Material classifying apparatus

A material classifying apparatus for separating material into overs, product and fines, comprising:

• a material receiving housing supporting a pair of vertically spaced separator screens, a lowermost one of the screens having a finer mesh than an uppermost one of the screens, the material receiving housing being generally square shaped;
• means disposed above the uppermost one of the screens for centrally depositing material onto the uppermost one of the screens;
• means associated with the periphery of the uppermost one of the screens for discharging the overs from the material receiving housing;
• means associated with the periphery of the lowermost one of the screens for discharging the product from the material receiving housing;
• means disposed below the lowermost one of the screens for discharging the fines from said material receiving housing;
• and
• means for vibrating the material receiving housing and the screens;
• each of the screens being generally square shaped and having opposing sides, the screens being supported intermediate the opposing sides to define a centrally disposed elongated ridge, the ridge dividing each of the screens into two oppositely angled portions,
• the uppermost one of the screens being supported relative to the horizontal such that a force component from the vibrating means provides an outwardly expanding spiral path to particles of the material up and over the elongated ridge as the material traverses the screen so as to approach the overs discharging means;
• the lowermost one of the screens being supported relative to the horizontal such that a force component from the vibrating means provides an outwardly expanding spiral path to particles of the material up and over the elongated ridge as the material traverses the screen so as to approach the product discharging means.

A material classifying apparatus for separating material into overs, product and fines, comprising:

• a material receiving housing resiliently supported on a base, the material receiving housing supporting a pair of vertically spaced separator screens including a lowermost one of the screens having a finer mesh than an uppermost one of the screens, the material receiving housing being generally square shaped;
• means disposed above the uppermost one of the screens for centrally depositing material onto the uppermost one of the screens;
• means associated with the periphery of the uppermost one of the screens for discharging the overs from said material receiving housing;
• means associated with the periphery of the lowermost one of the screens for discharging the product from the material receiving housing;
• means disposed below the lowermost one of the screens for discharging the fines from the material receiving housing;
• and
• means for vibrating the material receiving housing and the screens;
• each of the screens being generally square shaped and having opposing sides, the screens being supported intermediate the opposing sides to define a centrally disposed elongated ridge, each of the screens being formed such that the ridge divides the screen into two oppositely angled portions with the ridge and the opposing sides being generally parallel, each of the screens being secured to the material receiving housing under substantially uniform tension entirely about the periphery thereof;
• the uppermost one of the screens being supported relative to the horizontal such that a force component from the vibrating means provides an outwardly expanding spiral path to particles of the material up and over the elongated ridge as the material traverses the screen so as to approach the overs discharging means;
• the lowermost one of the screens being supported relative to the horizontal such that a force component from the vibrating means provides an outwardly expanding spiral path to particles of the material up and over the elongated ridge as the material traverses the screen so as to approach the product discharging means.