Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
A device for disintegrating particulate material.
FIELD OF INVENTION
It is since long known that horses carrying out heavy
work must be fed with some kind of concentrated food in
order to be able to continuously maintain a high capacity.
This applies for work horses as well as riding- and
trotting-horses from which a high performance is required.
The most usual concentrated food is oats. However, the
whole oat-grains are so difficult to digest that a high
1 n percentage passes through the digestive system of the
horse without being digested and give the desired energy.
This unsatisfactory degree of use ox the food was previously
accepted but in time mills have been put into use to doesn't-
grate the oat-grains by crushing. In this way, the oat
has been used completely as food, since the surrounding
shell no longer prevents a rapid digestion. This doesn't-
grating procedure has, however, caused certain storage
problems. The nutritional value of crushed oats decreases
during storage and the crushed pieces obtain a fluffy sun-
face which on storage is attacked by a kind of mite Wheaties spread by insects. This mite usually occurs in stores of
flour and are rapidly multiplied. This formation of mite
makes the oats unsuitable as a food and if mite has attacked
a quantity, i-t must be rejected. In the first foist is
difficult to distinguish the mite from the fluffy surface
of the oats only with the eye. Thus, there is a great risk
that crushed oats contaminated with mite may be accident
tally used as food, which may have serious consequences
if a valuable riding- or trotting-horse is fed shortly
before an important race.
PRIOR ART
By the US patent 4 039 149, a device for disintegrating
material mainly by a shearing action is previously known.
This device is of the kind defined in the preamble of the
appendent claim 1.
I
However, in this device each cutting member is located
between two aperture discs, which are maintained at a
minimum distance from each other by flanges on one of -the
discs. Thus, -the cutting member is rotatable in a free
space having an axial extent greater than -the axial extent
of the cutting member. By influence of the material to be
disintegrated, the cutting member will tend to approach
the disc located downstream the cutting member so as -to
produce a free space between the cutting member and the
disc located upstream -the cutting member, which will tend
to cause a greater degree of crushing between the cutting
member and the upstream disc. Furthermore, wear will tend
to increase the distance between the cutting member and the
upstream disc.
THE OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is to obtain a device suitable
for disintegrating such particular material. as oat-grains
in such a way that the fluffy surface obtained by crushing
and promoting growth of mite is eliminated. In this way,
the food would maintain its nutritional value and damages
under storage would be reduced. Particularly important is
to assure that the device will maintain its operational
characteristic during prolonged periods.
BRIEF DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
This object is obtained by starting from a device defined
in the preamble of the main claim and designing the aver-
lured disc as freely displaceable into con-tact with the
cutting member or an insert disposed between the disc and
the cutting member. In this way, the aperture disc will be
urged towards the cutting member under the influence of -the
particles to be disintegrated so that the edges on the disc
and on the cutting member will tend to remain in a constant
relation also after considerable wear so that the desin-tegra-
ted particles will have a generally uniform character. Thus,
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the cooperating edges may be disposed in relation to each
other to shear the particles by planar cuts and wear on
the cutting member will not tend to increase arty distance
between the cutting member and the disc, which could
increase the degree of crushing.
It is preferred -to arrange the shaft generally vertically
so that not only the particles to be desin~egrated but also
the own weigh-t of the disc will urge the same towards the
cutting member. It would also be possible to arrange one or
more springs to urge the disc towards the cutting members.
DISCLOSURE OF DRAWINGS
In the drawings;
Fig. 1 is a view of the device from above;
Fig. 2 illustrates a vertical section of the device;
Fig. 3 is a plan view and a section of an aperture disc;
Fig. 4 is a plan view and a section of the cutting member;
Fig. 5 is a plan view and a section of an impeller for
discharging the disintegrated oats from the device;
Fig. 6 is a plan view and a section of an agitator; and
Fig. 7 is a section and a side view of a drive shaft.
DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
A base plate 1 is rigidly connected to an upper frame plate
2 and a lower frame plate 3. The plates 2 and 3 are also
rigidly interconnected by a vertical plate 4. The plates
2 and 3 have at portions spaced from the base plate 1 boa-
rings pa and 5b respectively yin which the shaft 6 is rota-
tally supported. Just under the bearing pa r a V-belt pulley
7 is rigidly connected to the shaft 6. The V-belt 8 surrounds
pulley 7 and also a smaller pulley 9 which is rigidly con-
netted to the drive shaft of a vertically disposed motor one the vertical plate 4.
