IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR CLEANING TIN, TERNE, AND OTHER METAL PLATES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard James Hutchings and Thomas John, both of
Treforest, in the County of Glamorgan, for the Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR CLEANING TIN, TERNE, AND OTHER
METAL PLATES."
Sealed the 15th February 1878, and dated the 14th November 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard James Hutchings
and Thomas John at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th
November 1877.
RICHARD JAMES HUTCHINGS and THOMAS JOHN, both of Treforest, in the
County of Glamorgan. " IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR
CLEANING TIN, TERNE, AND OTHER METAL PLATES."
According to one arrangement, in a suitable trough, box, or other receptacle, or
several of such troughs, boxes, or other receptacles, made of wood, iron, or other
convenient material or materials, we place bran, crushed lime, or a combination of
same, or other material suitable for cleaning tin plates, and into this receptacle or
receptacles we introduce the plates to be cleaned through apertures in the same, or
by the top, or in any other convenient way.
In the receptacles, or preferably just outside same, we provide rollers covered or
not with rubber or other suitable material; wood rollers will answer the purpose,
having rings of rubber or other suitable material thereon at suitable distances apart,
and just sufficiently far apart to grip the plate or plates passing to the rollers.
Beyond these latter rollers the plates aforesaid are guided through guides or apertures
into another box or receptacle, also containing cleaning material as before, such as
bran, and this box or receptacle has a reciprocating motion imparted to it by cams,
cranks, or other mechanical equivalents, thereby keeping the bran in motion, and
thus continually cleaning the bran which comes in contact with or is presented
to the surface of the plates to be cleaned which pass through this reciprocating
box.

page_text: There may be only one or there may be several reciprocating boxes, and we wish
it to be distinctly understood that we do not limit ourselves to the number of
receptacles fitted as aforesaid. When there are several reciprocating receptacles, each
must be provided with suitable guides to receive the plates as they come from the
preceding receptacle.
The plates after leaving the last reciprocating receptacle are passed between
polishing rollers for removing the dust.
Apertures or valves may be provided in the receptacles for the escape of cleaning
material, or for the supply of fresh, as may be required.
Sometimes, instead of the boxes having a reciprocating motion imparted to them,
the rollers may have the said reciprocating motion imparted to them, or in combination
with reciprocating receptacles; when the rollers have a to-and-fro motion alone, the
receptacles would be stationary..
According to another arrangement we clean tin, terne, or metal plates by passing
the said plate or plates to be cleaned between a pair or pairs of wheels or sheaves,
or a pair or pairs of friction wheels or rollers of suitable material or materials;
these wheels, sheaves, or rollers, are worked inside a box or boxes, or any suitable
receptacle or receptacles, the. plates to be cleaned being introduced through apertures
on the top or side of this receptacle or receptacles, which will be charged with bran
or any suitable polishing material or combination of materials. Into one or more of
these receptacles we introduce gas, or heat, or steam, for the purpose of heating the
bran or cleaning material or materials through which the plate or plates is or are
passed, the cleaning and polishing material or materials being fed into the receptacle
or receptacles by means of a hopper, trough, or pipe, or some suitable mechanism to
press the cleaning and polishing material or materials against the surface of the
plates while passing between the aforesaid pair or pairs of wheels, sheaves, or
rollers.
Rolls or rollers may be used for carrying the plates into or passing them through
the cleaning and polishing receptacle or receptacles, or they may be pushed into
or through the cleaning and polishing receptacle or receptacles by hand, or partly
through, and worked backwards and forwards, or may be carried through or partly
through by any suitable mechanism. Guides may or may not be used for carrying
and guiding the plates.
X The cleaning and polishing sheaves, wheels, or rollers, or both sheaves, wheels,
and rollers, may revolve when the plates are passing through, or rotate backwards
and forwards; or the carrying rolls or rollers or guides may rotate or revolve
backwards and forwards, and the cleaning and polishing sheaves, wheels, or rollers
revolve, or both carrying rollers or guides may rotate, and the cleaning and
polishing sheaves, wheels, or rollers, may rotate.
Gas, heat, or steam, is used only when required.
We do not confine ourselves to any particular number of receptacles, sheaves,
wheels, or rolls, or rollers or guides, or hoppers, feeders, or troughs. A heated
chamber may be used, also rolls or rollers covered with sheep-skin or suitable
material for dusting the plate or plates.
