IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SORTING AND PREPARING TEA FOR THE MARKET
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry de Mornay, of Bayswater, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR SORTING AND PREPARING TEA FOR THE MARKET,"
.PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry de Mornay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th August 1860.
.I, HENRY DE MORNAY, of Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
5.man, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR SORTING AND PREPARING TEA FOR THE MARKET," to be as
follows::-
This Invention relates, to certain novel arrangements of apparatus to be
used in the processes of manufacturing tea, by which the operations of
winnowing, sifting, and drying the tea are accomplished in a more perfect,
. expeditious, and economical manner than is at present obtained, and which
apparatus I will now describe:-The winnowing apparatus cousists of a
hollow air trunk or chamber open at both ends, and through which a blast of
.air is driven by a fan wheel, or other ordinary means. The under side of the
5. air trunk or chamber is fitted with shutes, which are ranged abreast of each
other athwart the air chamber, at varying distances from the inlet for the
blast and entrance for the tea to be subjected to the process. The tea is let
: in from the top of the shute in a stream, the width of the inside of the shute,
from a sort of hopper or contrivance suitably arranged for the purpose. By
Oi this means the descending stream of tea acted on in the rear by the blast of
air is driven through the chamber, the various particles of the unsorted tea
[Price 8d.]

page_text: falling into the several shutes respectively, according to their varying specific
gravities, the heavier pieces falling first, and the lighter ones last, or furthest
from the induction of the blast. The first division or shute is made adjustable
lengthwise in regard to its exact position in the air trunk, in order that it may
take out a less or greater portion of the tea as may be found expedient,
having reference to the quality of the tea operated upon, and the strength of
the blast, which is also regulated in the usual way. All the other divisions or
shutes may be also made adjustable in like manner, but in practice I have
not found this necessary or advisable, as interfering with the simplicity of
the apparatus without securing an adequate advantage. The various
qualities of tea in descending from their respective shutes are caught in
suitable receptacles.
This apparatus, as well as being used in the assortment of manufactured
tea, will be found also most effective in the partial assortment of the green
leaf before being manufactured, as it reduces the labor in the subsequent
assortment of the teas after manufacture.
The manufactured tea when thus to a certain extent assorted, is next to be
submitted to the sifting operation, which I accomplish by the use of a
revolving or rotating sieve of a novel construction. This sieve may either
consist of a hollow cylinder formed of wire gauze, perforated metal, or other
sifting material properly framed; or an endless belt of such sifting material
stretched over a pair of rollers. In either case the cylinder or the endless
belt are caused to revolve slowly, whilst the tea to be sifted is discharged
continuously and evenly on the upper surface, moving forward with the
perforated surface; but to ensure the smaller particles of tea passing through
the meshes a jigging motion is given to the sieve by means of a rotating cam,
or other well-known contrivance. Within the sieve, or beneath its upper
surface, is placed a shute, suitably constructed to receive the tea as it falls
through the orifices, and that which cannot pass through the sieve is discharged
over it into a suitable receptacle. When making the sieve cylindrical, I
mount it upon supporting rollers, so as to avoid the use of an axle or centre
bearing; but when the endless web is used this provision is not required. I
also employ, by preference, a sifting surface of a novel construction, which is
more effective and expeditious than the ordinary wire gauze used for sifting
tea, and which consists of thin metal sheet perforated with elongated holes
arranged in lines at right angles and diagonally to each other, to facilitate the
passage of the tea through them, no matter in what position it may fall on to
the sieve. This construction of sifting surface is applicable to ordinary hand
sieves where they are required to be used. The sifting machine above

