IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINES."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Apsey, of 47, Soho Street, Reading,
Berks, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAFF-CUTTING
MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Apsey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th September 1870.
I, JOSEPH APSEY, of 47, Soho Street, Reading, Berks, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAPF-
CUTTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the feeding of the hay to the revolving
knives or cutters in such a manner as to cause it to become compressed
and twisted before it is presented to the knives or cutters, also the pre-
sentation of the hay to the said knives or cutters, by causing it to
revolve in a direction contrary to that of their revolution.

page_text: For these purposes my Invention consists in the combination of a
body or box of cylindrical form, containing horizontal and vertical feed
rollers, suitably driven, with a conical mouth piece having spiral grooves
on its internal surface, and caused to revolve in a contrary direction to
the knives or cutters, and at a suitable speed in relation to the speed of
the knives or cutters. The feeding rollers have either parallel or concave
sides with notched or serrated edges; cach roller is also provided with
scrapers, and is driven by means of suitable mitre gearing. When four
rollers are used, that is to say, two horizontal rollers and two vertical
rollers, I prefer to drive the horizontal rollers by means of intermediate
gearing adapted to produce the required speed from the main shaft, the
other rollers being driven from them. I prefer also to make the rollers
concave on their sides, in order to compress the hay into the required
form as it is carried forward towards the mouth piece. The mouth
piece is conical, or gradually decreasing in diameter towards the outlet
for the hay, and has spiral grooves on its internal surface in order to
twist the hay at the same time that it is carried forward to the knives or
cutters. The mouth piece has also a toothed rim on its exterior, through
which it receives motion from the main shaft by intermediate gearing
adapted to produce the required speed in relation to that of the knives or
cutters and feeding rollers. The said mouth piece is capable of adjust-
ment so as to cut two or more lengths of chaff as may be required
without the necessity of using additional change wheels for such
different lengths of chaff. The object of the cylindrical form of the
body or box and of the mouth piece is to compress or mould the mass
of hay (intended to be operated upon) into somewhat of the form which
it will ultimately be caused to assume. The speed of the feed rollers is
regulated as required by means of a face wheel furnished with teeth
arranged in circles of different radii, such wheel being driven from the
main shaft by means of two spur clutch pinions, and imparting motion
to the rollers through a pinion cast on the back of the said wheel, such
pinion gearing with and driving the gearing connected with the said
rollers respectively. The reversing gear is obtained by means of a
clutch on the main shaft working into the said clutch pinions, the
clutch being thrown into and out of gear as required by means of a
sliding lever..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Apsey in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd March 1871..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
APSEY, of 47, Soho Street, Reading, in the County of: Berks, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent,. bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-four year of Her reign, did,. for Herself,. Her heirs. and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Apsey, Her special
licence that I, the said Joseph Apsey, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph. Apsey, 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
CHAFF-CUTTING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Joseph Apsey, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Joseph Apsey, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to.
say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Chaff-cutting Machines." has for
its object the feeding of the hay to the revolving knives or cutters in
such a manner as to cause it to become compressed and twisted. before it.
is presented to the knives or cutters.

page_text: For this purpose my Invention consists in the combination of a body
or box of cylindrical form, containing horizontal and vertical feed rollers
suitably driven, with a conical mouth piece, having spiral grooves or ribs
in or on its internal surface, and caused to revolve at a suitable speed in
relation to the speed of the knives or cutters. The feeding rollers have
either parallel or concave sides with notched or serrated edges; each
roller is also provided with scrapers, and is driven by suitable mitre
gearing. When four rollers are used, that is to say, two horizontal rollers
and two vertical rollers, I prefer to drive the horizontal rollers by means
of intermediate gearing adapted to produce the required speed from the
main shaft, the other rollers being driven from them. I prefer also to
make the rollers concave on their sides, in order to compress the hay
into the required form as it is carried forward towards the mouth piece.
The mouth piece is conical, or gradually decreasing in diameter towards
the outlet for the hay, and has spiral grooves or ribs in or on its internal
surface in order to twist the hay at the same time that it is carried
forward to the knives or cutters. The mouth piece has also a toothed
rim on its exterior, through which it receives motion from the main
shaft by intermediate gearing adapted to produce the required speed in
relation to the speed of the knives or cutters and feeding rollers. The
said feeding rollers are capable of adjustment, so as to cut two or more
lengths of chaff as may be required without the necessity of using
additional change wheels for such different lengths of chaff. The
object of the cylindrical form of the body or box and the conical form
of the mouth piece is to compress or mould the mass of hay (intended
to be operated upon) into somewhat of the form which it will ultimately
be caused to assume. The speed of the feed rollers is regulated as
required by means of a face wheel furnished with teeth arranged in
circles of different radii, such wheel being driven from the main shaft
by means of two spur clutch pinions, and imparting motion to the
rollers through a pinion cast on the back of the said wheel, such pinion
gearing with and driving the gearing connected with the said rollers
respectively. The reversing gear is obtained by means of a clutch on
the main shaft working the said clutch pinions, the clutch being thrown
into and out of gear as required by means of a sliding lever. The speed:
of the said rollers may also be regulated as required by means of a
double worm sliding on the shaft, one portion of such worm being
single-threaded, and the other double-threaded. By putting such
.
-

