US2139435A - Grain cleaner - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 6, 1938.

' w. A. s. BEATTIE GRAIN CLEANER Filed Oct 21, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WALSBEATT/E BY 0 6i 7 4% a.

Patented Dec. 6, 1938 GRAIN CLEANER Wilford A. S. Beattie, Makaroff, Manitoba, Canada Application October 21, 1935, Serial No. 45,959 In Canada October 22, 1934 8 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in grain cleaners and an object of the invention is to provide a device of the character herein described which will clean grain more thoroughly and cfficiently than previous cleaners of this nature and is especially suited for the removal of wild oats, etc., from the grain.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herein described which in is simple in operation and will not easily become out of order.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herein described which may be folded and is thus transportable.

1.5 A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herein described, which is simple to construct and economical to manufacture.

With the above more important objects in view 20 and such other minor objects as may appear as the specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying 5 drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a side elevation of my improved type of grain cleaner.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 shows a plan view of my invention.

39' Fig. 4 illustrates one of the adjustable bearings that I use with my device.

Fig. 5 illustrates a combination universal joint and sleeve which I also incorporate in my invention.

5 In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

My invention consists of a framework l composed of end plates 2 maintained in position by 40 a plurality of cross bars 3. Attached to the lower end plate, I provide a longitudinally angulated sup-port 4 which serves to prevent grain from passing beneath my device from the front thereof or vice versa.

5 The rear portion of my grain cleaner is sup ported upon adjustable legs 5 and 5, each composed of an upper section 5 attached to the framework I by hinges l and a lower section 8 fastened thereto by bolts 9 passing through slots Ill there- 50 in to allow lengthwise adjustment thereof.

In order to provide a firm and unitary structure, I also furnish struts ll passing from the cross bars 3 to the lower leg sections 8, these being adjustable thereupon by means of a slot l2 and a pin l3 passing therethrough. Across the rear portion of my device adjoining the two legs 5 and 5', I attach a longitudinally lying brace l3 widened at the right end as at I4.

In opposite sides of the framework l are mounted rollers l5 and IE on shafts I! and I8 5 journalled within the end plates 2. The shaft I1 is inserted within the adjustable bearings l9 illustrated most clearly in Figure 4 of the drawings accompanying this application, which consist of a rectangular section 2*!) provided with an orifice 1 El therein and slidably mounted within a slot 22, the adjustment thereof being accomplished by the screws 23. The use of these bearings allows me to vary the distance between the rollers and thus the tension upon a traveller or apron 24 which I pass therearound. This traveller may be composed of fabric such as flannelette or other suitable material possessing a nap. The diameters of the upper ends of the rollers I1 and I8 are reduced to receive a belt 25 suspended intermedially upon a short drum mounted upon a stub shaft 21 journalled at one end within the upper end plate 2 and at the opposite end within a bracket 28 fastened to one of the cross bars 3.

Covering the upper surface of the traveller 24 25 and in close proximity thereto, I furnish a shield 21 suspended from a plurality of angle bars 28 extending between the end plates 2 and adjustably attached thereto by bolts and wing nuts 29 engaging with slots 30 within turned sections at 30 either end of the angle bars.

Immediately subjacent the travellerand at the right side thereof when viewed from the rear, I attach a number of cross strung wires 39' held in close relation to the traveller for the purpose of removing any grain adhering thereto when in motion.

I-Iingedly attached to the upper end plate 2, upon the struts 3|, I provide a recipient chamber for the uncleaned grain in the form of a hop-per 32 supported at the front by adjustable braces 32', while extending across the outlet aperture thereof is a grain feeder, consisting of a ridged drum 33 mounted upon a shaft 34 which is in turn journalled within the ends of a hopper 32. Upon the outer end of this shaft, I attach a friction disc 35 as herein illustrated which is rotated in a manner later to be explained. Immediately below the hopper aperture, I furnish a rearwardly sloping sieve 36 with a mesh sufficiently 5o fine to pass onlysmall seeds and the like therethrough and, therebeneath I attach a forwardly sloping pan 3'! along which the seeds precipitated thereon, may slide to fall upon and be discharged from a converging chute 38.

39, is also precipitated from the front end-thereof onto the chute 38 from where it is discharged.

Both the sieves 36 and 39 and the pan 3! are pivotally attached to the depending supports 40;

the forward ends of which are firmly joined by spacing bars 4|. A pivoted connecting rod 42 is attached to the lower sieve and the upperend thereof engages with the crank 43 so that a rotative movement applied tothe friction disc. 44 on one end of the crank shaft 44", will cause;

a shaking or agitating motion of the sieves and the pan 31.

