IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING. FIBRE FROM RHEA AND SUCH LIKE PLANTS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cameron Graham, of Shalford, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING.
FIBRE FROM RHEA AND SUCH LIKE PLANTS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR
THAT PURPOSE.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cameron Graham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd September 1873.
I, JOHN CAMERON GRAHAM, of Shalford, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING FIBRE FROM RHEA AND SUCH LIKE PLANTS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE
USED FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
In order to obtain fibre from rhea or China grass according to this
Invention the stems or stalks when in a dry state are first split longi-
tudinally, the half stems or stalks are then passed between a pair of
rollers by which they are flattened out. The split stalks after being
thus flattened are fed forwards by a roller or rollers over the edge of a

page_text: bar or plate, in front of which is a beater to which a reciprocating up-
and-down motion may be given so as alternately to come above and
below the edge of the bar or plate; or a number of beaters may be
carried by arms from a revolving axis so as to be in turn carried round
in front of the edge of the bar or plate. The split stalks are placed
with their outer bark resting on the bar or plate, and with the inner
wood or pith uppermost. As the ends of the stalks are fed forwards
past the edge of the bar or plate they are caught by the beater, and the
stalks being held down on to the bar or plate by a roller, or otherwise,
their projecting ends are bent sharply over the edge, the inner wood or
pith of the stalks is thus broken into short lengths and stripped from its
outer fibrous covering. The fibrous covering having thus had the inner
wood or pith separated from it is subsequently passed between a pair of
rollers, to which a revolving motion and also an endway to-and-fro
motion in opposite directions is imparted, so that the fibres are con-
tinuously drawn forward between the rollers and are at the same time
rubbed between them, by which the outer bark is rubbed off from the
fibres, leaving the fibres in a clean state and separated from one another.
I prefer that the rubbing rollers should be covered with vulcanized
india-rubber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Cameron Graham in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CAMERON GRAHAM, of Shalford, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Cameron Graham, Her special license
that I, the said John Cameron Graham, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Cameron Graham, 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,

page_text: and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN OBTAINING FIBRE FROM RHEA AND SUCH LIKE PLANTS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE
USED FOR THAT PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Cameron Graham, 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 Cameron Graham, 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 :-
In order to obtain fibre from rhea or China grass according to this
Invention the rhea or China grass is first allowed to dry in the open
air after being cut. When the hollow stalks or grass are sufficiently
dry to split they are taken separately and the thick ends pushed against
the long spike of a splitting knife a, such as shewn separately at
Figures 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed. The point of the knife
enters into the soft or pithy part and serves as a guide to prevent the
hollow stalks from getting away from the cutting edge, which may be
about or -in. behind the extreme point of it; when they have been
pushed by hand from 3 to 8 inches past the cutting edge (the distance.
being varied to suit the size of the stalks) they are seized between a pair
of smooth revolving rollers 6 which squeeze them and drag them over
the splitting knife for the rest of their lengths.
I prefer to form the splitting machines with a number of splitting-
knives a, each fixed in front of a pair of rollers, as shewn at Figures 2
and 3, in order that one attendant may readily in succession feed canes
on to the several knives of the machine.
If the rollers 6 are driven so as to draw the stalks through at 50 feet a
minute the machines might advantageously be made with 5 knives and
pairs of rollers, but the numbers of knives and rollers in each machine
may be considerably varied,

page_text: As the canes are not all the same size and as they are thicker at one
end than the other the machines are made with one long roller on the
top and a separate short roller on the bottom to cach knife, which roller
is pressed up with a pressure of about 60 lbs. by means of weights so
that the stalks are squeezed to the same extent throughout their entire
length. The top roller is geared to each of the small bottom ones in
order to drive them. The knives may be placed with their cutting edges
either vertical or horizontal, and a V guide facilitates the introduction of
the stalks.
When the stalks have been split longitudinally, as above described,
the fibrous bark may readily be separated by hand from the central-
woody portion. To effect this readily the stalks may be opened out and
laid in the left hand, the forefinger being placed between the woody part
and the fibrous bark, this fibrous part is then laid hold of by the right
hand and by pulling it the wood and fibre separate completely, as
illustrated in the Diagram, Figure 4.
The fibrous bark, separated from the woody portions by the means
above described, or in other suitable ways, is subsequently treated as
follows-The fibrous bark is dried gently, by preference at about 80°
or 90° Fahrenheit, until the fibre separates easily from the bark when
sharply bent; in this condition it becomes brittle but regains its strength
and pliability subsequently when it has absorbed a little moisture.
When sufficiently dry the fibrous bark is fed by hand in small bundles,
each containing the bark of one, two, three, or more stalks (the bundles
being kept about 3 in. apart), into a machine such as shewn at Figures 5,
6, and 7 of the Drawings. This machine consists of three, or it might
be other number of sets of rollers a, a, covered with a layer of vulcanized
india-rubber, which may be from ¼ to 1 inch thick, and which are
caused to rotate slowly at the same time that a very rapid reciprocating
motion is given to one of each pair. The manner in which these
motions are given to the rollers is shewn by the Drawings, so that it is
unnecessary to give any detailed description of it.
If the rollers are 3½ in. diameter, and there are two sets, they may
make 450 to 600 reciprocations a minute of 1 inch travel while making
10 or 12 revolutions. The effect of this combined movement of a soft
material over the fibres is to cause them to roll to and fro one over
the other and to rub together rolling on the india-rubber, by which

page_text: means the reddish bark and much dust and dirt is completely removed.
from the fibres without damaging them. The fibres come out at the
other end of the machine in clean parallel bundles of the length of the
stalks operated upon. The dirt falls down the space left between each:
pair of rollers, the pairs of rollers being all placed in the same horizontal
plane to allow of the dirt thus falling away freely from each of them.
It is particularly necessary to dry the fibrous bark properly, neither.
to over or under do it, as in the latter case the fibres are not cleaned,
and in the former they become very brittle. The prepared fibre must
now be allowed to absorb moisture from the atmosphere.