IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Shaw Hepworth, of New York City, and
Gouverneur Paulding, of Cold Spring, State of New York, United
States of America, Gentlemen, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES."
Sealed the 10th July 1874, and dated the 21st May 1874.

page_text: us, our executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that we are the true
and first Inventors thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Samuel Shaw Hepworth and
Gouverneur Paulding, do hereby declare that the following Complete
Specification, under our hands and seals, fully describes and ascertains
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, in and by the following statement :-
In centrifugal machines of ordinary construction it is well known
that there is a great amount of vibration and jar occasioned by the
rapid motion of the machine and the unequal disposition of the charge
in the basket, so that the centre of gravity does not coincide with the
axis of revolution.
There have been many devices for the prevention of this vibration,
which in some cases is so violent as to injure the supports of the
machine, among which the most prominent have been hanging the
spindle of the machine from the top and attaching either the basket
alone or the basket and curb together so as to hang freely from the point
of suspension. In the latter case springs have been attached to the
curb or tub to steady it.
The object of our present Invention is to provide a machine which
shall be simple in construction, free from vibration, and also dispense
with the spindle above the basket by supporting it from below.
Our Invention consists in arranging the basket spindle within a sleeve,
which is supported by elastic bushings in such a manner that it is free
to vibrate without communicating motion to the frame of the machine.
It also consists in the mechanical details of the machine required in
the above arrangement.
In the accompanying Drawing, on one Sheet, Fig. 1 is a top view
of our improved machine with the basket and spindle removed to show
the parts underneath; Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the whole
machine.
A is the tub or curb. It is supported upon the standard B. This
standard rests upon the floor of the room in which the machine is placed.
It may be cast in one piece with the tub A or be made seperate, and be

page_text: bolted to it as shown in the Drawing. C is the basket revolving within
the tub A upon the spindle D. The basket C is provided with openings
in the bottom of any ordinary construction to discharge the sugar after
the syrup is thrown out by the centrifugal force. The valve o in the
form of a section of a sphere is intended to show one form of valve to
cover the openings in the bottom of the basket. The valve can be made
to turn or to lift out of the machine. E is a conical sleeve firmly held
in place in the centre of the machine by means of the hollow arm F
which connects it with the standard B. A top view of this arm is shown
in Fig. 1 and a section by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. Its top is
formed of two sloping planes meeting above at a sharp edge f. Below
these slopes the sides are carried down so as to cover a belt running over
the pulley J. G and H are two rubber or other elastic bushings or
collars, sustaining the hollow sleeve I, which forms the bearings of the
spindle D. These bushings are for the purpose of rendering the bearings
elastic by giving to the hollow sleeve I an elastic resistance in all direc-
tions so as to prevent any vibratory movement from being communicated
to the stationary parts of the machine in case there should be an
unequally balanced load in the basket. J is a pulley attached to the
spindle D for the purpose of giving it a rapid rotary motion. The belt
which passes over the pulley runs under the arm F, which shields it
from the sugar when it falls from the basket C. K is a cylinder attached
to the lower end of the fixed conical sleeve E, as shown in Fig. 2.
It carries the step i upon which the spindle rests, and is supported by
the bolts 8. These bolts are for the purpose of adjusting the height of
the spindle and to compensate for any wear in its bearings. The spindle
D rests in the sleeve I in the bearings a, b, which are of the ordinary
construction for such purposes. The bearings are lubricated by putting
oil into the hole d; it is thrown out of the transverse hole & and runs
down the inside of the sleeve I, lubricating the bearings and into the
pulley J, and flows through the groove e into the cylinder K, where it
lubricates the rest i. From this cylinder it is intended to allow it to
flow out by the overflow pipe g. L is a brake for the purpose of checking
the motion of the machine when it is desired to stop it.
It acts upon a
rim or flange upon the lower part of the basket C. M is the floor or
support of the machine.

page_text: into the tub A, from which it is drawn off by a suitable pipe. The
sugar is discharged through the openings in the bottom of the basket,
and falls down through the space around the outside of the conical
sleeve E to a proper receptacle; that which falls over the arm F strikes
the inclined faces and passes down without interfering with the operation
of the belt over the pulley J to drive the machine. When the charge
in the basket is unevenly balanced, which is more or less the case with
every charge, the basket is set in rapid vibration by the difference of
centrifugal force upon opposite sides of the axis.
By means of the elastic bushings G and H the bearings of the spindle
are allowed a slight movement laterally, so that the yielding of the
rubber bushings permits the centre of motion to accommodate itself to
the centre of gravity, and the elasticity of the bushings prevents any
ar from being communicated to the building.
SAMUEL SHAW HEPWORTH. (L.S.)
GOUVERNEUR PAULDING.
(L.S.)