US3592393A - Centrifugal belt thrower - Google Patents

Abstract

This centrifugal belt thrower is provided with pivoted vanes and supported in the discharge wheel, and in operation is extended substantially radially toward the belt but can pivot and retract from the belt as they encounter material carried on the belt.

Description

United States Patent Alfred D. Siuden 1348 Kensington Place, Aurora, 111. 60506 835,969

June 24, 1969 July 13, 1971 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 635,197, May, 1967, now abandoned.

lnventor Appl No. Filed Patented RJEFLQAL E T HRQ 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

11.8. CI 239/669, 198/128, 222/407 Int. Cl A01c 17/00 Field of Search 239/669,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,140,207 5/1915 Swift (198/128 UX) 1,782,996 11/1930 Moody..... (198/128 U X) 2,868,351 1/1959 Hegmann ..(198/128UX) Primary Examiner-Lloyd L, King Assistant ExaminerMichael Y. Mar Att0rney-Frank J Foley ACT: This centrifugal belt thrower is provided with pivoted vanes and supported in the discharge wheel, and in operation is extended substantially radially toward the belt but can pivot and retract from the belt as they encounter material carried on the belt.

E BLEL QALBELI I ilLQYl ER- This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 635,l97, filed May 1, I967, now abandoned. 1

Centrifugal belt throwers without vanes or with fixed vanes, as shown in FIGS. I and 2 have been used heretofore successfully, but when using fixed vanes they must be fed from the incoming stream of material by introducing it laterally into the central axial portion of the discharge wheel. That manner of introducing the material has a number ofdisadvantages, which are avoided in this invention, by the use of pivoted vanes.

FIG. 1 shows in dotted lines a commercial form of centrifugal belt thrower, now old, having fixed vanes.

FIG. 2 shows in a central vertical cross section, on line 22 of FIG. 1, the same machine.

FIG. 3 is a vertical central sectional view, showing the thrower of this invention provided with pivotally mounted vanes. FIG. 4 is a sectional view on line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale, of a single, pivotable vane provided with weighted reinforcing bars on its margin, which adjoins the belt.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the fixed vanes 11 in the discharge wheel 12 are fixed on the two end discs 13 and I4 which support the margins of the belt 15 in the conventional manner. As explained in my aforementioned application of which this is a continuation-in-part, the belt 15 is wrapped partly around the wheel 11 and around the rollers I6, 17 and 18. The incoming material is delivered by chute l9 laterally into the central axial portion of wheel 12.

This older type of centrifugal thrower is in large commercial use, but is not shown in available patents. Hence it is portrayed herein to clearly show the state of the current most relevant active art, whereby the advance made by thisinvention is more clearly illuminated.

The present invention is shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. It includes a discharge wheel 21, rollers 21 and 22, and a feed chute 23, which delivers incoming material directly into the periphery of the wheel and directly upon the belt.

' As each of the vanes 24 is pivotally supported on pins, such as 25, fixed in the wheel discs 26 and 27, carried by the shaft 28, the entering material may intercept the path of the outer margins of the rapidly rotating wheel vanes 24. This is entirely feasible, as the vanes merely yield rearwardly as they strike the incoming mass of material.

As belt throwers of this type may employ belt speeds of 3,000 to 4,000 f.p.m., it will be apparent that the entering material will initially be moving much slower than the margins of the vanes, and the vanes will yield rearwardly. However, the high-velocity wheel imposes a very large centrifugal force on the pivoted vanes, always urging them toward more nearly radial positions, and they in turn apply force centrifugally to the material, pressing it more compactly against the belt. The resultant increased frictional reaction with the belt enables the belt to accelerate the material usually up to or close to the belt speed, under the combined action of pressure from the pivoted vanes and the inherent centrifugal forces which act directly on the material itself. This combined action is something new in the art ofcentrifugal belt throwing.

Stop blocks 29, flxed on the inner faces of the discs 26 and 27 may be employed to prevent the vanes from ever reaching an exact radial position at which they might possibly jam on some foreign object carried on the belt 31.

To increase the centrifugal force which the vanes may acquire, it is preferred that steel wearand weight bars 32 be added to the peripheral margins of the vanes. Bolts 33 may be used to secure them on the margins, parallel to the surface of the belt. For varying operating conditions the weights may be varied.

FIG. 3 shows that in operating the material on the belt moves up to or near to the belt speed, and as this occurs the deflection of the vanes decreases, by centrifugal action, and this enables the vanes to continue to apply centrifugal pressure to the more ra idly movin material.

Thus, the use 0 centrifugalFy acting, pivoted vanes is seen to contribute to the elflciency and capacity of this centrifugal belt thrower.

It should be understood that this invention is not limited nor intended to be limited to the illustrated details of construction, but embraces such additions, modifications and variations of structure and material as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having shown and described my invention, I claim:

I. A centrifugal belt thrower comprising an endless belt,

a cylindrical discharge wheel having circular end walls and annular means thereon for supporting lateral margins of the belt,

a first and a second pulley positioned to hold the belt engaged with a substantial peripheral arc of the wheel,

means for delivering particulate material through the peripheral margins of the wheel onto the belt between said end walls,

means for propelling the wheel, pulleys and belt at high velocity to cause the material on the belt to be centrifugally pressed against the belt and to be accelerated thereby and to be discharged tangentially therefrom in the vicinity of the second pulley,

and a plurality of angularly spaced-apart vane means having vanes pivotally supported on the wheel near its axis and freely oscillatable about each support with their outer margins radially extendable by centrifugal force into proximity with the belt and exerting radial centrifugal pressure on said material thus pressing the material against the belt but adapted to be retracted and swung freely out of radial position by encounter with the material entering the wheel to permit passage of the material under said margins onto the belt.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes individually pivotally mounted and independently oscillatable about such pivoted mountings.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes which are rigid and responsive to centrifugal force to seek a radial position during rapid rotation of the wheel.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes which are so freely oscillatable as to exert no force upon the material on the belt in the absence of centrifugal force resulting from rapid rotation of the wheel.

Claims (4)

1. A centrifugal belt thrower comprising an endless belt, a cylindrical discharge wheel having circular end walls and annular means thereon for supporting lateral margins of the belt, a first and a second pulley positioned to hold the belt engaged with a substantial peripheral arc of the wheel, means for delivering particulate material through the peripheral margins of the wheel onto the belt between said end walls, means for propelling the wheel, pulleys and belt at high velocity to cause the material on the belt to be centrifugally pressed against the belt and to be accelerated thereby and to be discharged tangentially therefrom in the vicinity of the second pulley, and a plurality of angularly spaced-apart vane means having vanes pivotally supported on the wheel near its axis and freely oscillatable about each support with their outer margins radially extendable by centrifugal force into proximity with the belt and exerting radial centrifugal pressure on said material thus pressing the material against the belt but adapted to be retracted and swung freely out of radial position by encounter with the material entering the wheel to permit passage of the material under said margins onto the belt.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes individually pivotally mounted and independently oscillatable about such pivoted mountings.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes which are rigid and responsive to centrifugal force to seek a radial position during rapid rotation of the wheel.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes which are so freely oscillatable as to exert no force upon the material on the belt in the absence of centrifugal force resulting from rapid rotation of the wheel.

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