Attached to the side walls of the front portion of the hopper, I furnish angulated supports 45 and between the lower ends thereof, I mount a roller 45' on a shaft 46. A companion roller 45 is similarly mounted between the lower ends of the.supports 40 and is designed to be rotated by a pulley 41. Around these rollers, I place a conveyor which consists of a wide belt 48 provided with a plurality of crosswise extending ridges 49 thereupon. It will thus be evident that rotation of the pulley 41 will cause motion of the conveyor, the upper end of which is supported above the open traveller 24.

At the rear of my device, I provide a hand crank 50 mounted upon a support 5| which is in turn attached to the leg 5. Upon the crank shaft 52, I attach a bevel gear 53 which meshes with a further gear 54 attached to an upwardly disposed shank 55 passing through a bracket 56 made integral with the support. The upper end of the shank 55 is squared and fits into a recipient socket within a sleeve 56, having a universal joint 51 made integral therewith. The shaft 58 extending upwardly from this joint is journalled Within a bracket 59 projecting from and integral with the upper end plate 2.

A bevel pinion 60 upon the shaft 58- is designed to mesh with a similar pinion 6| mounted. upon a stub shaft 62 which passes through the upper end plate 2. A further gear 63 is provided on the inner end of the stub shaft and meshes with a gear 64 attached to an obliquely positioned shaft 65 carrying a roller 66 thereon. This roller is designed to bear against the under side of the traveller 24 to re-condition the nap thereupon in a manner presently to be explained.

In order to transmit power to the mechanism associationwith the hopper of my device, I employ a longitudinal shaft 61 mounted on bearings 68 and 69 possessing bevel pinions at either end thereof, one of which engages with the above mentioned gear GI and the other with an oblique pinion 10 mounted superjacent a common gear H which meshes in turn with a gear of asimilar nature upon the roller shaft [8. Above this gear, an oblique pinion 12- is attached to engage with a similar pinion [2 upon the shaft 13 mounted upon bearings 14 and 15 attached to the hopper and strut 3| respectively. This shaft'is designed to carry two friction discs wand 16' which engage. with the feeder and agitator discs- 35 and 44 and also to carry the pulley 1T around-which a cord is passed to transmit power to the;conveyor pulley 41 hereinbefore mentioned;

The construction of my device. having" been.

described, its mode of operation will now be presented.

Rotating the crank 50 will of course actuate the above mentioned system of gears and cause a rotary motion to be imparted simultaneously to the traveller 24, the oblique roller 66, the rotary feeder 33 within the hopper, the conveyor 48 and the agitator crank 43. This latter member in combination with the connecting rod 42 will impart a shaking motion to the sieves in an obvious manner.

Now assuming a sample of uncleaned grain is placed; within the hopper 32, this will be fed therefrom onto the fine sieve 36. Small seeds will pass-therethrough and fall onto the pan 39 and from thence onto the chute 38. The remainder of the sample will slide down this sieve and be precipitated onto the upper end of the large mesh sieve 39. Grain and material of a like size willpass through this sieve but coarse material such as straw, etc. will be impelled forwardly thereover to join the small seeds in the chute 38. The'grain which has passed through the large mesh sieve falls upon the conveyor 48 where it is carried to the top of the traveller 24 to be deposited thereupon. This grain will now move downwardly over the traveller but wild oats and such material will be held thereupon by adhering. to the nap thereof. Edible grain, however, will slide off the lower end of the traveller but to prevent this grain from bouncing and moving too fast. thereover with the possibility of dislodging wild oats thereon, the superjacent shield 28 held in close relation to the traveller is provided. will be now brushed off by the wire 30 and restoration of the nap thereon is accomplished by passing against the obliquely rotating roller 66.

In order to facilitate transportation of my device, I. have arranged that it may be formed into a. somewhat more compact structure than when normally operating by disengaging the struts. H and folding the legs 5 and 5 against the under side of the traveller 24. The removable shaft 55 within the sleeve 56 allows this operation to be conveniently performed.

While operating my grain cleaner, I have found that the mostsuccessful results are obtained by adjusting the slope of the traveller thereon to suit the. requirementsof different samples of grain possessing various quantities of foreign matter and for this reason, I provide the adjustable legs Sand 5' hereinbefore described.

