AN IMPROVED MACHINE WITH A DRAWER AND MOVEABLE KNIFE USED TO PART AND BREAK SUGAR
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hippolyte Courtot, Mechanician, of Reims, Marne,
Empire of France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE WITH
A DRAWER AND MOVEABLE KNIFE USED TO PART AND BREAK SUGAR."
A DRAWER AND Moveable Knife USED TO PART and Break Sugar."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hippolyte Courtot at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th August 1860:
I, HIPPOLYTE COURTOT, Mechanician, of Reims, Marne, Empire of France,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " AN IMPROVED MACHINE
WITH A DRAWER AND MOVEABLE KNIFE USED TO PART AND BREAK SUGAR,
be as follows:-
"
My proposed machine will consist of a cast-iron framing, supporting a pair
of rag wheels, chains, and pullies, a couple of steel springs to keep the chains
assunder with two screws to regulate the distance, and for this purpose the wheels
will be moveable, and will by suitable gearing communicate movement to a
knife sliding in a drawer, which knife will strike twice for each turn of the
crank. A plate or table (of metal) will occupy the space between the rag
wheels, chains, and pullies, and on this table the sugar (previously cut into
long strips) is placed. The crank will be then turned and a fly wheel will
by its excentric weight carry with it a rod, which will set in motion the rag
wheel and chains by means of a rochet wheel, the chains having hooks on their

page_text: inner side, will drag the sugar forward, and the sliding knife by the action of
an excentric will descend in its drawer, depress one end of the table, and divide
the sugar between itself and a fixed blade beneath the table; it will then rise
(as will the end of the table by (means of) a spring beneath it) and fall again,
cutting twice for each revolution of the crank, which may easily be turned by
a female, who (using the machine above described) will cut without difficulty
upwards of a ton of sugar a day.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hippolyte Courtot in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIPPOLYTE
COURTOT, Mechanician, of Reims, Marne, (Empire of France) send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen, Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of-our-Lord
One thousand eight hundred, and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Hippolyte Courtot, Her special licence that I, the said Hippolyte Courtot,
my executors, administrators (and assigns), or such others as I, the said Hippolyte
Courtot, 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 Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE
WITH A DRAWER AND MOVEABLE KNIFE USED TO PART AND BREAK SUGAR," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hippolyte Courtot, 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
said. Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hippolyte Courtot, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention,..and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and forming

page_text: part of this my Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference placed
thereon:-
My improved machine is represented in plan at Figure 1, and is composed.
of a cast-iron framing-E, E¹, held in position by cross pieces P, P... On this
framing rolls a rag chain Q, Q, travelling by means of the two rag wheels N,
N, and rolling upon two grooved pullies O, O¹. Two steel springs R, R',
keep the rag chain in the desired position, and the two screws R", R",.
are for the purpose of pressing out or releasing these springs, and consequently
regulating the position of the rag chain, and to permit this two rag
wheels N, N, are moveable on their axle Fu; F is a crank by which the.
axle Fu is turned giving motion to a knife with slide or drawer T by means
of the toothed wheel K, which commands a second toothed wheel K','
which causes two strokes of the knife to be given by one turn of the crank;
M is a ratchet wheel thrown in and out of gear by the catch L and spring J,
(Figures 1, 2, and 3); I is a rod or bar with slide, by which the thickness
of the lumps of sugar to be cut is regulated, (see Figures 1, 2, and 3). At
the upper part of this bar I is an axle H, (Figures 1 and 2) fixed excentrically_
to the fly wheel G and giving to the bar I a come and go motion. At Figure 2,
which is a longitudinal section taken at A, B, Figure 1, is shewn the position
of the knife with slide or drawer T, and that of the knife-U, X', which is
fixed, whereas the knife X is moveable and rises and falls at will by means of
two press screws X", X", (Figure 5.); V is a feeding plate of wrought iron,
which receives a broken movement from the springs W, W¹, and sinks
beneath the action of the knife with moveable slide, when it descends and rises
with it. The effect of this plate is to permit the division of the sugar,
however rough or pointed may be the pieces introduced into the machine. i
Figure 3 is an elevation of my machine; Figure 4 a side view of the apparatus ;
and Figure 5 a section taken at C, D, Figure 2.
Having described the several parts of my apparatus, and their arrangement,
I will now proceed to explain the action of the machine. The sugar is first
sawn into square strips of any desired thickness; these strips are placed two
abreast upon the moveable feeding plate V, and between the two rag chains,
the rings or loops of which are furnished on the inner side with hooks or pro-
jecting pieces, which draw the sugar forward along the plate. The strips of
sugar thus placed, the crank F is turned, the fly-wheel G is set in motion, and
by its excentric weight draws the bar or rod H, I, which by means of the
ratchet wheel M sets the rag chain in motion. The sugar follows this motion,
and the sliding knife set in motion by the toothed wheel K and excentric Y, Z,

page_text: (Figure 5) falls and rises again, and the divided sugar is projected by the march
of the chain to the end of the machine. By the use of this machine a female
may easily break upwards of a ton of sugar a day.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the means by
which I carry it into practical effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein given, as some deviation may be
made therefrom without departing from the principle of my Invention, and
that I claim the arrangement of apparatus above described, and shewn in the
Drawing when forming a machine for cutting sugar, and especially the knife
with slide or drawer, and the combination of apparatus by which the said knife
gives two strokes for each revolution of the crank.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hippolyte Courtot, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
Ogée, P.A.
Direct. de l'Ecole Professionnelle de Reims,
le 11 Fevrier 1861.
COURTOT. (L.S.)
Reims, le 11 Fevrier, 1861.