IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SORTING OR SEPARATING MIXED CORKS AND CORK SQUARES INTO SEPARATE SIZES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Howard, of Upper Thames Street, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR SORTING OR SEPARATING MIXED CORKS AND CORK SQUARES INTO SEPARATE
SIZES."
Sealed the 12th April 1876, and dated the 4th November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Howard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th November 1875.
I, JOHN HOWARD, of Upper Thames Street, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR SORTING OR SEPARATING MIXED CORKS AND CORK SQUARES INTO
SEPARATE SIZES," to be as follows :-
:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
sorting, selecting, or separating corks and cork squares of various mixed
sizes into selected separate lots of equal size. For this purpose a table
or surface is arranged having one or more longitudinal slots or openings

page_text: formed therein, each slot or opening being taper from one end to the other,
so that the smallest corks will fall through the narrow end of the slot
and the largest at the other or widest end, the intermediate sizes falling
through at intermediate distances from one end to the other of such
taper slots.
From the upper edges these slots widen out downwards to
the under surface of the table, so that directly the edges of the slot
become too wide to retain or support a cork thereon it drops through
the slot into a receptacle below.
The corks to be assorted are placed or fed by hand or otherwise
lengthways in succession on the edges at the narrow end of the slot, and 1
are moved along, upon, and over it by fingers mounted upon an endless
band, or by other convenient means; and as each cork arrives at the
point in the slot through which it will pass it at once falls through into
a receptacle below, or is conducted into it by a channel or spout, the
various sizes being thus separated and assorted into lots of equal or
nearly equal size.
The blocks or squares from which the corks are cut may in like
manner be separated or sorted into lots of equal size, the slotted openings
in the table being formed with steps or ledges for the blocks or squares
to travel upon until they arrive at a space in the slot which will admit
of their falling through.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Howard in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 2
HOWARD, of Upper Thames Strect, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in 3
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Howard, Her special
license that I, the said John Howard, executors, administrators, and

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said John Howard, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 APPARATUS
FOR SORTING OR SEPARATING MIXED CORKS AND CORK SQUARES INTO SEPARATE
SIZES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Howard, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Howard, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for sorting,
selecting, or separating corks and cork squares of various mixed sizes
into selected separate lots of equal size. For this purpose a table or
surface is arranged having one or more longitudinal slots or openings
formed therein, each slot or opening being taper from one end to the
other, so that the smallest corks will fall through the narrow end of the
slot and the largest at the other or widest end, the intermediate sizes
falling through at intermediate distances from one end to the other of
such taper slots. From the upper edges the slots widen out downwards
to the under surface of the table, so that directly the edges of the slot
become too wide to retain or support a cork thereon it drops through the
slot into a receptacle below.
The corks to be assorted are placed or fed by hand or otherwise
lengthwise in succession on the edges at the narrow end of the slot, and
are moved along, upon, and over it by fingers mounted upon an endless
band or by other convenient means; and as each cork arrives at the
naint in the slot throuoh which it will nass it at once falls through into

page_text: Figure 1 shows a side elevation; Figure 2, an end elevation; and
Figure 3 shows a plan with the hopper partly removed of a machine
constructed in accordance with my Invention; Figure 4 is an enlarged
section through the hopper on the line A, B.
a is a frame of wood or other suitable material carrying a central
grooved and bevelled bar b, along which the continuous finger band c
with the fingers & travels; e, e, are side pieces (adjustable by set screws f)
having their inside edges sharply bevelled off downwards, thus forming
a slot g of varying width in the top of the frame or table a.
Motion is communicated to the continuous band c and its fingers d
by means of a treadle h and crank i mounted on the shaft j, which has
a fly or regulating wheel, and also a small wheel k, over which a band
passes to the wheel / keyed on the same shaft as the band wheel m'.
A large hopper n placed at the small end of the slots g, and having at a
its lower side four spouts or openings * supply mixed corks to the
traý ö; from whence they are fed by hand or otherwise into the smäll
hopper (which has a central rib q continued through the whole length
of the machine), where they roll down the inclined sides on to the edges
of the slots g, and are carried forward by the finger bars d until the
slots become large enough to allow the corks to fall through into the
spouts, down which the corks roll into baskets or receptacles placed
underneath to receive them. A small flaps hinged to the front of the
hopper tray o serves to lay down any corks that are presented vertically
into a horizontal position.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing or carrying the same into practice, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the exact details herein described,
as the same may be considerably varied without departing from the truc
character of my Invention, but what I claim is, the improved arrange-
ment of apparatus for sorting or separating mixed corks and cork
squares into separate sizes by causing the same to travel along the
bevelled edges of an inclined slot or slots, substantially in the manner
herein-before described and shown in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Howard, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.