US1517941A - Almond separator and grader - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 2, 4- 1,517,941

H. s. BINFORD,

ALMOND SEPARATOR AND GRADER Filed June '7, 1922 2 Shee ts-She at 1 0 000000 o 000 '0 000000 o ooooooooo oooooooo o ooooooooo OOOOOOOOIO oooooooo o 000000000 ooooo-ooop 000000000 0 ooooo o 00 0000 0 0 0000 IO N 0 oooooo 00 0000 |o 0000000 0 oooooooo o Magoo-0000 00.. ooooqo ooooooooo oooooooolo ooooooooo QOOOOOOOIO o 000 I o oooooooo'o o OQ-OQOIO 0 00-0 ,0 0 0000000 oooooooo o oooooooo o ooooooooo OOOOOOOOIO .QOOOQOOOIO F hmnfiomon n oooooooop 90009000 2 Ji'avenor "lLJJ" HSfizzzforcZ.

Patented Dec. 2, 1924.

PATENT OFFICE."

HEB-MAN S. BINFORD, 0F IVIO'DES'ITOy CALIFORNIA.

ALHKOND SEPARATOR AND GRADER.

Application filed June 7',

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN S. Bmroin), a citizen of the United States, residing at Modesto, in the county of Stanislaus and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Almond Separators and (irraders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in almond separators, the principal object of which is to provide means for separating almonds of different sizes from the almond hulls.

Another object is to provide means whereby the separated almonds are collected and the hulls are conveyed to a distant point.

Still further objects are to provide means which are extremely simple and consequently cheap to manufacture; and also to provide means which will enable the operator to readily clean the device and to change screens at will.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent during the course of the following description,

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like *numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure 1 is a cross-section taken on the line 1-1 of Figure 2,

Figure 2 is a top plan View of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a cross-section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a cross-section taken on the line 44 of Figure 1,

Figure 5 is an elevation of the shaking element,

Figure 6 is a side elevation of the device as a whole, and

Figures 7, 8 and 9 are fragmentary detail views of the separating screens.

In th separating of almonds from their hulls, considerable difficulty has been experienced in handling various sizes of nuts with the result that the grading and separating was not uniform. It has also been found'that in separating these nuts, a great many of the meats which would fall out of the cracked shells would pass through the separator and be lost. It is to overcome these difficulties that I have provided means for separating the nutmeats from the hulls. This I have accomplished through an ar- 1922. Serial No. 566,499.

rangement of screens mounted upon a shaklng element.

In the accompanying drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numerals 11 and 12 refer to standards which support a top frame 13, while the numeral 14 refers to a bottom brace to which are attached diagonal braces 16 and 17. It is obvious that any form of support might be used. A conveyer 18 consisting" of a belt passing over pulleys 19 and 21 is supported in the standards 22 and 23, which are properly braced as shown at 24and 26. This conveyer is adapted to lie partly beneath a shaking element designated as a whole by the numeral. 27. At- 28 and 29, I have shown depending links pivoted as at 31 and 32 to the top frame 13. These depending links are in turn pivoted as at 33 and 34 tothe shaking element 27. At 36, I have shown a crank which may be revolved in any convenient manner, and has secured thereto as at 87 a rocking lever 88, which rocking lever is in turn pivoted at 39 to the shaking element 27 By now referring to Figures 1 and 2, it will be noted that I have provided a series of screens, the uppermost screen being divided into two parts as shown at 41 and 42, the screen 41 being formed of perforated material while the screen 42 is of woven wire construction. At 43, I have shown a diagonal strip, which strip serves to cause the nuts passing over the screen 42 to work toward a trough 44 at the end of the screen 42, while at 46 is shown a screen the, construction of which is best shown in Figure 7. This screen is adapted to discharge into a trough 4'7. Mounted beneath the screen 46 is a. screen 48, which screen is of the con struction shown in Figure 8. This screen is adapted to discharge upon the conveyer 18 while beneath the screen 48 is a screen 49, which discharges. into av trough 51, it being understood that the troughs 44, 47 and 51 each discharge into separate receptacles (now shown). In order that access may be gained to the screens 46, 48 and 49, I have provided and held in a closed position as by a latch 54. The screen 41 is removable so that screens of different sizes may be employed in order that different grades of nuts may a hinged door 52, hinged as at 53 be sorted. It will be noted by viewing Figure 1, that the right hand end of the shaking element is lower than the left hand end, the purpose of which is to cause the material upon the screen to move toward the left hand end as indicated by the arrows parallel to the screens in Figure 1. The arrows at right angles to the screens in Figure 1 indicate the direction that the material will take in passing through the screens.

The operation of my device is as fol lows A huller of standard form is mounted adjacent the left hand end of my machine into which are placed almonds as they come from the trees, that is, having the hulls thereon. The device is then started, which results in discharging hulled almonds onto the screen 41 of my device, with the result that the nuts of the same size as the openings in the screen will pass therethrough and tall upon the screen 46 as will also the broken pieces of hulls. The larger nuts and large pieces of hulls will pass onto the screen 4-2 where the hulls will drop through onto the con. veyer 18 and be conveyed to a distant point. The reason for the hulls passing through is due to their long thin shape which allows them to pass through the screen, while the oval nuts will not pass therethrough. The nuts which reach the screen a2 will be moved into contact with the cross piece 43 and be discharged into the trough 4st, where they will be gathered into a suitable receptacle. The nuts and hulls reaching the screen 46 will gradually move over the same with the result that the hulls and almond meats will fall through onto the screen 48, while the nuts will be discharged into the trough 17, The broken hulls and meats which reach the screen a8 will move over the same, and as this screen is of a sufficient size to allow the meats to pass therethrough and only the very small pieces of broken hulls, the result will be that the large pieces of hulls will be discharged on the conveyor 18 while the meats will pass onto the screen 49. This screen will be of sutficient size to catch the nut meats and discharge them into the trough 51, while the broken pieces of hulls which reach this point will. pass through onto the ground or into a receptacle. It

should be noted that the troughs are downwardly inclined and project beyond one side wall of the frame, with the troughs tt and 47 having their discharge ends arranged above the conveyor 18.

It is obvious that a certain amount oi hand picking will have to be resorted to as no machine is capable of removing all foreign matter. I have, however, provided avery simple means tor removing the majority of hulls from the nut meats and shelled almonds, and at the same time I have provided means whereby I sort the almonds as to size.

By removing the screen l-l and placing a different screen therein having apertures of a larger or smaller size, I am able to handle different sizes of nuts without the necessity of se :uring additional expensive equipment.

It is to be understood that the form o't my invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example oi? the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangen'ient of parts may be re sorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claim.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim In an almond separator, a shaking element, comprising a horizontal screen formed in two portions, one of said portions having circular openings therethrough, and the other of said portions having transversely disposed elongated openings therethrough, a second screen mounted in said shaking element and at a point beneath said screen having the circular openings therein, a third screen mounted beneath said second mentioned screen, said third mentioned screen having openings therein of different mesh than said first mentioned screens, a fourth screen mounted beneath said third mentioned screen, conveyer means for receiving a portion oi? the discharge passing through the three upper screens and downwardly inclined troughs projecting beyond the side wall of the frame arranged at one end of each of the first, second and fourth mentioned screens for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I atllx my signature.

HERMAN S. BINFORD.

Images