AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PRESSING OR CRUSHING SPENT HOPS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Pepper, of Saville Street, Sheffield, in the
County of York, Brewer's Clerk, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR PRESSING OR CRUSHING SPENT HOPS."
Sealed the 31st March 1864, and dated the 5th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Pepper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his 'Petition, on the
5th October 1863.
I, ROBERT PEPPER, of Saville Street, Sheffield, in the County of York,
Brewer's Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Au
IMPROVED MACHINE FOR PRESSING OR CRUSHING SPENT HOPS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in improved machinery adapted for the purpose of
pressing or crushing spent hops and separating the liquor therefrom.. I pro-
pose to mount on suitable standards of metal, iron, or wood, a hopper or
receptacle into which the spent hops are received after having been used in
the hop beck. The lower part of the hopper contains a fan, or circular toothed
spindle, or cog wheel, or drum, by the revolution of which the hops are driven
or fed between two rollers, one on the top of the other; the upper roller is

page_text: grooved and works loosely in bearings in the standards, being pressed down
upon the lower roller by means of a spring regulated by a band wheel and
screw. The under roller has circular projections or flanges to prevent choking,
and grooves to correspond with those on the upper roller, and the hops passing
between the rollers become pressed or crushed, the liquor runs off between the
grooves on the rollers into a funnel or trough through a strainer down a pipe
to a vessel or trough where it is collected, and the crushed hops fall over a
spout on the opposite side of the feeding wheel, whence they are received in
bags or baskets. The machine may be worked by suitable gearing actuated
by manual or steam power, and the various parts of the machine may be made
of iron, or of iron, metal, zinc, and wood, as inmay be found convenient.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Pepper, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
PEPPER, of Saville Street, Sheffield, in the County of York, Brewer's Clerk,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Pepper, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Pepper,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said
Robert Pepper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR
PRESSING OR CRUSHING SPENT HOPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Robert Pepper, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Pepper, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My Invention consists in improved machinery adapted for the purpose of
pressing or crushing spent hops and separating the liquor therefrom.
In order that my said Invention may be completely understood, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon, as follows:-
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the machine; Fig. 2, an end elevation; and
Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section; similar letters denoting corresponding
parts in each of the Figures.
A is a frame made to receive the machinery; B is a hopper to receive the
spent hops before passing through the rollers, having a perforated bottom C for
straining the liquor when pressed by the rollers and plain conducting plate D;
E is a spiked spindle, or cog drum, or shaft to feed the rollers; F, F, are
rollers through which the hops are passed from the hopper by the spiked
spindle, or cog drum, or shaft. The rollers may be of different dimensions or
equal, both as regards length, breadth, or thickness; they may be smooth,
grooved, or file-faced, hollow or solid, and with or without flanges; G is a
cross bar supported by caps H, H; I, I, I, are screws regulating the spring J
and the plain cross bar K, resting on bushes which are placed immediately
over the shaft, which, with the levers L, L, regulate the pressure required;
M, M, are knives or scrapers for cleaning the rollers; N are two pulleys, one
fast and the other loose, for working the machinery by steam; 0, 0, are cog
wheels; P is the fly wheel, to be worked either by manual or steam power,
and from top or bottom roller shafts; Q is a receiver to receive the liquor
pressed out of the hops, which passes from thence through a pipe into the
cooler or other place. The machine may be made of any size and of any
material, and is suitable for pressing or crushing all other kinds of grain,
seeds, or fruits, as well as spent hops.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion, that I do not
limit myself to the precise details or configuration of parts herein expressed
and shewn, as the same may obviously be varied or modified without departing
from the principles thereof, but what I claim and desire to be secured to me
by the herein in part recited Letters Patent are the general arrangement and

page_text: combination of parts, substantially as herein-before specified and illustrated,
constituting "An Improved Machine for Pressing or Crushing Spent Hops,"
according to the title hereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Pepper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
JOHN CLARK,
7, St. James' Row,
Sheffield.
ROBERT PEPPER. (L.S.)