US2175569A - Tube and the like mill - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 10, 1939- J. E. KENNEDY TUBE AND THE LIKE MILL Filed Dec. 5, 1936 INVENTOR l E. Kenne@ 0. ATTORNE Oct. 10, 1939. J. E. KENNEDY TUBE AND THE LIKE MILL Filed Dec; 5, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 xNvENToR J. E. Kennedy BY ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TUBE AND THE LIKE MILL Application December 5, 1936, Serial No. 114,319

2 Claims.

This invention relates to material reducing means, commonly termed tube or ball mills, including a shell or drum rotatably supported by hollow trunnions extended axially from the op- 5 posite ends of the drum and in which mills the material to be acted upon and reduced is fed into the drum and the reduced material delivered from the drum through a drum trunnion, the drum having .grinding means or elements 0 therein operative by the rotation of the drum to reduce material in the drum. Drums in mills of this character are usually rotated by a driving pinion rotatable on an axis extending parallelly of the axis of the drum meshing with an annular l5 gear mounted on and extending about the drum, or through Worm gearing applied to a supporting trunnion of the drum. By either of said means and method of rotating the drum lateral thrusts are transmitted to the bearings and supports of Z0 the drum as well as to the gearing of the driving means not only causing undue wearing of the bearings and supports as well as to the gearing, but such bearings and supports and gearing are exposed with the result that dust and other foreign substances accumulate thereon.

It is an object of the invention to overcome the above disadvantages in the driving means for tube or ball mills by the provision of means to connect the driving means to and transmit the driving force axially to the drum and thus eliminate lateral thrusts on the bearings and supports for the drum and prevent transmitting torsional stresses to the driving means by the rotation of the drum.

It is a further object of the invention to provide improved means for connecting the driving means to a trunnion of the drum of a tube or ball mill through which the material to be acted upon is fed into the drum andvarrange the connecting means to receive and feed the material into and through the drum trunnion into the drum by the rotation of said means with the drum.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tube or ball mill with my improved driving means and shown partly in section to show the means for connecting the driving means to the drum trunnion.

Figure 2 is a sectional View taken substantially on the line 2 2 of Figure l looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 3 is a sectional View taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the arrangement of (Cil. 83-9) the means to connect the driving means with the drum and to feed material into the drum trunnion.

In carrying out the invention there is provided a drum or'shell 4 of cylindrical form having end closures 5, 6 fixed to the opposite ends arranged with hollow trunnions 1, 8 extended laterally therefrom co-axially of the drum and adapted to engage and support the drum in bearings 9, I0 to have rotation on a horizontal axis. The trunnion 8 is shown as constituting the discharge trunnion through which the material is delivered from the drum. The reduced or pulverized material is delivered from the drum in suspension in an air stream in the arrangement shown by a fan, shown in a conventional manner at II, the intake of which fan is connected by a sleeve I2 in communication With the drum trunnion il, the fan being rotatable axially of the drum and driven by an electric motor M.

Means are provided at the opposite trunnion 1 of the drum to connect driving means to the drum axially thereof and transmit the `torsional forces and stresses oi the driving means to the drum axially thereof and arranged to feed material therethrough into the drum, said means comprises a head fixed at one end to the end of the trunnion co-axially of the drum, said head being arranged with passages having inlet openings through and circumferentially spaced about the periphery of the head and converging toward the axis of the head and diverging to and having outlets in the end of the head at which it is xed to the trunnion in com- .munication with the trunnion. The head comprises axially spaced walls I3 and I4, the wall I3 being of annular form arranged with a peripheral portion to abut against the end of the trunnion and shown as extending substantially at a right angle to the axis of the head and xed to the trunnion, as by bolts extended through openings in said peripheral portion of the wall and threaded into the trunnion, and the portion of the wall within said peripheral portion extended outwardly into the trunnion with the inner face, as |39*y inclining toward the axis of the head and terminating in the opening in the annular head wall and the opening in the trunnion. The other wall I4 of the head inclines or converges toward the axis of the head at an angle substantially parallelly With the face I3au of the wall I3, the periphery of said wall I 4 being arranged within the periphery of the wall I3 with alternate portions opposed to the peripheral portion of the wall I3 cut away, as at I4, for a purpose to be hereinafter described. The wall I4 terminates within the trunnion in the plane of the outer face of the portion I3a of the wall I3. The walls I3 and I4 of the head are connected and the space between the head walls arranged as passages by partitions or separating walls I6, which are in the nature of blades, shown as four in number equidistantly spaced about and extending between the inner faces of the walls I3, I4. The partitions or blades I6 commence at and extend from the periphery of the wall I4 with the outer end portion extending substantially in a plane parallel with the axis of the head, as shown at I8 in Figure l, and extend for the entire length of the wall I4 with the inner end arranged to extend substantially at a right angle to the axis of the head and in the plane of the inner face of the outwardly extending inner portion of the wall I3a within the drum trunnion.

