Classifying – separating – and assorting solids – Sorting special items – and certain methods and apparatus for... – Separating means
Patent
1998-03-05
2000-05-23
Walsh, Donald P.
Classifying, separating, and assorting solids
Sorting special items, and certain methods and apparatus for...
Separating means
209622, 209668, B07B 1305, B07C 506
Patent
active
060656077
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a method and equipment for grading according to thickness sensitive objects (particularly fish, but also other organic and non-organic materials), involving more gentle treatment of the objects, with a high processing rate.
The machinery and equipment involved is based on the assessment of the thickness of the objects, and is unique in that processing is based on specially-designed conveyor equipment (hereinafter called ridge-belts) which move the objects forwards without shaking them or rubbing their surface in the course of grading. The equipment includes special ridges, tracks, adjustment devices, drive equipment, infeed equipment and the co-ordination of the functioning of all these elements in order to achieve the desired aims.
Many types and versions of grading machine for fish and other materials are already known which grade the items according to an assessment of their thickness. These include machines with belts or rollers and shaker-graders with several grading channels. Like the ridge-belt machine, the aforementioned machines all have grading channels that are wider at the outlet than at the intake. The belt machine draws the objects forward between two inclined belts which form the channel, and if more channels are included in the same machine, each additional channel consists of an independent unit, i.e. another machine which is placed next to the first one. The roller machines include two rollers which turn, the items being moved relatively slowly past the rollers by means of friction between the rollers and the objects. In the case of a multi-channel grader, additional machine units are placed next to the first one. The shaker-grader consists of ridges which form gaps, the central ridges serving two channels as in the ridge-belt machine, but the objects are moved forward by being shaken, which throws the objects up at the same time as the ridges are moved under the items, which gradually moves them down across the grading frame. In addition to the aforementioned grading machines, there are machines which operate in accordance with different principles and are fitted with electronic scales or imaging sensors. The aim in presenting the ridge-belt machine is to present a machine which treats the items to be graded gently, is accurate, requires little maintenance and may be constructed so as to handle extremely large quantities. The machine takes the form of a conveyor belt which neither shakes the objects nor rubs them in the course of moving them, but moves them gently forward until the point where the gap becomes large enough for the object to fall through it.
The machine consists of a certain variable number of belts which are fitted with grading ridges, between which the grading gaps are formed. When grading is carried out in more than one size category, the gaps are kept narrower at the intake end of the machine that at the output end. By use of special adjustment equipment it is possible to widen or narrow the grading gaps both at the intake end and at the output end. The drive equipment which drives the grading ridges is specially designed so that it is possible to incline the tracks of the machine and make the gaps of varying sizes; in the case of the outermost tracks there is a high degree of inclination when the machine is equipped with a large number of grading gaps.
The infeed equipment ensures a high quality of grading, together with gentle treatment of the objects, while maximizing the utilization of the machine. To achieve this, the infeed equipment of the machine is designed so that the objects are in the optimal position before entering the machine, and the speed of the infeed to the grading gaps is similar to the speed on the grading ridges.
Through the interaction of adjustment devices, drive equipment, belts and ridges, it is possible to arrange the infeed to a machine which grades accurately into many size-ranges according to thickness. The machine can easily be set for objects in different size ranges, and it is easy to adjust the infeed equipment t
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Magnusson Ragnar M.
Ragnarsson Egill Thor
Steinsson Steinar
Martin Brett C.
Style - R.M. Magnusson
Walsh Donald P.
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