IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND FOR REGULATING SUPPLIES OF SOLID AND FLUID SUBSTANCES IN THE PREPARATION OF MIXTURES COMPOUNDS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Armour, of Perceton Fire-clay Works,.
Kilmarnock, North Britain, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND FOR REGULATING SUPPLIES OF
SOLID AND FLUID SUBSTANCES IN THE PREPARATION OF MIXTURES
COMPOUNDS."
OR
Sealed the 20th April 1860, and dated the 26th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Armour at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th.
October 1859.
I, JOHN ARMOUR, of Perceton Fire-clay Works, Kilmarnock, North
Britain, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND FOR REGULATING SUPPLIES OF
SOLID AND FLUID SUBSTANCES IN THE PREPARATION OF MIXTURES OR COMPOUNDS,"
to be as follows:--
My Invention consists in constructing an apparatus with a set of compart-
ments or divisions, and furnishing the same above and below with revolving
or sliding lids or covers formed with apertures in the same, or with fixed
covers or lids with apertures and revolving or sliding compartments placed
between them, and so arranged as to allow solid substances in a ground,
pulverized, or other like form or fluid substances to pass into, and fill succes-

page_text: sively the said compartments or divisions from which they may be drawn off
for use as desired. By these means the quantities of ground fire-clay and
water required for the manufacture of fire-clay of given consistences, or the
quantities of chemical and other substances requisite for the manufacture of
manure, gunpowder, dough, and other compounds may be measured and
regulated with all needful exactness. I do not confine myself to any form of
compartments, but I prefer to divide a cylindrical vessel radially by suitable
partitions, and to furnish them with circular lids or covers revolving about the
centre.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Armour in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ARMOUR, of Perceton Fire-clay Works, Kilmarnock, North Britain, Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, 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 John Armour, Her special licence that I, the said
John Armour, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Armour, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND FOR REGULATING SUPPLIES OF
SOLID AND FLUID SUBSTANCES IN THE PREPARATION OF MIXTURES OR COMPOUNDS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Armour, 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 John Armour, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
My Invention consists in constructing an apparatus with a set of compart-
ments or divisions, and furnishing the same above and below with revolving or
sliding lids or covers formed with apertures in the same, or with fixed covers
or lids with apertures, and revolving or sliding compartments placed between
them, and so arranged as to allow solid substances in a ground, pulverized, or
other like form or fluid substances to pass into and fill successively the said
compartments or divisions from which they may be drawn off for use as
desired. By these means the quantities of ground fire-clay and water required
for the manufacture of fire-clay of given consistencies, or the quantities of
chemical or other substances requisite for the manufacture of manure, gun-
powder, dough, and other compounds may be measured and regulated with all
needful exactness. I do not confine myself to any form of compartments, but
I prefer to divide a cylindrical vessel radially by suitable partitions, and to
furnish them with circular lids or covers revolving about the centre.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a sectional elevation of
a machine, constructed according to my Invention, as applied to regulating
the supply of ground fire-clay and water to the ordinary pug mill. A is the
regulator for the clay, and B is the regulator for the water; the mouths of
these regulators are placed over the mouth of the pug mill C. The regulator A
is made by preference cylindrical; the upper part of it forms a hopper for the
supply of clay, which is fed into the regulator from the clay loft, the floor C
only of which is shown. The under portion of this regulator is divided into
four compartments with revolving lids or covers placed over the top and
bottom of the divided portion of the cylinder. The lids which are shewn in
sectional elevation and plan respectively at Figures 2 and 3, have a vacancy in
each of them placed reversely top and bottom corresponding to the size of the
divisions in the cylinder. When the upper portion of the cylinder or hopper
is filled with ground clay the division under the vacant portion of the lid fills
completely with clay. The lid by revolving places its vacant portion over the
next division, which likewise fills, and so on, while the under lid consecutively
opens each of these divisions, which thus discharges an exact measure of clay.
The water regulator B, shown in sectional elevation and plan respectively at
Figures 4 and 5, has a cylinder D above it, which is fed from a cistern G at
the same level, and is consequently kept full of water, which is measured out
in the same way as the clay. The revolving lids of both regulators are driven
by a separate pair of cone pulleys E and F with speeds slightly graduating

page_text: from each other; by this means the supply of either clay or water can be
reduced or accelerated at pleasure, and clay of any desired consistency can be
brought from the pug mill without any variation. A cylinder fifteen inches in
diameter and six inches deep, with the covers revolving six times per minute,
will discharge upwards of six tons of ground clay per hour, which an ordinary
pug mill will easily propel through it when the clay and water are properly
regulated throughout, and this speed can either be increased or diminished to
suit the rate at which the supply of ground clay can be obtained.
An arrangement of apparatus, similar in its essential features to that before
described, may be employed for various other purposes with great advantage,
such, for example, as the regulating of the chemical and other substances
requisite for the manufacture of manure, gunpowder, dough, and other
compounds.
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 the construction
of an apparatus with a set of compartments or divisions, and furnishing the
same above and below with lids or covers formed with apertures in order to
allow different substances (solid or fluid) to pass down in regulated supplies
into one common recepticle, essentially in the manner herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Armour, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty.
JOHN ARMOUR. (L.S.)