US1477648A - Peanut-shelling machine - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 18 1923. 1,477,648

, J. T. HUSTON PEANUT SHELLING MACHINE Filed May 16, 1919 s Sheets-Sheet 1 M 7 gwuentoz Dec, 18 1923. 31,477,648 J. T. HUSTON PEANUT SHELLING MACHINE Filed May 16 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 a QZ Z/@ amvawtoz Dec. 18, 1923.

J. T. HUSTON PEANUT SHELLING MACHINE Filed May 16 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Dec. 18, 1923..

UNHTED TATES JOHN THOMAS HUS'I'ON, OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA.

PEANUT-SHELLING MACHINE.

Application filed May 16,

T all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I. JOHN T. HUSTON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Columbus, in the county. of Muscogee and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Peanut-shelling Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a novel mechaw nism for shelling peanuts and the like.

My invention operates on the novel principle of shelling the peanuts by friction, i. e., by abrading instead of crushing the shells between the relatively movable elements of the shelling mechanism. As at present constructed, peanut shelling machines comprise a grate, usually concave in shape and customarily fixed, while a rotating crushing element travels in close association with the 0 grate so as to crush the shells of the peanuts between it and the grate. after which the kernels fall through the grate. In some constructions the grate is the movable element but in all shellers with which I am familiar the two relatively movable elements of the shelling machine operate on the principle of crushing the shell between them to liberate the kernels, and in order to reduce the breakage of kernels to a minimum the relative movement of the crushing elements is comparatively slow. According to my invention, the relatively movable elements of the shelling machine are spaced so that a relatively'thick mass of peanuts is maintained between them and caused to move with the rotor at a relatively high rate of speed, the shells of thtTnuts being ground by their frictional engagement with the grate and each other until the shells open 40 and set free the kernels.

It is therefore essential to my invention that the relativelv movable elements of the crusher be spaced to avoid a direct crushing act-ion on the shells and that they have a sufficiently high relative speed to produce by a frictional abrasion of the shells an output o-fshelled nuts not less than that ob- I tained by the direct crushing action but which will have the advantage of having an extremely low percentage of broken kernels as compared with the crushing practice.

A further object of my invention is to design a novel type of sectional grate which is assembled in a novel manner.

A further object is to design the sections 1919. Serial No. 297,608.

of this grate so that they may be cast, even when forming sections of a concave grate, with slots which all flare downwardly so that they will not become choked. To this end the walls of the slots about the concave are all set to strip vertically from the sand mold. This arrangement is important in that it permits me to cast the grate sections with a very hard grinding surface so as to give great life and durability to the grate.

A further distinctive feature of my invention relates to the provision on the grate surface of raised projections or grinding humps which are preferably diamond shaped with their grinding edges both parallel and at an angle toan axial plane through the concave. These humps are especially provided to abrade or grind away the coarse tough shells of certain grades of peanuts as the latter are rapidly revolved over the grate by the action of the rotor.

A further object of my invention relates to the very simple and convenient manner of assembling the sectional concave gate in the end walls of the shelling machine so that the latter can be easily set up and quickly repaired at a comparatively small cost.

A further object of my invention is to improve and perfect the rotatable element in the shelling machine so that it will most effectively move the peanuts over the grate surface so as to produce the grinding action on the peanut shells and to this end I utilize a sectional cylinder composed of'a series of convex ribbed disks which are assembled on a shaft so as to produce a cylinder having spaced circumferential V-shaped channels, the outer smooth peripheral edges of the disks traveling in relatively close proximity to the grate while the side walls of the channels are provided with radial ribs which enable the cylinder to drive the peanuts with a rapid movement over the grate so as to produce the necessary friction to open the shells and free the kernels withoutcrushing the peanuts.

A further object of my invention is to design the top hopper boards of the shelling machine so that they can be easily adjusted to expose the internal operating mechanism for inspection and repair.

My invention also comprises the novel details of construction and arrangements of parts, which in their preferred embodiment 'chute as they are shifted to expose the internal mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective View of one of the grate sections with its side retaining bars.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation broken away at one end through the grate and rotor to show the latter in cross section.

