US1905896A - Strand treating apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

April 25, 1933. H. w. BROWN.

STRAND TREATING APPARATUS AND METHOD original Filed March 7, 1929 latented Apr. 25, 1933 UNITED STA-TES PATENT OFFICE HOBATIO W, BROWN, OF CONCORD, MASSACUSETTS, ASSIGNOB T BEMIS INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED, OF BOSTON; MASSACHUSETTS, A. CORPORATION OF DELAWARE STRAND TREATING- APPARATUS METHOD Original application filed March 7, 1929, *Serial No. 345,077. Divided and this application led September 4 1930.

This invention relates to an apparatus andA method for treating strands of material whichoriginally is in the form of numerous elongated entan led brous components, and more particular y for loosening these components and forming the same into a lightly luffed. substantially uniform mass or mat.

This application is a division of copending' application Serial No. 345,077, filed March In accordance with the present invention,

any desired flexible strands .or fibers which are typically elongate and which originally may be loosened and lightly iiufed to pro-' vide a uniform mat or mass that may be submay be rather rmly compacted and en.

tangled or formed into irregular bunches jected to any suitable succeeding operations or use. For example, this arrangement 1s particularly advantageous in preparing excelsior, i. e. elongate iiexible more or less curling strands of wood, so that the excelsior may be readily manufactured into artificial lumber comprising reticulated strands bound by and coated with a suitable cementitious and protective agent, such as a' magnesite cement. While the process and apparatus disclosed herein is broadly applicable4 to employment for the loosening and uniform distributing of strands of practically any character, for purposes ofconvenience of illustration and description,`the treatment of excelsior strands will be particularly referred to hereinafter. 'lhese strands are ordinarily received in quite closely compacted bundles or bales,- and preferably are first somewhat loosened and may then be cut; the bunches or entangled masses of the ex- Serial No. 479,650.

separates the entangled mass and uniformly distributes the elongate strands of fibrous components in a suitable-collecting passage, such for example as achute which supplies theloose mass of material to a receiving belt or any suitable receiving means;

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View, somewhat i diagrammatic in character and with arts in section, showing the arrangement o my preferred strand iung apparatus; v Fig. 2 is an elevational View of a-portion of this apparatus including the air. nozzle and related parts; and

Fig. 3 `isa top view of the air nozzle and related parts.

The material which is to be loosened and lufed ordinarily may be received in a: more or less closely compacted' and'entangled or bunchedlcondition, forfexample, bales of 7o excelsior may be broken open, and the Y'excelsior fed by .hand to the machine in irregular masses of varying sizes. Such material is designated ,in the accompanyin drawing by the numeral! 1, being disposed upon a table 1%, the edge of which is juxtaposed to the bite of a pair of rolls 3 and 4, one or both of which may be provided withv suitable feed projections 5 in order to dev liver the material from table 1a to cutting mechanism, designated in general by. the numeral 6. This cutting mechanism is particular'ly desirable when the strands have a .comparatively great length, and individual strands, being relatively curly, tend to have several convolutions and accordingly have become very much entangled withA each other. The cuttin mechanism 6 is designed. to cut such stran ed material into shorter portions; for example, an average length of from two to six inches has beenpfound commercially satisfactory for the .manufa/ ture` of excelsior lumber. The cutting mechanism -is provided with a rotor 7 -having segmental knives 8 that are adapted to cooperate with a fixed vertically disposed plate 10 in shearing the strands received from the rolls 3 and 4.

. As indicated by the 1, the knives 8 rotate so that they tend to curved arrow in Fig.

cast the severed strands upwardl against a. guide plate 13 which is exten ed overa lower supporting plate 13". Accordingly continued rotary movement of the cutter 7 causes the material to be fed between plates 13 and 13El onto a suitable receiving belt 14, which, as'shown, may be substantially horizontally disposed. The excelsior strands received by the belt 14 are still in a more or less irregularly bunched and entangled condition, and a feed roller 25 over the end of belt 14 cooperates with the latter in feeding this material to a picker. This mechanism may include a relatively large roll 17 having radially disposed teeth 19 projecting therefrom and adapted to engage the somewhat bunched strands as they pass from the roll 25 and belt 14. A cover plate 18 may be disposed over the roll 17 and may carry a comb 18a which cooperates with the" teeth 19 in loosening thebunched and entangled strands.

