Coal cleaning apparatus

June 1, 1937. κ. prjns 2,082,467

COAL CLEANING APPARATUS Filed July 15, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1

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June 1, 1937.

K. PRINS

COAL CLEANING APPARATUS

2,082,467

Filed July 15. 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2

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Patented June ί, 1937

2,082,467

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,082,407 COAL CLEANING APPARATUS Klaas Prins, Chicago, SM.

Application Inly 15, 1935, Serial No. 31,421

Claims.

(01. 299—156) tangular cross-section. The trough is suspended for combined longitudinal and vertitcal reciprocating movement, suspension links 96 hung from cross shafts ί Ί on the tank receiving the outer ends of the cross shafts 18 extending through the 5 side walls of the trough. Two sets of links are shown connecting respectively with the trough adjacent to the ends thereof. In suitable bearing structure ί 8 mounted on the tank a shaft 2® is journalled having eccentric or crank sections 29 io for receiving eccentric straps or heads 22 on connecting rods 23 which rods connect with the outer ends of one of the trough shafts so that when the shaft 20 is turned the trough will be reciprocated. An electric motor M mounted on 15 the tank at any suitable location is connected by belt 24 with the belt wheel 2§ on the eccentric or cam shaft and furnishes the power for controlling the reciprocation of the trough. The link supporting shafts 17 extend through arcuate 20 slots 2® in the side walls of the tank so that the angularity of the links relative to the connecting rods 23 may be adjusted for the desired horizontal and vertical components of reciprocation movement of the trough, the shafts Π being secured 25 in adjusted position by means of nuts 21 engaging the reduced threaded outer ends thereof to clamp the shafts to the tank side walls after adjustment thereof.

In the structure shown on the drawings the 30 left end of the trough will be referred to as the inlet end and the right end thereof will be referred to as the outlet end. At its inlet end and at the lower corner thereof the trough has the water inlet neck or frame 28 which extends the 35 full width of the trough and defines a diagonally extending water passage into the trough. The rough end wall 29 above the inlet neck slopes gradually downwardly and inwardly to form a guide surface or apron for the raw material, 40 such as raw coal, to be washed, the raw material being delivered by a suitable chute §0.

The bottom wall 39 of the trough slopes gradually downwardly toward the entrance end of the trough to meet the lower downwardly inclined 45 lower wall 32 of the inlet neck 28, the wall 32 terminating above the outlet 92 for delivery of the refuse matter to the outlet as will be explained more in detail later.

A water discharge nozzle structure 33 extends 50 through the end wall of the tank 90 and into the mouth of the neck frame 28 with its end a distance above the refuse discharge wall 32. The nozzle frame shown is of rectangular cross-section, its outer end being coupled to a delivery ⁵⁵-'pe 35, the intermediate portion of the nozzle structure being divergent or flared horizontally and the inner end being rectangular to extend horizontally across the mouth of the neck frama „„ OU

My invention relates to cleaning apparatus adapted particularly for cleaning coal by the separation of refuse matter therefrom, but which may be used with equal efficiency for the sepa5 ration of metals from ores or gangue.

An important object of the invention is to provide a procedure in which the raw material is fed to a comparatively rapidly flowing stream of water, with a portion Of the stream primarily io directed through the material for preliminary gravity and buoyancy dilation and separation and stratification, and the continuation of the lighter material with the water stream, and separation and withdrawal of the heavier material 15 from the stream and flow thereof in reverse direction to a discharge point, the lighter material discharging with the stream into a receiver where the water is withdrawn therefrom.

A further object is to provide a trough shaped 20 container through which the water stream is directed and to which the raw material is fed, and which container is subjected to vibratory movements to facilitate stratification and sepa₀. ration and to impart movement to the heavier material toward the discharge point in addition to the movement of the heavier material by gravity so that withdrawal of the heavier mnterial from the trough is accurately and quickly accomplished.

³⁰ A further object is to provide for pulsion and recession flow of water through the mass to increase the separation and stratification movements and for the flow in opposite direction of _n_ the lighter material and the heavier material.

·’ Another object is to provide simple and efficient means for making adjustments for the. desired movement of the water and the vibratory movement of the container trough.

o ^above enumerated and other features of my invention are incorporated in the structure disclosed on the drawings, in which drawings;

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the apparatus;

Figure 2 is a section on plane Π—Π of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section on plane ΠΙ—ttt of Figure 1;

The structure shown on the drawings comprises ₅₀ a tank 19 of oblong rectangular shape having the bottom 1 ί sloping downwardly to the refuse outlet 92. The outlet communicates with a conveyor housing 13 in which suitable conveyor mechanism 14 is operated to receive the discharged ref- - use material and convey it to a suitable point of deposit, provision being made so that the conveyor housing is sealed against the escape of water.

