32 as well as the rib member 29, as shown in Fig. 6, this connection serving to strengthen the drum structure as well as to stiffen the lifting rib. p

The construction of the screen drum is such that it is of considerable weight and when in operation the vines within the drum add materially to its weight.

Furthermore the lifting of the vines by means of the lifting ribs on one side of the drum as the drum rotates, serves to shift the center of gravity of the drum to that side and in. order that this may not affect its stability the rollers 35 are spaced far apart. This, however, increases the tendency of the drum to wedge between them and in order to overcome this tendency I provide at each end a large flanged bearing roller 36 beneath the supporting roller 35 on one side of the drum for relieving the supporting rollers of the weight of the drum to a large extent. The supporting roller 35 and the bearing roller 36 are mounted on an angular bracket 37 which fits around two sides of the upright of the frame and is slightly adj ustable thereon to position the supporting and bearing rollers nearer to or farther from the bearing roller on the other side which is similarly mounted in an angular bracket 38 to be adjustable in a like manner. These brackets 37 and 38 are made angular to fit against adjacent sides of the uprights of the f "nine in order that the alinement of the rollers may be preserved.

Another feature of the invention is the construction of the upper drum of the sep-.

arating belt 39 which is mounted in an inclined position beneath the screen drum as usual to convey the chaff and dirt falling from the screen drum upwardly while the peas roll downwardly thereon. This upper drum of the separating belt is triangular in cross section, and instead of the edges thereof being formed of strips of wood as heretofore they are formed by metal rods or pipes 40 connecting the spiders or frames 41 at the ends of the drum. With the drums as heretofore used with wooden strips the feed of the apron could not be made permanently uniform at both ends on account of the difference in the degree of frictional engagement between the strips and the apron causing the apron to creep toward one side. This has also been caused by the difierence in wear of the wooden strips on account of the knots or harder grain at one end than at the other end, the tendency of the apron being to creep toward the end which is high and as this apron is of a width equal to the length of the screen drum, a tendency to creep to one side will very soon ruin it. lVith the metal drum rods there is no in equality in wear of the two ends of the drum and the frictional resistance remains the same, so that there is no tendency for the belt to creep.

It is found that the bearings of the supporting rollers become gummed from the juices of the pea vines so that the rollers offer a great amount of resistance to the turning of the drum. I have, therefore, provided the supporting rollers with a bear.- ing designed to rid itself of the objectionable gummy substance forming therein. The brackets 37 and 38 have bearing pins 42 fixed in them by means of set screws 43, and near their projecting ends they are provided with roller bearings 44 as seen in Fig. 5. An inclined passageway 45 passes through the end of the bearing pin 42 to the cavity of the roller bearing 44 and an opening is provided through the hub of the supporting roller and is normally closed by a screw plug 46. \Vith a bearing of this type it is only necessary to inject oil through the inclined passageway 45 to the cavity of the roller bearing and then by removing the screw plug 46 from the opening in the hub of the roller and starting the machine the gummy substance within the bearing which has been cut by the .oil will be thrown out through said opening in the hub and thus clean the bearing. The screw plug 46 nor mally remains in place to prevent the loss of lubricant therethrough, but is removed whenever it is desired to clean the bearing.

In Figs. 19 and 20 I have shown a modification wherein the batten strips 32 are pro vided with openings 50. These openings may bein alinement with the narrow spaces between the fingers 30 or in alinement with the fingers and serve the purpose of permitting the peas to pass directly-through the batten strips which form a part of the wall of the drum. These openings furthermore are beneficial since they afford an opportunity to clean the lifting ribs by inserting a metal rod through the openings and scraping the adhering mud and dirt from the various parts of the lifting ribs; The longitudinal openings of the lifting ribs besides serving to retard obstruction of .the transverse openings by. adhering accumu lations of mud and dirt and chaff, and besides facilitating the cleaning away of such obstructions, enable the batten strips 32 to become part of the screening surface, their openings 50 permitting the peas to pass through even at points in alinement with the fingers 30 of the lifting ribs. Vith that form of lifting rib in which the fingers are brought into engagement with the batten strips 32, as shown in Fig. 21 the openings 50 are formed only in alinement with the narrow spaces between the fingers.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a pea separator, a hulling beater comprising a blade forwardly inclined in the direction of rotationand having its widest portion at the outer edge.

2. In a pea separator, a hulling beater comprising a blade inclined forwardly in the direction of rotation thereof and also inclined in the direction of travel of the material through the pea separator, said blade having its widest portion at the outer edge thereof.

3. In a pea separator, a hulling beater comprising a blade inclined forwardly in the direction of rotation thereof with a straight outer edge and side edges converging after leaving the outer edge to form undercut spaces at the sides of the blade through which air may pass to draw the vines down on the blades.

4. In a pea separator, a hulling beater inclined forwardly in its direction of travel and provided with recesses at its sides through which air may pass to draw the vines farther down onto the hulling beater.

5. In a pea separator, a lifting rib comprising a cross bar with outwardly extending fingers, a sieve drum, and means for securing the lifting rib to the drum with the ends of the fingers spaced from the walls of the drum.

6. In a pea separator, a lifting rib com prising a rib member, projections at the outer edge of the rib member forming parallel fingers, and means for mounting the lifting rib within a drum to space the ends of the fingers away from the walls of the drum.

7. In a pea separator, a lifting rib comprising a rib member having projections on dim its outer edge forming parallel fingers, and extensions on the ends of some of the fingers forming spacing lugs for holding the ends of the fingers away from the walls of the drum.

8. In a pea separator, a lifting rib comprising a rib member, sockets fitting on the ends of the rib member and adapted for connection with the ends of the screen drum, and projections on the outer edge of the rib member with their ends terminating before reaching the wall of the druin.

9. In a pea separator, a drum, a frame, supporting rollers mounted on the frame and engaging the drum near the sides thereof, and a bearing roller engaging the drum between the supporting rollers.

10. In a pea separator, a frame, a screen drum, angular brackets adjustably secured to the uprights of the frame and fitting around the corners of said uprights, supporting rollers mounted on the brackets, and a bearing roller mounted on one of the brackets and engaging the drum between the supporting rollers.

11. In a pea separator drum, screen-covered frames forming part of the wall of the drum and having their edges spaced apart, a batten strip forming part of the wall of the drum extending across the space between the screen frames and provided with perforations to allow the peas to pass therethrough, and lifting ribs spaced from the batten strips to allow the peas to pass between them and the batten strips.

12. A pea separator drum, comprising screen frames forming part of the wall of the drum, batten strips inclosing the space between the edges of adjacent screen frames and provided with openings therethrough, and fingered lifting ribs having spaces between their fingers in alinement with openings in the batten strips.

13. In a pea separator drum, screen frames forming part of the wall of the drum and spaced apart to form slots between them, perforated batten strips also forming a part of the wall of the drum and covering the slots between the screen frames, and lifting ribs secured within the drum and comprising rib members with outwardly extending fingers spaced from the batten strips.

14. In a pea separator, an inner drum, and a hulling beater thereon with its widest portion at its outer edge.

15. In a pea separator, an inner drum, and a hulling beater thereon provided with recesses at its sides through which air may pass to draw the vines farther down onto the hulling beater.

16. A pea separator drum, comprising screen frames forming part of the wall of the drum, batten strips covering the space between the edges of adjacent screen frames and provided with openings, and lifting ribs spaced from the batten strips to allow peas to pass between them and through the openings.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK HAMACHEK.

Witnesses:

R. S. C. CALDWELL, MARGARET FORRESTAL.

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