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said Henry de Mornay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DE MORNAY, of Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry de Mornay, Her special license that 1, the said Henry de Mornay
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry de Mornay, 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 vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
IN APPARATUS FOR SORTING AND PREPARING TEA FOR THE MARKET,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry de Mornay, 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 Patent.
PROVEMENTS
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry de Mornay, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to certain novel arrangements of apparatus to be
used in the process of manufacturing tea, by which the several operations of
winnowing, sifting, and drying the tea are accomplished in a more perfect,
expeditious, and economical manner than is at present obtained.
The winnowing operation is intended mainly to assort the tea according to

page_text: the qualities of the leaves, and for this purpose I subject the tea to the action
of a machine, consisting of an air trunk, provided at one end with a fan for
throwing a blast of air against a descending stream of tea, supplied to the
air trunk by a shute above. The tea meeting with the blast will be carried
forward in the trunk at distances determined by the specific gravity of the
leaves, and distributed into hoppers or shutes which will conduct it to
receptacles below.
The tea
In the accompanying Drawings, Sheet I.shews in several views the machine
which I employ for winnowing the tea, Fig. 1 being an elevation partly in
section, Fig. 2 a plan view, and Fig. 3 an end elevation of the machine. In
these Figures a, a, is the air trunk supported by a suitable framing b, b; c is
the case of the fan or blower which may be of any approved construction; the
axle of the fan is shewn as fitted with a spur pinion d. The air trunk is fitted
at its under side with a series of fixed shutes e, e, e, so arranged that there
shall be no lodgment for tea in the air trunk. In advance of these fixed
shutes is a shute e¹ with an adjustable sliding bottom which is operated by
means of a metal strap (pendent from the main framing)and two catch barse²,
jointed thereto, one on each side of the shute. These bars are provided with
ratchet teeth which take severally on to a V-edged projection on the side of the
framing b, and thus maintain the upper edge of the sliding bottom in any
required position. The air trunk is sufficiently elevated to allow of a series of
trucks, each carrying four tea chests, g,g, being passed under it clear of the
shutes to receive the tea as it is discharged in an assorted stite.
falls into two of these at a time, and when filled the truck is moved to bring
two empty chests to supply their place. By this arrangement it will be
unnecessary to stop the action of the machine whilst changing the chests.
Above the framing b, b, is a second frame 61, 61, for carrying the apparatus for
feeding the tea to the air trunk; this apparatus consists of a broad (flanged)
roller, which isgrooved on its peripheryso as to forma kind of ratchet surface.
Above this roller is fixed a shute, which guides down the tea supplied from a
hopper not shewn in the Drawing to the grooved roller. Aslowrotary motion is
given to thisroller so that itcarriesdown the tea and discharges it continuously
in small quantities on to an adjustable shute k, whence it falls through an
opening in the air trunk. Rotary motion is imparted to the roller / by a
band from a pulley on the main driving shaft m passing over a pulley n
keyed on the axle of the roller h. The driving shaft n is rotated by means of
a hand wheel or driving pulley o, and a spur wheel p on that shaft gears with
the piuion d, and imparts a rapid rotary motion to the fan or blower. It-will
now be understood that as the tea delivered into the air trunk in a thin broad

