Untitled record

Application filed February 16,1895, Serial No. 538,728. (No model.) brackets b’ on the tops of which are secured journal-bearings V supporting the shaft υ, actuated through belt-pulley C mounted thereon. , .

D indicates a screen-frame supported neai the delivery end D' by posts E, having elbows d on their lower ends, bolted to a cross-piece A³ framed in beams A, and similar elbows a on their upper ends, bolted to a cross-piece·. a on the bottom of the screen-frame. Similar posts E' support the receiving end of the screen-frame, and have their lower ends e bolted to cross-piece B' and elbows e formed on their upper ends and bolted to cross-piece d? on the bottom of the screen-frame. Posts E and E' are rigidly attached where connected with the other parts of the cleaner, and are formed of plates of spring metal or other elastic material. Longitudinal recipro- 70 eating motion is imparted to the screen-frame through rods F. One end of each of these rods has a cam connection with shaft C, as shown at C³, the wear of the bearings of said shaft in rods F being taken up by the hori- 75 zontally-adjustable caps a and wedges a . The other ends of rods F are rigidly secured to a plate H, extending transversely beneath the bottom D² of the screen-frame. Between their ends rods F are formed ot any flat elas- 80 tic or spring material. .

The screen-frame carries four separate screens. The compartment 1 beneath the screen I at the lower end of ,¹® ₈ separated from the compartment K beneath 85 the other three screens by a partition 1. 1 ne screen K, covering the upper end of compartment K⁴, is of the coarsest mesh used with the cleaner, the screen K², covering the lower end of said compartment, of the finest 90 and the screen K', between screens K and K , of a medium-sized mesh. The refuse received in compartment K⁴ through the screens above it is delivered into an inclined trough extending transversely of the lower end thereof, 95 and thence discharged by the movement of the screen-frame. At the. lower end of the screen-frame there is a similar trough L, which receives the refuse matter passing over . all the screens. , , ¹⁰⁰

The meeting edges of screens K, K., and

K² are supported by transverse bars K , seTo all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, Beynard W. Yost, a ; citizen of the United States, residing in Lan- : caster, in the county of Lancaster, State of ) 5 Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Coffee-Cleaners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in that class of devices designed for cleaning io coffee; and the object of the improvement is to separate all undesirable. matter from the coffee. In cleaning coffee it is desirable to remove all broken berries from the highest and best grades, while with the lower and 15 poorer grades the broken and smaller berries are retained with the coffee and only the foreign matter and unseparated berries are removed therefrom; and the lower the grade the smaller the berries and parts thereof 20 which are intended to be retained with the coffee. ...

With these ends in view the invention consists in the construction and combination of the various parts, as hereinafter described, 25 and then nointed out in the claims.

In the accomnanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the cleaner; Fig. 2, a top plan view of the same, the screens being partially 30 cut away; Fig. 3, a longitudinal vertical section· Fig. 4, an elevation of tne end or the cleaner at which the power is applied; Fig. 5 an enlarged side view of the connection between the cam and a reciprocating rod, and 35 Fig. 6 an elevation of the discharge end or the deflector.

Similar letters indicate like parts throughout the several views. .

For the purposes of this specification the 40 upper end of the screen - frame, or that to which the coffee is delivered, is termed the “ head” and the lower or discharge end the “ foot.”

Referring to the details of the drawings, A 45 indicates the longitudinal beams of the base of the frame supporting the cleaner, and A the cross-pieces of said base. .

B designates the posts supporting the operating mechanism, B' a cross-piece connect50 ing the posts, andB² diagonal braces thereof.

To the outer edges of posts B are attached

645,185 cured in the sides of the screen-frame above the bottom thereof. Over and above the bar K³, on which screens K and K' meet, is a feedpipe M, on the lower end of which is a revolu5 ble elbow-spout/M.', adapted to be turned to discharge on either screen K or screen K'. When it is desirable that the co [fee be at once fed to screen K², a removable deflector or chute N is placed over the screen-frame and io secured thereto beneath spout M' by hooks m and staples n, said chute delivering directly to screen K². The first three screens. K, K', and K² are of the ordinary wire mesh; but screen I is formed by puncturing a plate with 15 oval openings of a size to permit the passage of fully-developed coffee-seeds, as seen in Fig. 2.

. _ 1 he cleaner herein described is more particularly designed for removing foreign mat20 ter from the coffee after it is roasted. The extent to which coffee is cleaned is determined, by its quality, the coarser grades not requiring the amount of screening necessary for the finer grades. The finest coffee is de25 livered to the coarser screen K and is earned down over screens IL' and K² to screen I by the movement of the screen-frame, and passing through the oval openings in screen I into compartment i is discharged through a 30 trough or chute I² in the bottom thereof, being received by a bag (shown by dotted lines), supported by a frame R. The inferior kinds of coffee, according to their grades are delivered directly to sieves IL' or IV. To 3.5 reach the latter primarily the deflector or chute N is placed on the screen-frame beneath spout M with its lower end in position to deliver the coffee to screen K². In all cases the ravelings of the coffee-bags or other fibrous 40. matter pass over all the screens and are delivered into spout 17 and thence discharged into a receptacle T, placed in position to receive the same.

To screen the coffee thoroughly it is neces45 sary that the movement of the screen-frame be as smooth and gentle as possible. With this end in view the throw of the cams is comparatively slight; and in order to avoid undue jerking and jarring of the screen-frame 50 the posts E and E' and rods F are formed of elastic or spring material and rigidly attached to said screen-frame instead of being of rigid material and having a hinge connection therewith.

5 This machine is essentially a coffee-cleaner not a coffee-grader. It is intended to remove undesirable matter from coffee of different grades, not to separate the seeds of different sizes from each other. With this object in 60 view the screens are arranged in the order shown and described. Coffees of the best quality are fed to the upper screen K, the mesh of which is of such size as to permit all matter therein of smaller size than the fullv65 developed berries to pass through; and after the coffee leaves the upper screen no other matter is separated therefrom by the screens it moves over until it reaches the last one I, through the openings in which the berries of normal size pass, the fibrous or other long 70 matterand the unseparated berries sliding down to the lower spout L'. The only possPble benefit this grade of coffee can receive from passing over the intermediate screens K' and IV is in having rubbed off of it any 75 dust which may have adhered thereto. It is not desirable that the next inferior grade be cleaned as thoroughly as the best—that is to· saj^r, the smaller seeds, are not to be removed or sorted out—and therefore this grade is fed 8o direetlj’ to' screen K', having a finer mesh than screen K. In like manner with the feeding of the next lower grade to screen IV still ’ smaller grains are intended to be retained in it, the dust, the unseparated berries, and the 85 long matter only being removed from it.

It is evident that numerous changes in the construction of the cleaner might be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence I would have it tin- 00 derstood that I do not confine myself to the exact construction shown and described, but consider myself at liberty to make such changes as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention. _9S