page_text: portions of the worm respectively into gear with worm wheels the
requisite speed will be communicated to the feed rollers.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed,
by the aid of the accompanying Drawings, in which are represented the
parts of chaff-cutting machines herein-before referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a plan or horizontal view of the machine; Fig. 2 is a side
elevation of the frame with parts in section; Fig. 3 is a front elevation
of the machine. In these several Figures the same letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts.
A, A, is the frame or standards of the machine; B is the cylindrical
body or box, securely bolted to the frame at one end, and supported by
fixed brackets C, C, at the other end; D, D, are two horizontal rollers,
and E, E, two vertical rollers, arranged as shewn in Fig. 3, so as to leave
a rectangular space between them for the passage of the hay from the
body or box B to the conical mouth piece F. The rollers D, D, and E, E,
are shewn composed of angular rings, but they may be otherwise made
so as to present a similarly formed feeding surface. The said rollers
may also be made with concave sides instead of straight sides, as shewn,
in order to give a corresponding form to the space through which the
hay is fed. The rollers are driven from the main shaft G by means of
two spur clutch pinions working into a face toothed wheel with a variety
of speeds on it, such face wheel having cast on the back of it a pinion
which drives a spur wheel on the spindle of the bottom roller D, which
drives the right hand vertical roller E by means of mitre gearing, the
said pinion on the back of the face wheel also driving the top roller D
by means of suitable spur gearing, and through mitre gearing driving
the left-hand roller E. The speed of the feed rollers may also be
regulated by means of a worm gearing with a worm wheel on the
spindle of the bottom roller D, one portion of the worm being single-
threaded, and the other portion double-threaded. And the clutch pinion
may be put into gear with the part of the face wheel for giving the
required speed to the rollers, or the requisite part of the worm may be
put into gear with the worm wheel by means of a lever adapted to give
the clutch pinion or the worm shaft respectively a sliding motion as

page_text: required. His the conical mouth piece, bolted by flanges to the
cylindrical body or box B. On the outer surface of the mouth piece
is a toothed rim I gearing with a pinion K. on the main shaft G, by
which means the mouth piece is caused to revolve at its required speed
in relation to the revolving knives on the fly wheel L, which regulates
the motion of the machine. On power being applied to the main shaft. G.
through the driving pulley M, or otherwise, motion will be given to the
feed rollers D, D, and E, E, which will thus be caused to carry forward
the hay intended to be cut (supplied to the body or box B) through the
rectangular space between the rollers, thereby compressing the hay in its
passage, which hay will be passed on to the revolving mouth piece H,
which has formed in or on its internal surface spiral grooves or ribs.
By passing through this revolving mouth piece so formed internally
the hay or material to be operated upon will become twisted before it
emerges from the mouth piece H, and is acted upon by the revolving.
knives on the fly wheel L.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what.
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that the mechanism
for driving the feed rollers and other parts of the machine may be varied;
but I hereby declare that what I claim as of my Invention is, the com-
bination of a cylindrical body or box containing horizontal and vertical
feed rollers (arranged as described, in order to compress the hay or
material under operation, and suitably driven,) with a revolving conical
mouth piece furnished with spiral grooves or ribs in or on its internal
surface, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Apsey, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
"Witness,
GEO. RUTTER FLETCHER,
11, Staple Inn,
London,
JOSEPH APSEY. (L.S.)
Solr.