IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION OF COCOA-NUT FIBRE.
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Smith, of Brentwood, in the County of
Essex, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR THE PREPARATION OF COCOA-NUT FIBRE.
Sealed the 28th February 1860, and dated the 31st August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 81st
August 1859.
I, AUGUSTUS SMITH, of Brentwood, in the County of Essex, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION OF COCOA-NUT FIBRE," to be as follows:―
My Invention consists in a new arrangement of the rolls employed for
crushing the cocoa-nut, in an improved means of feeding the nuts thereto, in
an improved arrangement of holding rollers for presenting the fibres to be
cleaned to a drum or devil with teeth of a novel form. Cocoa nuts being of
various sizes become unequally crushed, and the fibres consequently damaged
if passed through rolls of the ordinary construction. Now in order that nuts
of the various sizes may be passed through the same rolls, and be subjected
to about the same degree of pressure, I apply springs to the bearings or
otherwise to the rolls, and I feed through a hopper at top, which leads the
nuts down between the rolls. I apply a lever to one or both ends of one of
the rollers used to hold the fibres, in order that the rollers may be separated to

page_text: be charged, and when charged that they may be brought towards each other by
depressing the lever, and the charge of fibres thus gripped while being exposed
to the action of the devil. Instead of using spiked teeth in the "devil,"
which I find cut and injure the fibres, I arm my cylinder or drum with blunt
teeth, which clean the fibres effectually without injuring them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Augustus Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
SMITII, of Brentwood, in the County of Essex, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Augustus Smith, Her special licence that I, the said Augustus
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Augustus Smith, 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-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION OF COCOA-NUT FIBRE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Augustus Smith, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, 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 Augustus Smith, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in a new arrangement of the rolls employed for
crushing the cocoa-nut shell, in an improved means of feeding the nut shells

page_text: thereto, and in an improved arrangement of holding rollers for presenting the
fibres to be cleaned to a drum or devil, with teeth of a novel form. Cocoa-nut
shells being of various sizes, become unequally crushed, and the fibres
consequently damaged if passed through rolls of the ordinary construction.
Now in order that shells of the various sizes may be passed through the same
rolls, and be subjected to about the same degree of pressure, I apply springs to
the bearings or otherwise to the rolls, and I feed through a hopper at top,
which leads the shells down between the rolls. I apply a lever to one or
both ends of one of the rollers used to hold the fibres, in order that the rollers
may be separated to be charged, and when charged that they may be brought
towards each other by depressing the lever, and the charge of fibres thus
Instead of using
gripped by being exposed to the action of the devil.
spiked teeth in the "devil," which I find cut and injure the fibres, I arm my
cylinder or drum with blunt teeth, which clean the fibres effectually without
injuring them.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an elevation; Figure 2 is an
end view partly in section through the line x, y, of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is
a plan of a machine which I employ in the preparation of cocon-nut fibres
for crushing the cocoa-nut shell. A, A, are strong cast-iron frames; B, B,
are pinions; c is another pinion conveying motion to the machine from any
prime mover; D is a spur wheel gearing into the pinion C; E, E, are
gudgeons to which the fluted rollers F, F, are connected, and between which
rollers the shell passes as it is crushed; G, G, are fixed brasses, through
which one end of the gudgeons E, E, work; H, H, are moveable brasses
which constitute the particular improvement in the construction of this
machine; I, I, are pieces of india-rubber in front of the moveable brasses
(enclosed in a kind of box or block J), acting against a wrought-iron plate K,
which is kept fixed in any required position by the set screws L; M, M, are
strong cast-iron caps; N, N, are stays; 0 is the shaft to which motive.
power may be applied; P is a clutch for throwing the machine in and out
of gear; Qis the lever for working the clutch; R is a bracket bolted on to
the side frames to form a fulcrum for the lever; S is a foundation plate, to
which the frames are bolted, and T is a hopper into which the shells are
thrown. The shell of the nut in a hard and tough state is thrown into the
hopper T, from whence it descends to and passes between the fluted rollers
F, F; one of these rollers immediately separates from the other, a certain
distance to allow the nut shell to pass by the action of the india-rubber in
front of the movable brasses H, which brasses when pushed against by the
moveable roller compress the india-rubber against the wrought-iron plate K,

page_text: held by the bolt F. The object of this arrangement is to allow the fluted
rollers F, F, to equally bruise the large and small shells (as they vary in size
considerably), also to bruise the shells without destroying the fibre, which is
not accomplished when the rollers are fixtures; the shells are also rendered
pliable previous to their being introduced into the fibre machine to be
hereafter described. After the shell has passed between the two top rollers
it descends to the lower rollers, one of which separates in the same manner
as the top one, though not to such an extent.
Figure 4 is an end view; Figure 5 is a side elevation; and Figure 6 is a
plan of what I call a cocoa-nut shell fibre machine, being another of the
machines I employ in the preparation of cocoa-nut fibre. A, A, are cast-
iron frames; B is a drum round which pieces of wood C are bolted, and
through which from the inside of the drum flat-topped or blunt teeth are
driven; D, D, are plummer blocks for supporting the shaft E, on which the
drum B is keyed. F, F, are fast and loose pulleys for trausmitting motion
to the drum B, and the feeding rollers H, H, through the pulley G, pulley
and pinion I, and spur wheel J. The feeding rollers H, H, fit into slotted
plummer blocks K and L, one being longer than the other to admit of the top
roller rising (for the purpose hereafter explained); M is a plummer block
bracket bolted to frames for carrying the end of the top roller, it is fitted with
a lateral shifting brass to admit of the vibration of the roller when raised at
one end; N, N, are two small pinions to work the rollers reversely; O is a
lever for raising or depressing the top roller; P, P, are stay rods connecting
the machines together; Q is a lever for stopping and starting; R is a boss
cast on the frame to carry a gudgeon for the pulley and pinion I; S is a
cast-iron bed plate, to which the two machines are fixed as shewn; T is a
wrought-iron casing enclosing the drum B. This fibre machine clears the
fibre from the boon or shell, which it accomplishes in the following manner :-
After the shell has been bruised by the machine first herein-before described,
it is placed between the rollers H, H, the upper roller being raised at one
end by the lever O; after the shell is admitted, the said roller is depressed by
the same lever, the feeding rollers draw in the shell, and bring it in contact
with the flat-topped or blunt pointed teeth on the drum B. This toothed
drum travelling at a much greater velocity than the feeding rollers clears the
fibres from the boon, shell, and other extraneous matters without injuring or
destroying the fibres, as is usually the case when spiked teeth are employed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in machinery for the preparation of cocoa-nut fibre,―

page_text: First, the employment of springs fitted to the rollers, between which the
cocoa-nut shells pass, essentially in manner and for the purpose herein-before
described.
Second, the employment of a lever for acting on the rollers in cocoa-nut
shell fibre machines in manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
Third, the employment of blunt or flat-topped teeth for clearing the fibres
of extraneous matters as herein-before described.
And, fourth, the particular combination of machinery herein-before described
and represented at Figures 4, 5, and 6 of the accompanying Drawings, for
holding the fibres to be cleared and for clearing them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.