US1655618A - Assighoe - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 10, 1928. 1,655,618

W. H. MASON APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF EXPLOSION FIBRATION 0F LIGNOCELLULOSE MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 'INVENTOR Jan. 10, 1928.

W. H. MASON APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF EXPLOSION FIBRA'IION 0F LIGNOCELLULOSE MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR M/A'am fi /%$0/7 ATTORNEY Jan. 10, E92, 1,655,618

, W. H. MASON APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF EXPLOSION FIBRATION OF LIGNOCELLULOSE MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 i i m4 1 i /06 INNENTOR fVM/Mm 67 79500 ATTORN EY 1,655,618 W. H. MASON APPARATUS FOR AND PROCESS OF-EXPLOSION FIBRATION OF.

Jan. 10, 1928.

' AT ORNEY Patents Jan. to. rare.

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hernia-sires rote Ann P's-cones or EEZELQSIOH Finn-arson LIGIQ'OCELLUILOSE ian'rnnrar...

Application filed. September My inventionis of apparatus for explosion fibration of ligno-cellulose materlal, hereinafter referred to for convenience as wood.

An object of the present invention s the provision of fully organized and coordinated apparatus for carrying on the explosion fibration of wood as a practically continuous operation.

'Another object is the provision of means for utilizing the Waste steam from the guns for preheating the wood chips prior to their introduction into the guns.

Another object is the provision of a chip inlet valve for the guns adapted for ready and convenient opening and closing andfor efiiciently withstanding the enormous pressure to which the gun and its valves are subjected.

Another object consists in the provision oi a gun discharge valve arranged to minimize recoil and to promote the iibration action by causing the streams from thevalve ports to impinge upon or meet one another at high velocity, and in accordance with a moditied form of the invention to promote the fibration operation by directing the high velocity discharge streams of fibre-ted wood against a roughened orgrinding surface.

Other objects of the invention will appear in connection with the following description. I

In the accompanying drawings I have shown embodiments of my invention for the purpose of illustration and for affording an understanding of the-invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not the fibrated wood, which steam is directed back to the chip bin for preheating the chips. Fig. 4; is a plan view of a gun. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a gun. Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a gun on the line 66, Fig. 5, and showing the discharge valve open. Fig.7 is a cross-sectionalview of the discharge valve of Fig. 6, showing the pipes 18, 18 with the guns 20, 20.

cylinders.

18, 1925. Serial narrate.

discharge valve of Fig. 6 in closed position. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the discharge end' of a gun showing a modified form of discharge valve and wood fiber grinding meanscoacting therewith, and Fig. 9 is a cross-section on the line 99, Fig. 8.

Reference numeral 10 designates the main bin for wood chips. Said bin is provided with 0utlets'12, 12, one for each gun. An

extra chip outlet 12 may be provided for an additional gun, should the latter be installed. The outlets 12 are controlled by the swing valves 14 adapted. to be manually operated, as by the drawbar's 15. While the wood is preferably chipped to about the sizes used in paper mill digesters, it may be in much larger pieces if desired, but chips are mostreadily handled. From the outlets 12the chips fall into the charge hoppers 16, 16, which communicate through the I The chips in the charge hoppers, 16 may be heated with steam remaining'in the guns after the discharge is completed and the discharge valve and the steam supply valve from the boiler are closed. For-heating the chips this residual steam is sent to the charge hopper 16 through the pipes *2 controlled by the valves 24, where it heats the chips and is condensed by coming into contact with the chips therein. The gun being ventedby the opening of valves 2%, makes it readily possible to open the inlet valves 52 as soon as the residual steam has been taken out through the venting pipes 22. The fibrated wood from the guns is delivered to the discharge conduit 26. Said discharge conduit 26 preferably leads to the centrifugal separator 28. The fibrated wood falling to the bottom passes downwardly through the outlet 30 and is delivered, as by means of the conveyor 32. Exhaust steam pipe 34. is preferably carried back to the main bin 10 and discharged by branches 36 of said pipe 34 into the chip bin to preheat chips before theirintroduction into the guns.

The guns 20, of which three are shown in the drawings, have the form of elongated These guns are heavily constructed to withstand the enormous pressure of several hundred pounds to the square inch.