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From the upper side of the frame plate 2, the shaft
(see Fig. 7) is provided with planar surfaces 11 and 12
located opposite each other. An agitator aye is located
axially movable on -the shaft 6 near its upper end but locked
against rotation to the shaft 6 in that the hub of agitator
aye has a center hole 13d (Fig. 6) corresponding to the
shape of shaft 6 in this section.
A disc 14 is located directly below agitator aye and has
a series of apertures 16 (Fig. 3) generally equally duster-
butted over the surface and a center hole 15 allowing Verdi-
eel movement us well as rotating movement relative to shaft
6. A star shaped cutting member or knife 17 (Fig. 4) is
located immediately below disc 14. The knife has a center
hole aye, the form of which corresponds to the cross sea-
lion of shaft I. In this way, knife 17 may move axial Lyon shaft 6 but is locked against rotation relative thereto.
The knife 17 has long edges 18b and 18c moving closely adja-
cent the lower side of the disc 14, which is preferable at
low number or revolutions. At higher rotational speed, an
insert or shim not illustrated in the drawing and having a
thickness of about 0,1 mm and shaped as a washer about shaft 6
may be located between disc 14 and knife 17 to reduce friction.
Another agitator aye is located directly under knife 17 and
under the agitator, another aperture disc 14 and knife 17
identical to those previously described are located.
The agitator aye, disc 14 and knife 17 form together a set
which may be used singularlyortogether with other sets in a
series in accordance with requirements.
An impeller aye is located utter the last knife 17 and
axially movable on shaft 6 like the discs 14 and knives 17
but locked against rotation to shaft 6 via the center hole
19b (Fig. 5).
All agitators aye, discs 14, knives 17 and the impeller aye
are enclosed in a vertical cylindrical drum 20 which is
rigidly anchored to the upper side of the upper frame plate
2, which at this location forms a bottom of the drum 20.
At the bottom of the mantle surface of drum 20, an outlet
tube 21 is tangentially fixed In the interior of the
drum 20, a longitudinal vertical projection aye is located,
which is received in corresponding recesses 22b in the discs
I so as to prevent the latter from rotating with the knives
17. container 23 is located centrally above drum 20 and
has in its lower portion a cylindrically formed par-t 24,
in which a closure device 25 is located. The base plate 1
has at one of its vertical edges a hinge 30, one portion
of which is anchored to e.g. a wall 31 with screws 32. A
locking device 33 is arranged at the opposite edge of base
plate 1 and this locking device is anchored to wall 31 by
screws 34. When there is a need for mounting, dismounting
or supervising the discs and knives, the lock 33 is released
so as to enable plate 1 to be rotated outwardly about its
hinge 30. The outlet tube 21 will rotate from the position
illustrated with full lines in Fig. 1 to the position illicit-
rated with dashed lines and the upper part of drum 20 will
be uncovered from container 23. To be able to handle discs
and knives in a safe manner, the electrical connection of
motor 10 is arranged so that the current connection 35 must
be interrupted in order to open the lock 33 and release the
frame for rotation so as to make discs and knives accessible.
The invention operates as follows: When the motor 10 is star
ted, it rotates, through the V-belt transmission 7, 8, 9,
the shaft 6 and the agitators aye, knives 17 and impeller aye
in the same direction. The closure device 25 is open. Oat
grains 26 will fall down and fill the open space at the top
of drum 20. Due to rotation of shaft 6, the wings 13b, 13c
of agitator aye will rotate and feed the grains 26 through
apertures 16 in disc 14 which is locked against rotation.
When the oat grains 26 pass out of the apertures 16, they will
face the rotating knife 17 which by edges 18b or 18c will
shear the oat grains 26 against the edges of apertures 16.
The partially disintegrated grains 26 now enter the space
below knife 17, wherein another agitator aye with wings
13b, 13c agitates and mixes the material before i-t passes
another disc 14 and knife 17 for additional disintegration.
The grains 26 will subsequently fall down between the blades
of the impeller aye which rotates with shaft 6 and throws
the oats out through tube 21 so that it in a lathered
stream falls down into e.g. a receptacle 29.
The invention is not limited to the embodiment disclosed
lo but can be varied in several ways within the scope of the
invention. Thus, the number of discs and knives may be lower
and higher than in the embodiment. The knives may be turned
so that the direction of their shearing edges from the
center towards the periphery alternatingly forms a positive
and negative angle. In certain conditions, agitators between
aperture discs and knives may be eliminated dispute use of
several sets of discs and knives. Instead of an agitator bet-
wren a knife and an aperture disc located downstream the
knife, a spacer ring may be used if so desired. The device
may also be used for disintegrating other particulate mate-
fiat than oat grain.
