IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING OR CRUSHING STONES, MINERALS, OR OTHER SIMILAR MATERIALS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adolphe Joseph Canu, of Paris, France, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING
OR CRUSHING STONES, MINERALS, OR OTHER SIMILAR MATERIALS."
Sealed the 17th February 1860, and dated the 18th August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adolphe Joseph Canu
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th August 1859.
I, ADOLPHE JOSEPH CANU, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for." IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR BREAKING OR CRUSHING STONES, MINERALS, OR OTHER SIMILAR MATERIALS,"
to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to machines for breaking or crushing natural or
artificial stones, ores, minerals, or other similar materials, and they consist in
providing such machines with a series of cylinders or truncated cones of iron,
steel, or any other suitable material revolving on their axis at high velocities
in the same direction, and striking with their surfaces against the materials to
be crushed, these surfaces being either smooth or fluted, corrugated, or
provided with proper teeth or projections, in order to throw the materials
from the surface of one cylinder or cone to that of another, while the axis of
these latter are situated in a vertical position at such distances apart as to

page_text: form a sort of grating with lateral openings, underneath which cylinders or
cones a circular plate revolves horizontally round a vertical spindle situated
in the direction of the axis of the grating. The materials to be broken or crushed
are thrown from above on the said grating, where they come in contact with the
surfaces of the cylinders or cones, and afterwards escape through the opening
left between the lower end of the said cylinders or cones and the upper
surface of the rotating plato, thus allowing of regulating the escape of the
broken materials by lowering more or less this said revolving plate. The
cylinders or cones and revolving plate receive motion from any suitable prime
mover by suitable gearing or any other known means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Adolphe Joseph Canu in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ADOLPHE
JOSEPII CANU, of Paris, France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Adolphe Joseph Canu, Her special licence that I, the said Adolphe
Joseph Canu, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Adolphe Joseph Canu, 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 law-
fully 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 MACHINES FOR BREAKING OR CRUSHING STONES, MINERALS,
OR OTHER SIMILAR MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that. I,
the said Adolphe Joseph Canu, 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 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Adolphe Joseph Canu, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
These improvements relate to machines for breaking or crushing stones,
minerals, or other similar materials, and they are particularly applicable to
machines for breaking or crushing stones to such fragments as are called road
metal, and are made use of for covering Mac dam roads, or for the ballasting
of railroads, also for the crushing of stones for concrete, or for manufacturing
artificial blocks of stone; also to the breaking of coals, coke, ores, or minerals,
lime, castina or flux, and in general of all similar hard and more or less brittle
materials that require to be broken or crushed to pieces of any determinated
size. The apparatus I make use of for this object is based on the following
principles which I wish to secure to me by the present Letters Patent, either if
applied separately or conjointly, viz., 1ly, that the breaking or crushing to
smaller pieces of the lumps or large pieces of stone or other similar hard brittle
materials takes place in a space confined' between revolving cylinders or cones,
from which space the broken or crushed pieces are not allowed to escape, but
after having been reduced in every direction as much as will be found requisite
at least to the required size; 2ly, the employment of a smooth plate or table
revolving horizontally, and on which the lumps to be reduced to smaller picces
are thrown, and so as to keep them confined in the open space between the
above mentioned breaking cylinders or cones in such manner that by the rapid
revolving motion of the said table those pieces exceeding the required size
are continually submitted to the breaking action of the cylinders from the
teeth or corrugations of which they receive continuous blows, whereas those
pieces that are reduced to the required size are allowed to leave the apparatus
by the apertures left between the cylinders, and between these latter and the re-
volving table; 3ly, making use of breaking cylinders or cones revolving also in
the horizontal direction, and having their axis situated vertically in a semetrical
and concentric manner round the axis of the above mentioned revolving
table, and above this latter, all of which cylinders or cones revolve in the same
direction in order to prevent any of the pieces not yet broken to the required
size to be dragged away between any two of them, while a sufficient space is
left open between the lower end of these cylinders and the upper surface of
the revolving table so as to allow to those pieces as have been broken to the
required size of passing through; 4ly, making use of steps or pans arranged
in such manner as to prevent the entering into the same of small broken
particles that otherwise would cause the rapid destruction of these parts sub-
mitted to great friction.
In the annexed Drawings Fig. 1 shows a vertical sectional view. and Fig. 2

