IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING LEAF TEA
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lyle, of Armagh, in the County of
Armagh, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR ROLLING LEAF TEA."-A communication from abroad by
William Stewart Lyle, of Dibroeghur, Assam, in the Empire of
India.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lyle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd June 1875.
I, JAMES LYLE, of Armagh, in the County of Armagh, Ireland, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING LEAF TEA," to be as follows:-
:-
The leaf tea is first put into bags of a suitable size, and these bags of
tea are passed round a revolving barrel which revolves within a
cylinderical frame, and is mounted on a shaft or axis running in bearings
fixed to the ends of the frame. The cylindrical frame in which this
'barrel revolves has circular or disc-shaped ends, and its periphery con-

page_text: sists of a series of bars which fit into slots in the frame ends and can be
worked by means of springs and adjusting screws, either towards the
axis of the internal barrel or away from it so as to increase or
diminish the amount of space in which the bag of leaf tea is being
rolled.
Another method of adjusting this annular space is to use curved slots
in the frame ends in which the bars can move freely, and outside of this
a moveable disc in which are curved slots, the bars being sufficiently
long to project through the slots in the frame ends and enter those in
the moveable discs.
By causing the moveable discs to partially revolve in either direction
the bars can be brought towards the centre or away from it, and by
this means the diameter of the cylindrical frame increased or diminished
at will.
:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Lyle in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LYLE, of Armagh, in the County of Armagh, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Lyle, Her special license that I
the said James Lyle, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Lyle, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR ROLLING LEAF TEA," (a communication to me from abroad by William
Stewart Lyle, of Dibroeghur, Assam, in the Empire of India,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Lyle, my exccutors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,

page_text: 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 James Lyle, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for rolling
leaf tea, and for this purpose I proceed in the following way:-The leaf
'tea is first put into bags of a suitable size, and these bags of tea arc
passed round a revolving barrel which revolves within a cylindrical
frame, and is mounted on a shaft or axis which runs in bearings fixed
to each end of the frame. The cylindrical frame in which this barrel
revolves has for its periphery a series of bars which fit into slots in the
frame ends so as to be capable of being moved either towards or away
from the internal barrel; and by this means I am enabled to regulate
the distance or space in which the bags of leaf tea are rolled. The
revolving barrel is corrugated or ribbed on its surface in the ordinary
way.
The annular space between the revolving barrel and the bars or ribs
which constitute the outside of the cylindrical frame is regulated as
follows, namely, I take four' discs, two at each end of cylinder, the
two inside discs are made fast to the frames of the machine, and the
two outside discs are left loose to revolve as far as may be required to
expand or contract the ribs of hard wood or other material which
form the outside cylinder. Each disc has radial slots to receive the ends
of ribs of outside cylinder, so that when the two outside discs are turned
round, the ribs are carried to or from the centre and alter the space
between the two cylinders.
Any means can be used to turn the outside discs. I prefer fixing a
rack on each periphery of outside discs, and a shaft mounted with two
pinions and a hand wheel, so that the operator can by turning the hand
wheel alter the pressure at his will.
In order that my said Invention may be understood, I will proceed to
describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: Figure 1 is an end elevation. A, A, are the outer and inner discs of
outside cylinder; B, B, are the ribs. When A. the outside disc is
turned round B moves to or from the centre. C is the hand wheel;
D, the pinions; when the hand wheel is turned the pinions turn the
rack of outside discs. E is the feeding board; there are three ribs of 5
outside cylinder left out opposite the feeding board for the bag con-
taining the tea to be inserted. The board in the frame can be slid into
this opening until it approaches the inner cylinder, and the bag of tea is
rolled out.
Figure 2 is a front elevation. A, A, the fast and loose pulleys for 10
driving inside cylinder; B, the bearings of inside cylinder shaft; C, the
frames of machine; D, D, the outer and inner discs; E, the ribs of out-
side cylinder; F, the feeding board.
Figure 3 is a cross section of outer and inner cylinders, discs, and
frames. A, A, is the inside cylinder; B, the ribs of outside cylinder; 18
C, C, the outer and inner discs; D, the frame of the machine.
Figure 4 is a plan section. A, the inside cylinder; B, the outside
cylinder; C, C, the fast and loose pulleys of inside cylinder.,
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what 2
I claim as my improvement in machinery for rolling tea leaf, is
the expanding and contracting of the outside cylinder, substantially
in the manner and by the means herein-before set forth and
described.
Witness,
WILLIAM WILSON.
JAS. LYLE. (L.S.)