The present invention relates generally to screening machines that separate substantially granular materials from other more volumous materials, within and about said granular materials. Materials commonly separated by machines of this field include rocks, roots, woods, bones, twigs, debris, and other materials of higher granularity then a specific tolerance selected at the time of operation.
In general within the art, descriptions of screeners and sifters are found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,129 set forth by Graney.
Screening apparatuses “screeners” have been used for centuries as a means of separating desirable and undesirable items from finer granular materials that obscured these items. Over time these systems have been used in numerous settings and jobs including gardens, municipalities, arson investigation scenes, violent crime investigation scenes, greenhouses and prospecting for precious metals and gems, to name a few.
In their early forms, screeners were often designed to be hand held, small in size and carried. Screeners quickly increased in size to carry larger amounts of granular material to ‘screen’ or ‘sift’. As sizes increased, more power was required in order to perform the to-and-fro movement critical to maintain a steady flow of granular material passing through the screens. Early power sources typically included more man and/or animal power, but over time evolved into gas, electric and other more modern power sources. However, technical obstacles had to be overcome.
In early self-powered screener designs, vibration was a critical weakness. The motors utilized caused the back and forth motion required to maintain granular material passing through the screens, but the entire screener itself would often move. This undesired motion could lead to the screener machine steadily moving away from its original location and the require constant repositioning. In more violent instances, vibration could lead to the machine itself falling on its side, losing the materials placed within it and potentially damaging the machine itself or even people.
The problem of this violent movement was solved in improved designs by the use of a counterweight mounted to the screener frame. With this counterweight, the back-and-forth motion required by the screens themselves that was transferred to the units frame, was marginalized or stopped completely. While this marked a major advance met in the art of self-powered screeners, operation was still less then ideal. The use of the massive counterweights and/or massive frame weights invariably led to extreme increases in the overall weight of the machines. This increase in weight made the machines cumbersome to relocate within a room, or to transport from worksite to worksite.
What is needed is a light weight, mobile, multi-purpose screening apparatus that can be quickly setup, in, virtually any location, that prevent the haphazard back-and-forth motion that plagued the early self-powered screening machines. The present invention provides a solution to all these shortcomings.
The instant invention, as illustrated herein, is clearly not anticipated, rendered obvious, or even present in any of the prior art mechanisms, either alone or in any combination thereof. A light weight, mobile, multi-purpose screening apparatus designed to overcome the previously mentioned shortcomings of earlier problems in the art would afford user the advantages of easily relocating the device at an individual worksite and also easily moving the device from one worksite to the next, with minimal effort. Thus, the several embodiments of the instant invention are illustrated herein.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the previously mentioned shortcomings found in the prior art with an improved light-weight multi-screen apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile and portable light-weight multi-screen apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a stable light-weight multi-screen apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that is capable of sifting and separating objects of variously granulated substances.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that uses an electrical power source.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that uses a petroleum based power source.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that utilizes any means of powering a motor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that utilizes a reciprocating motion to cancel out or significantly dampen unwanted frame movement.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that shuffles debris.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that does not bounce debris about the screen surface.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that does not require the use of coil springs to support the upper screen frame.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that provides a convenient means of debris removal/redirection.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that allows for adjustment of its vertical height.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a light-weight multi-screen apparatus that utilizes foldable gripping members.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce material costs in the construction of screening devices and also to reduce the amount of construction material used in the prior art to provide stabilizing weight to the device.
Another object of the present invention is to develop a multi-screener device in which the operation of said multi-screener device will be substantively unaffected by extreme disproportionate masses of material to be sifted located to one side of the sifting screen or screens.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims, Detailed Description of the Embodiments Sections and drawings of this application, with all said sections adding to this disclosure.
The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of presently preferred embodiments of the invention and does not represent the only forms in which the present invention may be constructed and/or utilized. The description sets forth the functions and the sequence of steps for constructing and operating the invention in connection with the illustrated embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention, such as multi-screener apparatuses that are not self powered, and that have alternative means of dimension adjustment to name but two such examples.
Presently, screener apparatuses have failed to provide an efficient means of automation that may free up the need for excessive counterweights and screener frame weights. This of course leads to a lack of mobility related to these screen apparatuses. While these previous attempts have successfully made progress by eliminating the unwanted movement of the screener apparatus frame, the cost was high in materials and mobility. Further, the extra weight used to stabilize the system increased cost in constructing the screener units themselves by requiring more construction materials.
The present invention solves all of these prior shortcomings by introducing a lightweight portable multi-screener device that has reduced weight but provides the requisite back-and-forth sifting motion, while preventing unwanted movement of the entire unit. In addition, with the allowed decreased weight of these screeners, it becomes practical to now render the screeners mobile for users by adding wheels or other comparable movement devices.
In addition to the common features shown in
Operation of the device is as such that when activated debris and substantially granular material placed on the screen 10 is vibrated back-and-forth without bouncing, allowing for finer granular material to pass through the screen 10 and downward below the apparatus. The material that did not pass through the screen 10 and downward consistently moves about the screen 10 until it passes to and then down the debris chute 11 in a substantially downward direction. The motion of the screen 10 is such that the sections of said screen 10 and the members of said plurality of screen frame members 2 move in opposite directions, thus substantially canceling out the vibrations to said apparatus main frame 1, thus allowing said apparatus to remain stable.
When users wished to move the multi-screener apparatus they may grab the foldable transport handle members 24, then lifting the said apparatus by said handles 24 and moving the apparatus along the substantially horizontal surface it rests upon by means of its circularly shaped movement members 9.
To adjust the vertical height of the multi-screener, a user should first remove both height locking members 18, then raise or lower the vertical support members 5 about the height adjustment members 6 until reaching a desired position. Once the apparatus is in the desired position the user may then insert the height locking members 18 through the vertical support members 5 and the height adjustment members 6.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60903668 | Feb 2007 | US |