US1719788A - Conveyer chute for percentage feeding machines - Google Patents

Description

S. SNYDER July 2, 1929 CONVEYER GHUTE FOR PERCENTAGE FEEDING MACHINES Original Filed April 1926 Patented July 2, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1 1,719,788 PATENT OFFICE.

SIMON SNYDER, OF MUNCY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG-N OR T0 SPROUT, WALDRON ,8!) .00., OF MUNCY, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CONVEYER CHUTE FOR PERCENTAGE FEEDING MACHINES.

Qrig'inal application filed April 7, 1926, Serial No. 100,427. Divided and this application filed December 21, 1926. Serial No. 156,181.

This invention in its broader aspects relates to conveyer chutes, and more particularly to a chute especially adapted for use in connection with feeding and mixing machines of the kind used in flour mills for feeding and mixing granular material or dill'erent kinds of grain, either whole or granulated, and various kinds of stock feed, such as oats, middlings, or ground alfalfa; such machines being adapted to be connected in gangs for feeding and mixing different kinds of grain or granulated material in measured or predetermined quantities; a group of such ma chines being connected with a mixing device common to the entire group, whereby different kinds of materials delivered by different machines in the group may be mixed, in either the same or different proportions, as desired, all in a continuous operation; this application being a division of my pending application Serial No. 100,427, filed April 7, 1926.

The primary object of my present invention is to provide simple and eliicient means connected with the discharge port of each machine in a group for conducting the material therefrom either into a receptacle or conveyer trough common to the entire group or into a receptacle located at one side of the individual machine, for the purpose of ascertaining whether such machine is feeding in the desired proportion.

Other objects will more fully appear from the following description. f

The invention will first be l'iereinafter more particularly described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and then pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

In said drawings, Fig. 1 is 1: front elevation of a plurality of feeding machines having my invention applied thereto, such machines being arranged in a group of any desired number each operably connected with a suitable mining device,such as a spiral. conveyer, for mixing and discharging the material fed by the assembled machines into a suitable receiver;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of one of a group of feeding machines having my invention applied thereto; and

Fig. 3 is a detail view in side elevation of a deflecting chute whereby the material discharged from any one of the machines in a group may be caused to pass outwardly into a separate receptacle for a purpose herein after stated.

Referring to said drawings, in which the same reference ch uracters are used to denote corresponding parts in different views; the feeding machine shown in Fig. 2 is designed and adapted to be used as one of a group of machines for delivering grain or granular material and various other food products in predetermined proportions for admixture in a suitable mixing device, such as shown, for example in Fig. 1, wherein I have shown the first two of a group of feeding machines operably connected for discharging their contents simultaneously into a suitable conveyor trough common to the entire group of machines and containing a rotary conveyer or other suitable device for commingling and conveying the mixture to a point at which the desired commingling has been effected and then discharging the mixture into a suitable receptacle therefor.

In the illustrated machine I have shown in Fig. 2 a feed wheel A fixed on the lower end of a vertical shaft B, which has its hearings in one compartment of a combinedfeed hopper and gear casing O Within whichthc driving mechanism is housed; said hopper and gear casing being separated by a transverse partition so that the granulated ma terial. in the feed hopper fills the pockets of the feed wheel which carries the material into the gear casing and discharges the same into conveyer trough or into a separate receptacle,- as desired, according to the position of the deflecting chute. However, my present invention is not limited in its application to any particular type of feeding machine or a con'ibined feed hopper and casing of the form shown, as it may be applied to various kinds of machines, and further description of the feeding machine appears to be unnecessary.

The letter D denotes the top plate of a frame structure on which the cylindrical lower end of the combined feed hopper and gear casing is seatethso that said plate forms the hopper bottom, and between said top plate and the feed wheel is placed a segmental or circular oscillatory plate F having formed therein, adjacent the inner wall of the gear casing in front of the feed wheel shaft, an oblong arcuate slot or opening adapted to register with a similar opening in the hopper bottom'through which the grain or granular material filling the pockets of the feed wheel is discharged into a swinging chute F by .which the material is conducted into a suitable mixing'device G; the swinging chute being interposed between the discharge port in the hopper bottom and a spout H which discharges intothe trough of said mixing device, so that normally the material is conducted inwardly into the mixing device through said spout, but when it is desired to measure or weigh the grain ,to ascertain whether or not a particular machine or different machines in a group is or are discharging in the desired proportions, the position of the chute may be changed to adapt it to conduct the material outwardly into a separate receptacleyas indicated indotted lines in Fig.- 2.

The swinging chute, as shown, consists of opposed metal plates f each having marginal flanges 7 turned toward the other plate and 7 each secured at its upperend to a rod I revolubly seeuredon the supporting frame; one of said rods having secured thereto a weighted leverK adapted to hold the rod stationary in either of twoinclined positions with the .chute members inclined either inwardly or outwardly as desired. Pendant arms '21 on saidrods Iliave their free ends pivoted to a link L, whereby the two members of the chute may be thrown simultaneously into either an outwardly inclined or an inwardly inclined position, when sa-idlever K is thrown forward or back, and retained thereby in the desn'ed position for discharging the materlal delivered by the feed wheel in an inward or an outward direction, for the purpose stated.

