Sleeper, David P.;

Sound reducing enclosing

A sound reducing enclosure for a vibratory feeder includes a cylindrical base assembly which may be in one piece, or alternatively in two halves for ease of installation and maintenance of the equipment within the enclosure. The cylindrical base assembly rests upon a base plate comprising two flat half circles of 1/4 inch aluminum with the space between at right angles to the split between the cylinder halves and bounding a square hole for mounting clearance of vibratory feeder bowl equipment. A transparent generally hemispherical dome assembly of 1/4 inch plexiglass is hingedly secured to the top of the cylinder base assembly for trapping sound within the enclosure while allowing observation of the machine operations. A generally conical-shaped member covered with acoustical foam is suspended from the top of the dome with its apex downward and may be hollow to function as a parts filling funnel with the top hole in the dome being covered by two layers of lead-loaded vinyl and/or other appropriate materials slotted so as to allow parts to flow through while attenuating sound. Alternatively, the top assembly may be flat.

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What is claimed is:

1. Sound reducing enclosing apparatus comprising,

cylindrical means internally lined with sound absorbing material for surrounding a machine and absorbing noise therefrom,

base means for supporting said cylindrical means and formed with an opening for accommodating a machine to be enclosed,

and cover means securable to said cylindrical means for coacting with the latter and said base means for enclosing a machine internally thereof and reducing the sound transmitted outside said enclosure while providing visible access to the enclosed machine,

said cover means comprising transparent solid material and having depending sound absorbing means for absorbing sound energy produced by an enclosed machine.

2. Sound energy reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cover means is formed with an opening having cover means for admitting parts to the inside of said enclosure while attenuating the transmission of sound energy therethrough.

3. Sound reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cover means comprises a generally hemispherical member of solid transparent material having a depending generally cone-shaped element of sound absorbing material.

4. Sound energy absorbing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cover means comprises a flat plate having a depending layer of sound energy absorbing material.

5. Sound reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cylindrical means comprises semicylindrical elements with means for detachably securing said semicylindrical elements together,

and said base means comprises first and second generally semicircular elements adjacent along a diameter substantially orthogonal to a diameter embraced by the plane between said semicylindrical elements,

whereby said enclosing apparatus may be installed around a vibratory feeder without removing the feeder bowl.

6. Sound energy reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein said cover means comprises at least one layer of dense flexible material formed with radial slits defining flaps therebetween whereby the weight of entering parts causes the flaps between slits to deflect downward and admit the part through said opening.

7. Sound energy reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 6 and further comprising at least another of said layers formed with radial slits,

the slits in the first of said layers being angularly displaced from the slits in the second of said layers so that there is no clear opening through the slits between the inside and the outside of said enclosure.

8. Sound reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 3 wherein said generally cone-shaped element is hollow having its base opening at the top of said hemispherical member and its apex opening below at a location where sound reflected from the inside of said dome impinges upon said cone, where said cone also comprises means for admitting parts to the interior of said enclosing apparatus.

9. Sound reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 8 and further comprising flexible sound attenuating covering means over said base opening for normally closing said opening and responsive to the weight of parts for selectively uncovering said opening to allow parts to pass through said element into said interior.

10. Sound reducing enclosing apparatus in accordance with claim 9 wherein said covering means comprises two adjacent sheets of sound attenuating flexible material each formed with slits with the slits in one sheet displaced from those in the other.