Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting Roots.
Year: 1889

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting Roots.
We, JAMES HORNSBY and JEREMIAH MONEY, both of Spittlegate Iron Works,
Grantham, in the County of Lincoln, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
In apparatus for cutting roots as now commonly made, the roots are placed in a
hopper which feeds them to a disc carrying cutters, the nature of the cutters varying
In order to enable one machine
according to the size and shape of the pieces to be cut.
to perform various operations, the dises have been made removeable, so that two or
more dises with different cutters could be used, but the process of changing the dises
is troublesome. It has also been proposed to have two hoppers one on each side of
the machine, and to have upon the same spindle two discs armed with different cutters.
one or other coming into operation according to which of the two hoppers was filled
with roots, but this construction is costly.
According to this invention there are two hoppers, one on each side of a single dise,
and this disc carries cutters on each side, the nature of the cutters being different.
The cut pieces pass through holes in the disc, as is usual, and in order to allow room for
the cut pieces to escape, the dise is made moveable endwise, so that when one set of
cutters is in operation, the mouth of the other hopper is opened wide, so that the cut
pieces can drop out. This endway movement of the disc can be obtained in various
ways but we prefer to have the disc fixed to the spindle, and to provide a loose collar
or spacing piece which can be inserted on one or other side of the disc between it and
its bearing or one or other side of a bearing.
finger pieces
In machines of this class where strips or
are to be cut there has
been difficulty in giving a sufficiently free passage for the escape of the cut pieces and
they are liable to be squeezed and their juice expressed.
The cutters for this class of work are usually arranged along a spiral opening in the
dise, the two sides of the opening being in parallel but different planes. Each cutier
is in the form of a right angle one side of the angle lying in the plane of one edge
of the opening and the other side being at right angles to the plane of the other edge.
Formerly these cutters were fixed by the last mentioned side being bolted to the
edge of a spiral bar fixed to the dise along one edge of the opening. According to
the Specification of a Patent granted to Robert Henry Johnston and William Vincent
Hardwick as Executors of Richard Hornsby No. 2575 of 1877 this spiral bar was
bevelled and one side of the cutter was prolonged, the prolongation making an obtuse
angle with the side so that it could be bolted to the bevelled side of the spiral har.
This method of fastening the cutters was a great improvement but a still freer exit is
desirable.
According to this invention in place of the prolongation making an obtuse angle
with the side of the cutter we bend it backwards to a right angle, so that it lies in a
plane parallel to the plane of the edge of the spiral slot and we dispense with the
segmental piece fixed to the dise bolting the prolongations directly to the dise itself.
Dated this 29th day of August 1889.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting Roots.
We, JAMES HORNSBY, and JEREMIAH MONEY, both of Spittlegate Iron Works,
Grantham, in the County of Lincoln. Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
In apparatus for cutting roots as now commonly made, the roots are placed in a
hopper which feeds them to a disc carrying cutters, the nature of the cutters varying
according to the size and shape of the pieces to be cut. In order to enable one machine
to perform various operations, the dises have been made removeable, so that two or
more dises with different cutters could be used, but the process of changing the dises
is troublesome. It has also been proposed to have two hoppers, one on each side of
the machine, and to have upon the same spindle two discs armed with different cutters,
one or other coming into operation according to which of the two hoppers was filled
with roots, but this construction is costly.
According to this Invention there are two hoppers, one on each side of a single dise
and this disc carries cutters on each side, the nature of the cutters being different.
The cut pieces pass through holes in the disc, as is usual, and in order to allow room for
the cut pieces to escape, the disc is made moveable endwise, so that when one set of
cutters is in operation, the mouth of the other hopper is opened wide, so that the cut
pieces can drop out. This endway movement of the disc can be obtained in various
ways, but we prefer to have the dise fixed to the spindle, and to provide a loose collar
or spacing piece which can be inserted, on one or other side of the disc between it and
its bearing, or one or other side of a bearing.
In the annexed drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section of a root cutter constructed
in accordance with this part of our Invention. is the frame carrying in suitable
bearings the axis band between the bearings is the dise e fixed upon the axis. The
axis and dise can be rotated by means of the handle d and the axis can slide in its
bearings so as to shift the dise from the position shown in full lines to that indicated
by dots. To secure the axis with the dise in the first mentioned position, a filling
piece e shown in detail by the Figures 2 and 3 is inserted between the handle boss and
the left hand bearing. When it is required to shift the dise the filling piece is lifted
out, and reinserted on the other side of the bearing between it and the disc. ff are
two hoppers one on each side of the disc, the hopper on the left side is that which is
in use with the disc in the position shown by the full lines, care cutters mounted
upon the disc for cutting the roots into strips, these cutters may be of the ordinary
sort; they operate when the dise is in the position shown to cut the roots placed in the
hopper to the left of the disc, and the strips pass through an opening in the disc and
fall out of the machine as is usual.
When the disc is in the position indicated by the dotted lines the cutters are no
longer used, but a slicing knife or cutter on the other side of the disc is now
employed, and it cuts slices from the roots in the hopper to the right of the disc. This
slicing cutter is of the usual sort, and the pieces cut by it pass through an opening in
the dise and fall away. The cutter does not operate upon roots placed in the hopper
to the left of the disc, and similarly the cutters do not act upon roots placed in the
hopper to the right of the dise. Another part of our Invention relates to the cutter;
for cutting strips and is illustrated by the Figures 4to S. Figure 4 is an elevation
of the disc with the finger cutters arranged in accordance with our Invention.
Figure 5 is a section of the disc. Figure 6 is a perspective view. Figure 7 shows
one of the cutters, and Figure 8 shows a portion of the disc in section (full size) with
one of the cutters upon it.
"
In these Figures n is the disc and oo are the cutters.
In machines of this class, where strips or finger pieces are to be cut, there has
been difficulty in giving a sufficiently free passage for the escape of the cut pieces, and
they are liable to be squeezed, and their juice expressed.

page_text: The cutters for this class of work are usually as is here shown, arranged along a
spiral opening in the disc, the two sides of the opening being in parallel but different
planes. Each cutter is in the form of a right angle, one side of the angle piece lying
in the plane of the disc at one edge of the opening, and the other side being at right
angles. Formerly these cutters were fixed by the last mentioned side being bolted to
the edge of a spiral bar fixed to the disc along one edge of the opening.
According to the Specification of a Patent granted to Robert Henry Jolinston and
William Vincent Hardwick as Executors of Richard Hornsby No. 2575 of 1877, this
spiral bar was bevelled and one side of the cutter was prolonged, the prolongation
making an obtuse angle with the side, so that it could be bolted to the bevelled side
of the spiral bar. This method of fastening the cutters was a great improvement, but
a still freer exit is desirable.
According to this Invention in place of the prolongation making an obtuse angle
with the side of the cutter, we bend it backwards to a right angle, so that it lies in a
plane parallel to the plane of the edge of the spiral slot, and we dispense with the
segmental piece fixed to the disc, bolting the prolongations directly to the disc itself.
are the prolongations of the cutters, and p. p are bolts passing through these
and through the disc.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. A root cutter having a disc, with euiters on both its faces and mounted upon an
axis between two hoppers, and moveable in relation to the hoppers, to give space for
the pieces to fall away substantially as described.
2. The strip cutters o with prolongations o¹ resting against the disc and secured to
it substantially as described.
Dated this 29th day of May 1890