Within the tank 90 is the trough structure &lt;5 so which is of generally oblong shape and ol rec10 clean coal must flow before discharge thereof from the chute, this dam or sill serving also to intercept any refuse particles which may travel that far with the coal or the water stream.

As will be described more in detail later the clean coal will tend to follow the stream of water flow through the trough to the discharge end thereof while the heavier refuse particles will tend to settle to the inclined trough bottom 3i where, due to the reciprocation of the trough, they are urged and propelled toward the neck structure 28 for flow down the wall 32 to the conveyor 14. In order to keep the refuse particles away from the side comers of the chute where the resistance to travel is greater, I preferably gradually incline or curve the sides of the trough bottom so that the refuse particles will tend to move toward the center line of the bottom on their downward flow toward the discharge conveyor i4. As shown the main or inner portion of the trough bottom may be flat and of triangular shape with the apex terminating at the discharge wall 32, and the side portion 31' gradually curved laterally. The refuse particles will therefore be urged toward the center line of the trough bottom and such defined path of the refuse particles will create less interference with the flow of water into the trough through the throat 38.

The trough bottom is also preferably perforated , for normal flow and pulsion flow of water therethrough for assisting in stratification and separation of the coal and refuse matter.

Describing now the operation, the water in ,the tank 10 tends to maintain a level determined by the height of the upper edges of the side walls of the discharge chute 47, and the water in the t.nriir is static except for agitation thereof caused by the reciprocation of the trough. The water which is discharged horizontally into the necK tramp 18 by the nozzle structure 33 under a pressure determined by the head in the water supply tank, flows partly diagonally upwardly above the deflector plate 40 and through the perforated portion of the gate plate 30 and through the coal mass which travels downwardly from the wall 29 and across the gate plate, the water deflected below the plate 45 flowing through the throat 30 longitudinally into the trough above the bottom thereof, the combined water flow being then toward the discharge chute 47. The direction and proportion of the two streams of water can be regulated by adjustment of the gate plate and the deflector plate.

Some of the water charged in through the nozzle structure will flow down the neck frame 20 into the tank 10 for maintaining the supply in the tank. The trough is partially submerged in the water in the tank i 0 and the water entering the trough under pressure from the discharge i nozzle structure 33 streams through the trough I and may escape over the bottom of the discharge . chute which is of course at a lower level than the upper edges of the chute sides which determine the level in the tank 10, and consequently there will be a greater hydraulic head in the tank than in the trough with the difference in head increasing toward the discharge chute. This difference in head will cause upward flow of water into the trough through the perforated bottom thereof which water joins the two streams from the inlet neck 23. Such upward flow of water through the perforated trough bottom continues whether the trough be stationary or is reciprocated. During reciprocation of the trough and consequent displacement thereby of the g 2,082,467

28. The pipe SS receives water from any suit- । able source, as for example a tank (not shown) . in which a constant water head is maintained by suitable regulating means.

A gate plate 36 extends across the trough to form a continuation of the raw material guide wall 29, the plate being hinged at the upper corner of the neck frame 28 as by means of trunnion supports 37, the plate terminating a dls10 tance above the front end of the trough bottom to leave the throat or passage 38.

The deflector plate may be strengthened by depending side- flanges 39 which may receive the trunnion supports 37. Intermediate the ends of 15 the plate a shaft 40 extends through the flanges and is received at its ends by links 4i supported by the side walls of the trough. The links may be secured by screws or bolts 42 extending through longitudinal slots 43 in the¹ links so that the lh^ 20 are adjustable for desired setting of the plate 36, and gauging of the throat 38.

