Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Jan., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 13th Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 14th Dec., 1888
We, EDWARD EASTON and SYDNEY HOYLAND of 11 Delahay Street in the City of
Westminster Engineers do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
It has before been proposed to facilitate the extraction of juice from sugar canes by
slitting the canes lengthwise before they pass to the crushing rolls and various
arrangements of apparatus have been devised for this purpose.
We effect the slitting of the canes by the use of a number of circular saws or knives
set side by side at a short distance apart from one another on a revolving spindle.
The saws we make to pass between the bars of a fixed grating. The canes to be cut
we carry forward lengthwise in a continuous stream past the portions of the saws
which project through the grating.
Preferably we cause the cams to be carried forward between two gratings and act
upon them by two sets of revolving saws-the saws in one set projecting downwards
through the upper grating and the saws in the other set projecting upwards through
the lower grating.
To carry the canes past the saws we use two endless travelling aprons.
Preferably we mount the spindle which carries the saws in a horizontal position and
place the grating horizontally just above the spindle-so that the upper halves of the
several saws rise up between its bars. The endless aprons we set one above the other
at a distance apart and so that the upper surface of the lower apron is on a level with
the upper surface of the fixed grating and comes close up to this grating and the
under surface of the upper apron is just above the top of the saws and extends over
them. The canes as they are fed forwards lengthwise past the saws are slit from end
to end and the slit canes pass on to crushing rolls where the juice is expressed from
them.
.
These travelling aprons are arranged on a series of endless chains which are
supported on wheels the shafts of which possess sufficient strength to resist the

page_text: necessary pressure of a full feed of canes. The bearings of several of these wheels we
fit with spring blocks to relieve an undue pressure of canes when passing between the
aprons.
The advantage derived from slitting the canes lengthwise before squeezing them
between rollers is that the juice can then be more effectually extracted from them
with less pressure and consequently less power is required to drive the rolls thereby
enabling the present class of mills to yield a better return without requiring any
material increase of motive power.
An additional advantage is that the existing mode of feeding from a cane carrier is
still adopted by our process, the sliced canes passing down an inclined mill-board on
to the rollers.
A thicker layer of cane can be also if desired allowed to pass between them.
Dated this 14th day of January 1808

page_text: We, EDWARD EASTON, and SYDNEY HOYLAND, of 11 Delahay Street, in the City of
Westminster, 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 :-
It has before been proposed to facilitate the extraction of juice from sugar canes by
slitting the canes lengthwise before they pass to the crushing rolls and various
arrangements of apparatus have been devised for this purpose.
We effect the longitudinal slitting of the canes by the use of a number of circular
saws or knives set side by side at a short distance apart from one another on a
revolving spindle. The saws we make to pass between the bars of a fixed grating.
The canes to be cut we carry forward lengthwise in a continuous stream past the
portions of the saws which project through the grating.
Preferably we cause the canes to be carried forward between two gratings and act
upon them by two sets of revolving saws-the saws in one set projecting downwards
through the upper grating and the saws in the other set projecting upwards through
the lower grating.
The advantage derived from slitting the canes lengthwise before squeezing them
between rollers is that the juice can then be more effectually extracted from them
with less pressure and consequently less power is required to drive the rolls thereby
enabling the present class of mills to yield a better return without requiring any
material increase of motive power.
An additional advantage is that the existing mode of feeding from a cane carrier is
still adopted by our process, the sliced canes passing down an inclined mill-board on
to the rollers.
A heavier feed of cane can consequently be allowed to pass between the cane
rollers.
Figure 1 of the drawings hereunto annexed is a side elevation and Figure 2 an end
elevation partly in section of apparatus constructed in the manner we prefer for
carrying out our invention.
A A are two horizontal gratings held at a distance apart one above the other―
B B are horizontal spindles one mounted above the gratings the other below them-
CC are circular saws mounted on the spindles B-the saws on the lower spindle
projecting upwards through the lower grating and the saws on the upper spindle
projecting downwards through the upper grating-D D are belt pullies on the ends
of the spindles E E are rollers between which the canes are to pass lengthwise into
the space between the gratings. These rollers we place as near as possible to the
ends of the grating bars and carry their axes in shifting adjustable bearings to allow
of the feed being regulated and controlled.

page_text: F is a belt pulley on the lower roller by which this roller is driven. The bearings
of the upper roller are held down by weighted levers G so that the rollers may main-
tain a uniformly firm nip upon the cams as they pass to the saws. The saws are driven
in a direction to draw the canes forwards and may make say 1000 revolutions a
minute whilst the hottom feed roller is driven in the same direction say at a surface
speed of about 20 feet a minute. An inclined table or feed board may be placed in
front of the rollers on which the canes can be supported and guided to the rollers.
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. The construction of apparatus for slitting sugar canes lengthwise in such a
manner that the canes are caused to pass between two parallel gratings and are slit as
they pass between these gratings by revolving circular saws which project between
the grating bars.
2. The construction of apparatus for slitting sugar canes lengthwise substantially as
herein before described and illustrated in the drawing annexed.
Dated this 11th do
1000