Improvements in Tea Equalising or Cutting Mills.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 13th July, 1896-Accepted, 15th Aug., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tea Equalising or Cutting Mills.
I, SAMUEL CLELAND DAVIDSON of Sirocco Engineering Works, Belfast,
Ireland, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The improvements have reference to the machine for equalising or cutting tea
in order to grade it into different classes, as described in the Specification of
previous Letters Patent and dated 22 April 1891 No. 6952 (and which specifi- /
cation is hereinafter referred to as the previous specification) and in which machine
a roller with sharp edged flutes extending from end to end, operates against a bevel
edge resistance plate having an up and down motion. In the practical working of
the said machine it has been found that having the flutes extended in unbroken.
continuation from end to end of the roller, allows too long a proportion of the long
leafy tea to pass through without its being sufficiently cut lengthwise to advan-
tageously suit it for the market, and the object of the hereinafter described.
invention is to obviate this defect..
The improvements consist in dividing the longitudinal flutes in the roller into
short fluted lengths, either by turning narrow grooves or recesses out to below the .
bottom of the flutes, at short distances apart on the face of the roller, so that the
fluted parts remaining between the said grooves resemble toothed milling wheels of :
about an inch wide across the face; or the cutting roller may be made as a-
succession of fluted wheels or rings, keyed upon the roller shaft, with the desired,
space or groove between each of said wheels or rings; and in conjunction with.
either of the above modifications of the fluted roller, the resistance plate is con- .
structed with comb-like teeth projecting from its bevel edge, and reaching to the
bottom of said grooves, and instead of having this resistance plate made with an
up and down motion as described in the previous specification it is now hinged, and
projecting lever arms are bolted or otherwise secured on its back or outer face, and
weights are hung on the end of each lever, to give the resistance plate sufficient?
firmness to resist the pressure of the tea carried against its face and bevelled edge:
and its contained teeth, so that any long leaf which is brought by the fluted roller-
up against the resistance plate, is broken crosswise by its projecting teeth, while if:
a nail or other unduly hard substance comes against them, the resistance plate will
swing outwards on its hinges sufficiently to let such substance pass through without
breaking the teeth or injuring the flutes on the cutting roller, after which the.
weights on the projecting lever arms will press it back again into its proper position.
The spaces between the teeth on the resistance plate are preferably about an inch.
wide, and the grooves of the cutting roller, into which they project are about a
quarter of an inch wide and extend down to just below the bottom of the Buting.
in the roller. The above mentioned spacing in the teeth breaks the long leaves of
the tea to a suitable length for average classifications, but the width apart of the.
teeth and size of the flutings may be varied to suit any special requirements; and
the bevelled edge of the resistance plate between the teeth is retained nearly but
not quite as a tangential surface to the fluted faces of the roller, so that the tea
passing between these two surfaces gets reduced in sectional thickness. The amount:
of such reduction is regulated by another lever attached to the resistance plate,
which adjusts the amount of. clearance space between it and the flutings of the
roller to any required extent.
j

page_text: The above described improved tea equalising or cutting mill may be mounted on
a stand or frame of its own, or upon a tea sorting machine, so as to suitably prepare
the rough tea as it comes from the drying machine, to pass through the sorting
machine, and to which it also thereby acts as a feeding roller.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the cutting mill; Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3
a side elevation of the same.
Figure 4 is a cross section through line a-b of Figure 1.
Figure 5 shows the mill mounted on a stand with feed hopper; Figure 6 shows
its application to a tea sorting machine.
A is the roller constructed with longitudinal flutes B and with spaces, recesses or
grooves C formed around its circumference dividing it into a succession of narrow
faced fluted wheels. It is mounted in bearings D of the side cheeks E. On one
end of the roller A are secured fast and loose belt pulleys F. G is a resistance
plate having its lower edge bevelled and teeth H projecting from its bevelled edge
which project to the bottom of the grooves C of the roller_ A. The resistance
plate G is hinged or pivotted at its ends on pins or pivota J secured to the side
cheeks E of the cutting mill. On the outer face of the resistance plate G levers K
are fixed which project outwards with weights L hanging to each end, and are
supported by cams or lifters M which are fixed to a rod N on the end of which is
a lever handle O with an adjusting arrangement P. Q is a feed plate from which
the leaf is raked or fed to the fluted roller of the cutting mill from the
feed hopper R supported on the framework S of the cutting or tea sorting
machines.
The leaf which is to be treated is first placed in the feed hopper R and from
there raked on to the feed plate Q and fed on to the fluted roller A which is
revolved by means of the belt driven pulleys F in the direction indicated by the
arrow (Figure 4). The leaf then passes through between the bevelled edge and
projecting teeth of the resistance plate G and the flutes of the roller A and in
doing so the long leaves are cut or broken into shorter lengths by the teeth, and
coarse thick leaves are graded between the bevelled edge of the resistance plate
and the flutes of the roller, to the required degree of fineness. It is then discharged
by means of the hopper shoot T into a receiving box V Figure 5 or into the.
revolving sieve W of the ten sorting machine Figure 6.
The weights L are provided to give the resistance plate G just sufficient firmness
to resist the pressure of the tea carried against it in the working of the machine,
whilst at the same time they are not too heavy to prevent the lower edge of the
resistance plate G from swinging outwards should a nail or any hard substance
come between the fluted roller A and the bevelled edge of the resistance plate G,
allowing such substance to pass through without doing injury to the flutes B on the
cutting roller or the projecting teeth H on the resistance plate.
The adjusting of the machine to produce any degree of fineness in cutting is
accomplished by turning the screw of the adjusting arrangement P which moves
the lever handle O, rod N, and cams or lifters M, which in turn raise or lower
the lever K, moving the resistance plate G on its pivots J and altering the
degree of clearance between the flutes B and the bevelled edge of the resistance
plate G.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In tea cutting or equalising mills, a succession of narrow faced fluted wheels
mounted or formed upon a roller shaft or spindle, with a narrow groove or recess
between each pair of said wheels and extending below the bottom of the fluting
thereon, and a hinged or pivotted resistance plate fitted with teeth projecting into
the bottom of the grooves between the fluted wheels and having the edge of the
resistance plate which faces the fluted wheels bevelled to a nearly tangential line

page_text: therewith, and lever arms on the outer side of the said resistance plate suitably
weighted to enable the resistance plate to withstand the pressure of the tea against
it, while allowing it to swing back on its hinges or pivots and let nails or other
unduly hard substances pass through freely, and an adjusting cam, lever, and set
screw thereon, for adjusting the clearance space between the bevelled edge of the
hinged resistance plate and the fluted wheels on the roller, all substantially as
hereinbefore described.
2. The general combination of parts constituting the improved tea equalising or
cutting mill, all substantially as herein before described anl represented in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 11th day of Tule 1896
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.