'I'he partitions or blades I6 are of obtuse angle form in longitudinal section with one angle Yportion extending outward from adjacent and one side of the center of the head and the other angle portion constituting the portion I8 of the partitions or blades, extending to the outer or peripheral edge of the wall I4 and diverging or inclining forward of the inner angle portion in the direction of rotation of the head, as shown in Figure 3, and said partitions or blades in conjunction with the walls I3, I4 forming scoops within the head.

The alternate peripheral cut away portions I4a of the wall I4 extend from the back of the partitions or blades I6 at the juncture of the angle portions thereof to adjacent the front face of the next adjacent blade or partition, as at 2D, and providing openings for the admission of air to the head passages and to the drum through the drum trunnion for a purpose hereinafter described.

Suitable means are provided to rotate the drum and shown as an electric motor M with a speed reducing means combined therewith mounted with the drive shaft thereof arranged axially of the drum. To operatively connect the motor shaft with the drum one end of a shaft 22 is engaged in a hub I'I extending outwardly from the wall I4 of the head and secured therein to operatively connect said head and shaft, as by a key 23. The shaft 22 is connected to the motor shaft through a suitable flexible coupling shown as comprising a member 24 keyed to the shaft 22 and a member 25 keyed to the motor shaft, and said members coupled together by flexible fiat members 26 of spring material engaged in recesses in the opposed faces of the coupling members 24, 25.

The head is arranged to rotate in and be enclosed by a casing or housing 21 of U-shape in transverse section with the arcuate wall portion arranged below the axis of rotation of the head and extending through an arc of substantially degrees, with opposite side Wall portions 2'Ia of the casing or housing extending vertically upward from said arcuate portion and having an upper closure 2'Ib arranged with a hopper inlet at one side of the axis of rotation of the head with one wall 28 of said hopper inlet declining in a direction toward the axis of the head and spaced from and intersecting the end of the opposite declining wall of said hopper inlet, as clearly shown in Figure 3. The arcuate wall portion of the housing may be provided with a lining 29 of wear resisting material, one edge of the liner abutting the peripherally extended portion of the wall I3 of the head and the opposite marginal edge portion flanged inwardly, as at 29', to extend adjacent the side at the peripheral portion of the wall I4 of the head. The one end wall of the housing adjacent the head is provided with a circular opening, as at 3D, with the Wall of said opening abutting the inner face of the peripheral portion of the headwall I3, as shown at I3c in Figure 1, and means are provided to produce a substantially air tight and dust proof seal therebetween.

The material is delivered by the head into the trunnion l of the drum and to facilitate the feeding of the material through the trunnion into the drum or shell the trunnion is arranged as a screw conveyor by providing a spiral rib on the interior of the trunnion. While this spiral web may be arranged directly upon the interior of the trunnion, due to wear and the necessity of renewing the same it is preferably as shown, a sleeve 32, removably mounted in the drum trunnion, said sleeve being of truncated conical form and mounted in the trunnion to incline into the trunnion. The sleeve is supported at the inner end by the trunnion, as at 33, with the inner end abutting the end of an annular wall portion of a liner 5 for the closure end 5 of the drum, and the opposite end supported in an annular recess, as at 33', in the wall I3 of the head and the end of the sleeve abutting said wall I3 and thereby retained in the trunnion against outward movement.