The pendant arm on the innermost rod I to -which one end of the link L is pivoted has pivoted thereto a second link L the other end of which is pivoted to an upstanding arm on on arod M which is revolubly supported in alined boxes or bearings therefor secured on the'supporting frames of the individual machines in the group so that when the weighted "lever K is actuated to throw the chute members into an outwardly inclined position, or vice versa, the chute members of each machine in the group will be simultaneously thrown outwardly or inwardly, according to the direction in which the lever is moved.

.The' mixing device in the form shown, comprises. a trough-like receptacle within which is'placed a spiral conveyer N on the shaft of which isa pulley O for imparting rotary movement thereto by connection in a well known manner with any suitable source of power. Said conveyer N may be of any suitable: construction, and may be operated by belt and pulley connection or otherwise with a driving shaft. The materials entering said conveyer trough are thoroughly commingled therein, and conveyed to a suitable receptacle therefor located at the delivery end of the conveyer, or any other crmvenient point underneath or below a suitable discharge spout (not shown).

The machine may be driven from any suitable source of power by belt or other connection with a driving wheel or loose pulley on a main driving shaft. The individual feeders may be driven by means of belt and pulley connection with an overhead shaft, but in a group of machines the feed-wheel driving shaft of each machine is or may be driven from a main driving shaft P by means of sprocket wheels and chains connecting said main driving shaft with each. machine in the group, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. To this end each machine has seruled thereto at one side thereof suitable bearings for said main driving shaft; such bearings comprising a bracket ban-ing member Q, secured to the rear side wall of the hopper section of the casing and having secured thereto a detachable member or cap-plate ll; said bearing member and cap-plate each having a concave or substantially sen'ii-circnlar recess therein to provide suitable bearings for the main driving shaft.

The amount of material each machine may deliver to the mixing device in a given period of time may be varied without changing the proportions in which the material is being delivered by the individual machines, by means of a cone pulley S on the main driving shaft having a belt or similar driving connection with a conntershailt so that the driving connection may be shifted from a larger to a smaller pulley or vice versa, thereby causing the group of machines to feed more or less rapidly as desired.

The operation of the machine will be readily understood from the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. Any desired number of feeders may be connected and operalml simultaneously by the same driving shaft. In starting the feed regulating devices of the individual machines are set to deliver a certain quantity of material in the desired proportions; the amount delivered by each machine being ascertained by a suitable indicat ing device (not shown) and such amount may be more or less than or equal to the amount delivered by any other machine in the group, and the proportions may be varied as desired from time to time by suitable feed regulating devices. The several machines being set in motion, the material discharged into the conveyer-trough in the desired proportions will be thoroughly con'nningled therein and discharged into a suitable receiver at the end of the conveyer, and when it is desired to measure or weigh the material. to ascertain whether any machine in the group is discharging in the desired proportion the chute members, which are normally held in an inwardly inclined position for discharging the material into the mixing device, are thrown into an outwardly inclined position and sustained in the latter position for the desired period of time and then restored to normal position tor continuing the feeding and mixing operation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a machine oi? the character described, means for conducting granular material from a discharge port inwardly into a fixed spout or outwardly therefrom into a separate receptacle; said means consisting of depending substantially parallel plates together tormin a chute for the passage oi. granulated material therebetween, each plate being hinged at the upper end thereof and means for normally holding said plates in an inwardly inclined position; the latter means being adapted to shift said plates into an outwardly inclined position and to hold them relatively stationcry in the latter position in substantially parallel relation.

2. In a machine of the character described, means ior conducting granular material from a discharge port inwardly into a fixed spout or outwardly therefrom into a separate receptacle; said means consisting of depending substantially parallel trough-like members together forming a chute; each member hav ing marginal flanges turned toward the other member and each hinged at the upper end thereof, and means for normally holding the chute members in an inwardly inclined position; the latter means being adapted to shift said members into an outwardly inclined position and to hold them relatively stationary in the latter position in substantially parallel relation.

3. In combination with a machine for feeding granular material in predetermined proportions, a swinging chute adapted to conduct the material from said machine into a suitable mixing device or into a separate receptacle according to the position of the chute; said chute consisting oi. pendant trough-like members each having marginal flanges turned toward the other member and each hinged at the upper end thereof, and means for normally holding the chute members in a norn'ially inclined position together with means for shitting said members into a reversely inclined position and holding them relatively stationary in the latter position in substantially parallel relation 4. In combination with a mixing device, a plurality of feeding machines, discharging thereinto having means for conducting the material therefrom either directly into said mixing device or outwardly therefrom into a separate receptacle; said means consisting Oit oppositely flanged plates hinged. at their up per ends on opposite sides of the discharge port and extending downwardly thereiiron'i in substantially parallel inclined planes so as to form a partially enclosed chute serving to conduct the material therebetween into said mixing device, and means for moving said plates into a revm'sely inclined position and holding them in the latter position for con ducting the material into said receptacle.

5. In combination with a mixing device, a plurality of feeding machines, discharging thereinto having means for conducting the material. thereiron'i either directly into said mixing device or outwardly therefrom into a separate receptacle; said means consisting oi two substantially parallel members of troughlike form hinged at their upper ends on opposite sides of the discharge port and arranged front to Front to form a chute for conducting the material therebetween, and means for normally holding said members in position to conduct the material into said mixing device and for moving them into a reversely inclined position and holding them in. the latter position for conducting the material into said receptacle.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

SIMON SNYDER.

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