From the picker the loosened material which now is in a loosely entangled, nonuniformly distributed condition, falls into the upper end of an inclined passageway or Y chute 35. This portion of the mechanism is refera'bly provided with suitable means,

urther to separate and to distribute the fibrous material evenly so that a substantially uniform looseor liufed mat is provided.

The preferred arrangement for attaining this desirable result comprises a movable air nozzle 27 which has its open end projecting downwardly into the upper end of an inclined chute 35 and which is supplied with compressed air through a flexible duct 28 such as an air hose, which may be connected to any suitable source of air supply. Means is preferably provided tomove the nozzle transversely of the chute 35, this means being illustrated more in detail in Figs. 2 and 3. For this purpose the axle 81 of roll 17 may be provided with an eccentric pin or crank 83 which is pivotally connected to a link 84. The opposite end lof link 84 is articulated to one arm` of a bell crank 85, the other arm of which is articulatedto a; transverse rod 86, this rod being disposed transversely of and somewhat above the upper end of chute 25. The ends of the rod 86 preferably are slidably received in'suit` able supporting elements or bearings 50. The intermediate part of rod 86 is pivotally connected, as designated by numeral-'51, to a nozzle holder 87, the end of which is pivotally connected to a fixed support, for ex,

ample an extension of the curved plate 18 over the picker. It is thus evident that rotation of the picker 17 causes the transverse movement of the nozzle 27 and accordingly air under pressure may be repeatedly supplied to each portion of the openI end of the chute 35. .v

In the operation of apparatus of this character the stranded material may be received on the table 1a ina more or less firmly entangled, closely bunched condition, for example Athe condition of excelsior when taken out of the conventional. bale, and may then be suiiciently separated by hand to be. fed between the rollers 3 and 4 to the cutting means 6. This means is somewhat effective lin breaking up the bunched strands and in causing the average length-of the strands to be much less than when originally received. Thus the occurrence of typically long, convoluted or extremely curly strands is avoided as 'the material leaves the cutter 6 and passes over the belt 14 to the picker. The latter includes the toothed roller 17 and comb 18' which cooperate in opening up the smaller somewhat loosened bunches of stranded material, so that as the same are supplied to the chute 35 they may be readily acted upon and substantially completely separated by the action of the oscillating high velocity concentrated air jet emitted from the nozzle 27. The movement ofthis nozzle transversely of thev chute is advantageous in causing the substantially uniformv distribution of the fibrous material throughout the chute. For example, the strands directly in front of the nozzle are picked up and hurled against adjoining strands so that the loosened individual strands readily find their way to the regions where the stranded material is less densely distributed, whereby a substantially uniform distribution of the strands results. Thus the strandedmaterial passing from the chute 35 to any suitable receiving means, such as a belt not s hown, in the form of alightly and substantially uniformly tled mat in which the strands are not typically entangled, but lightly engage one another. I claim:

prising an elongate strand receiving duct means to deliver strands to an open end o the duct, and an air nozzle inde endent of said delivery means, said nozzle eing movable across the open end of the duct and arranged to emit a high velocity concentrated air jet into the open end of .the duct, at an angle to the plane of travel of said strand material through. said duct, and driving means to move the air nozzle to and fro transversely of the duct. 2. Apparatus of the class described, comprising an elongate strand receiving duct means to deliver strands to an open end o the duct, and an airr nozzle inde endent of said delivery means, said nozzle eing movable across the open end of the duct and arranged to emit a high velocityconcentrated air jet into the open end of the duct, at an an le to the plane of travel of said strand material through said duct, and driving .1. Apparatus of the class described, com- 4 amano l means to move the airnozzle to and fr() transversely of the duc said driving means being operable in sync nized relation to the strand deliveringmeans. 3. Apparatus of the class described, comrising a strand picker a strand receiving uct havingan open en arranged to receive loosened strands `from the picker, and an air nozzlemovable across the end of the duct and arranged to emit a hi h' velocity concentrated. air 'et vinto said uct at an angle to the lane o travel of said strand material thro said duct. 4. method of treating elongate entanled strand material to form a loosely ued mat of ubrfornllly distributed strands disposed' in su anti y none tang e engagement, which method compilises lfeeding the entangled strand material into an elongate passage, and concomitantly subjecting the moving mass of strand material to the action of an oscillatingsth velocity coneentrated air jet which es said material at-an angle to its lane of travel through said passage, where y the entangled strands are se arated and uniformly distributed throng out said p w- Si ed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this tlxdayofAu` ,1930. HO TIO -W. BROWN.

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