The arrangements and apparatus before described may be used alone or in com-
bination wholly or in part with the arrangements and apparatus described in the
Specification of a Patent for cleaning plates, granted to Richard James Hutchings
one of the aforesaid petitioners, dated 12th June 1876, No. 2421.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Richard James Hutchings and Thomas John in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th May 1878.
RICHARD JAMES HUTCHINGS and THOMAS JOHN, both of Treforest, in the
County of Glamorgan. " IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR
CLEANING TIN, TERNE, AND OTHER METAL PLATES."
The object of this Invention is to clean tin, terne, and other metal plates, by
means of apparatus having moving parts, so constructed and actuated as to con-
tinually clean or change about the bran or other cleaning material in contact with
or presented to the surfaces of the plates to be cleaned, and so that in certain cases
the moving part of the apparatus for cleaning one side of a plate shall be moving in
the opposite direction to the moving part for cleaning the other side of the plate.
In order to shift and thus clean or change the bran or other cleaning material, we
may also apply projections or recesses on Hat moving parts, between which the plates
to be cleaned are passed. As described in the Patent Specification of Richard James
Hutchings, one of the aforesaid Patentees, dated 12th June 1876, No. 2421, the clips c
on a horizontal or vertical drum a revolving in a vessel containing the cleaning
material virtually serve to shift, and thus clean and change the cleaning material
continually; but according to this present Invention, we apply such projections to flat
moving surfaces. We may if desired cause the said flat moving surfaces to be moved
backwards and forwards, or to be continuously, evenly, or intermittently moved
relatively to one another.
According to one arrangement illustrated by Figure 1 which is a plan, and by
Figure 2 which is a vertical longitudinal section, we place bran, saw dust, "mother
of coal," crushed lime, or a combination of same, or other material suitable for
cleaning tin or other plates in a suitable trough, box, or other receptacle a, and into
this receptacle (or it may be two or more such receptacles one after the other) we
introduce the plates to be cleaned through an aperture in one side in the arrange-
ment here shewn, or it may be by the top or through the bottom, if the construction
of the machine is opposite to that here shown, that is, vertical instead of horizontal),
or in any other convenient way, according to the construction of the machine.
In the receptacle a, or preferably just outside the same as here shown, we provide
a pair of feed rollers b, b, working in bearings, and caused to revolve by hand or
power. The rollers b, b, may be covered with felt or rubber, or other yielding
material, for gently nipping the tin plates passing between them, and then feeding
them into the apparatus; wood rollers will answer the purpose when provided with
a coating as aforesaid, or with rings of rubber or other suitable material thereon at
suitable distances apart, that is, so as to grip or nip the plate in, say, two or more
places. Beyond these feed rollers b, b, the plate may if desired be guided through
guide appliances, which may be a pair of rollers c, c, into another box or receptacle d,
also containing cleaning material as before, such as bran; this box d receives
reciprocating movement. The rollers c, c, are caused to revolve by hand or power
in unison with the feed rollers b, b. Beyond the reciprocating box d a pair of
rollers g, g, may be provided for guiding the plate out of the machine.
We line the apertures in the sides of the boxes a and d with some hard and
perfectly smooth material, such as glass or polished metal, or with a soft yielding
material, such as leather, the object in all cases being to prevent the surface of the
plate from being scratched. The box d has a reciprocating motion imparted to it by
an eccentric e on a revolving shaft f, or by a cam, crank, or other mechanical equi-
valent, so that the bran or other cleaning material is thereby kept in motion or shifted,
so as to be cleaning itself against those of its own particles which have not been made
dirty or unfit.
Instead of one cleaning reciprocating box, we may employ two or more such, each
provided with suitable guiding appliances to receive the plates as they come from the

page_text: preceding receptacle. The plate may be fed into a reciprocating box at once, instead
of first passing through a stationary box a.
Figure 3 shows a plan of an arrangement according to which we employ two
reciprocating boxes d'and d¹, both worked by eccentrics or by other means in opposite
directions, as shown; b, b, are a pair of rollers for feeding the plate into and
through the box d, and c, c, a pair of rollers for guiding the plate into and through the
box d¹.
The plates after leaving the last reciprocating receptacle are passed between
polishing rollers for removing the dust; these rollers may be covered with sheep-
skin. The guide rollers g, g, may be the polishing rollers, or may serve to guide the
plate to such polishing rollers.
