IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULPING COFFEE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Frederick Butler, of Ceylon, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULPING COFFEE."
Scaled the 9th February 1858, and dated the 24th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Frederick Butler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1857.
I, AUGUSTUS FREDERICK BUTLER, of Ceylon, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULPING COFFEE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its improvements in machinery for pulping
coffee, and consists, first, in supplying the coffee berries regularly to the
operative portion of the machine, by placing the berries on an inclined sur-
face, down which they roll until stopped by a roller, which is placed at a
short distance above the inclined surface, and this distance is capable of
being adjusted by screws. As the roller revolves at a uniform velocity, the
speed with which it passes the berries onward depends on the distance at
which it is set from the inclined surface. From the feeding apparatus the
berries pass to the two pulping drums, which are mounted on parallel axes,
and work up to within a short distance of each other; and according to this

page_text: Invention, they are formed with angular projections or teeth, running from
end to end of the drums, and one of the drums is made considerably smaller
than the other; the space between them is also capable of adjustment by
means of screws. The borries are fed in between these drums at several
points, ranging from end to end of the drums, but the berries are prevented
from descending between the drums at other points by means of suitable
stops. When the berries have passed down between the drums, the pulp
will have been partially removed from them, but they are prevented from at
once falling away from the drums by a surface, which receives and supports
them, and they are thus kept up to the drums until they reach a point where
the supporting surface is notched, so as to allow the berries to escape and fall
into a receiver placed for them. The notches or openings in the supporting
surface are placed vertically under the stops before mentioned, and they are
kept clear, so as to allow the berries. when pulped, to fall freely away by
means of a stream of water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Augustus Frederick Butler in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
FREDERICK BUTLER, of Ceylon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Augustus Frederick Butler, Her special licence that I, the said
Augustus Frederick Butler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Augustus Frederick Butler, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULPING COFFEE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Augustus Frederick Butler, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the

page_text: said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Augustus Frederick Butler, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for pulping
coffee, and consists, first, in supplying the coffee berries regularly to the
operativo portion of the machine, by placing the berries on an inclined sur-
face, down which they roll until stopped by a roller, which is placed at a
short distance above the inclined surface, and this distance is capable of
being adjusted by screwing. As the roller revolves at a uniform velocity, the
speed with which it passes the berries onward depends on the distance at
which it is set from the inclined surface. From the feeding apparatus the
berries pass to the two pulping drums, which are mounted on parallel axes,
and work up to within a short distance of each other; and according to this
Invention they are formed with angular projections or teeth, running from
end to end of the drums, and one of the drums is inade considerably smaller
than the other; the space between them is also capable of adjustment by
means of screws. The berries are fed in between these drums at several
points, ranging from end to end of the drums, but the berries are prevented
from descending between the drums at other points by means of suitable
stops. When the berries have passed down between the drums, the pulp
will have been partially removed from them, but they are prevented from at
once falling away from the drums by a surface, which receives and supports
them, and they are thus kept up to the drums until they reach a point where
the supporting surface is notched, so as to allow the berries to escape and fall
into a receiver placed for them. The notches or openings in the supporting
surface are placed vertically under the stops before mentioned, and they are
kept clear so as to allow the berries, when pulped, to fall freely away by
means of a stream of water.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed. -
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a transverse section; Figure 2 a plan; and Figure 3 an
end view of à machine constructed according to my Invention; a and b are the

page_text: two pulping drums or rollers, mounted on parallel axes, which turn in suitable
.bearings on the side framings of the machine, the bearings of the smaller drum
6 being capable of adjustment in slots formed in the side framings, so that the
distance of the roller. 6 from the roller a can be regulated by the set screws
6, 6', as shown. The drums or rollers a and b are formed with angular
projections or teeth running from end to end of the drums, and these fluted
drums or rollers aro cheaply and conveniently formed, by placing cylinders
made of angular fluted copper or other suitable metal over drums or cylinders
of iron, and securely fixing the two surfaces together by screws or otherwise.
Motion is communicated to the drums or rollers a and b in the following
manner:-c is a toothed wheel fixed on the axis c', which turns in bearings on
tlio side framings, the axis c' receives motion from the crank handle c², or in
any other convenient manner. The toothed wheel c takes into and drives the
toothed wheel a', fixed on the axis of the drum a, on the other end of which
axis is fixed the tooth wheel a², which takes into and drives the tooth wheel .
fixed on the axis of the drum b. The coffee berries to be pulped are placed in
the inclined hopper d, and are fed into the machine by the fluted feed roller c,
which is placed at a short distance above the inclined surface of the hopper,
and the roller c is mounted in bearings on the sides of the hopper d, which
bearings are capable of adjustment by screws e¹, so as to regulate the supply of
berries to the drums or rollers a and b, and the supply from the hopper d.is
also regulated by an adjustable slide d'. The feed roller e receives motion by
means of an endless band passing over the pulley e, fixed on the axis of the
roller and over the pulley as, fixed on the axis of the drum a. The berries
as they fall from the hopper pass to the operative parts of the drums a, b, and
into the spaces formed between the stops or projections f, which are screwed
to the underside of the plate f¹ (shewn separately by different views at Figure
4), and these stops f descend between and over the surfaces of the drums
a and b, so as to prevent the berries descending between the drums at those
parts. The berries whilst being acted upon by the drums a, b, aro
supported and prevented from falling through the space between the drums
a, b, by the hollow bar g, which I call the separator (shown separately by
different views at Figure 5). The bar g is supported at each end in slots
formed in the framing, and is capable of adjustment by the set screws g', as
shown, to regulate the distance between it and the underside of the stops f.
Under each of the stops f the upper surface of the bar g is notched or cut
away at g, to form apertures through which the berries escape as they become
freed from the pulp or skin in the spaces between the stops f, and the passage

page_text: of the berries through the apertures 9, as they become pulped, is facilitated
by a stream of water from the trough h passing over the surface of the drum a
under each of the stops f. The berries as they pass through the openings g",
fall into a suitable receiver, and the skin or pulp is conducted away on each
side of the bar g by the inclines i, i.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Frederick Butler, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE.
AUGUSTUS FREDERICK BUTLER.
(L.S.)