Improvements in Machines for Plucking. Pelts.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 16th June, 1899-Accepted, 29th July, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines for Plucking. Pelts.
I, JOHN WASHBURN SUTTON, Mechanical Engineer, of 31, Wyckoff Street, in
the City of New York, Borough of Brooklyn, and State of New York, U.S.A.,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
―
In machines for plucking pelts, as heretofore. constructed rotary brushes were
employed hoth above and below the stretcher-bar, over which the pelts were
stretched and intermittently fed forward by suitable mechanism, said rotary
brushes serving for the purpose of brushing back the soft hair or fur and separ-
ating it from the stiff water hairs which project from that portion of the pelt
which is at the time located at the edge of the stretcher-bar. A type of such
a machine is shown in the Patent granted to me No. 11102 of 1894. In the
machine shown and described in said Patent, the brush above the stretcher-bar
turns in stationary bearings, while to the brush below the stretcher-bar a forward
and upward motion is intermittently imparted so as to act on the pelt below the
stretcher-bar. These brushes have the disadvantage that their brushing action
on the soft hair or fur of the pelt is more or less the same and cannot be altered
or adjusted so as to suit the conditions of different kinds of pelts.
It has been found however, by practical experience with various pelts, such
as coney-skins, etc., that a more delicate brushing action, or rather a beating
action should be exerted on the soft fur so as to enable the removing of the
stiff water hairs with less injury to the soft hair. For this purpose it is neces-
sary that another medium than brushes formed of bristles should be employed
and that this medium should be capable of adjustment so as to exert different
degrees of brushing or beating action of the soft hair, according to the character
of the fur.
For carrying out this object, I have made certain improvements in machines
for plucking pelts, in which in place of the brushing action, a beating action
is produced, while the remaining instrumentalities are the same as those shown
in my prior Patent referred to; and the invention consists, therefore, in a machine
for plucking pelts, which comprises a stretcher-bar; a rotary beater located
side of the stretcher-bar, a
one
second rotary beater located
in
on
the other side of the stretcher-bar, and provided with axially and radially adjust-
able beaters, means for moving said second beater on to and from the pelt, and
means for removing the stiff water hairs projecting from the pelt in front of
the working edge. of the stretcher-bar.
The invention consists further of the specific construction of each of the rotary
beaters and the mode of adjustment of the individual beaters on the same.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 represents a sectional side elevation, showing the operating parts of
my improved machine for plucking pelts, in connection with my improved rotary
heater-frames

page_text: Figs. 2 and 3 are plan views drawn on a larger scale, respectively of the upper
and lower beater-frames, parts broken out,
Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section of the upper beater-frame, and
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are vertical transverse sections of the lower wiper-frame,
showing the individual beaters adjusted to different relative positions so as to
exert various degrees of beating action on the hair of the pelt to be plucked.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
Referring to the drawings, A represents a stationary stretcher-bar which is
made of the usual tapering construction in cross-section so as to form a working
edge over which the pelts are intermittently fed in the well-known manner.
The means by which the pelt is fed intermittently over the stretcher-bar is not
shown as it is clearly shown and described in my prior Patent 11102 of 1894
before mentioned. Above the stretcher-bar is arranged a rotary beater-frame B,
to which motion is imparted by a suitable belt and pulley transmission. The
upper beater frame B is arranged at some distance back of the stretcher-bar, the
shaft of the same being supported in stationary bearings A' of the supporting-
frame of the machine. A second beater-frame is arranged below the stretcher-
bar and also rotated by suitable belt and pulley transmission in the same manner
as the lower separating brush in my Patent referred to. To the lower beater-
frame, forward and upward motion is imparted towards the stretcher-bar and
back again in connection with a guard-comb G in the same manner as in my
prior Patent, so that when the beater-frame is in its lowered position the guard-
comb is close to the pelt, while when the beater-frame is in position to act on
the lower part of the pelt the guard-comb is moved away from the pelt. The
mechanism for producing the motion of the lower beater-frame and guard-comb
is likewise shown in detail in the Patent No. 11102 of 1894 and is not necessary
to be shown here.
The mechanism for removing the stiff hairs projecting from that portion of
the pelt which is at the time in front of the working edge of the stretcher-bar
consists of a vertical reciprocating cutting-knife 1), and a rotary cutting-knife D',
the latter being provided with a brush D which is attached to the supporting
frame of the rotary knife in the same manner as in my prior l'atent.
As the improvement consists mainly in the construction and application of
the rotary beater-frames 1 will now describe them more in detail. The upper
beater-frame, which is shown in Figs. 2 and 4, consists of disk-shaped heads BIBL
that are attached to the rotary shaft. These heads, carry longitudinal rods.b¹
of round shape, which are bent at the ends and inserted into sockets s of the
heads, said bent ends being retained in said sockets by means of clamping screws e.
Each head is provided with a shoulder portion so as to form a flange el which is
recessed at the circumference at e² so as to form seats for the longitudinal beater-
rods b. When the beater-rods are secured in position they are moved by the
rotary motion imparted to the frame quickly over the intermittently-moving pelt
at the upper side of the stretcher-bar so as to beat or lay down the soft hair of
the pelt in a uniform manner before the same is fed to the working edge of
the stretcher-bar. The beater-rods have a certain spring, owing to the length
of the same, so as to exert the beating action on and "give" to any uneven-
ness in the thickness of the pelt fed over the stretcher-bar.
The lower rotary beater-frame is constructed in a different manner from the
upper beater-frame, and consists of shouldered heads f which are keyed fast to
the shaft F of the frame and which carry beaters Fi in the nature of blades,
made of sheet-metal or similar stiff material, that are attached to square bars f
which turn in suitable socket-holes of the heads so that the same can be axially
adjusted and retained after adjustment by suitable, clamping-screws f³, as shown
in dotted lines in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. The individual beaters " are provided with
slots at suitable distances so that by set-screws f* radially on the supporting
bars f so as to make the edge of the beater-blades project beyond the circum-
ferences of the heads or be within the same. By the axial adjustment of the

