IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bertram, of Edinburgh, in the County of
Mid Lothian, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
PAPER.'
Sealed the 4th June 1867, and dated the 15th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bertram at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
December 1866.
I, GEORGE BERTRAM, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OP PAPER," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its essential object the construction and arrangement
of certain apparatus or means to be used for the conversion of half stuff into
the pulp from which paper is manufactured, the apparatus or means being
intended as a substitute for and to supplant the ordinary beating engine or
other means for beating pulp at present in use.
The apparatus or means comprised under the present Invention consists of
a hollow case of a truncated conic form situated by preference in an inverted
vertical position; its upper and lower ends are closed with suitable metallic

page_text: covers, the bottom cover also constituting the sole plate, upon which the pulp
beating mechanism rests. The interior of the case is fitted or provided with
a series or set of knives, cutters, or disintegrators, and in the interior of this
truncated conic case a correspondingly shaped grinder is caused to revolve by
any of the well known and ordinarily employed mechanism for imparting
rotation; this revolving conic grinder is also provided with cutters or dis-
integrators all around its circumference, and the half stuff is ground or reduced
by continual trituration between the grinding edges of the revolving grinder
and those of the case. The spindle or shaft upon which the grinder is carried
passes through stuffing box bearings at the centre of the upper and lower
covers of the grinding case, and the lower end of the spindle or shaft is carried
by a footstep bearing fitted on an adjustable lever, by raising or lowering
which the distance between the disintegrating edges of the grinder and its
case are regulated and the degree of fineness to which the pulp is reduced
correspondingly regulated. The conic case is provided at its upper end with
a duct, through which the half stuff is led in; another duct is also provided at
the lower end, through which the pulp is educed as it is ground.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Bertram in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BERTRAM, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Bertram, Her special licence that I, the said George Bertram,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Bertram, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Bertram, by an

page_text: instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 George Bertram, 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 accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its essential object the construction and
arrangement of certain apparatus or means to be used for the conversion of
half stuff into the pulp from which paper is manufactured, the apparatus
or means being intended as a substitute for and to supplant the ordinary
beating engine or other means for beating pulp at present in use. The
apparatus or means comprised under the present Invention consists of a
hollow case of a truncated conic form situated by preference in an inverted
vertical position, its upper and lower ends are closed with suitable metallic
covers, the bottom cover also constituting the sole plate upon which the pulp
beating mechanism rests. The interior of the case is fitted or provided with
a series or set of knives, cutters, or disintegrators, and in the interior of the
truncated conic case a correspondingly shaped grinder is caused to revolve by
any of the well known and ordinarily employed mechanism for imparting
rotation. This revolving conic grinder is also provided with cutters or dis-
integrators all round its circumference; and the half stuff is ground or
reduced by continual trituration between the grinding edges of the revolving
grinder and those of the case. The spindle or shaft upon which the grinder
is carried passes through stuffing box bearings at the centre of the upper
and lower covers of the grinder case, and the lower end of the spindle or
shaft is carried by a footstep bearing fitted on an adjustable lever by raising
or lowering which the distance between the disintegrating edges of the grinder
and its case are regulated, and the degree of fineness to which the pulp is
reduced correspondingly regulated. The conic case is provided at its upper
end with a duct through which the half stuff is led in, another duct is also
provided at the lower end through which the pulp is educed as it is ground.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now
proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or
under which the sanie is or may be used or practically carried into effect,
reference being bad, for the sake of more complete elucidation, to the several

page_text: Figures upon the two explanatory Sheets of Drawings which I have hereunto
appended, that is to say :-
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the case and some of the
details of my improved engine for grinding pulp, showing the grinding cone
shaft and belt pulley in elevation; Figure 2 is a vertical section at the centre,
showing the interior of the grinding case without the cone; Figure 3 a plan
of the top of the grinding cone; and Figure 4 a plan of the under side of
the cone, whilst on Sheet 2, Figure 5, is a part horizontal section and plan
on the line a, a, Figure 1; and Figure 6 (Sheet 2), is a half horizontal
section on the line b, b, Figure 2 (Sheet 1), and a half plan of the top or
cover of the grinding case. In all the Figures where it is shown the grinding
cone is marked A, it is carried upon the vertical shaft B, a portion of the
shaft being made square, as shown at Figures 3 and 4, to enable the
grinding cone being very firmly fixed thereon. At the upper end of the shaft B
the driving pulley C is keyed, over which the belt D passes, and by which
rotation is imparted to the grinding cone. The upper end of the driving
shaft B is carried in a guide bearing E, which is very securely beld to and
by the framework F, Figure 1, or if convenient the bearings may be secured
to a girder or bearer of the building in which the pump engine is placed.
The bearing E is fitted with adjustable screws or bolts so that it may at
times be set fair with the central line of the conical grinding case G. The
upper and lower portions of the shaft B where they pass through the covers of
the conical grinding case G are surrounded by stuffing boxes, as shown at
Figure 1, so that the joints of these parts may be made quite secure against
leakage, and the lower end of the shaft B is carried in a footstep bearing H
situated on the lever I. The footstep bearing is furnished with two plates
o and c, one of which may revolve so that the friction which would otherwise
occur is diminished. The lever I being made adjustable in a vertical position
either upwards or downwards by means of the adjustable links and screw J
and the gearing K for actuating it, the distance between the edges of the
knives on the grinding cone A and those on the interior of the case G may be
regulated at will by simply raising or lowering the lever by turning in a right
or left-hand direction the handles K', causing the grinding cone A to be
elevated or depressed within the grinding case, thus the coarseness or fine-
ness of the pulp may be regulated as may be required. The top cover of
the grinding case G is bolted on, as shown at Figure 1, and the lower end
is closed by its being bolted down to the sole plate L, as also shown at
Figure 1, this being carried by girders L' otherwise carried as under any
circumstances may be desired.