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the grate illustrating its peculiar design to permit the grate to strip vertically from the sand mold.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the grate illustrating more clearly the diamond shaped projections which form an additional abrading or grinding element of the grate.

Figs. 7 and 8 present plan and vertical cross sectional views of a modified type of peanut shelling, separating and screening apparatus.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1,

2 and 4, I show a power driven oil milltype of peanut sheller provided with a bottom discharge for the kernels and shells into an aspirator sub-base (not shown), where by air suction the hulls are lifted out and piped away while the shelled nuts from a battery of shellers pass to common separating and grading machines for assortment. As thus designed the sheller casing is formed by cnd castings 1 and 2 which are provided with bottom flanges 3, to receive the bolts for anchoring them to the floor or sub-base, and with side flanges 4 inturned and bolted to the side plates 5 which extend from the top to the bottom of the machine, being preferably caused to slope inwardly so as to form a hopper bottom, this inward slope of the sides being taken care of in the design of the end castings. Angle irons 6 form a top finishfor the side edges and are secured to the end castings so as to form a rigid structure. To these angles I attach hinges 7 which connect thereto the up per sections 8 of the sectional folding hopper boards. forming the bottom of the feed hopper. Each hopper board comprises an upper section 8 and a lower section 9, which latter is hinged at 10 to the underside of its respective upper section -8 at a oint spaced from its free end edge. A lifting handle 11 is provided near the free edge of each section 8 and by grasping and raising this handle the lower section 9 is free to drop down and clear the concave grate (see dotted position at the right in Fig. 2), after which the hopper board is free to swing down to dotted position shown at the left in Fig. 2, thus entirely exposing the internal mechanism of the sheller for inspection and repair. Normally the hopper boards are supported on the concave grate which will now be described.

The grate is concave in form composed .of a series of longitudinal sections which extend from end to end of the machine, each section comprising a series of transversely curved grate units 12 which abut, end to end, and are rigidly connected in alignment by metal side bars or straps 13 which extend the full length of each grate section and engage the flat upper edge of a shoulder 14 provided near the center of each side of each grate unit (see Fig. 5). Each unit is secured by a countersunk bolt 15 to each side bar 13, the base flanges 14 serving with the two bolts to hold the grate units rigidly against relative movement in the longitudinal grate section. I show the concave grate formed by four of these longitudinal transversely curved sections, each of which subtends a sector of the concave slightly less in extent than 90. The working surface of the sectional grate concave is struck on a curve from the longitudinal central axis of the cylindrical shelling chamber. The longitudinal grate sections are assembled in the casing by being inserted in a guide formed between an inner circular flange 16 and an outer similarly curved flange 17, on the inner face of each end casting, the outer flange 17 being interrupted at the top to permit the longitudinal grate sections, one at a time, to be dropped with their concave face down onto the flange 16 and then shifted around into the curved guide thus formed between the flanges 16 and 17. Fig. 2 illustrates the grate sections assembled, and it will be apparent that a feed opening 18 for the entrance of the peanuts into the concave grate is left between the spaced top edges of the two upper grate sections which support the free lower ends of the hopperboards which direct the nuts to such feed opening. 7

Each grate unit is preferably similar and its peculiar construction will be better understood by reference to Figs. 5 and 6, where it will be seen that it comprises marginal side walls 19and curved end walls 20, the side walls 19 being cross connected by curved parallel webs 21 which are equi-distantly spaced and like the end walls 20 taper slightly from their flat top surfaces downwardly to their rounded bottom edges sufficient to have draft from the mold. while the end walls are connected by equi-distantly spaced parallel webs 22, 22, 22 and 22 which terminate short of the bottom edges their top dges to produce uniform openings through the grate surface for the downwardly flaring holes through the grate. It will be observed by reference to Fig. 5 that the central web 22 is symmetrical with refcrence to a vertical longitudinal plane taken centrally through the grate unit but the other webs 22, 22 and 22 are not symmetri cal as each has its side face away from the web 22 lying parallel with the corresponding fac of said web 22, whil the other side face of each of these webs disposed towards the web 22 are struck on different curves which from the bottom edge of the web upwardly continue to approach the central web. This peculiar arrangement is important as it permits each of the webs 22 22 22 and 22 to strip vertically from the sand mold notwithstanding the fact that they are set in a curved grate unit and that their upper edges are equi-distantly spaced about the curved upper surface of the grate unit. This arrangement brings the bottom edges of the several webs nearly equi-distant from each other but spaces the bottom edges of the webs 22 a. very substantial distance from the bottom edges of the side walls 19. The

