Charging, cleaning and metering apparatus

Claim 1

A CHARGING, CLEANING AND METERING EQUIPMENT FOR FEEDING AND BLENDING FIBERS, COMPRISING A LATERALLY COMPARTMENTED CHARGER DEFINED BY VERTICAL PARTITIONS AND HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL, BELT DRIVEN CONVEYOR BELOW THE PARTITIONS, A FEEDER DISPOSED AT THE OUTPUT END OF SAID CONVEYOR, A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL SECOND CONVEYOR AND A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL ELEVATOR APRON IN SAID FEEDER, LINKAGE CONNECTING SAID GATE TO A BELT IN SAID FEEDER, LINKAGE CONNECTING SAID GATE TO A BELT SHIFTER FOR STOPPING AND STARTING SAID FIRST CONVEYOR AT PREDETERMINED LEVELS OF FIBER IN THE FEEDER, A PLURALITY OF CLEANER GRATES OF SEMICYLINDRICAL SHAPE ARRANGED IN AN UPWARDLY INCLINED DIRECTION, EACH GRATE HAVING A ROTATABLE CLEANER CYLINDER DISPOSED COAXIALLY WITH THE AXIS OF THE GRATE, A VERTICALLY DISPOSED CLEANING CHAMBER ABOVE EACH CYLINDER, SAID CHAMBERS COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER AT THE INCLINED PLANE OF SAID CYLINDERS, A REFUSE CHAMBER BELOW SAID GRATES HAVING AN AIR EXHAUST OPENING, SAID ELEVATOR APRON BEING ARRANGED TO FEED A MIXTURE OF FIBERS FROM THE COMPARTMENTS OF SAID CHARGER TO THE FIRST OF SAID VERTICALLY DISPOSED CLEANING CHAMBERS, FIRST MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY DRIVING SAID ELEVATOR APRON AND HORIZONTAL CONVEYORS, SECOND MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID CLEANER CYLINDERS, THE LAST OF SAID VERTICAL CLEANING CHAMBERS FEEDING INTO THE UPPER PART OF A METERING CHAMBER, A PAIR OF FLUTED DELIVERY ROLLS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE METERING CHAMBER, THIRD MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID DELIVERY ROLLS, MANUALLY CONTROLLABLE POTENTIOMETER MEANS FOR VARYING THE SPEED OF SAID DELIVERY ROLL DRIVE MEANS, A LEVEL CONTROL ASSEMBLY IN SAID METERING CHAMBER ABOVE THE DELIVERY ROLLS, SWITCH MEANS OPERATED BY TILTING OF SAID LEVEL CONTROL ASSEMBLY TO START AND STOP SAID FIRST DRIVE MEANS AT PREDETERMINED LEVELS OF CLEANED FIBER IN THE METERING CHAMBER, A DELIVERY CONVEYOR BELOW SAID METERING CHAMBER TO RECEIVE FIBER FROM SAID DELIVERY ROLLS, AND FOURTH DRIVE MEANS FOR MOVING SAID DELIVERY CONVEYOR AT A SELECTED SPEED.