page_text: 66
I now proceed to set forth the arrangement and construction of the grinding
or disintegrating knives themselves, both in the grinding case G, as well as
those fixed to the cone A. I shall then set forth the mode of constructing
the grinding cone A which I prefer to adopt. The knives, disintegrators,
or cutters, as they may be variously termed, are marked M both in. the
casing G as well as the cone A, and they are made up in sets or blocks of
several plates of steel of an eighth of an inch thick or thereabouts, any number
of which may be fastened together by screws, bolts, or rivets, substituting
what in the common pulp beating engine is called the plate." These
blocks of steel plate extend through the greater part of the depth of the
interior of the cone, as shown at Figures 1 and 2, and they are set to coincido
with the taper of the cone, or at an inclination to the axis of the cone, so as
to form a shear cut with the disintegrating or cutting plates on the cone
itself. The sets of bars are at a greater distance at the top than at the
bottom. The inside of the case is of a much wider diameter than the revolving
cone is, both at the top and bottom, to allow of the blocks of steel plates to be
admitted as seen on plan, Figures 5 and 6; the plates being fitted up in sections
are fastened to the case by means of screws and bolts passing through the side
of the case, which are easily removed when wanted. The bars in the conc
and "plate" are sharpened to a thin edge, as is usual in pulp-beating engines,
and made perfectly true, so that the bars in the cone as it revolves shall como
in contact with the bars in the plate, with the exception of a short distance
down from the cone, when the steel bars are intended to be slightly clear of
each other for the admission of the pulp. The cone itself is by preference
formed of cast iron, the spindle B being fastened into it as herein-before
described, after which it is turned to the necessary finished shape and size in
a lathe. In casting the cone there are grooves formed in it which extend
from the top to the bottom, and into which the set of steel bars, cutters,
disintegrators, or knives are fitted as shown at Figures 3 and 4, three such
cutters, disintegrators, or knives being combined together in each set, as
shown in these Figures 3 and 4, after which, being keyed in place they are
firmly bound to the case by the malleable iron hoops d, d, Figures 3 and 4,
one at each end being shrunk into a recess formed to receive it. The
operation of grinding or "beating the stuff" is as follows:-The "half stuff,"
after being washed, sized, or coloured in the ordinary washing engine is
passed through the conic grinding surfaces, entering by the top cover of the
casing through the supply pipe e of considerable elevation, so as to cause a
pressure on the pulp and force it between the bars of the cone as it revolves.
The stuff thus taken in by the cone at the top side gradually passes down

page_text: when it comes in contact with the finer set bars, both in the cone and
plates," so that as it escapes from the lower end of the cone the pulp is in a
fit state to make the kind of paper intended. For regulating the supply into
and discharge from the cone valves or taps of suitable form and dimensions
are provided, so that the requisite quantity can be admitted, kept a proper
time within, and discharged in a continuous stream ready to be made into
paper. The proper degree of pressure to be given to the cone while it
revolves in contact with the steel plates can easily be given by turning the
handles K', so as to lower or elevate the cone when the proper degree of
fineness for the pulp is once arrived at. The nut Z, seen on Figure 1, on the
top of the regulating screw is brought down to bear on the top of the nut in
the wheel, so as to prevent the cone coming nearer to the grinding surfaces,
after which the nut Z is secured and locked in its place by a master key, so
that the work may go on uniformly.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would
observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the general arrangement and construction of, as well as the
combination of parts constituting the apparatus or means for manufacturing
pulp as herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bertram, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven.
Witness,
ST. JOHN VINCENT DAY, C.E.
Patent Offices,
166, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
GEO. BERTRAM. (L.S.)