# US 4,641,792 A · Fiber depither

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- Number: US 4,641,792 A
- Document ID: US4641792A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 06/663,590
- Filed: 1984-10-22
- Granted: 1987-02-10
- Earliest claimed: 1984-10-22
- Assignees: Process Evaluation and Development Corporation
- Inventors: Eduardo J. Villavicencio; Jorge E. Arana
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4641792A

## CPC

- D01B 1/00: Mechanical separation of fibres from plant material, e.g. seeds, leaves, stalks
- D01B: MECHANICAL TREATMENT OF NATURAL FIBROUS OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL TO OBTAIN FIBRES OF FILAMENTS, e.g. FOR SPINNING (crude extraction of asbestos fibres from ores B03B; apparatus for retting D01C)

## Abstract

The fiber depither consists of an upper array of feeder blades and a lower array of fan blades. These blades remove more particulate while resulting in less fiber damage.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An improved depithing device comprising an inlet to permit the flow of fiber into a circular chamber having a perforated wall structure, an outlet from said circular chamber, a rotor carrying an upper plurality of blades and a lower plurality of blades centered for rotation within said circular chamnber, means to rotate said rotor, and a chamber surrounding said circular chamber and adapted to receive material passing through the perforated wall of said circular chamber; the improvement comprising said rotor having a separated upper and a lower plurality of blades; the uppermost blades of said upper plurality of blades being feeder blades having an end surface area at least 2 times the end surface area of the remaining blades; and the lowermost blades of said lower plurality of blades being fan blades wherein the outer end of said blades have a ratio of height to width of at least 5.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

An improved depithing device as in claim 1 wherein the surface of said circular chamber adjacent said feeder blades is continuous.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

An improved depithing device as in claim 2 wherein said feeder blades comprise up to 1/3 of the total number of blades of said upper plurality of blades.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

An improved depither device as in claim 3 wherein said fan blades comprise up to 1/3 of the total number of blades of said lower plurality of blades.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

An improved depither device as in claim 1 wherein said circular chamber is comprised of a plurality of individual sections.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

An improved depither device as in claim 5 wherein said circular chamber is comprised of at least four sections.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

An improved depithing device as in claim 1 wherein there is a space between said upper plurality of blades and said lower plurality of blades of at least 12 cm.