USRE1687E - Washing sand - Google Patents

Description

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

L. M. SPEER, OF BELLE VERNON, PENNSYLVANIA. i

WASHINGSAND.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,108,:dated August 20, 1861 Reissue No. 1,687, dated May 3l, 1854.

To all whom it may'concern:

Be it known that I,--L. M. SPEER, of Belle Vernon,`Fayette county, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Washing Sand; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description thereof, reference being had' to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in Which- A Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improvedA machine. Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical transverse sections showing the interiorarrangement and construction of my machine.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the three gures.

The object ot' my invention and improvement in washing sand to be used in the manu; facture of glass is to so construct a machine that the sand can be elevated by an agitating movement from one point to another through a body of water and conducted into a sluice trough or spout which has a stream of water running through it, as will be hereinafter described.

Another object of my invention is to conduct the sand in its several stages ot' purity from one water bath to another through a number of baths, and at the same time to Subject the sand to the action of one or'more agitating screw-conveyers and one or more descending sluice-passages, as will be hereinafter de' scribed. 1

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, l will describe its construction and operation.

In-the accompanying drawings I have rep` 4,resented the manner of conducting the sand successively through a number of baths, each one of which is constructed and operates upon the same principle. These baths consist esl sentially ot' boxes A A, adapted for holding water up to a certain level, above which the 'water is allowed to ilow olf through passages a in the back board of each box, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. At or near one end of one of the baths I arrange one or more vibrating livering Water to the several baths. The

sand, after leaving the hopper I, falls upon the movi-ng screens,-where the gravel and larger particles are separated from it. The fine sand then falls into the first bath` A, from which itis conducted upward through the I first inclined gutter or trough by means of a spiral or screw shaft, B, that is rotated by means of gearing P N, or in any other convenient manner. The screw B conveys the sand upward through the water in the bathbox A and delivers this sand into the inclined and diagonal sluice-trough G, through which a stream of water. is kept constantly flowing i from the main feed-trough H. lhis' inclined sluice or chuteF G is intended for receiving the v.sand from the elevator B`v and subjecting this sand to the action of a-l'ivii'ig'stream i' thorough washing and to give it a zigzagcourse through the. said chute. rlhe sand, together with the water, is discharged intoY the forward part of the second bath A, which is furnished wit-h an elevator and a. chute or 'Y sluice-trough corresponding to those just describedand which conduct thev sand into a third bath, to b e acted upon as described, and

'so on, the sand can be elevated from one bath and deposited in another bath until. it is thoroughly washed, separated, and depiivedl of its i solvent and other foreign substances.

The vertical and inclined stops E E are ar-. ranged in the receiving ends of the bath for the purpose of keeping the sand in a position where it canbe conveyed upward through the inclined conveyers.

The branch troughs leading from the main troughvH aie or may be furnished with gates for regulating or cutting ott' the flow ot water from said main.

The main driving-shaft L communicates motion to the screen or screens arranged beneath hopper I through the medium of spur gearing 0 Q and pitman J, and this shaft also drives the screw-conveyers, whatever may be the number employed. p

v Theoperation of the machine is as follows:

I The conveyers and'screens being set iu/motion and the gates 'of the branches leading from the main H opened, sand is introduced into l the hopper I, and there subjected to theaction of a stream of water. From the hopper the sand p falls in a partially-washed condition upon the vibrating screen, from wh ence it fallsfree from gravel into the virst box A of the series, and from said box it is eleva-ted by the first of a. series of screws to the top of the box;

the series. Here it is met by a owing stream of water, and thus caused to descend through the serpentine passage of the sluicev into the second box of the series. box .the sand is elevated by the secoudvscrewe of v the series tothe top of the boxv and de-w posited- Ainto the second sluiee-of the series, from which it is forced by-a stream; of watery from trunk H into the third boxof theseries,

Thus the operation of lifting the sand succesf sively from one box to another and subjecting it to a washing action continues until it ar-.f ,rivesat' 4the discharge-spout ofl-.the last box of the series, when it fallsinto a receiver. AsL

the sand is conducted through the severalv N baths, the muddy water'o'ws oiffrom-:theseveral boxes through passages a,aand-,therefore thewater in the secondorvthird bathjsnearly` clean, the soft or solventv substances being carried o' iu the preceding baths.

From the zabove description Jofmy invention 'it will be geen that the sand visiiftedt through. c

From the second a body of water in the bath, and that during this lifting operation the screw gives a zigzag course to the sand and keeps it iu constant agitation, after which the sand is subjected to the action of a rapidly-descending stream of water, which further cleans the. sand and conducts it into another bath. If desirable, the operation of washing may stop here; but Where the sand is very impurel and caked it can be passed through several waters.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isand deposited iu 'the-first diagonal sluice of l 1. An apparatus for washing sand, which is so constructed that the sand will be elevated through'a body of water or bath, and at the same timev receive. a zigzag or undulating movement, andy thereby caused to deposit its impurities into said bath, substantially as described. l t

21. Aninclined sluice trough, iucombination wthan inclined screw elevator or elevators and one or morewater bathsoperatlng substantially as described. f

3'.. Conducting the water -used in washing the'sandy from a main trunk, H, or its equival lent, through an inclined sluice, which` is so arranged as to receive the sand from elevator and todepositboth the sand and water into suitable baths or receptacles arranged b eueath said suice, substantially as described.

L.' M. Senna.'

Witnesses: l f

E. '11. HQQSMAN, ALEx- Rt BROWN.

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