page_text: a plan view of the machine at a scale of one-tenth of the actual size, while
the Figs. 3, 4, and 5 show separate parts thereof, corresponding parts being
indicated by the same letters or numbers of reference in the various Figures.
Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken over the line A, B, C, of Fig. 2, the
parts for transmitting motion from the prime mover being shown in elevation
view; Fig. 2 is a plan view in which those parts of the machine as are con-
tained within the angular spaces D, B, E, and E, B, C, are respectively shown
in horizontal sectional views over the lines F, G, and H. J, of Fig. 1, while
the remainder of the machine is shown in bird's eye view; Fig. 3 shows two
modes of fixing to the breaking cylinders or cones their teeth or projections
which parts ought to be of cast iron, hardened steel, or other similar hard resisting
material; Fig. 4 shows a part of a cylinder provided with a ring or rim of cast
iron or other suitable hard material fixed to moveable cross bars; Fig. 5 shows
an arrangement of teeth, corrugations, or fluted breaking parts having suitable
serrations or separations left lengthwise between them.
I now will proced to give a full description of the arrangement of the
machine, and of its mode of working.
a is a horizontal smooth table or plate of cast iron or other suitable
material, revolving with its vertical axis, arbor, or shaft 1 with a velocity
varying according to the nature of the stones or other materials to be broken
or crushed, which latter are thrown on this table by means of a hopper or
pipe b, provided at the top with an equilibrated or self-acting trap-door 6,
opening by the weight of the lumps of stone or other materials thrown on it,
and closing by the action of the counterweight as soon as the blocks fall from
this door 6 into the pipe b. The axis or shaft 1 of the table a revolves in a
step or pan 2 fixed in a double hanging bracket C; this pan is covered by an
inverted bell 3 fixed to the shaft 1, on which latter the same is allowed to
glide up and down on a feather or key; and in order to cause this bell more
effectually to prevent the entering of any extraneous matters into the oil
holder or grease box of this pan, the lower part of the bell is provided with
one or more small vanes fixed against the inside thereof, in such manner,
that by the rapid revolving motion of the shaft 1 the said vanes will act as
fans for driving away any dust or other extraneous matters that otherwise
might enter into the said pan or step. I have applied the same arrangement
to the pans or steps and axis of the breaking cylinders. At the upper part
the shaft 1 turns in a cast-iron collar 4, bored out in such manner as to form
oil or grease box, and to this shaft is fixed the driving pulley 5; the table q
may be caused to rise or to fall by means of the set screw 15 acting in the lower
part of the step 2, thus allowing to regulate the distance between this table a

page_text: and the lower end of the breaking cylinders, according to the size to which the
materials are to be broken. Round the table a, and above the same, at the
required distance apart, are situated three or more vertical breaking cylinders
or cones d (in the Drawings four breaking cylinders are shown) of cast iron
or other suitable material, cast either in one piece, as shown in the Figs. 1
and 2, or formed of separate flutings or projecting parts fixed together, as
shown in plan view in Fig. 3, or formed of a cast-iron jacket bolted to two
cross bars or arms, as shown in vertical sectional view in Fig. 4; or arranged
in any other suitable manner. In some instances it may be found usefull to
give to the breaking cylinders a more or less conical shape, which will, in
great part depend on the nature of the materials to be broken or crushed.
Each of the cylinders d is fixed to its own vertical arbor or shaft 7, revolving
in steps and collars in the manner as has been described for the shaft or
arbor 1 of the revolving table a. The several cylinders or cones revolve in
the same horizontal direction, so as to act only as beating, and not as rolling
or flattening parts. The cylinders d receive a rapid revolving motion by
means of driving pulleys 8 keyed to their respective shafts 7, while an endless
belt or strap 9 connects them to the lower part of a double drum e revolving
round the spindle f, fixed at top and bottom respectively in the collar f¹ and
the bracket f; the upper part of this drum e receives motion by means of
an endless belt 11 from the driving pulley 9 fixed to the vertical shaft 12,
and a projecting ring 10 is inserted between the two parts of the drum e,
for preventing the straps 9 and 11 from touching each other. It will be
understood that the breaking cylinders or cones might receive motion in a great
many different ways, such, for instance, by providing the ends of the shaft 7
with suitable pinions in gear with one main driving wheel, revolving round the
hopper b, or situated in any other suitable position; in this case the drum e
would be dispensed with, and the belt 11 would take round a pulley fixed to
this main driving wheel. The pulley h, fixed to the lower part of the arbor 12,
transmits motion to the pulley 5 of the shaft 1 by means of the bell 13, while
the arbor 12 is driven by the two conical tooth wheels k and l, the latter fixed
to the horizontal shaft 14, provided with loose and fast pulleys 16 and 17,
and fly-wheel-m, and in order that the throwing into or out of gear may take
place very gradually, the same is worked by means of a screw o, worked by a
handwheel p, forming nut on this screw. It would be superfluous to mention
that a great many other means of transmitting motion to the breaking cylinders
and revolving table might be devised; thus, for instance, either the shaft 12
or the pulleys e and 5 might be worked directly by the prime mover, or one of
the shafts 12 and 14 might be connected. directly to the crank axle of a steam