bolt holes 19 in the outwai dly sloping sides 19 are formed without cores by providing a notch. below the holes with its side walli inclined inwardly and merging into the hole. Along the top surface of each side wall19 and of each longitudinal web 22, 22, 22 and 22 I provide a. series of raised, diamondshaped, humps or projections 23 which are preferably so disposed as to present a front grinding edge 25 transverse to and a side grinding edge 24 at an angle to the peanuts as they travel over the grate parallel with the webs 21. These faces 24 and 25 are nearly perpendicular to their supporting grate surface. It is also desirable that the grinding faces 25 should be inclined at opposite angles for the adjacent longitudinal rows of humps and the humps should be preferably so staggered that the peanuts traveling parallel with the webs 21 will engage some portion of one or more of the bumps in each longitudinal row. These humps as well as the webs 2t) and 21 are preferably cast integral with the grate unit sothat the latter can be given an exceedingly hard wearing surface which will be durable.

The rotating element or rotor of the shelling machine is mounted on a shaft 26 which turns at one end in a bearing 27 attached to the end casting 2 and at its other end turns in a journal bearing 28 suitably attached to the end casting 1. ()n the outer end of the shaft is a tight driving pulley 29. On that portion of the shaft which is disposed between the end plates 1 and 2 is mounted the shelling cylinder composed of a series of frusto-conical ribbed disks 30, which disks are duplicates of each other and are arranged in pairs, the units of each pair having their concave faces brought together and their outer peripheral edges abutting. The several pairs are assembled on the shaft 26 with the out-turned flat central surfaces 31 abutting. The outer marginal sloping surface- 32 of each disk is provided with radial ribs 33 having reversely sloping end edges and a flat top edge parallel with the surface 32. The central surface 31 of each disk is provided with a central opening for the shaft 26. The endmost disks are locked upon the shaft for rotation therewith and tie rods 34 are passed through the aligning apertures in the faces 31 of the disks so that the intermediate disks are thus rigidly connected with the end disks for rotation therewith. The outer peripheral edges of the disks are disposed to turn with about one inch (space between them and the concave grate. The sloping surfaces 32 of the disks form a plurality of spaced circumscribed V-shaped channels which cover the effective working surface of the rotor and form annular ribbed pockets which receive and frictionally engage the nuts and drive them with the rotor over the concave grate in the manner hereinafter described. It is to be understood that my invention contemplates the use of other designs of rotors which are best suited to the peanuts or other material to be treated, it only being essential that the rotor shall not act essentially as a crusher but rather as a driver which will force the nuts to travel over the abrasive grate.