The walls are preferably formed of heavy pipe 38 on which the heads e0, 42 are socurcd by the closely spaced through bolts at.

way as to be readily opened wide and to afford a strong tight seal when closed. Said inlet valve 52 is located on the under side of head 40 and closes outwardly against the seat surrounding the inlet port 54. It is supported to be moved inwardly and swung away from the port 54 by being earned on a crank arm 56 secured to a shaft 58, which extends through a gland GO in the head 40. Shaft 58 is provided with the operating handle 62, and a spring 64 surrounding shaft 58 serves to pull the valve 52 toward its seat.

he extension 64 of crank arm 56 is provvided with the stud or finger 66, which serves to locate the valve 52 correctly with respect to its seat 53 by entering the guide recess 68 on the under side of head 40. The closed and opened positions of the valve 52 and related parts are shown in full and dotted lines respectively in Fig. 4. With the construction described the valve is opened (when the pressure is off) by pushing down and turning the shaft 58 by the handle 62, causing the valve 52 to leave its seat 53 and move away from the valve port to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4, leaving the port 54 clear for the introduction of chips into the gun and the valve 52 entirely out of the way of chips entering the gun. Reverse motion closes the valve 52, any inaccuracy in the seating movement being corrected by coaction of the finger 66 with the guide recess 68.

The valve port is sufficiently large toperniit the wiping off of any lodged chips which might prevent the valve closing tight.

Before the bottom head or end plate 42 is put in place, the disk 72 is inserted in the enlargement 74 of the bore 76 of pipe 38 with the sealing gasket 78 seated in the recess so provided. Disk 72 and head 42 are provided with the aligned openings 80, 82 and beyond the opening 82 therein, disk 72 is extended upwardly to form the male art or casing 84 of the outlet valve.

The valve casing being made in a disk separate from the head can be readily removed and replaced by a new one when wear occurs due to the extremely high velocity at which discharge takes place under the high pressure used at the time of discharge.

Said casing portion 84 is closed at its top in a more or less pointed portion 86 so as not to interfere unduly with the outward movement of the chips and has a pluralit and preferably an even number of laterally disposed passages 88. A plurality of outlets are preferably provided in order to keep the outlets small and at the same time to reduce the time required for discharge. In this way a material reduction is secured of the period during which the materials in the upper part of the gun cylinder are subjected to the high pressure and heat of discharge and overheating is avoided. These outlet passages are preferably arranged in pairs opposite one another, four such passages or two pairs of opposite passages being shown in the illustrated construction. Passages 88 preferably converge in the direction of outflow, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7, the resulting compression and folding of chips in passing out through the narrow converging outlet passages or slots being apparently productive of increased fibration of the discharged wood.

The discharge valve 9O is cylindrical in form and is received within the openings 80, 82 and the bore 92 of the valve. casing84. It is provided with ports 94 arranged in pairs to correspond and register with the passages 88 is casing84, and the walls of ports 94 preferably diverge substantially as shown in Figs. 5 and 7, in the direction of chip flow to permit initial expansion of the chips as they pass through the ports 94 into the bore 96 of the valve 90. Thedischarging streams of exploded and fibrated chips emerging from opposite valve ports under the high pressure strike against one another within said bore 96, and this action is of assistance in utilizing a portion of the energy expended for securing a thorough and complete fibration and a beating effect of parts of the fibrated material against other parts thereof. 7

A ring 98 is preferably welded to the valve member 90 and serves to support said valve member by being received in the grooves 100 in the supporting and guiding pieces 102. Said members 102 are preferably bolted to the under side of head 42'so as to be readily removed, whereupon the valve 90 can be drawn out.

The pressures upon the discharge valve constructed as described are substantially balanced and all tendency of the Valve to bind or stick is eliminated and the valve can be operated with comparative readiness even when the interior of the-gun is subjected to extremely high pressures. A steam cylinder 104 is preferably provided for'rapid operation of the valve 90, it being readily understood that admission of steam on the respective sides of piston 106 will turn valve 90 so as to open or close the same as indicated in Fig. 6. The extent of outlet opening may be varied by adjustment of the stroke of piston 106 and in this way compensation for wear may be made, as, for example, by cutting down the piston stroke when the discharge slots become worn.

In the outlet valve construction so far dellH) llU

scribed the movement of the fibrated wood is inward into the open ended valve bore. This relation can be reversed, if desired as in the modification shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

With this construction the gun 20 is provided with the laterally ported tubular downward extension 107, which is surrounded by the sleeve valve 108. The ma terial passing out through the ports 110 and 112 brought into register by turning the sleeve 108 strikes against the vanes 11% carried by sleeve 108. Vanes 11a impart circular or spiral movement to the material being discharged and guide it into contact with the roughened or grinding inner surfaces of the rotatable shell or ring 116, which is supported in the revoluble housing 118 surrounding the discharge valve. The member 1116 may be'of grinding materials, such as carborundumand the like, or pieces such grinding materials may be inserted, member 116 may be of metal with file or the like surface, or attrition surfaces may he provided in various other ways. Member 116 is caused to rotate by impact of the dis charged material thereon as it comes off the vanes 11 1, thus equalizing wear on the surface of such member 116 and also keeping the surface of said member 116 clean;

The same means which opens the discharge valve member 108, as the crank arm 120 and link 122 connecting same to an actuating means, such as a steam cylinder, can be made use of to take up the reaction of sleeve 108, caused by the discharged material coming into contact with the curved vanes 11a, and hold the sleeve 108 and the vanes thereon against turning while the gun is being cischarged. The fibrated material is discharged downwardly through the passage 124. while the steam may be permitted to escape (or pass back for reheating) through the passage 126.