Apertures or valves may be provided in the receptacles for the escape of cleaning
material, or for the supply of fresh, as may be required, thus a hopper may be
placed above and receive a shaking movement, or be provided with any well-known
appliance for causing a slight continuous flow of cleaning material to the reciprocating
receptacle below it.
Sometimes, instead of the boxes or receptacles having a reciprocating motion
imparted to them, the rollers may have the said reciprocating motion imparted to
them, or in combination with reciprocating receptacles. When the rollers have a to-
and-fro motion alone, the receptacles would be stationary, the plate to be cleaned
would then by rollers be passed through or partly through the receptacle, and rollers
on the other side guide it back, self-acting or other means being provided for reversing
the motion of the rollers.
According to another arrangement we clean tin, terne, or metal plates by
passing them between the flat surfaces of a pair or pairs of sheaves or discs working
inside a box containing cleaning material; Figure 4 is a side elevation, and
Figure 5 a vertical section through an apparatus made according to this part of our
Invention, and fitted with two such pairs of sheaves or wheels d, d, d, d', which
are worked inside a box or receptacle h. The cleaning or polishing material may be
fed into the receptacle by means of a hopper i, or trough, or pipe, or by some
mechanism, such as a small Jacob's ladder, in order to press the bran or other
cleaning material against the surface of the plate, and keep it in a dense con-
dition, also to make up for any small waste by escape at the bottom of the
receptacle h.
The plate to be cleaned is fed into the apparatus by means of rollers c, c, which
carry the plate up, and pass it between the pairs of wheels or sheaves d, or the plate
may be pushed into or through the cleaning apparatus by hand, or partly through, and
worked backwards and forwards; or they may be carried through or partly through
by any suitable mechanism. The pairs of sheaves revolve in opposite directions to
each other, and that either by continuous, even, or intermittent reciprocating
movement.
In order to change the particles of the cleaning material we prefer to make the
edge or circumference of the sheaves of a scolloped or tooth-like shape, as shown, and
so as to interlock, or so to say, gear into each other, though not necessarily to touch
one another.
The inner faces of the sheaves may be made plain, or with grooves or recesses as
shown, or covered with pieces of sheep-skin entirely, or leaving narrow uncovered.
spaces for retaining and carrying along, and thereby shifting the particles of bran
or other cleaning material. The pairs of sheaves are moved in opposite directions
by tooth wheels j gearing into each other, and impelled by a pinion or in any other
suitable manner.
Instead of a continuous revolving movement in opposite directions when the
plates are passing through, we may make the sheaves rotate or oscillate backwards
and forwards by crank or cam gear or equivalent mechanism, for giving reciprocating
motion.
The sheaves actuated as described may be used without cleaning material, the faces
being covered with sheep-skin or other suitable wiping material.

page_text: Figure 6 is a plan, and Figure 7 a cross section of an arrangement of one pair of
sheaves d to be placed in a box containing cleaning material, the plate passing
between them; b, b, are feed rollers, and c, c, guide rollers on the exit side. The
sheaves may be arranged to work horizontally, or in any other direction.
Figures 8 and 9 show two other arrangements of two pairs of sheaves d, d, and
d', d, which are so formed as to nearly touch each other. several times during one
revolution, for the purpose of moving about or shifting the cleaning material, and
thus as before described constantly presenting clean particles to the surfaces to be
cleaned.
It is obvious that numberless other forms of sheaves may be devised for the same
object, and operating as here set forth.
Figure 10 is a plan, and Figure 11 a sectional view of a modified arrangement of
flat reciprocating appliances, operating on the same principle as the aforesaid sheaves.
The plate is first by means of a pair of rollers b, b, fed into a box a containing
cleaning material, and is thence by the rollers c, c, fed in between two reciprocating
boxes, plates, or frames d and d! moving in opposite directions, one serving to clean
the upper side of the plate, and the other serving to clean the lower side of the plate.
Or the box a may be omitted and the plate passed directly in between the boxes
or frames d, d'; these latter receive continuous reciprocating motion in opposite
directions from eccentrics e, c¹, on a revolving shaft f, or they may receive inter-
mittent reciprocating movement, say, by pawl wheel and pawl appliances. The
sheep-skin or other surfaces of the plates or boxes d, d¹, are formed with parts
recessed or otherwise with parts uncovered by sheep-skin; we thereby cause more
motion or change of particles than if the surfaces were plain or uninterrupted
throughout.
