IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING QUARTZ AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-"
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING QUARTZ
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."-A communication from abroad by Peter Hannay,
TT
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his petition, on the
18th October 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING QUARTZ
AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the application of centrifugal force to the crushing
of quartz and other substances. To this end a closed circular chamber is
provided, and set in either a vertical or horizontal plane. On a shaft in the
centre of this chamber is mounted a plate or disc with arms projecting there-

page_text: from towards the inner periphery of the chamber, and this periphery, against
which the material to be operated upon, is intended to be dashed with great
violence, is furnished with ribbed or angular surfaces.
When the chamber is set in a horizontal plane, above it is placed a hopper
for feeding the material to be pulverized to the centre of the chamber, and
near the periphery is placed a tube for conducting off the pulverized material
to a receptacle in which it is to be collected. In the vertical machine the
material to be crushed is fed in at one side of the chamber (at the centre
thereof) by a hopper, and when crushed it is discharged through an opening
on the other side, the rapid rotation of the arms on the central shaft while
dashing the material against the ribbed or angular surfaces of the chamber
causing also a current of air to carry off the crushed material at the discharge
opening.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, 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
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR CRUSHING QUARTZ AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," being a communi-
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The principle of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, consists in reducing quartz or other refractory material to powder by
percussion, that is to say, by the sudden check of the momentum of a body
moving with great velocity. This principle may be carried into effect by a
machine constructed in either of the ways to be hereafter described.
To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use the improve-
ment, I will now proceed to describe the construction of the machine and
mode of operating the same.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figures 1 and 2 represent side and end
elevations of the improved machine; Fig. 3 is a plan of the same; Fig. 4, a
side elevation of the machine, with one end of the crushing cylinder removed
to show the construction of its parts; Fig. 5 is a plan of the interior surface
of the cylinder; Fig. 6 is a modification of the same; Fig. 7 represents a
section through the arms in the line x, x, of Fig. 4; Fig. 8 is an elevation of
a machine arranged to operate in a horizontal plane; Fig. 9 is a plan of the
same, showing in dotted lines the interior construction of the machine; and
Fig. 10 is a vertical section taken through the line x, x, of Fig. 9. The
crushing or pulverizing apparatus may be mounted on any suitable frame,
according to whether the machine is intended to operate in a vertical or
horizontal plane.
In the vertical plane arrangement, A, A, are two supporting beans, on
which are erected four upright standards B, two on either side, connected
together at top by beams C, and these in turn are connected and braced
together by cross rails D, on which are secured bearings E, in which is
supported a revolving shaft F; on one end of this shaft is mounted an armed
dise G, and on. the other a driving pulley H. The disc G is enclosed by a
casing I, consisting of a cylinder J, and end caps or covers K and K'. In
the arrangement represented in the Drawing the cylinder J is armed on its
interior with ribs, which may be either of a triangular form, as shewn in
Figures 4 and 5, or formed of pyramidal teeth, as shown in Fig. 6, or they may
be made in any other suitable form. Instead of teeth the inner surface of the
cylinder may be left smooth, but the Inventor prefers to use the teeth. The