From the foregoing description, it will now be evident that I have devised a type of grain cleaner which removes all. foreign matter from the edible grain in a most efficient and thorough manner and yet requires simply the manual operationofa crank to obtain this result.

Since various modifications can be made in the abovev invention, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same, made within the scope of the claims. withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in theaccompanying specificationshall be-interpreted as illustrative only and not ina limiting sense and I desire. only such limitations placed thereon as are specifically expressed in the accompanying claims.

What I claim as my invention is:-

l. A grain cleaning machine comprising a transversely inclined. traveller in the form of an endless apron having a nap'surface, stringers disposed transversely to the path of travel of said apron, an obliquely'disposed'nap restoring roller 76:"

All material adhering to the traveller operated by a common source of power in rotatable engagement with said traveller in association with said machine.

2. A grain cleaning machine comprising an inclined frame, a pair of inclined rollers, a continuous traveller in the form of an endless apron having a nap surface mounted upon said rollers, means for dislodging material adhering to said nap surface, a hopper for reception of uncleaned grain, a plurality of sieves situated beneath said hopper for partially cleaning said grain, means for depositing said partially cleaned grain upon said traveller, means for maintaining said grain upon said traveller in close intimate relation thereto and means for restoring the nap of said traveller following the removal of said material adhering thereto.

3. A grain cleaning machine comprising a frame, an inclined traveller in the form of an apron having a nap surface, situated therewithin, a hopper for the reception of uncleaned grain mounted above said traveller, means for feeding said uncleaned grain from said hopper, a plurality of sieves in association with said hopper for partially cleaning said grain and sieve agitating means attached thereto, a conveyor situated beneath said sieves for depositing said partially cleaned grain on the upper portion of said inclined traveller, a stringer for removing material from said apron and an oblique roller for restoring the mm of said traveller to its normal condition, said roller being in. contact with said traveller mechanism in association with said device for simultaneously actuating said apron, conveyor,

grain feeding means, sieve agitating means and said oblique roller and means for manually operating said mechanism in association with said device.

4. A grain cleaning machine comprising a framework, adjustable legs attached thereto for varying the slope of said framework, a continuous inclined traveller in the form of an endless apron having a nap surface, mounted within said framework, a hopper pivotally attached to said framework and means comprising a brace for adjusting the slope of said hopper, said hopper being provided with a longitudinal aperture extending therewithin, a toothed roller within said aperture for feeding uncleaned grain from said hopper, a plurality of sieves situated beneath said aperture to receive and partially clean said grain, a crank and connecting arm for agitating said sieves, a conveyor in the form of a ribbed belt located beneath said sieves, said conveyor being actuated to deposit said partially cleaned grain upon the upper portion of said traveller, a plurality of stringers extending transversely to said traveller for removing material adhering thereto, an oblique roller situated in rotatable engagement with the return portion of said traveller for restoring the nap thereof to its normal condition, gear mechanism in association with said machine for simultaneously operating said traveller, conveyor, sieve agitating crank, hopper feeding roller and said oblique roller and a crank attached to said mechanism for operating said,

device.

5. Improvements in grain cleaning comprising a framework, 2. pair of inclined rollers mounted within said framework, a traveller in the form of an apron having a nap surface extending around said rollers, a receptacle for uncleaned grain mounted above said traveller, means for partially cleaning said grain before application to said traveller, stringers for removing material adhering to said traveller and an obliquely disposed roller in contact with said traveller for restoring the nap thereof to its normal condition.

6. Improvements in grain cleaning machines comprising a framework, a pair of inclined rollers mounted at either end of said framework, a continuous traveller in the form of an apron having a nap surface extending around said rollers, an adjustable hopper for the reception of uncleaned grain mounted above said traveller; means for partially cleaning said grain before application to said traveller, means for maintaining said partially cleaned grain in contact with said traveller, means comprising a stringer for removing matter adhering to said traveller, and an obliquely disposed roller in contact with the return portion of said traveller for restoring the nap thereof to its original condition.

'7. The device asclaimed in claim 6 in which the means for maintaining said grain in contact with said traveller, comprising a plate mounted in close relation to the surface of said traveller.

8. In a device of the character herewithin described, a transversely inclined traveller, means for feeding grain adjacent an upper edge thereof, and means for restoring the nap of said traveller in a direction adapted to retard the movement of selected grains, said means comprising a rotating roller obliquely disposed adjacent the fabric of said traveller.

WILFERD A. S. BEATTIE.

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