IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES AND IN PRESSING
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the Firm of J. C. Robertson & Co., of 166, Fleet
Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her-
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day of March
(One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two), in the fifteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES AND IN PRESSING," communicated
to me from abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, shall cause a particular

page_text: description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by this present Specification, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The said Invention consists in a peculiar combination for pressing purposes
of the two known mechanical forces, namely, first the force derivable from the
equilibrium of fluids; and, second, that derivable from the centrifugal
tendency natural to all bodies in a state of motion. When any substance
is subjected to the action of a centrifugal machine, such as those now
commonly used for drying purposes, it is driven from the centre of the drum
towards the periphery, against which it is pressed with a degree of force
corresponding to the velocity at which the drum is driven. If, therefore, we
may suppose the substance to be disposed in concentric layers or rings
touching each other from the centre to the circumference, it is clear that
the first layer, or that which rests against the internal periphery of the
centrifugal drum, must receive a greater amount of pressure than the other
layers, and that this pressure must diminish as the layers are nearer the centre,
while at the very centre of the drum the pressure must be at a minimum.
Now the object which the inventor proposes to himself to effect by the present
invention is, to cause an equal degree of pressure to be exerted in such
machines at all points, and this he accomplishes by combining hydraulic
pressure with the centrifugal force in manner following:-He introduces a
second drum into the machine concentric with the principal drum (which
second drum he denominates the "pressure drum"). The exterior or convex
surface of this pressure drum is covered with a flexible and impermeable
envelope, and a hermetically closed space is thus formed, which communicates
by a pipe (F) with the centre of the principal drum. Now when water or
other liquid is admitted through the pipe (F) to the centre of the drum and
the machine set in motion, the water is driven by centrifugal force through
the pipe into the space between the pressure drum and its flexible envelope, an
additional pressure is thus exerted upon the goods in the drum proportionate
to the height of the column of water, that is to say, in proportion to the

page_text: encrease of distance between the centre of the machine and the surface of the
goods under pressure, which additional pressure will also be equal at all parts.
The Drawing annexed represents in sectional elevation a centrifugal
hydraulic pressing machine, embodying this principle of construction. A, A, is
the pan or casing in which the drum B' revolves; a is the basement or
foundation on which the pan A is fixed; B is the shaft of the centrifugal
drum which rests at bottom in the step b, and turns in bearings fixed at the
centre of the pan A. The drum B' is composed of a bottom 6%, a conical
envelope, a perforated periphery 6, and a lid 65, which is attached to the
upper edge of the perforated periphery. C is the pressure drum, concentric
with the drum B', and c is the flexible envelope which is attached to the
drum by the rings c², c. The space between the periphery & and the pressure
drum is intended to contain the goods to be operated on, and the interior of
the conical envelope 65 contains the pressing liquid. The pressure drum C is
moveable, and is supported on the bottom of the drum B'. The ring C² at
top of the pressure drum is made of angle iron, and rests on the lid bs, and is
held in position, while the machine is in action, by the catches d', d'. The
shaft B which is common to both drums is hollow, and is filled with pressing
liquid, as well as the cone 6. F is the pipe by which the pressing liquid is
conducted to the space between the pressure drum and its flexible envelope.
One end of this pipe communicates with the hollow of the shaft B, and the
other end passes through the cone 6s, and is closed at that end. G is a
branch pipe which leads from the pipe F to the interior of the space
between the pressure drum and its flexible envelope; g is a tap joint
in the pipe G, which admits of the pipe being turned back when the
drum C is to be removed, and at the same time stops the flow of liquid;
h, h¹, are valves by which the pipe F is opened or closed at pleasure;
i is a rod by which the valves h, h', are connected together. One end
of the connecting rod i passes through the shaft B into the hollow
of the same, and is there furnished with a pinion, which is geared
into by a rack on the rod , which passes down the centre of the hollow
shaft B. The opposite end of the rod i is screw threaded, and the valve
h¹ at that end of the rod has a screw tapped in it, which works on the
end of the rod. The valve / turns freely on the rod between collars formed
thereon. When the shaft is pushed down in the hollow of the shaft B the
rod i is turned by means of the rack, and pinion 2, and the valve h' is
thereby opened so as to admit the water from the interior of the cone 6s,
through the branch pipe G to the space between the pressure drum and its
flexible envelope, and by depressing the rod i still further the rod i is drawn

page_text: by means of a cam is on the rod i towards the centre of the drum, whereby
the valve h¹ is shut, and the valve h is opened for the passage of water from
the hollow shaft to the pressing drum, and by this means a higher degree of
pressure is obtained, corresponding with the greater height of the column of
liquid. Motion is given to the centrifugal drum by the cone pulleys p, p, or
by other suitable gearing. The mode of operating with this machine is as
follows: The pressure drum being lifted out, the goods to be pressed are
placed in the space N, and the drum C is replaced. The machine is then set
in motion, and the valve h' is opened by pushing the rod through half its
motion downwards, the liquid is driven by the centrifugal force exerted
through the valve h' into the pressure drum, where it presses with a multiplied
weight upon the goods, as before explained, namely, according to the speed
of the machine and the height of the column of liquid in the cone b.
The hollow shaft B, as before mentioned, is also made a reservoir for liquid
which is brought into operation after the liquid from the first receiver or
cone be has attained its maximum of power, the valve h' being then shut and
the valve opened, whereby a higher column of liquid is obtained, and the
pressing effect thereby encreased. When the liquid from the shaft has
attained a maximum of pressure the pressure may be further increased by
forcing, by means of a force pump or other suitable apparatus, liquid through
the hollow rod k in the shaft, which liquid pressing upon that in the pipe will
give an increased effect. High-pressure steam may also be used for the same
purpose.
The arrangement of pressing apparatus above described will be found
to exemplify sufficiently the general principle of construction to enable any
workman of competent skill to vary the same to suit particular applications.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,―
First, the combination, in manner before described, for pressing purposes of
the two forces obtainable from the equilibrium of fluids and from centrifugal
force.
And,
Second, the particular arrangement of pressing machinery represented in
the Drawings, and before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
R. A. (L.s.) BROOMAN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of September, in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Richard Archibald Brooman came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.