US1259048A - Centrifugal basket. - Google Patents

Description

E. ROBERTS & A. H. GIBSON.

CENTRIFUGAL BASKET. APPLlCATlON FILED JAN- 22. 1915.

1 59, Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

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EUGENE ROBERTS AND ANGUS H. GIBSON, OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, ASSIGNORS TO SUGAR CENTRIFUGAL DISCHARGEE 00., OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, A CORPORA- TION' OF UTAH.

CENTRIFUGAL BASKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed J'anuary 22, 1915. Serial No. 3,834.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EUGENE ROBERTS and Axons H. GIBSON, citizens of the United States, and residents of Salt Lake City, State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Centrifugal Baskets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the centrifugal baskets or receptacles of centrifugal machines of the kind commonly employed for separating the syrup from the solid sugar in the process of refining sugar.

The pressure of the large mass of sugar against the circumferential wall of the hasket, due to the high speed of rotation, makes it necessary not only to make the wall of the basket of fairly heavy metal, but, also, to reinforce the wall externally by means of heavy circumferential reinforcing means, which, of course, must be arranged so as not to cover the perforations in the basket wall. through which the syrup escapes under centrifugal action into the outer casing or curb. Since the perforations in the basket are comparatively coarse, say one-eighth of an inch in diameter, it is necessary to use a finely perforated screen or sieve'inside the basket, such as is shown in Letters Patent of United States No. 1,108,098.

in order topermit the circulation of the juice escaping through the finely perforated screen to the coarser perforations in the basket wall, it has been the common practice to employ a reticulated backing interposed between the screen and the surrounding wall of the basket, which backing requires to have fairly coarse meshes or perforations in order to allow such circulation. Trouble is experienced, however, owing to the fact that the backing under the constant centrifugal pressure of the heavy sugar tends to flatten against the surrounding basket wall, thus impeding circulation, and also tends to make ridges or breaks in the finely perforated screen which is pressed against it by the sugar, which ridges or breaks tend to catch against the point of the plow used for discharging the sugar and cause considerable injury or damage.

It is the object of the present invention to backing interposed between the screen and the basket wall and so construct the basket wall itself as to both afford a sufficiently continuous backing surface supporting the screen to prevent any ridges or roughness being impressed into the screen itself by the pressure of the sugar, and, also, to afford a complete and perfect circulation of the syrup to the openings in the basket wall free from any obstruction.

To this end the invention comprises a basket whose circumferential wall is provided at intervals with perforations for the escape of liquid and whose inner surface is provided with a series of closely arranged narrow, shallow grooves arranged to have communication with said perforations while affording a substantially fiat backing surface to support the internal screen and prevent it from buckling or creasing under the pressure of the sugar.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated the preferred form of embodying the principle of this invention, in which,

F igure 1 is a side elevation in central section of the centrifugal basket and curb showing the application of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section on an enlarged scale through a portion of the basket wall;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale showing the internal surface of the basket wall.

The general arrangement and construction of the curb 0: and of the centrifugal basket 25 secured to the supporting and driving shaft 0 is that commonly employed in this class of machines. The circumferential or side wall 5 of the basket is provided with the usual coarse perforations b and is reinforced externally to prevent buckling by the rings 5 which are usually shrunk upon the outside wall of the basket.

The exterior surface of the basket wall 6 remains smooth to get the maximum reinforcing efiect of the external rings 5 The interior surface of the basket wall I) is provided with a series of parallel closely arranged narrow grooves b running around the inside of the basket wall, some of them intersecting the perforations 5 while others have communication with said perforations by means of diagonal grooves b which intersect the perforations b and aflord c0m- Patented Mar. 12, rare.

munication between all the intermediate grooves and the various perforations. The grooves b may be say one-sixteenth of an inch in depth and width while the diagonal grooves may be slightly deeper, the object being to keep the grooves small enough so that the intervening ribs form a sufiiciently continuous backing or supporting surface to prevent the metal of the perforated screen which is inserted inside the basket from being forced into the interstices or grooves and I thus avoid causing any creasing or roughening of the screen itself that would tend to in terfere with the proper action of the plow or scraper in discharging the sugar.

By the above-described construction it is possible to use a solid vcircumferential wall of heavy or thick metal with a smooth outer face adapted to properly receive the reinlongs the life and efiiciency of the screen itself on account of the maintenance of the screenin a smooth, unbroken, and uncreased condition.

The closely arranged narrow grooves cutting the areas between adjacent perforations form a complete drainage means for conducting the separated juice or liquid to the angularlv disposed grooves which intersect the per oratlons. This arrangement permits the drainage apertures or perforations to be spaced widely enough apart to allow the application of the reinforcing ribs without clogging up the perforations.

What we claim is 1. A centrifugal basket embracing in its,

construction a circumferential wall having a series of perforations spaced apart at a relatively large distance as compared with the diameter of said perforations, a series of grooves cutting through the areas between adjacent perforations, and a second series of grooves intersecting said perforations and angularly disposed with relation to the firstmentioned grooves to afford communication between said perforations and the first-mentioned grooves, substantially as described.

2. A centrifugal basket embracing in its construction a circumferential wall having a series of relatively widely-separated perforations and a series of relatively close grooves extending circumferentially around the inside face of the circumferential wall between adjacent rows of perforations, and a series of grooves angularly disposed with relation to said first-mentioned grooves and intersecting both the first-mentioned grooves and the said perforations thereby afi'ording complete drainage for the areas between adjacent perforations, substantially as de- 'scribed.

3. A centrifugal basket having a peripheral wall provided with a series of spaced perforations, a series of encircling reinforcing ribs arranged between adjacent horizontal rows of perforations, a series of internal closely-arranged grooves cutting the areas between the perforations and anOther series or grooves intersecting the perforations and aforesaid closely-arranged grooves in order to conduct liquid from the closely arranged grooves to the perforations, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, we have subscribed the above specification.

EUGENE ROBERTS.

, I ANGUS H. GIBSON.

Witnesses for Eugene Roberts:

GEORGE F. KENNY,

WM. S. SHERWIN. Witnesses for Angus H. Gibson:

A. CoLUMBUs SMITH,

LYMAN A. Cnms'rr.

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