GB480168A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for cleaning articles of ceramic materials - Google Patents

Abstract

480,168. Endless-belt conveyers. SCHWEITZER, H. V. Aug. 13, 1936, No. 22352. Convention date, Nov. 11, 1935. [Class 78 (i)] [Also in Groups XXIII and V] Apparatus for cleaning articles of ceramic materials prior to glazing, by means of sandblast comprises a flexible, e.g. reinforced rubber, belt 10 running over an idler pulley 11, a driven pulley 12, and idler pulleys 19, 21, the upper run of the belt passing through a cabinet 25 divided by a partition 26 into a sand-blasting chamber 27 and a blower chamber 28 and having sloping lower walls 29, 31 to form a hopper. An exhaust conduit 33, for removing dust, extends through the cabinet below the belt and has in its lower side openings 34; the conduit may be covered with rubber and has a connection 38 to suction apparatus. The upper run of the belt is supported, to ensure smooth operation, on balls 41 of glass, steel, &c., supported, preferably non-rotatably, by channel bars 43 and held in position by channel bars 42 formed with holes through which the balls project, the bars being held in position by bolts 44; the bars 42 may be covered with rubber. The work is supported on the belt by means of two staggered rows of pins 46 each comprising a shank 47 having a threaded head 48, which receives a securing nut 51 and washer 49, to hold the pins in position on the belt, and the nut being covered by a rubber cap 52 and the pin by a rubber tube 53, the tapered tip of the pin being covered by a rubber cap 54. The work, for example, a dish 61, rests on the pins and is carried past sand-blasting devices 56... 59 in chamber 27, below and above the articles, supplied with sand and air through connections 56<1>-59<1>, 56<11>-59<11>, the pressure in the upper devices being maintained slightly greater than that in the lower devices by means of pressure regulating devices 62 and gauges 63, so that the articles are not blown off the pins. After sand-blasting, the articles pass to the chamber 28 where the sand &c. is removed from the articles by air, from blast connections 66, 68, supplied by a blower. The openings in the ends of the cabinet are covered by flexible doors 71, which may be composed of shredded rubber hanging to the tops of the pins.