AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR BREAKING OR CRUSHING THE HOOPS OF HORSES, CATTLE, AND SHEEP, AND OTHER HORNY SUBSTANCES, AND CONVERTING THEM INTO MANURE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firin of John Gedge
and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE
FOR BREAKING OR CRUSHING THE HOOPS OF HORSES, CATTLE, AND SHEEP,
AND OTHER HORNY SUBSTANCES, AND CONVERTING THEM INTO MANURE." -
A communication from abroad by Eugène Anduze, of No. 15, Passage
des Petites Ecuries, Paris, France, Merchant.
Sealed the 13th December 1864, and dated the 15th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th June 1864.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No.
11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE
FOR BREAKING OR CRUSHING THE HOOPS OF HORSES, CATTLE, AND SHEEP, AND OTHER
HORNY SUBSTANCES, AND CONVERTING THEM INTO MANURE," (a communication to
me from abroad by Eugène Anduze, of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries,
Paris, France, Merchant,) to be as follows:-
This machine is composed of an iron plate or table having grooves furnisned
with knives or cutters, and working at a speed of, say, 400 rotations per
minute. The knives fitted on the plate, and termed working knives, are so

page_text: fixed that the projecting toothing corresponds very exactly with the open
spaces of a fixed knife, and vice versa. The teeth of the fixed knife enter
into two inner circles of grooves about half an inch deep. The object of this
combination is, firstly, to prevent the raw material passing intact between the
fixed knife and the plate; secondly, to break or crush the said material into
dimensions which cannot be greater than the spaces of the fixed knife or the
cutting surfaces of the working knives. Two outer circles of grooves, also
nearly half an inch deep, receive the two sides of a hopper, to keep the horn
or hoofs in permanent contact with the working knives. As fast as absorbed
by the machine, the hoofs or horn reduced to the caliber indicated by the
dimensions of the knife, are drawn by a band into a case or receptacle, where
a second band furnished with cups or buckets takes them up and turns them
into a sieve placed above the machine. The smaller pieces pass through the
sieve and by a conduit to a sack, and the larger fall into a second machine,
differing from the first only in the knives, which have closer teeth. This
second machine completes the first, and reduces the horn into pieces as small
as may be desired by applying knives with closer teeth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, rand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 FOR BREAKING OR CRUSHING
THE HOOFS OF HORSES, CATTLE, AND SHEEP, AND OTHER HORNY SUBSTANCES, AND

page_text: CONVERTING THEM INTO MANURE," (a communication to me from abroad by Eugène
Anduze, of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries, Paris, France, Merchant,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 William Edward Gedge, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawing, forming part of this Specification, and to the figures and letters of
reference placed thereon:-
The object of this improved machine is to crush or break horns of every
description, and hoofs of horses, cattle, sheep, and other horny substances,
converting them into manure for vines, orange trees, fruit trees, cereals, grass
land, and other cultivation. This improved machine is composed of an iron
plate or platform, having grooves furnished with knives, and works, as hereafter
described, at a speed of 400 rotations per minute. The knives or cutters
fitted to the plate, and designated the n.oveable or working knives, are so
fixed that the projecting toothing corresponds very exactly with the corruga-
tions of the fixed knive, and vice versa (see Figure 1). The two inner circles
I, 1', shewn Figure 2, reprosent grooves of about half an inch in depth,
into which take the teeth of the fixed knife. The object of this combination
is, firstly, to prevent the raw material passing intact between the fixed knife
and the plate or platform; secondly, to break the said matters into
dimensions which cannot be greater than the corrugations of the fixed knife
or the cutters of the working knives. The two outer circles J, J₁, are grooves
of about half an inch in depth, into which enter the two sides of an iron
hopper to keep the horns or hoofs in permanent contact with the working
knives. As fast as they are absorbed by the machine the horns or hoofs
reduced to the caliber regulated by the dimensions of the knife are carried by
a band placed under the machine into a chest or receptacle, where a second
band furnished with buckets comes and takes them up to pour them into a sieve
placed above the machine. The finer particles pass through the sieve and pass
by a shoot into sacks, and the larger particles fall into a second machine,
similar to the first, from which it differs only in the knives, the toothing of

page_text: which is much narrower. The second machine completes the first, and reduces
the born into particles as minute as can be desired, for which purpose it is
only necessary to use knives with closed teeth. Figures 3 and 4, views partly
in section of knives and grooves detached. This improved machine will break
on an average from 2000 to 2500 lbs. weight of horn in a day, that is to say,
two hundredweight per hour.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.B.)