Depither

Abstract

A fiber conditioner comprises an outer casing or enclosure and a perforated screen positioned within the casing. The screen is formed by a plurality of attached invertible and sexless sections. A plurality of hammer assemblies are rotatably positioned within the screen for impelling material fed into the conditioner against the screen in order to separate it into pitch and fiber. A multi-piece shaft rotates the hammer assemblies, which are connected to a rotor shaft assembly forming the central portion of the shaft. An upper stub shaft assembly and a lower stub shaft assembly can be connected to opposite ends of the rotor shaft assembly by clamping. By releasing the clamps, each shaft assembly can be removed from the conditioner in a generally horizontal manner through an opening created by the removal of at least one screen section. The lower stub shaft assembly is hydraulically operable so that it can be driven into engagement with the rotor shaft assembly and force the rotor assembly into clamping engagement with the upper shaft assembly. Each hammer assembly includes a plurality of impulse bars or hammers which can be independently removed and replaced by simply removing fasteners attaching each impulse bar or hammer to a pivotably hinged holder.