Various fluids under pressure. may be made use of for securing highly etlicient fibration, as steam, compressed air and the like. l Vith the use of steam the pressure may advantageously be in two stages, the first stage with steam at say 100-350 t per sq. in., being succeeded by a few seconds of steam at very neighborhood of 800 to 1000i}: per sq. in. The high pressure is preferably maintained behind the chips during the discharge so that substantially as effective libration can be obtained in the later as well as the earlier stages of the discharge. The pipe 38 is preferably provided with one or more tapped holes as 128, 130 for attachment of cooks for drawing ofi any water of condensation, attachment of steam pipes for heating up the chips and the like. A pipe of large diameter for example a 2 pipe) is connected to the gun cylinder near the inlet end for supplying steam or other tluid under high pressures, say in the I pressure when the gun is discharged and to maintain substantially full pressure on the material throughout the period of progressive discharge.

It will be seen that with apparatus as described operations can be carried on substantially continuously, one of the guns being discharged as others are'being filled, brought up to pressure or the like, that the chips may be preheated as by means of waste steam, that the inlet valve, while readily opened and closed, affords a complete and certain seal or closure, and that the balanced discharge valve permits the discharge of the material through constricted outlets that the outgoing streams may either strike against one another or be directed against grinding surface, whereby a beating action and further fibration is secured.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for explosive fibration of lignocellulose material, comprising a chip bin, a gun, means for feeding chips from the bin to the gun, means for separating steam from the discharged, fibrated material, and

meansfor conducting said'steam to the chips in the bin.

2.1.11 av gun for explosive fibration of ligno-cellulose material, an inlet valve closoutwardly from within the chamber of thegun, and means extending through the 'un at a point of? to one side of the valve I01 operating the valve from outside the b S. In a gun for explosive fibration of lignocellulose material, an inlet valve clos ing outwardly from within the gun chant her, and means for operating said valve from outside the gun in right line movement and in swinging movement with respect to its seat.

4. In a gun for explosive fibration of ligno-cellulose material, an inlet valve closing from within outwardly, a longitudinally movable shaft extending to the exterior of the gun chamber, and an arm on said shaft within the gun and by which the said valve is carried.

5. Apparatus according to claim Vi, in which guide means are provided for controlling the movement of the shaft to guide the valve to its seat.

6. Apparatus according to claim at, in which the arm is extended and provided with a projecting finger and the gun chamber wall with a guiding recess, whereby the shaft movement is controlled to guide the valve to its seat.

7. In a gun for explosive fibration of ligno-cellulose material, a cylinder provid ing a chamber, a ported head therefor, an.

inlet valve within the chamber and closing outwardly to seal said port, a valve operating shaft extending through the head, spring means tending to move said shaft outwardly, an ar-m on said shaft within the gun chamber, said valve being carried by said arm, and means connected with said arm for guiding the arm so as to correctly position the valve with respect to its seat.

8. A gun for explosive libration of lignocellulose material, having a discharge valve with ports directed toward one another, whereby the streams emerging from the ports are caused to meet outside the gun chamber.

9. A gun for'explosive fibration of lignocellulose'material, having a discharge valve with four constricted ports arranged in pairs, the respective portshaving their outlets directed toward one another.

10. A gun for-explosive fibration of lignocellulose materiah-having a discharge valve casmgextendmg wlthin the gun chamber and having an inwardly directedporuand a hollow cylindrical valve having a port adapted upon rotation of the valve to register with-the port-in the casing.

11. A gun forexplosive libration of lignocellulose material, having discharge valve casing extending Within the gun chamber and having lateral ports opposite one ,another, and a rotatable hollow cylindrical valve having ports adapted to register with the ports in the casin 12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 11, in whichthe walls of the valve casing ports converge in the direction of stream discharge.

13. A gun for explosive fibration of lignocellulose material, having a discharge valve provided with ports discharging substantially at right angles to'the axis of the'gun.

let. A gun for explosive fibration of lignocellulose material, having a dischargevalve provided with pairs of ports, the respective ports whereof have their outlets directed toward one another and at substantially right angles to the axis of the gun.

15. A gun for explosive fibration of li'gnocellulose material provided with arplural'ity of constricted valved outlet iportsjwhereby the discharge takes place progressivelyend yet is relatively rapid.

16. The process of fibratmgandrei'ining ligno-cellulose material, which consists fin exploding same by discharging 'from "under high pressure in a plurality of streams consisting substantially entirely of the fibrated material and directing the'issuing' streams of fiber to meet one another, thereby utilizing velocity energy for additional'impact refinement of the discharged fibrated material.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name hereto.

WILLIAM H. MASON.

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