IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR SLICING ROOTS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kealy, of Oxford Street, in the County.
of Middlesex, Agricultural Implement Maker, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR
SLICING ROOTS."
Sealed the 5th January 1853, and dated the 19th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kealy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th October 1852.
I, JOHN. KEALY, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR SLICING
RooTs to be as follows:-
This Invention is a machine for cutting turnips and other roots, in
which is combined, upon a cylindrical rotary or vibrating frame, a plain
slicer, with a peculiarly formed serrated cutter. There may be adapted
to the rotary or vibrating frame separate cutting plates; or the one edge
of the plate or plates may be plain, the other serrated. In order to
admit of varying the thickness of the pieces of turnips or other roots,
a gauge plate or plates is or are attached to the cylindrical frame by

page_text: means of set screws or other adjustable fastenings, so as to alter and
determine the distances of the gauge plates from the cutters, according
to the required thickness of the pieces of turnip or other roots.
Instead of giving a rotary motion to the cylinder and cutters in this
machine, as is usual with implements of this kind, I propose to con-
municate a reciprocating or vibrating action, so that both edges of the
knife plates may be brought into operation. In some cases I propose
to employ a long cylindrical frame, with cutters of a similar kind to
those just described, and I divide its length into three parts, one of
which should be furnished with knives suitable for cutting food for
lambs, the second for sheep, and the third for cattle. Each of these
may be furnished with a hopper, so that all may be worked at the same
time, if required, or one moveable hopper only may be employed,
which hopper must be adapted and placed above that part of the
cylinder intended to be brought into use.
The arrangement for actuating the cylinder will be the same in all
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Kealy in the Great Seal Patent Office, on
the 19th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN KEALY, of Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Agri-
cultural Implement Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Kealy, Her especial
licence that I, the said John Kealy, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Kealy, 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR SLICING ROOTS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Kealy, by an
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 l'atent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Kealy, do hereby de-
clare 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 here-
nuto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improvement on the knife (to
be applied to turnip cutters) for which I obtained protection under
the Registration Act, on the Sixth March, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-two; and, secondly, to a mode of applying such knives or
knives with a straight or continuous edge, so that the depth or thickness
of the slices produced by their use may be regulated with great nicety
and expedition.
Figs. 1, in the accompanying Drawings shew in plan and edge views
the registered knife already alluded to. It is formed from a strip of
sheet steel, in the opposite edges of which slanting parallel cuts are
made, of any suitable length and distance apart; one half of the metal
lying between these cuts is then bent down at right angles, whereby
the knife when seen in plan view is made to assume the appearance of
a saw edge; but, in reality, right-angled cutting edges are formed at
opposite edges of the strip of metal.
The first part of the Invention consists in combining with one such
line of cutters à smooth cutting edge, situate at the opposite edge of
the plate of. metal; so that whereas the action of the one edge of the
knife would be to make right-angled cuts, or cuts in two directions,
that of the opposite edge would be to make cuts in one direction only.

page_text: "The mode of mounting these knives, so that they may cut up roots into
pieces of various thicknesses, is shown in plan view, at Fig. 2. Fig. 3
is a vertical section of the improved machine taken in the line 1, 2,
of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4, is a cross section taken in the line 3, 4, of the
same Figure. a, a, are the knives affixed at their extremities by screws
to the rings b, b, the arms of which are carried by the shaft c. This
shaft turns in bearings in the main framing d, and it is provided with
a winch handle e, to rotate it, and a fly wheel f, to steady its motions.
To the inner periphery of the rings b, b, curved plates g, g, are affixed
by screws or other attachments, situate at points about midway of their
length, and thus they serve to complete a kind of drum. Strength and
rigidity is given to these plates by means of cross bars h, h, which pass
from one ring to the other and are attached thereto. These curved
plates occupy the circumferential space between the knives, and to their
edges which approximate to the knives, cross bars i, i, are rivetted.
Projecting laterally from the rings b, b, are flanges 6, 6*, (shewn best
in the end view, Fig. 5, of the drum). Through these flanges screws
k, pass, and thence through the ends of the bars i, i, for the purpose of
securing them to the rings. These bars are also furnished with screws
1, 1, which bear against the inner periphery of the rings b, b, for the
purpose to be presently explained. The knives a, a, are secured to the
rings in such a position that the blades which make the vertical cut
shall be nearly parallel with their line of motion, and the curved plates
take a corresponding position. The drum is enveloped in a casing, the
lower part of which, at m, is concentric with the drum, and is intended
to support any pieces that may have been cut, but not so completely as
to admit of their passing the knives and entering the drum. By being
thus kept up within the circuit of the knives these pieces will at the
next opportunity be more completely acted upon. The upper part n,
of the casing forms an expanding continuation of the hopper o, into
which the roots to be cut are thrown. The end plates of the casing ",
are cach provided with two projections p, q, which are intended as stops
to hold up the turnip or other vegetable substance under operation to
the action of the knives. Let it now be supposed that the machine is
to be put into action, and that it is driven in the direction of the arrow,

page_text: Fig. 3, to cut up turnips for cattle; it will be necessary to adjust that
edge of the plates g, g, which is adjacent to the right-angle cutting
edge of the knives so that a depth of cutting edge equal to the depth
or thickness of pieces required shall be presented to the turnips under
operation. This is effected by means of the screws k, and 7, by turning
which the edge of the plates is brought to and retained in any required
position. The turnips being now fed into the machine, and rotary
motion being given to the drum, the upper knife (see Fig. 3,) will bear
against the turnips which lie in its course, and drive them against, the
stop p, where a portion will be sliced off and simultaneously cut up into
small pieces, which will pass into the drum, and be thence discharged
through the latteral openings into any suitable receptacle. If, however,
any pieces escape past the stop p, they may be intercepted in their
passage downwards by the second stop q, and then again come under
the action of the knife; but if this should fail they will be carried up
by the knife into contact with a second stop q, on the other side of the
machine, and there the cut will be completed. In order to bring into
use the straight or continuous edge, which is intended for slicing food
for sheep, the opposite edges of the plates g, g, are to be adjusted, as
already explained, to suit the depth of cut required, and the drum is
rotated in an opposite direction to that indicated by the arrow. When
the knives with two right-angle cutting edges, as shewn at Figs. 1, are
employed, the same contrivances are adopted as above explained.
Instead of giving the knives a rotary motion they may receive a
reciprocating axial motion, and so cut alternately with their opposite
edges. In such case one knife will suffice for one machine, and if the
knife carries two different gauges, that is, for cutting food for sheep
and for cattle, two distinct receptacles should be provided for receiving
the different sized pieces that fall from the machine.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in machinery
or apparatus for cutting or slicing roots, I wish it to be understood, that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, first, the con-
struction and use of a knife which combines, as already explained, a
straight edge and right-angled cutting edges, for the purpose above set
forth. Secondly, I claim the general arrangement of the machine, as

page_text: above described and shewn in the Drawing; and particularly I claim
determining the depth of cut to be made by the use of an adjustable
gauge set in front of the cutting edges, and working in the manner
above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kealy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April. One thousand eight
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOHN KEALY. (L.B.)