To deliver material to the head passages suitable material feeding means is provided, and shown as of the disk type including a disk 34 supported to rotate in a horizontal plane and rotated by a motor m, the disk being supported with a peripheral portion thereof overhangng the hopper inlet 28. The disk 34 is rotatable in a substantially air tight housing 35 communicating with the hopper inlet 28 to the enclosing housing for the head I3, I4. The material is delivered centrally to the disk 34 from a hopper outlet from a bin 36 connected in communication with the housing, as at 31. The material is delivered from the disk into the hopper inlet 28 by a scraper 38 extended radially inward from the periphery of the disk and supported to have longitudinal adjustment by a screw 39 from the exterior of the housing for the feeder, a sight tube being provided to inspect the feeding of the material, as at 4U.

In operation, as the drum is rotated by the motor M through the feed head I3, I4 connected to the drum trunnion 'I and during the rotation of the head with the drum, material is delivered into the space between the walls I3 and I4 of the head into the scoops formed by the partitions or blades I6 when they are positioned to extend substantially in a horizontal plane to the axis of rotation of the head, and as the material by the rotation of the head is lifted above the axis of rotation of the head it is delivered into the trunnion sleeve 32 and by said sleeve conveyed into the drum. Any material delivered through the hopper inlet 28 that may spill from the blades or partitions I6 into the housing lining 29 will be picked up by the blades I6 during the rotation of the head and delivered into the drum trunnion.

The pulverized material is delivered from the drum and conveyed in suspension in an air stream to a place remote from the mill, as to a furnace should the material consist of coal for combustion in the furnace, or to a storage bin, by the operation of the fan I I, and to effect a flow of air to and through the drum by the suction of the fan and regulate the degree of fineness of the material delivered from the drum, air in r-egulated volume is admitted to the drum. This air may be admitted to the drum at the temperature of the prevailing atmosphere when the opening 32 to the housing is opened to the atmosphere, and the flow of the air admitted to the housing is regulated by the closure for said opening. Should the material to be reduced consist of coal or other material having a considerable moisture content and to effect drying of the material as it is reduced or pulverized heated air is admitted to the drum. For this purpose an air supply conduit 4I in communication with and leading from a suitable source of heated air supply is connected in communication With the head-enclosing housing, means being provided to regulate the iiow of such air through said conduit to the housing, and shown as a damper 42 in said conduit. The air admitted to the head enclosing housing through either the conduit 4I or opening 32 flows from the housing through the cut away portions of the head Wall I4 to and through the head passages and drum trunnion into the drum.

While one embodiment of the means to connect driving means axially to the drum of a tube or ball mill adapted to function as means to feed material to be acted upon into the drum is shown, it Will be obvious that various modifications may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts Without departing from the scope of the invention, and that portions of the invention may be used Without others and come Within the scope of the invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a tube and the like mill, the combination with a drum having hollow trunnions axially at the opposite ends to rotatably support the drum and a fan connected in communication with the drum through one of said trunnions operative to draw air into the drum and air with pulverulent material in suspension therein from the drum, of a head at the end of and fixed to the opposite trunnion having passages opening through the periphery of the head and converging toward the axis of and opening through a side of the head to the trunnion to feed material therethrough into the drum, a peripheral portion of the outer Wall of the passages being arranged topermit admission of air to and through the head passages tothe drum, a housing enclosing said head having an inlet opening in the top for the delivery of material therethrough to the head passages and an air inlet opening having a regulatable closure for admitting air in regulated volume to said housing, means having a substantially air tight connection With the material inlet opening to the housing for delivering material through said inlet opening to the head passages, and a shaft xed axially in and extending outwardly from the head through the housing and adapted for connection of driving means thereto.

2. In a tube and the like mill, a drum having hollow trunnions axially at the opposite ends to rotatably support the drum, a head iixed to and abutting the end of a trunnion arranged with an integral hub axially at the opposite end adapted for connection of a drive shaft thereto, said head being arranged with radial passages having inlets opening through the periphery of the head and diverging toward and opening through the end of the head abutting the trunnion and being adapted for feeding material and admitting air therethrough into the drum, a substantially airtight housing enclosing the head and connection thereof with the drum trunnion and through the Wall of Which housing a shaft xed in the head hub is adapted to extend, said housing having a material inlet above and at a side of the axis of the head and an air inlet opening having a regulatable closure to contro-1 the admission of air through said opening to the housing, and means having a substantially air-tight connection with the material inlet to the housing for delivering material through said inlet opening to the head passages, and the head having openings in communication with the housing and the head passages for the admission of air from the housing into the drum through the head scoops.

JOSEPH E. KENNEDY.

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