Figure 5 shews the sheep-skin or other surface left out or recessed in several
parts.
Figure 12 is a side elevation, and Figure 13 a plan of an apparatus with
reciprocating appliances presenting flat surfaces moving in opposite directions, the
plate to be cleaned being passed between the said reciprocating appliances by feed
rollers worked by hand or power; d and d' are two endless bands of leather covered
on the outside with one or more layers of sheep-skin; they are passed round the
drums m, m, and m³, m³, which are loose on their spindles n and n¹, which work
in bearings on a frame. To one of the drums m and one of the drums m¹ are fixed
pawl wheels o and o¹; P, p¹, are pawls mounted on levers q and q¹ respectively,
which are loose on the spindles n and n³, and receive reciprocating movement from
an eccentric and revolving spindle v, as one is below the centre of its fulcrum,
and the other above the same, the pawl wheels and consequently the drums m, m,
and m¹, m', receive gradual intermittent rotary movement in opposite directions, the
bands d and thus obtain a gradually progressing movement in opposite directions;
the plate to be cleaned being passed between the two sheep-skin covered endless bands
are cleaned thereby.
The whole, or as here shown, part of the apparatus, may be enclosed in a box
supplied with bran or other cleansing material as shown.
In order to insure a sufficient scouring or wiping action, especially when no
cleaning material is used, and the wiping of the plates is intended to be effected by
contact with sheep-skin, we may hold the bands against the upper and under surface
of the plate to be cleaned by means of bars 8, 8, which are held by screwed rods t, t,
secured to the brackets or stretchers t¹, t', which are bolted to the side frames T, T,
of the apparatus, and so that these bars 8, s, by means of the nuts on the bolts t, t,
can be adjusted as to position and distance apart; b, b, are feed rollers, and c, c,
taking off rollers, serving the same purpose as in previous Figures. These rollers
are worked in unison and in the proper directions by means of any suitable
gearing, for instance as here shown, where the strap pulley u¹ on the spindle n¹
is worked from the driving shaft, the bevel gear wheels a¹, ¹, causing the spindle x
to revolve, whence revolving motion is transmitted by strap and wheel gearing-to
the rollers b and c.

page_text: Figure 14 is a side elevation, and Figure 15 a plan of a modified arrangement, in
which the two endless bands d and d¹ are worked continuously in opposite directions
as indicated by the arrows; or the bands may be worked in the same direction,
and if desired at different speeds, the plate to be cleaned being passed in between
them as before. The driving pulley u¹ receives revolving motion from some revolving
shaft, and the strap pulley y transmits the motion to the pulley y¹ on the spindle of
the upper drum m.
Figure 16 is a plan of a combined apparatus, that is, the reciprocating boxes or
plates, or frames a and a', in combination with the endless bands d and d², or so to
say, the machines shewn at Figures 10: 11, and 14: 15, combined in one; generally
speaking, the sheaves, reciprocating boxes or plates, and endless bands, may be
arranged in a line separately or in one machine as desired.
Instead of one endless band below another, we may use two or more upper bands
and two or more lower bands arranged respectively side by side at the upper and
lower level, and moving intermittently or continuously each one in an opposite
direction to its adjoining band or bands, we thereby cause the cleaning material to
be thoroughly intermingled and shifted about. Some of the bands may be enclosed
or pass through receptacles for cleaning material, and some may be arranged outside
the said receptacles.
In all the apparatus described we prefer to work them quicker when intermittently
than when continuously.
Gas, heat, or steam, may be let into the interior of the cleaning material in the
boxes or receptacles as required for keeping the material warm when the grease
on the plates, as sometimes happens, has been allowed to become thick or stiff; or
a heated chamber or jacket may be applied around the box or receptacle.
And having thus described and ascertained the nature of this our Invention, we
declare that we are aware that a pair of rollers having as it were only a line of
contact, have heretofore been proposed to be applied to the cleaning of tin and
other plates, but we claim the application of reciprocating or otherwise moving flat
surfaces or appliances, so constructed and operating as to continuously present fresh
parts or particles of cleaning material for cleaning tin and other plates, substantially
as set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Richard James Hutchings and Thomas
John, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.