page_text: casing I, thus constructed, is firmly and permanently secured to the frame of
the machine by means of screw bolts a and nuts b. On the end K next the
frame of the machine, and at its centre, is cut an opening, through which the
shaft F passes, whilst in the outer end K' of the cylinder, and at its centre, is
cut another circular opening d, but of larger size, for the purpose of feeding
the quartz or other material to be pulverized to the machine, for which
purpose a hopper of suitable shape and dimensions is attached to the machine.,
At or near the inner periphery of the cylinder there is cut through the inner
end or disc K of the casing I another opening, to which is secured a carrying
tube L, through which is forced, by the current of air engendered by the
rotation of the arms, the pulverized quartz or other substance as fast as
produced, and by it conducted wherever desired, or the spout may be let into
the cylinder direct if deemed expedient. In this instance the arms for the
purpose of strength, and to lighten as much as possible their weight, are
represented as being cast on a disc G, which tapers from the shaft F outwards,
but if desired they may be cast on a hub or in any other suitable manner
consistent with strength, and they may either be made straight or curved.
The disc on which they are cast (when a disc is used) may also be made in
any suitable form consistent with the purpose for which it is intended to be
used. On the inner surface of the cylinder ribs or teeth are formed, having
the plane of their face set at right angles to the direction of the quartz or
other substance as it is projected from the beaters or arms, under which
circumstances they may either be made to run straight across the cylinder, as
in Fig. 5, or be cut somewhat of the form represented in Fig. 6, so that the
whole momentum of the quartz or other substance may be checked at once.
As to the arms themselves, they may be set at such angle to the shaft, and
made in such form, curved or straight, as may be found best adapted for the
most perfect execution of their work. In order to make the casing of the
arms perfectly tight and strong the ends or caps K, K', are made to fit tightly
over its ends, and the whole is then bolted firmly to the frame, and if deemed
expedient for this purpose, a strip. of lead, india-rubber, or other suitable
material may be inserted between them. Such a machine is capable of
reducing gold. bearing quartz, sand, plaster, manganese, lime, chalk, coffee,
and other such materials to a fine powder, and is also applicable for reducing
grain to meal or flour, and for pulverizing chemicals and drugs.
The operation of the machine is substantially as follows:-The quartz or
other material, broken to a suitable size, is fed in by hand or by means of a
hopper through the opening in the outer cap K, when it is driven with great
force and velocity by the arms or beater c of the disc G against the cylinder J,

page_text: toothed or otherwise, and there reduced to powder, such parts as may not liave
been completely pulverized rebounding back, and being again projected by the
arms against the cylinder until perfectly reduced. The pulverized material is
carried and discharged by the current of air engendered by the rotation of the
arms (or by other means suitably arranged for that purpose) through the
tube L, and by it conducted wherever desired. If required, the cylinder J.
may be made to rotate to increase the speed in the opposite direction to the
arms, in which event the machine would require to be suitably constructed for
that purpose.
Instead of placing the arms and cylinder in a vertical plane, they may be
arranged in a horizontal plane, as shown in Figures 8, 9, and 10, in which
event the arms 17 must be cast on a disc 3, so as to receive the material to.
be pulverized, and which being rapidly rotated within the closed chamber will
throw the quartz or other material with great velocity and force against the
teeth or ribs of the cylinder. The arms may be made in such form as will give
the greatest tangential velocity to the stones or material to be pulverized.
In this modification, 1 represents the frame that supports the apparatus ; 2, the
cylinder; 3, the armed disc; 4, the shaft on which it is mounted. The shaft works
in suitable bearings 5 and 6, and is supported in a step 7; 8 represents a frame
in which the upper bearings are secured; and 9, a similar frame, secured or other-
wise formed on the lower plate 10 of the cylinder 2. In this frame are mounted
the lower bearings of the shaft 4; 11 represents the hopper for feeding the
material to be pulverized to the machine, it being secured as well to the frame
of the machine as the upper plate or cap 12 of the cylinder 2; 13 represents the
flue or tube that conducts the powdered material from the machine to the chamber,
where it is to be collected, and which may be made of any suitable size and
shape for that purpose. The machine is firmly secured to the cross beams 14 of
the frame 1, by means of strong screw bolts 15 and nut 16. The lower plate 10
of the closed cylinder 2 is left open near its centre, for the influx of air to the
cylinder to assist in supplying the air for the blast generated by the rapid
rotation of the armed disc, and which drives out the powdered material through
the conducting pipe 13; air for this purpose being also admitted through the
feed opening of the cylinder. More than one of these conducting pipes 13
may be used if deemed necessary. The angle of the teeth or ribs of the
cylinder will be determined by the angle at which (from the shape of the
arms 17 of the disc 18) the materials under treatment are projected against
the cylinder; for the best effect it should be at right angles to the path of the
materials, so as to receive them square upon its face. The machine may be
driven by a pulley 19, either arranged on the shaft above or below the cylinder;

page_text: in this case it is represented as being arranged below, but either will answer.
The frame of the machine is represented as being made of wood, but it may
be made of iron; the rest of the machine is made of iron, the face of the arms
and teeth of the cylinder being chilled if required. To render this machine
effective it must be rotated with great velocity, say, from one to two thousand
revolutions per minute, according to the diameter of the machine.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improved machinery
for crushing quartz and other substances as communicated to me from abroad,
and having 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
reducing quartz and other materials to powder by machinery constructed and
acting substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)