The end castings are braced and connected together by the tie rods 36 which thus serve to hold the frame, rotor and grating in assembled position. Having assembled the rotor in the machine and introduced the four longitudinal grate sections so that they occupy the proper position between the supporting flanges 16 and 17 to formthe concave grate, I lock the grate in position by means of set screws 37 which are screwed through the end plates 1 and 2 in position to engage the side walls of the uppermost grate sections, thus clamping them securely against rotation and holding the whole grate in rigid position between the flanges 16 and 17. When the hopper boards are set in the full line position shown in Fig. 2, the apparatus is ready for service and upon starting the rotation of the rotor and feeding the nuts through the hopper feed opening 18 into the concave. the shelling operation will commence. This operation consists in the rapid driving of the rotating IOU mass of nuts over the abrading surface of the concave at such a speed as will quickly and effectively reduce the shells by friction until they open and release the nuts, the apparatus being designed to avoid a directcrushing action between the rotor and the grate. As the kernels and shells are thus released and separated by friction, they pass through the outwardly flarin openings in the grate formed between the intersecting webs of the grate units thereof and fall into the bottom hopper and thence are carried off through the aspirator sub-base. As all peanuts as received from the farm contain a large amount of stems, sticks, roots, etc., in the shelling operation some of these, despite the flaring openings through the grate will become lodged in, and choke the openings of the grate. This makes it necessary for the grates to be taken out of the machine occasionally and the foreign matter removed by a cleaning gouge. To do this the hopper board sections are raised and dropped to dotted line position, Fig. 2, the set screws 37 are loosened and the several longitudinal grate sections are slid up to the top of the flange 16 and lifted out through the notch in flange 17 and successively treated and then returned; The flared shape of the openings in the grate will cause but little trouble from foreign matter lodging in and choking the grate, and this is important as the skin of a kernel becomes broken unless it falls through the grate immediately it is freed from its shell. In the event any grate unit becomes damaged or broken the concave section containing it can be readily removed by removing its two retainng bolts and lifting it up from between the side straps 13 and a new unit dropped in its place and quickly bolted into place without dlsturbing the other units in its respective section. The grate units, being so designed that they can be cast, are comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and can be produced with highly hardened wearing surfaces which will insure great durability.

As illustrative of a modification of my invention, I have shown in Figs. 7 and 8 a smaller type of power driven peanut shelling machine comprising in addition to the rotor and grate, means for separating, screening and grading the product. In this type of machine a wooden frame is generally employed comprising uprights 38 which support at the top a hopper 39 below which is a casing formed by side walls 40 and end walls 41. The rotor shaft 42 in this construction is disposed crosswise of the easing and is mounted in the side walls in suitable bearings having fast on one overhung end a main driving pulley 43 and on the other overhung end the pulleys 44 and 45, the former driving by a belt 46 and pulley 47 the fan 48 in the fan casing 49, and the latter driving by a crossed belt 50 a pulley 51 which drives an endless elevator in the casing 52. On the shaft between the side walls are mounted a series of four frustoconical ribbed disks 30 which, in the design illustrated, are arranged so as to provide two circumscribed V-shaped channels, the two outer disks having their outer peripheries turning with a close running contact with the side walls 40. The concave grate in this design is composed of four of the grate units 12 which are inserted side tograte pass down a hopper formed by the wall 57 on one side and 58 on the'other side, and fall through a bottom discharge opening 59 into an air flue 60 formed between the wall 57 and a wall 61. This flue extends upwardly and diagonally through the casing of the machine and at its lower end receives a blast of air from the fan. The kernels are discharged from the flue 60 onto the right hand end of the oscillating, separating and grading screen 62. This screen is swung by means of hinged arms 63 between the uprights of the frame and on each side is connected by means of eccentric rods 63 with eccentrics 64 on the ends of the fan shaft 65. The peanuts as they are graded pass off through side delivery chutes 66 and 67, the unshelled nuts being discharged over the end of the screen through a chute 68 into the boot of the ele vator casing 52 by means of which they are elevated and discharged over a chute 69 into the hopper 39 and again worked through the machine.

The shelling operation is identical with that already described and the separation of the shells from the kernels and the grading thereofwill be obtained by the apparatus shown which forms no particular part of my present invention. It will be ob vious that the width. of this machine may be increased to receive two or more circumferential series of grate units in which case the number of ribbed disks 30 will be correspondingly increased and the longitudinal series of the grate units will be assembled in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3.

The outer peripheral edges of the disks are smooth and will not tend to crush the peanuts against the grate as the disks rotate. This invention is not intended to be restricted in scope to the specific embodiments shown, but contemplates such modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As an article of manufacture, a concavegrate section for peanut shellers formed by an integral casting having spaced longitudinal members arranged at their upper surface to form a concave and having their body portions shaped and disposed to have the draft relative to a common plane to permit it to strip from the mold, the wearing surface of said members being formed with integral abrasive projections.

