US 4,117,776 AGranted

Screw press apparatus

AssigneeThe French Oil Mill Machinery Company

InventorArthur J. Hunt

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A screw press for extracting liquid from materials, such as juice from fruits and vegetables, has a compressing section for expressing the liquid from the liquid containing material with a screw member and a holding section receiving the compressed pulp. The pulp holding chamber has an auger mounted therein for driving compressed material therefrom through a choke controlled discharge which opens in response to material pushed thereagainst. The choke has scraper blades mounted thereon to break apart the discharging pulp, and is clutched to rotate with the auger upon being pushed a predetermined amount. The cage forming the chamber can be separated for cleaning, and the auger is retractable from the chamber for cleaning by actuation of a motor drive retraction member. The screw member and auger each have variable speed drives to achieve a wide range of expressing conditions in both sections. The base of the press is separable between the sections such that the holding section can be used with different compressing sections.

Claims7

Dependent claims

In a rotary screw press for expressing liquid from material and including a cage having means defining an elongated pressing chamber with an inlet end and a discharge end and having means defining fluid discharge openings extending through said cage, a rotatable screw in said chamber extending from said inlet and part way through said chamber and including an elongated body and a spiral flight projecting outwardly from said body, means for rotating said screw, means for compressing material within a first part of said chamber in response to rotation of said screw and forcing the material into a second part of said chamber beyond said screw, choke means controlling the flow of material through said discharge end from said second part of said chamber,

the improvement comprising an auger member normally located in said second part of said chamber and cooperating with said screw to form a plug of material of controllable density by correlating the rotational speeds of said screw and said auger member, means mounting said auger and said choke means for withdrawing movement as a unit in a direction lengthwise of said second part of said chamber, and means including a shaft for rotating said auger member separately from said screw.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.