page_text: stream comes within the action of the blast produced by the fan it will be
driven forwards along the air trunk, and according to its specific gravity so will
it be assorted, the dried and curled leaves falling either into the first, second,
third, or other shute provided to separate the different qualities, and being
eventually deposited in the chests situate below the shutes, while the dust or
pulverized tea is driven to the end of the air trunk and discharged into the
last chest of the series. I have said that the first shute is made adjustable
lengthwise with regard to the air trunk. The object of this adjustment is that
it may take out a less or greater portion of the tea of the first quality as may
be found expedient, having reference to the quality of the tea operated upon
and the strength of the blast, which is also regulated in the usual way.
The above described machine, besides being used in the assortment of
manufactured tea, will be found also most effective in the partial assort-
ment of the green leaf before being manufactured, as it reduces the labour
in the subsequent assortment of the teas after manufacture.
The manufactured tea when thus to a certain extent assorted is next to be
submitted to the sifting operation, which I accomplish by the use of a revolving
or rotating sieve of a novel construction. This tea-sifting machine may be
fitted either with a cylindrical sifter formed of perforated metal on which the
tea is to be let full that the finer portions may find their way through to an
inclined table by which it is to be guided to a receptacle, while the other is
discharged over the cylinder, or the machine may be fitted with an endless
sheet of perforated metal mounted on drums or rollers, as shewn in Sheet II.
of the accompanying Drawings, which latter arrangement I prefer. Fig. 1
represents this improved sitting machine in side elevation, Fig. 2 shews it in
plan view, and Fig. 3 is a cross section taken in the line A, B, of Fig. 1. a, a,
represents a cast-iron framing; b, b', are two drums or rollers carrying an
endless sheet of perforated metal c, c, which forms the sifting surface. A
jogging motion is imparted to the travelling sheet c to give it the sifting action,
and to effect this the drums b, b, are each supported by their bosses on a pair
of tappet wheels d, d, keyed to transverse shafts c, e'. The drums are further
maintained in position by means of antifriction rollers d', d², mounted loosely
on fixed studs on the framing a, and bearing upon flanged cylindrical portions
of thebossesof the drums respectively. On the top of the sifter ctwobrushesg,g,
are placed one at each side of the machine for the purpose of preventing the
ea from fallingover the edges of the metallic sheet. These brushes are secured
o brackets g', g, bolted to the framing a. Rotary motion is imparted to the
nachine by means of a hand wheel or pulley on the tappet shaft e, which shaft
t its opposite end carries a pinion e in gear with a bevil wheel h¹ on the

page_text: longitudinal shaft h. A second bevil wheel 2 on this shaft gears into a bevil
pinion on the tappet shaft e¹, and a small pulley h³ on the extremity of the
shaft serves to drive, by means of a band, a pulley on a short shaft i carried
by standards a¹, a². On the inner end of the shaft i is a worm it, into which
gears a worm pinion on the cross shaft k, which has its bearings in the
standards a', a'. This shaft is provided with a pair of pulleys 1, 2, for driving
the drum b by means of bands which pass round grooves made in the opposite
ends of that drum to receive them. To keep the bands at tension weighted
crank arms carrying guide pulleys are used to press upon the bands and take
up the slack.
A third band pulley is keyed to the shaft i for driving the
feed roller, which is similar in construction to that shewn in the first described
machine, and is itself similarly fed with tea from a shute m (situate above it)
as it is slowly rotated by the means of the band i. Within the enclosed space
surrounded by the travelling pierced surface of metal is a shute n (see Fig. 3)
which extends from one drum to the other, and is sufficiently broad to embrace
the whole operating surface. The shute is inclined to one side of the machine
so as to conduct the tea that falls through the sifting surface out of the machine
and discharge it into an adjacent receptacle. The tea that is too large to pass
through the perforations is carried forward by the endless sheet c, and
discharged at the end of the machine into a proper receptacle. To ensure
the proper sifting action I propose to pierce the metal sheet with elongated
holes arranged in a manner that will afford the utmost facility for the passage
of the tea through them. At Figures 4, 5, and 6, I have shewn three
arrangements which will effect this object, but that which I prefer is the
arrangement shewn at Fig. 4.
It will now be understood, that on rotary motion being imparted to the
machine, the sheet c will receive a slow progressive motion, thus spreading
the ten fed thereto evenly over its surface, and the drums while rotating
will, by reason of the irregular supporting surfaces of the tappet wheels,
receive a sudden up and down or jogging motion (being received in their
fall from the tappets on the wheels d), which motion will serve to disturb
the tea, and present the leaves in constantly varying positions to the per-
forations in the endless sheet c. When making the sieve cylindrical, I
mount it upon supporting rollers so as to avoid the use of an axle or centre
bearing, and in other respects the arrangement will be analogous to that
described with reference to the endless sheet of pierced metal.
In order effectually to sift the tea, and separate it into the customary
qualities, it will be necessary to employ two, three, or more of such machines
as that described for sifting the sanie batch of tea, the pierced holes of the