page_text: engine, and so on. The machine is entirely surrounded by a cylindrical jacket,
formed of four curved parts 7, 9, of cast iron bolted together and fastened to
the masonry of the foundations, which latter form a conical tub or funnel
provided with a sheet iron lining r fixed to the lower border of the jacket q,
by which funnel the pieces of stones or other materials, after having been
broken by the cylinders to the required size, are conducted to a sort of gutter
at the bottom of the funnel, from where the same are removed either by hand,
by an endless bucket chain, or by any other suitable contrivance, and may then
be sifted or sorted by swing sieves or by any other suitable means, or carried
off for use. Two of the curved parts of the jacket are provided with pro-
jections, to which are fixed the brackets 18, 19, and 20, in which revolves the
shaft 12. To the inner surface of the jacket 7 are fixed two brackets s and t.
To the brackets are secured the pans for the breaking cylinders, the grease
collar 4, and the shaft 1 of the revolving table a, and the hanging bracket c
of this latter. This lower bracket s is further provided with four curved
sheet-iron plates v, serving as screens for the bells of the steps of the breaking
cylinders, and preventing the broken materials of being thrown against these
bells. The same bracket s bears also an inclined apron or cover a of sheet
iron, over which glide the broken materials after leaving the revolving table a.
The upper brackett bears the grease collars for the breaking cylinders, the
bracket f of the fixed pivot f for the pulley e and the feed hopper b. The
arbor 14 is carried by two cast-iron standards y, y, solidly fastened to the floor,
and connected to the jacket 7 by the tie-pieces n, n, and the bracket 19. In
the lower part of the jacket are left openings z for allowing to reach the
lower moving parts of the machine, and for providing the steps with oil or
grease, and the upper border of the jacket 9 is provided with a rim 21, 21, of
a double T form, on which rim is fixed a flooring 22, entirely covering the
moving parts. The open spaces left between the arms of the upper bracket t
are covered with cast or sheet iron plates, in order to prevent any broken
fragments of entering into the gearing. The upper and lower ends of the
breaking cylinders d, left open for casting the said cylinders, are likewise to
be closed by plates of cast or sheet iron. As has been mentioned in the
beginning of this Specification, the speed of the revolving motion of the
breaking cylinders is dependant on the nature of the materials to be acted
upon; thus, for instance, for breaking stones or pebbles for producing what
is called road metal, the speed may vary from 250 to 500 revolutions per
minute, and even more, according to the more or less tenacious, tough, hard,
or brittleness of the stones.
The number, form, and size of the teeth, projections, serrations, flutings or

page_text: corrugations of the breaking cylinders, and the more or less hardness to be
given to them, and the size or metal of which the several parts are to be manu-
factured, will also vary according to the nature of the materials or the work to be
performed by the machine. It may also sometimes be found usefull to form
certain indentions or transverse flutings or corrugations in the teeth or projec-
tions of the breaking cylinders, in the manner as shown in Fig. 5, so as to
increase the number of exit holes for the broken materials.
The mode of acting of the apparatus will be readily understood. The
lumps or blocks of stones or other materials to be broken to pieces are thrown,
either by hand or by any suitable machinery, on the trap door 6, which latter
will close itself immediately after the materials, on falling into the tube or
funnel b, leave this trap door. The materials are conducted by this funnel
tube b, between the breaking cylinders d, on the table a, by the revolving
motion of which latter they will be projected against the teeth, corrugations,
or projecting parts of the surfaces of these cylinders, and by the rapid
revolving motion of these latter receiving continuous blows therefrom, they
will be projected or thrown from the surface of one cylinder to that of
another, which action will continue as long as the fragments are too large for
escaping either from between the cylinders d, or between these latter and the
revolving table a, while by the revolving motion of these parts the materials
will be constantly compelled to escape, and thus will fall down into the funnel 1.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details of the arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of the said Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
1ly, breaking or crushing to smaller pieces of any required size stones,
glass, coals, coke, ores, minerals, or other similar hard and more or less
brittle materials, by means of one or more sets of three or more vertical
breaking cylinders or cones, the surfaces of which cylinders or cones are
provided with suitable teeth, indentions, projections, corrugations, or flutings,
the said breaking cylinders or cones revolving horizontally, and in the
same direction, so as to work in such manner that the materials to be
broken are continually projected from the surface of one cylinder or cone
to that of one of the others, and by receiving continuous blows there-
from become broken to pieces of such size as to allow them of passing

page_text: either through the apertures left between the said cylinders or cones,
or between the lower end of the said cylinders or cones, and the surface of a
horizontal revolving table or plate situated underneath the said breaking
cylinders or cones, and which revolving table or plate serves for preventing the
materials to leave the apparatus before being broken to the required size, and
also for projecting the materials towards the surfaces of the already mentioned
breaking cylinders or cones.
2ly, the arrangement described for preventing any extraneous matters
to enter into the oil or grease boxes of the steps or pans of the breaking
cylinders or cones and the revolving table or plate.
In witness whereof, I, the said Adolphe Joseph Canu, have hereunto
set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
A. J. CANU. (L.S.)