Improvements in Hide Working Cylinders.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Mar., 1893-Accepted, 29th Apr., 1893
COME LEIE DIECTIVATION.
[Communicated from abroad by ARTHUR EASTMAN WHITNEY, of the Town of
Winchester, in the County of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts United
States of America, Machinist.]
Improvements in Hide Working Cylinders.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co. Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to the operative cylinders of hide working machines and
it consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement and combination
of parts which will be readily hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is an elevation of a hide working cylinder embodying my invention.
Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same on line x x Figure 1, drawn to an
enlarged scale.
Figure 3 represents a development of a portion of the periphery of said cylinder,
at the right hand end of Figure 1, as it would appear if spread upon a plane
surface, and
Figure 4 is a similar view illustrating a slight change in the angle of the short
sections of blades, relative to the long blades.
In the drawings, A is the body of the cylinder, B its shaft, and a and a¹ are thin
steel blades set in grooves cut in the cylinder body, said blades being wound
spirally around said body in opposite directions from a point at or near the centre
of the length of said cylinder, as shown.
So far the cylinder is of well known construction, and cylinders of such
construction have been in use for some time, and with a considerable degree of
success, when used simply for spreading the hide, or in combination with an
independent spreading cylinder, but in order to simplify the construction and
operation of hide working machines, the idea was conceived of employing only one
cylinder having blades to spread the hide or skin and also to remove the surplus
flesh therefrom as illustrated in the British Letters Patent No. 14,117 of
August 4th 1892.
The bladed cylinder, in the machine illustrated in said Letters Patent, has a
series of blades extending spirally around the same in opposite directions, at
angles of about forty five degrees, the edges of said blades being ground con-
centric to the axis of the cylinder.
This has been found to work well on the main body of the hide, but when the
irregular projections of the hide, formed by the skin of the legs and neck, are
presented to the action of the blades, at points at the right or left of the centre of
the length of the cylinder, the tendency of said blades to spread the hide to the
right or left, has the effect sometimes of bending said projecting portions of the
hide, to the right or left, to such an extent as to form one or more wrinkles or
folds therein, and then to cut through said wrinkles or folds.
This is very apt to occur when said irregular projections are partially severed
from the body of the hide by transverse cuts made in skinning the animal, which
very often happens.
To obviate this difficulty the short sections of blades bb' are inserted in said
cylinder between the main blades a a', said short sections of blades extending from
one blade a or a¹ to the next blade a or a', at right angles or nearly so to said

page_text: blades a or a', that is, the short blades band & form sections of spirals inclined in
opposite directions to said main blades a or a¹.
The main blades a and a¹ meet each other at the angles cc, which point in the
direction in which the cylinder is to be revolved, and in like manner the short
blades form similar angles with said main blades, as at d d, which angles or
points of junction are distributed along the cylinder to a sufficient extent to cover
all possible contingencies.
It has been found, by operating a machine provided with a cylinder of this
construction, that whether the irregular projections on the edges of the hide are
presented to the action of the cylinder at one side or the other of the centre of said
cylinder, some one of the junction points or angles d, d, will strike said irregular
projections at or near its centre, and the action of the blades a or a¹ and the short
sections or will tend to spread that portion of the hide in both directions, and
thus prevent the bending of said projecting portions to one side, and the consequent
formation of wrinkles or folds which may be injured by being cut.
It will be seen that the aggregate lengths of the short blades are very much
less than that of the main blades a and a', in fact their lengths being only about
one quarter to one third that of the blades a and a¹, and as a consequence when
acting upon the body of the hide there is ample preponderance of tendency to
work the hide outward from its centre to insure a proper spreading of the hide,
and the removal of the superfluous flesh therefrom, and at the same time, when
any small individual irregular projection is presented to the action of said blades;
at one side of the centre of the cylinder, the short séctions of blades b and bi
presenting an acting surface at the reverse angle to the main blades a or a', will
be sufficient to insure the proper spreading and fleshing of said irregular projecting
portions.
This cylinder may be employed with success in machines for fleshing, scouring or
unhairing hides or skins.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. A hide working cylinder provided with two sets of main blades arranged
in right and left hand spirals on opposite sides of the centre of the length of said
cylinder, and with two series of short blades interposed, at intervals, between said
main blades, and forming sections of spirals inclined in opposite directions to the
angles of said main blades, with the axis of the cylinder.
Second. The combination in a hide working cylinder, of the main body A; the
two series of main blades a and a¹ extending spirally around or partially around
said body in opposite directions, from points at or near the centre of the length of
said body; and the two series of short sections of blades and 6', interposed, at
intervals, between said main blades a and a respectively, each of said short
sections of blades extending from one of said main blades to the next main blade,
and at an angle to the axis of said cylinder opposed to that of the main blades
between which it is inserted.
Dated this 28th day of March 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.