2. A peanut sheller grate section in accordance with claim 1, in which each section is provided with integral projections adapted to engage assembly bars.

3. A peanut sheller grate section in ac- 'cordance with claim 1, in which each section is cast with integral lateral offsets adapted to engage an assembly bar and has relatively thin ends which are adapted to abut when the sections are assembled end wlse.

4. A peanut sheller grate section in ac cordance with claim 1, having integral diamond shaped abrasive projections on its wear surfaces.

5. A peanut sheller grate section in accordance with claim 1, having divergent side edges with shoulders at their base, and having bolt holes cast in said side edges.

6. A peanut sheller grate section in accordance with claim 1, which is cast with divergent side edges having integral shoulders along the central bottom portion of each, and having cast bolt openings formed substantially at the center of each side.

7 In a mechanism of the class described, a concave grate formed of a plurality of CO11C3.VOCOI1V8X sections, each consisting of a casting having integral intersecting ribs which form downwardly flaring openings, the longitudinal ribs of each section being tapered towards, and their corresponding sides having similar directions of slope to, a common horizontal plane tangent to the longitudinal center of the convex surface of the section, there being in the oppositely sloping side walls of the casting bolt holes below which are notches having side walls which on opposite sides of the casting slope reversely and divergently towards said common plane.

8. In a peanut sheller, end supports, a rotor mounted therein, and a concave grate partially surrounding the rotor and composed of longitudinal sections, each section being independently removable as a whole and conprising a plurality of aligning transversely curved connected grate units, substantially as described.

9. In a peanut sheller, end supports, a rotor mounted therein, a concave grate partially surrounding the rotor and composed of independently removable longitudinal sections, each section comprising a plurality of aligning transversely curved grate units, and side straps-which connect together the units of each'section.

10. In a machine of the class described, a rotor and a concave grate, and supports therefor, the grate comprising longitudinal sections composed of transversely curved units, each unit having on each side a shoulder and a tie bar which engages the shoulder and is connected by a single bolt to the unit to form a composite section, substantially as described.

11. In a machine of the class described, a rotor, a concave grate, supports therefor, the grate comprising longitudinal sections, each composed of a series of curved units, each unit having on its side a shoulder, a tie bar having its under edge engaging said shoulder, and a single tie bolt disposed midway of each unit and connecting it'to said bar.

12. The combination with an abrasive concave, of a fast spinning grooved rotor designed to produce and maintain annular whirls of nuts rubbing over the concave.

13. The combination with a fast spinning rotor, of a feed chute overhead, an abrasive foraminous concave extending from side to side of the chute and concentric with the rotor, the rotor being grooved and spaced sufficiently from the concave to maintain annular whirls of nuts traveling over the concave and under the hopper to be replenished thereby as the nuts in each whirl are shelled and escape through the concave.

1 1. The combination with a fast spinning rotor, of an abrasive concave, set to avoid a direct crushing action of the rotor on the nuts therein, and comprising cast concave sections having flaring escape openings for the separated kernels and shells, and raised integral abrading humps which are adapted to wear away the nut shells which are driven over them by the rotor.

15. In a machine of the class described, a removable rotor, and a concave grate thereabout provided on its inner surface with raised humps adapted to co-act with the rotor similarly in both directions or its rotation, the rotor and grate being spaced to avoid a direct crushing action on the material under treatment.

16. The combination with an abrasive concave, and a fast spinning rotor designed to produce and maintain annular whirls of nuts rubbing over the concave, said concave being formed in sections by castings having raised substantially diamond shaped grinding humps on the inner surface thereof.

17. The combination with a fast spinning rotor, of a concave concentric therewith and spaced therefrom to avoid any direct crushing action on the nuts, and having raised diamond shaped abrading humps on its working surface.

18. The combination with a fast spinning rotor, of a concave concentric therewith and spaced therefrom to avoid any direct crushing action on the nuts, and having raised diamond shaped abrading humps on its working surface with the nut engaging edge of each hump at right angles to the path of the approaching nuts.

