Gas separation – Residue access – handling or removing means – Separable collection container
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-07
2001-04-03
Spitzer, Robert H. (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
Residue access, handling or removing means
Separable collection container
C055S435000, C055S449000, C055S459200, C096S416000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06210457
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dust removal systems, shop vacuum cleaners, dust separation devices and auxiliary containers to receive sawdust, planer shavings and other particles and materials collected by dust removal systems and shop vacuum cleaners.
2. The Prior Art
Shop vacuum cleaners and a substantial variety of sizes and configurations of dust removal systems are widely used in home workshops, cabinet shops and commercial woodworking facilities for the collection and removal of sawdust, planer chips, sanding dust, and other dust and particulate matter produced during operation of such facilities. Typical shop vacuum cleaners draw air and waste through a flexible hose into a bucket-like waste collection chamber. There the air is drawn through a filter, typically a pleated filter of nonwoven fibrous material, which catches most of the waste material, allowing relatively clean air to be discharged. Dust collectors typically utilize a squirrel cage fan that draws air and debris through the fan and into a sleeve-like structure oriented vertically so that a cloth waste collection bag can hang below the structure and air can exit through a cloth bag attached to, and which inflated during use above, the sleeve. The capacity of each of these devices is limited to the capacity of the rigid bucket-like container in the case of the shop vacuum and the lower waste receiving bag or bags in the case of the dust collector.
Efforts have been undertaken to increase the quantity of sawdust and other waste that can be collected using such devices (without emptying the waste reservoirs) by drawing the air and collected debris first through or adjacent to an auxiliary waste collection receptacle into which some of the waste falls, thereby increasing the overall capacity of the system by the volume of the auxiliary receptacle.
One widely available device to accomplish this is a replacement lid intended to be positioned on top of a trash container or other receptacle having an open top and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,396. This lid has entrance and exit holes for tubing and a baffle between the entrance and exit so that some of the dust and other debris entrained in an air stream passing through the device falls down into the trash container or other receptacle on which the device rests. Because this replacement lid is opaque and it must be used on a rigid container (rather than, for instance, with a cloth bag), the lid must be removed to determine whether the container on which it is used is full.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is a transparent lid for use with a trash can or drum as an intermediate collection receptacle with a shop vacuum cleaner or dust collection system. Among other configurations, the lid may be molded of plastic for use on a twenty inch diameter trash can or twenty four inch diameter steel drum or other similar container, together with a shop vacuum cleaner or a dust collection system. Air and entrained particles such as saw dust are drawn into an inlet in the lid, and air is drawn from an outlet in the lid to the conventional shop vacuum cleaner or dust collection system. The inlet is positioned near the rim of the lid and generally tangent to the rim. The outlet is positioned in the center of the lid. The position of the inlet directs incoming air and entrained particles into the container near its inside wall and at a angle approximately 25° below the vertical plane within which the lid generally sits. Outgoing air is drawn from the center of the lid at a steeper angle of about 45°. The resulting airflow induces a vigorous cyclone-like air movement or a vortex in the trash container, which generally prevents entrained dust and particles from joining the outgoing airflow. Instead, incoming air travels in a downward spiral in which centrifugal force prevents particles from immediately following the outward flow of air. Like the eye of a hurricane, air pressure in the central region below the lid is lower than the pressure within the moving air at the periphery of the lid and near the trash container wall. As a result of these air movements, dust and other incoming particles tend to drop out of the air stream and remain in the trash container, more effectively separating dust and particles than a conventional baffle-type lid.
The cyclone-like air movement established within a container on which the lid of the present invention rests is less turbulent then airflow utilizing a baffle-type lid. This makes the dust removal or vacuum system within which the present invention is used more efficient in that there is greater airflow with a given exertion of energy than with an otherwise comparable system using a baffle-type lid. The inlets and outlets of the lid of the present invention can be bored to receive the ends of a conventional flexible dust collector hose, such as a four inch diameter hose. Alternatively, the inlets and outlets can be bored to receive conventional 2.3 inch diameter shop vacuum hoses and fittings or other desired sizes.
The lid of the present invention has a stepped rim so that it can be used on a conventional trash can having a nominal diameter of twenty inches or on a fifty gallon drum that is typically twenty-four inches in diameter. The stepped structure ensures a tight fit with the lid properly centered on either size container. The greater air pressure on the outside of the lid during use with a shop vacuum cleaner or dust removal system presses down on the lid, effectively sealing it against the trash container on which it is mounted.
If the inlet hose attached to the lid of the present invention is blocked or otherwise closed, the resulting reduction in pressure inside the trash receptacle can cause the generally domed lid of the present invention to be forced into the trash container in an “inverted” position like an umbrella that is turned inside out by a strong wind. The lid can easily be popped back the other way, however. The risk of such inversion can also be avoided by providing a small hole in the lid, such as a 0.75 inch diameter hole.
Lid transparency makes it easy to determine at a glance how full the container has become by looking through the lid without the need to lift or remove the lid. As an alternative to fabricating the entire lid of transparent material, a transparent window or porthole can be formed in the lid by molding a portion of the lid of transparent plastic material or by removing a portion of a non-transparent lid and replacing it with a transparent “window” material such as clear plastic or glass.
Such a transparent lid or a lid with a transparent porthole can be manufactured in other shapes including, for instance, the lid depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,396.
A plastic garbage bag can be used as a removable trash container bag in which collected dust can be discarded. In order to prevent such a plastic bag from being drawn toward the lid outlet, the bag can be placed in the trash container and then generally held in place with a sheet of resilient plastic material that is bent into a tube-like form, placed inside the bag, and then permitted to expand or unroll to hold the bag against the trash container wall.
It is an object of the this invention to provide a lid for separating dust into a container intermediate a dust source and a vacuum cleaner or dust collector which lid permits the contents of the intermediate container to be inspected without removing the lid.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide for cyclonic dust separation in a trash container.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for accommodation of two or more sizes of dust collector hose or vacuum hoses or fittings in an auxiliary container lid.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cyclonic action dust separation lid that seats on at least two diameters of conventional containers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide, in a cyclonic dust separation lid, inlet and outlet orientation and positioning that al
Johnson, Esq. Kristin L.
Lee Valley Tools Ltd.
Pratt, Esq. John S.
Spitzer Robert H.
Stockton Kilpatrick
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