Fig. 191.—Section of a Cream Separator.
How does it work? asks the reader. Centrifugal force[37] is the governing principle. To explain its application we append a sectional illustration (Fig. 191) of Messrs. Burmeister and Wain's hand-power separator, which may be taken as generally representative of this class of machines. Inside a circular casing is a cylindrical bowl, D, mounted on a shaft which can be revolved 5,000 times a minute by means of the cog-wheels and the screw thread chased on it near the bottom extremity. Milk flows from the reservoir R (supported on a stout arm) through tap A into a little distributer on the top of the separator, and from it drops into the central tube C of the bowl. Falling to the bottom, it is flung outwards by centrifugal force, finds an escape upwards through the holes a a, and climbs up the perforated grid e, the surface of which is a series of pyramidical excrescences, and finally reaches the inner surface of the drum proper. The velocity of rotation is so tremendous that the heavier portions of the milk—that is, the watery—crowd towards the point furthest from the centre, and keep the lighter fatty elements away from contact with the sides of the drum. In the diagram the water is represented by small circles, the cream by small crosses.
As more milk enters the drum it forces upwards what is already there. The cap of the drum has an inner jacket, F, which at the bottom all but touches the side of the drum. The distance between them is the merest slit; but the cream is deflected up outside F into space E, and escapes through a hole one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter perforating the plate G. The cream is flung into space K and trickles out of spout B, while the water flies into space H and trickles away through spout A.
THE "HYDRO.,"
used in laundries for wringing clothes by centrifugal force, has a solid outer casing and an inner perforated cylindrical cage, revolved at high speed by a vertical shaft. The wet clothes are placed in the cage, and the machine is started. The water escapes through the perforations and runs down the side of the casing to a drain. After a few minutes the clothes are dry enough for ironing. So great is the centrifugal force that they are consolidated against the sides of the cage, and care is needed in their removal.
[35] Inventor of the lathe slide-rest.
[36] Living germs; some varieties the cause of disease.