19. The combination with a fast spinning rotor, of a concave concentric therewith and spaced therefrom to avoid any direct crushing action on the nuts, and having raised diamond shaped abrading humps on its working surface disposed with the nutengaging edge of each hump at right angles to the path of the approaching nuts, the bumps being arranged in longitudinal rows and staggered relatively in the rows to present an abrasive element to all nuts in the concave.

20. In combination, a fast spinning rotor having circumferential ribbed channels, and a concentric spaced concave having abrasive projections over which the nuts to be shelled are caused to travel in whirls induced by the rotor.

21. A mechanism of the class described comprising a concave and a rotor revolubly mounted within the concave, said rotor having a plurality of circumscribing channels, the walls of which converge inwardly and are provided with a plurality of spaced projections, and the concave being foraminous and free of projections adapted to obstruct said channels in the rotor.

22. A mechanism of the class described comprising a concave, a rotor formed by a series of frusto-conical disks having spaced unsharpened ribs on their inclined annular faces, and rotatable means to support said disks concentrically, the concave being foraminous and free of projections adapted to obstruct said channels in the rotor.

23. A mechanism of the class described comprising a concave, a rotor formed by a series of frusto-conical disks having unsharpened projections on their inclined annular faces, and rotatable means to support said disks concentrically, the disks being arranged relatively on said support to present a series of circumscribing V-shaped grooves, the concave being foraminous and free of projections adapted to obstruct said channels in the rotor.

24. A mechanism of the class described comprising a rotor formed by a series of cave being pendently removable sections,

frusto-conical disks having projections on their inclined annular faces, and rotatable means to support said disks concentrically,

the disks being arranged relatively on said support to present a series of circumscribv rest on the upper edges of the concave,

the hopper walls being each formed by lapped sections hinged to break upwardly,

as and for the purposes described.

26. A mechanism of the class described including spaced supports, a concave composed of longitudinal sections located between the supports, and an inner annular and an outer segmental seat on each support for demountably supporting the concave sections between them.

27. A mechanism of the class described including spaced supports, connecting elements extending between the uprights. a rotor, and a concave including a plurality of arcuate sections forming each a segment of the concave subtending an arc of slightly less than curved guides on the spaced supports onto which the concave sections can be dropped one at a time and shifted laterally to complete the concave, and set screws disposed to engage the upper spaced concave sections on each side to hold all in place.

28. A rotor, a concave formed of longitudinal sections which are independently removable, a frame having guides open overhead for the removal and insertion of said grate sections, and anove'rhead hopper, a bottom wall of which normally rests on and is movable to expose the grate section under it.

29. A rotor, a concave formed of longitudinal sections which. are independently removable, a frame having guides open overhead for the removal and insertion of said grate sections, and an overhead hopper, both bottom walls of which normally rest on and are movable to expose the grate sections under them.

30. In a peanut sheller, a frame, a coacting rotor and concave therein, the conformed of longitudinal, indeend guides in the frame, the outer of which is open overhead for the removal and insertion of said sections, and a feed hopper having its bottom formed of hinged articulated sections which can be folded to concave sections below them.

31. A peanut sheller comprising a secexpose the tional concave, guides therefor open overhead for the insertion and removal of said sections, a rotor, and a hopper to feed nuts thereto having its bottom formed by hinged articulated sections capable of being moved to expose the concave. said sections being normally disposed With their lower ends more closely spaced than the opening in the guides, as and for the purposes described.

32. A shelling machine comprising hinged foldable Walls forming a top hopper, end walls, a concave formed by longitudinal sections, an annular bearing in each Wall onto which the sections can be dropped when the hopper Walls are folded back, an outer guide to hold the sections in place forming a concave complete except for the feed opening, and means to fold the hopper Walls down to direct stock into said feed opening.

In testimony whereof I aihx my signature.

JOHN THOMAS HUSTON. Witness:

F. L. MCEACHERN.

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