page_text: endless sheets c in each machine being different in size, and graduated to
suit the different qualities to be separated.
When the assortment of the tea, both as respects its specific gravity andits
size has been completed, the tea is to be subjected to a drying process prior to
packing it for the market. To accomplish this, I propose to pass it into a
chamber heated to the required temperature by steam or hot air.
The tea,
as it enters from the hopper or feeding apparatus, distributes itself evenly
over travelling surfaces, which carry it slowly through and deliver it from
the chamber in the dried state for packing.
In Sheets III. and IV. of the Drawings, Fig. 1 shews the improved drying
apparatus in side elevation; Fig. 2 is a front view; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal
section; and Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken in the line A, B, of Fig. 2.
a, a, is a closed chamber made of metal or other suitable material, and fitted
with horizontal partitions a¹, a¹, a¹, which divide it into three compartments
In each compartment, and at opposite ends thereof, rollers b, 61, are mounted
in pairs for receiving and holding at tension endless aprons c, c³, o², made of
woven or other suitable fabric, either porous or otherwise. Under the aprons
c, c, bearing rollers c*, c*, are arranged as shewn at Fig. 2. An opening is
made at d in the top of the chamber for the reception of the tea to be dried,
which tea is fed to the shute d by a feeding apparatus precisely similar to that
described with reference to the winnowing machine. The duty of the aprous
c, c, c, is to traverse the tea through the heated chamber and thoroughly
expose it to the heated atmosphere, so that by the time it has arrived at the
exit e in the bottom of the chamber, the moisture which it contained will be
effectually expelled therefrom. The tea, as it falls from the shute d, is
received on to the travelling apron c, by which it is carried forward in a thin
layer to the front end of the chamber. The apron c then discharges it on to
a shute /, which conducts it to the apron below. By this act of transfer
the leaves of tea are turned, and a fresh surface is exposed, and as the apron
rotates in an opposite direction to the apron e, the tea will therefore run
back to the rear end of the chamber, where it will be discharged on to a
shute,which will guide it on to the apron c². By this apron it will be returned
to the front end of the chamber, and be discharged on to the shute e, which
will guide it into a suitable receptacle prepared to receive it. In order to
keep up a proper circulation of hot air in the chamber a,a, a supplementary
heating chamberg is provided which connects with each compartment of the
drying chamber a. Leading into the chamber g is an air trunk h, through
which a steam pipe is introduced. This pipe i carries steam to a steam
chest, from which a series of pipes ascend, carrying the steam to a second

page_text: and similar chest . With this steam chest is coupled a waste pipe ³ for
carrying off the spent steam, and the condensed steam is drawn from the
steam chest by branch pipes 4. Cold air is thrown into the chamber g
by a fan or blower, and circulating round the steam pipes, it will become
heated: The air will then pass over a vertical deflecting plate, which divides
.the chamber g into two compartments, and enter the chamber a. For the
purpose of carrying off the floating vapour in the chamber a discharged
from the tea, each division of the chamber is brought into connection with
ventilating pipes I, l, which are open to the atmosphere.
The rotation of the rollers carrying the traversing aprons is effected by
means of the train of gearing shewn at Fig. 1, which consists of a large spur
.wheel 1 keyed to the axle of the middle roller, and driven by a pinion on the
boss of a hand wheel 2. On the same axle as the wheel 1 is a spur wheel 3,
which gears into similar spur wheels on the axles of the other rollers. If
thought desirable, both pairs of rollers may be driven instead of depending
ou tlie friction of contact between these rollers and the aprons for their
rotation. A band 4 from a pulley on the axle of the top roller communi-
cates rotary motion to the feed roller situate above the chamber a. I would
remark, that this drying apparatus may be used in earlier stages of the
manufacture, when the temperature of the tea in course of making is not
required to be raised above that of boiling water.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in
apparatus for sorting and preparing tea for the market, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that,
under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim subjecting tea to
the operations of winnowing, sifting, and drying in apparatus constructed
and operating as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry de Mornay, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFAIT,
66, Chancery Lane.
H. DE MORNAY. (L.S.)