The shaft 40 at its outer ends pivots bars 44 and these bars support a deflector plate 45 which extends between the shaft 40 and the lower end 25 of the bars and is interposed in the path of the water flow through the neck frame 28. At their upper ends the bars 44 connect with links 46 secured to the trough sides by bolt and slot connection so as to be adjustable for movement of 30 the bars 44 for the desired setting of the deflector plate 45. The plate 36 forms a gate in the path of the water flow through the neck frame, the shaft 40 being closer to the inner end of the gate plate than to the hinge end, and the portion 86' 35 of the gate plate between its inner end and the deflector plate 45 being imperforate while the portion of the gate plate between its hinged end and the deflector plate 45 is perforated for the flow of water therethrough. The deflector plate 40 45 deflects part of the incoming water to flow through the perforate gate plate while the rest of the water flows into the trough through the throat 38. _x Inserted In the open discharge end of the trough 45 between the side walls thereof is a rectangular discharge chute 47 which extends outwardly through the opening 48 in the adjacent end wall of the tank 10. The bottom of the chute forms a continuation of the bottom 31 of the trough, 50 the trough bottom deflecting. gradually diagonally to overlap the diagonally downwardly deflected inner end of the chute bottom, the chute being vertically adjustable for determining the water level in the trough at the discharge end thereof. To effect such adjustment of the chute it may be secured to the side walls of the trough by means of bolts 48 extending through slots 50 In the chute sides. To prevent leakage of water between the chute bottom and the bottom of the opening 48 in the tank a seal plate 5i is mounted on the tank end below the opening 48 and is adjustable vertically to follow the adjustment of the chute. , ’

The cleaned coal is discharged with the water through the chute 47, and below the chute end a conveyor housing 52 is located. The housing has the perforated cross-wall 83 across which suitable conveyor structure 54 travels, this conveyor structure carrying away the cleaned coal and the water flowing through the perforated wall 53 to be discharged through the outlet 55.

The bottom of the chute 47 is a distance above the trough bottom and at its inner end the chute bottom is preferably deflected upwardly to pro75 vide a sill or dam 56 over which the water and

1δ

3« water in the tank SO, the pulsion or downward movement component will cause additional flow upwardly through the perforated bottom, the total upward flow through the bottom being then equal to the sum of the flow caused by the difference in hydraulic head and the pulsion flow; On the suction or upward movement component of the trough the resultant downward flow of water through the perforated bottom is equal to the difference between the constant upward flow caused by the difference in hydraulic head and the suction or recession flow due to the upward movement of the trough.

The raw coal flowing from the chute 80 is spread out in an even layer along the guide wall 2S by the vibrating movement of the trough and as the coal travels along the perforate portion of the gate plate 3®, the diagonal streams through the perforations will dilate the coal bed and start the gravity separation of clean coal and refuse matter assisted by the buoyant effect of the water. The agitated mass then continues along the imperforate end of the gate plate and !^Sv.^{met by the stream of} water flowing in through 25 the neck frame below the deflector plate 45 By this time a considerable part of the refuse matter in the coal mass has settled to a lower level or on the gate plate and such refuse mass will dron ,_Λ °F to ^{end of the plate and} toward the bottom w of the trough. The stream coming through the throat 38 is directed longitudinally toward the discharge end of the trough and slightly upwardlv and the dilation or stratification of the mas continues, the lighter clean coal tending to float ’ and flow with the stream while the heavier refuse particles keep on sinking to the bottom plate so that at the discharge end near the dam or sill 56 only clean coal will flow over for discharge through the chute 67. ^B • The dilation of the mass is intensified by the Λ^{0ί waier u}»^wardly through the bottom of the trough as the trough is vibrated and the vibration of the trough imparts movement to he refuse ^ma^tor thereon in a direction reverse to that of the stream flow, such imparted motion in addition to the force of gravity causing the refuse material to continually flow toward and down the bottom wall 32 of the inlet frame 48, the refuse matter being then carried away bv the conveyor structure LI The curved side or dished portion 38' of. the trough bottom tends to urge the refuse matter toward the longitudinal center line of the bottom so that the material will be kept out of the corners and will be more ^evcnly distributed at the throat 36 so as not to interfere with or disturb the inward flow of water through the throat. By proper adjustment of the gate plate and deflector plate and the outlet chute 47 the desired relative volumes of flow through the various paths can be readily obtained. By adjustment of the suspension linkage the proper vibratory movement of the trough can be obtained and the rate of vibration would be governed by the speed of the electric motor.

The comparatively static water in the tank 10 will act as a seal at the juncture of the water inlet nozzle structure 33 and the inlet frame 28 so that as this inlet frame vibrates with the trough and relative to the nozzle structure the flow of the water from the neck frame into the trough will not be materially disturbed. As the trough vibrates the flow through the perforations of the gate plate will be more or less in the nature of pulsion and recession, depending upon

3,083,467 3 the slope of the plate relative to the bodily movement of the trough.

It is not essential that the bottom of the trough be perforated as with certain grades of coal efficient operation would result with the bottom imperforate. It is evident that my improved structure can be efficiently used for the separation of ore from gangue or for effecting separation or washing of other materials.

I have shown a practical and efficient embodiment of the various features of my invention but I do not desire to be limited to the exact construction, arrangement and operation shown and described as changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.