page_text: beater-blades and the radial adjustment produced by the set-screws f2, f*, a two
fold adjustment is obtained, in regard to the position of the edge of the beater-
blades relatively to the circumference of the heads; and with each other in regard
to the inclination of the beater-blades towards the radii which pass through the
centre of the supporting-shaft of the entire frame and the centres of the individual
beater-carrying-rods. In Fig. 5 the position of the beaters is shown in normal
radial position with their edges projecting slightly beyond the circumferences of
the heads, while in Figs. 6 and 7 they are shown respectively adjusted at a certain
angle to one side or the other side of the radial planes passing through the centre
of the shaft and the individual bars.
The beater-blades produce, during their rotation, a suction action on the soft
hairs as they pass over the same and cause thereby the effective laying down, of
the soft hairs, so that when the comb is placed near the edge of the stretcher-
bar it retains the soft hairs; while the stiff water hairs are projected into the
path of the cutting knives and cut off by the same at each rotation of the rotary
knife. The beater-blades act therefore not only by frictional contact with the
hairs, but also by the air-suctions as the blades move out of contact with the
pelt. The stiff hairs are not subject to this suction action and consequently do
not feel the influence of the same. The finer the soft hairs the more are they
affected by the suction action of the air, caused by the rotation of the beater-
blades. Thus according to the position to which the beater-blades are adjusted,
can the influence of the same on the soft hairs be regulated so that the beater-
frames are adapted to the finest pelts for removing the water hairs, while accom-
plishing, at the same time, the complete and reliable protection of the soft hairs
of the pelt.
The operation of my improved machine corresponds to the operation of my
machine before referred to, being modified only to the extent to which the work-
ing is influenced by the peculiar action of the upper and lower beater-frames
on the soft hair, in which the novel and important feature of the present con-
struction consists.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed .I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination of a stretcher-bar, a rotary beater-frame located behind
the edge of the stretcher-bar, means for continuously rotating said beater-frame
in the reverse direction to the movement of the pelt, and means for removing
from the pelt the hairs projecting over the working edge of the stretcher-bar,
substantially as set forth.
2. The combination of a stretcher-bar, a rotary beater-frame located near the
edge of the stretcher-bar and in contact with that portion of the pelt moving over
the edge of the stretcher-bar, means for continuously-rotating said beater-frame
reversely to the direction of the motion of the pelt, a vertically reciprocating
knife, and a rotary knife, said knife operating to remove the hairs projecting
from the working edge of the stretcher-bar, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination of a stretcher-bar, a rotary beater-frame located behind the
edge of the stretcher-bar means for continuously rotating said beater-frame reversely
to the direction of the motion of the pelt, a rotary beater-frame below the
stretcher-bar, and means by which the said lower beater-frame is moved upward
and forward in position close to the working edge of the stretcher-bar and back
again, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination of a stretcher-bar, a rotary beater-frame located near the
edge of the stretcher-bar and in contact with that portion of the pelt moving
towards the edge of the stretcher-bar, means for continuously rotating said
beater-frame reversely to the direction of the motion of the pelt, a rotary
beater-frame below the stretcher-bar, means by which the said lower
beater-frame is moved upward and forward in position close to the

page_text: working edge of the stretcher-bar and back again, a reciprocating guard-
comb also below the stretcher-bar, and mechanism by which the guard-comb is
moved with the lower rotary beater-frame upward and under the stretcher-bar
near the working edge of the same, substantially as set forth.
5. The combination of a stretcher-bar, a rotary beater-frame located near the
edge of the stretcher-bar and-in contact with that portion of the pelt moving to-
wards the edge of the stretcher-bar, means for rotating said beater-frame reversely
to the direction of the motion of the pelt, a second beater-frame located below
the stretcher-bar, mechanism whereby said lower beater-frame is moved upward
and forward to the working edge of the stretcher-bar and back again, and means
for removing the hairs projecting from the pelt in front of the working edge
of the stretcher-bar, substantially as set forth.
G. In a machine for plucking pelts, a rotary beater-frame composed of a shaft,
heads attached thereto and longitudinal beaters secured to said heads, substan-
tially as set forth.
7. The combination of a stretcher-bar, means for intermittently feeding a pelt
over the bar, segmental brushes located above and below the edge of the stretcher-
bar, said brushes being provided with guard-combs at one end, means for impart-
ing intermittently rotary-reciprocating motion to said brushes, means for impart-
ing a reciprocating up and down motion to said brushes towards and away from
said stretcher-bar, a vertical reciprocating cutting-knife, and a rotating cutting
knife, substantially as set forth.
8. In a machine for plucking pelts, a rotary beater-frame, composed of a
shaft, heads attached to the shaft, beater-blades applied to longitudinal bars
carried by the hands, means for adjusting said bars axially, and means for adjust-
ing the blade radially on said bars, substantially as set forth.
this fyth day of June
1699.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
31, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.