CERTAIN MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING CAOUTCHOUC INTO CIRCULAR BLOCKS OK CYLINDERS, AND FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME INTO SHEETS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of the firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING CAOUTCHOUC INTO CIRCULAR BLOCKS OK
CYLINDERS, AND FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME INTO SHEETS."-A
communication from François Perroncel, of Paris.
Scaled the 2nd January 1854, and dated the 2nd July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd July 1853.
J, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CER-
TAIN MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING CAOUTCHOUC INTO CIRCULAR BLOCKS OR
CYLINDERS, AND FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME INTO SHEETS," to be as
follows:-

page_text: The object of the first part of the Invention is to produce a compact
cylinder or roller, free from air bubbles. The caoutchouc is first freed
from impurities and foreign matters by any process now adopted for
such purpose, and is thon fed in between two iron cylinders or rollers
heated by currents of steam, hot water, or other heating medium. The
rollers are caused to revolve and give out, on the opposite side, a thick
sheet of caoutchoue, which is led on to a small roller, termed the
gathering roller, the axis of which is free to rise in a slot in the frame
of the apparatus. while it is prevented from rising too rapidly by means
of a weighted lever pressing on the upper surface thereof. Imme-
diately under this gathering roller is a hollow fixed roller heated in
the inside. Both the gathering roller and fixed roller are caused to
revolve, and the caoutchoue winds itself round the upper or gathering
roller in the form of a solid mass or cylinder, the pressure exerted on
the gathering roller, together with the heat from the fixed heated
roller, causing adhesion between the several thicknesses; at the same
time the pressure forces or squeezes out any globules of air that may
exist in the caoutchouc. When a cylinder of a suflicient size has been
thus obtained it is transferred to another machine together with the
gathering roller or it may be mounted upon a separate axis. It is
then caused to revolve in front of a fixel knife or blade, which slices or
cuts off a continuous length of the caoutchouc in sheets, varying in
thickness with the setting of the knife, which slides in a bed and can
be regulated as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by tho said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 2nd January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in tlie
year of
S

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Fer heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special
licence that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Archi-
bald Brooman, 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 CERTAIN MACHINERY FOR CONVERTING CAOUTCHOUC INTO
CIRCULAR BLOCKS OR CYLINDERS, AND FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME INTO
SHEETS," communicated to me by François Peroncel, of Paris, upon the
condition (amongst others) that T. the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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.
-י
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings annexed, that is to say:
:
:
-The object of the first part of the Invention is to produce a compact
cylinder or roller, free from air bubbles. The caoutchouc is first freed
from impurities and foreign matters by any 'process now adopted for
such purpose, and is then fed 'in between two iron cylinders or rollers,
heated by currents of steam, hot water, or other heating medium.
The rollers are caused to revolve and give out, on the opposite side,
a thick sheet of caoutchouc, which is led on to a small roller, termed
the gathering roller, the axis of which is free to rise in a slot in the
frame of the apparatus, while it is prevented rising too rapidly by means
Imme-
of a weighted lever pressing on the upper surface thereof.
diately under the gathering roller is a hollow fixed roller, heated in the

page_text: inside. Both the gathering roller and fixed roller are caused to revolve,
and the caoutchouc winds itself round the upper gathering roller in the
form of a solid mass or cylinder; the pressure exerted on the gathering
roller, together with the heat from the fixel heated roller, cansing
adhesion between the several thicknesses, at the same time the pressure
forces or squeezes out any globules of air that may exist in the enout-
chouc. When a cylinder of a suflicient size has been thus obtained it
is transferred to another machine together with the gathering roller;
or it may be mounted upon a separate axis. It is then caused to re-
volve in front of a fixed knife or blade which slices or cuts ofl' a con-
tinuous length of the caoutchouc in sheets, varying in thickness with
the setting of the knife, which slides in a bed and can be regulated as
required.
Figure 1, is a vertical section of the machine for forming the caout-
chouc into a compact cylinder or roller. a, b, are two hollow cylinders,
having their bearings in the side frames c. c. They may be heated by
steam or hot water, iron, or other substance previously hented and
introduced into the centre of the cylinders. The bearings of the
cylinders b, d, revolve always at a fixed height; those of the cylinder a,
are held down by the pressure screws c. which work through nuts
in the top of the frame. The screws e, each terminate at top in a
pinion, the teeth of which gear into two endless screws mounted on
the shaft
9. The distance between the two cylinders a, and b, can be
regulated by means of a crank handle fitted to the shaft g. The
cylinder d, is supported in bearings in the inside frames h, h. The
axis of the cylinder i, revolves in slots in the side frames h, h, which
allow it to rise and fall, and also to revolve when set in motion by the
rotation of the cylinder d. In order to ensure the two cylinders a.
and b, always revolving at a constantly uniform rate whatever may be
the distance lictween them, I provide four wheels k, l,,, which
gear into each other, and are mounted in bearings . This whee
gearing is clearly seen in the side elevation, Figure 2. The two
wheels k, k, are mounted upon the axes of the cylinders a, and b, and
do not geur directly into each other, but do so through the wheels ', k².
Thus neither of the cylinders a, and b, can revolve without the other s

page_text: revolving at the same speed. Motion is communicated from any prime
moved to the cylinders b, d, through the coupled shafts m, n, which are
provided with toothed wheels which gear into other toothed wheels on
the axes of the cylinders b, d. The manner of working the machinery
so as to form a cylindrical piece of caoutchouc is as follows:-When
the substance to be treated has been well cleansed it is placed on a
feeding table a', and fed into and between the two heated cylinders a,
and b; the caoutchouc is thus formed into a sheet which, on being led
between the cylinders d, and i, (which may be also heated if desired,)
is rolled or wrapped round the cylinder i. Each sheet of caoutchouc
adheres to the preceding, partly by the effect of heat and partly by
pressure exerted upon cylinder i, by means of the weighted lever y.
When the cylindrical mass of caoutchouc o, attains the desired size,
it is removed from the machinery with its gathering roller and trans-
ferred to that next to be described. Figure 3, is a side elevation,
and Figure 4, a plan, of a machine for slicing or cutting up blocks of
india-rubber into continuous sheets. Figure 5, is a detached view, on
an enlarged scale, of part of Figure 3. The cylindrical block of caout-
chouc o, on the gathering shaft is placed in a carriage or frame in the
machine, which is mounted between bearings so as to allow the shaft
to receive a rotary movement; the shaft is provided with a wheel p,
which gears into a pinion driven by a wheel which at the same time
communicates motion to a screw which propels the carriage or frame
carrying the caoutchouc o, towards the cutter q. This cutter is
mounted in a bearing 2, which receives an alternating to-and-fro move-
ment by means of the crank s. The end of the blade carrier r, shewn
detached in Figure 5, is connected to a bell crank lever t, centred in a
support u, which terminates in an opening through which the bar v,
Fig. 2. passes. This bar is fixed to the circular plate or disc w, sup-
ported on a shaft on which is mounted a ratchet wheel. The disc w,
is furnished with a certain number of clicks which enter between the
teeth of the ratchet wheel, but are so spaced as to divide the length of
a tooth, so that at every movement the plate receives it only transmits
to the wheel the length of a tooth divided by the number of clicks; for
example, if there should be ten at each movement of the plate, this

page_text: wheel will only move forward a tenth of the tooth, and this movement
will be communicated to the screw of the frame or carriage by the
gearing représented in the Drawing. The relation of speed between
the ratchet wheel and the frame which carrics the block of caont-
chouc may further be varied by changing a portion of the gearing
which serves to transmit the motion. Thus it may be shewn, by
placing a cylindrical block of caoutchouc on the carriage of the in-
chine, it may be transformed into a sheet of great length, and may be
cut of any desired thickness and with a perfectly smooth surface.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be perfornied. I declare that what I claim
as the said Invention is, the forming of caoutchouc into solid blocks or
cylinders, and the subsequent formation thereof into sheets, in the
-manner berein-before.described, and, represented in the Drawings here-
,uuto,annexed.
Tu witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.B.)