IMPROVEMENTS IN COFFEE PULPING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Van Vleck Lidgerwood, of Morristown,
New Jersey, United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, London, Merchant and Manufacturer, for the Invention
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Van Vleck
Lidgerwood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 25th March 1875.
I, WILLIAM VAN VLECK LIDGERWOOD, of Morristown, New Jersey,
United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings,
London, Merchant and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COFFEE PULPING MACHINES," to
be as follows:
My said Invention relates to improved machines for removing the pulp
from the berries of coffee, and is designed to afford the means whereby
this operation may be effected with greater economy of time and labour
and with a larger yield of good coffee berries than heretofore.

page_text: grooves or channels I drive dovetailed strips or bars of wood, and to
these strips or bars I secure by nails, screws, or otherwise the roughened
sheet copper which forms the pulping surface. By having these cylinder
bodies formed of metal and grooved, as above described, and fitted with
strips or bars of wood, it is obvious that they will be very durable and
will always remain perfectly true or unwarped, that is to say, they
cannot lose their proper shape, and their copper surface may be readily
renewed when worn out by long continued use.
The hopper is made of any convenient form and dimensions, and is
arranged in the proper position for delivering the cherry coffee to the
cylinder, and the upper and lower chops are arranged in the usual posi-
tion adjacent to the surface of the cylinder; but instead of forming
these chops as heretofore I form the upper one entirely or partially of
india-rubber, which although sufficiently hard to effect the separation of
the pulp from the berries or grains, when the cherry coffee is properly
ripe, yet by reason of its clastic or yielding nature will not be liable to
injure any of the said berries whatever may be their size or condition,
that is to say, it will not injure the large or unripe berries, and on the
other hand will not permit the small berries to pass unpulped. The
lower chop is preferably formed of iron and faced with brass. These
chops retain the berries or grains and the unripe and inferior cherries,
and discharge them into a separating screen or drum while the pulp
passes away in the usual manner down the shoot or spout. The said
chops are attached to adjustable frames, and by screws or other suitable
devices the said chops are adjusted nearer to or further from the surface
of the said cylinder. The hopper is provided with a reciprocating slide
for producing a regular and continuous feed to the chops; this slide is
operated by an excentric rock shaft and rods. There is also a sheet of
fine wire gauze or perforated metal through which the excess of water
from the coffee passes away.
In some instances I may use a pair of cylinders or rolls formed of
or covered with india-rubber arranged above the chops for the purpose
of partially pulping the coffee. I may also use rubber cylinders for
removing the parchment from the pulped coffee after the same has been
dried.
Behind the chops and extending longitudinally on the aforesaid frame
is the rotating screen or perforated cylinder into which the coffee berries
and the unpulped or unripe coffee cherries and sometimes a small

page_text: portion of the pulp will pass when thrown out by the said chops. An
inclined shoot or trough conducts them into the end of the said screen or
cylinder, which is more or less inclined downwards towards the opposite
end of the machine. This trough receives a supply of water through
the said wire gauze or perforated metal. The shaft of this screen is
geared by bevel wheels with a countershaft which may receive
motion from the shaft of the cylinder by a belt and pulleys or other-
wise.
Below the outer or lower end of this rotating screen or cylinder I
place a second set of pulping mechanism consisting of a hopper,
cylinder, india-rubber chop, and brass faced lower chop, constructed,
arranged, and operating relatively to each other like those above described.
The coffee berries or grains that have been freed from their pulpy
covering by the first cylinder and chops escape in their passage down the
screen through the holes or perforations thereof; this coffee is of the
first quality, and will be found to consist of large berries or grains
without any admixture of small or injured berries such as form a very
large proportion of the coffee pulped by the machines heretofore used;
but the unripe coffee cherries which cannot pass through the perforations
of the said screen are carried along the same and discharged from its lower
end into the second hopper, and subjected to the action of the second
cylinder and chops. The coffee obtained by this second pulping opera-
tion although not of such fine quality as the other will be of very fair
quality and the grains or berries will not be bruised or injured as in
a machine where the upper and lower chops are of hard or unyielding
material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Van Vleck Lidgerwood in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 3
VAN VLECK LIDGERWOOD, of Morristown, New Jersey, United States of
America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, Merchant and
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year 3

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Van Vleck
Lidgerwood, Her special licence that I, the said William Van Vleck
Lidgerwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Van Vleck Lidgerwood, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 COFFEE
PULPING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Van Vleck Lidgerwood, 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 In-
vention, 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 William Van Vleck Lidgerwood,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing, forming a part of this Specification :-
My said Invention relates to improved machinery for removing the
pulp from the berries of coffee and is designed to afford the means
whereby this operation may be effected with greater economy of time
and labour and with a larger yield of good coffee berries than hereto-
fore.
Various machines and contrivances more or less unsatisfactory have
been employed for this purpose; among these the most generally
adopted are the machines constructed with a revolving cylinder formed
of a block of wood covered with copper roughened on its surface, and
arranged in combination with pieces of hard and unyielding material
termed "chops," which are placed in close proximity to the periphery
of the cylinder. As the latter revolves the coffee cherries are fed from
a hopper with a stream of water, and as the coffee cherries pass down

page_text: between the said cylinder and "chops "the berries or grains are separated
from the pulp, and are conducted into any suitable receptacle, the pulp
being discharged in another direction.
My Invention is designed to increase the efficiency of machines of
this class and consists,―
First. In improvements in the construction of the pulping cylinders,
whereby they are rendered capable of ready restoration or repair when
their pulping surface is worn, and are so constructed that they will not
warp or get out of truth.
Secondly. In the employment of india-rubber in the place of one or
both of the aforesaid hard unyielding or inelastic "chops," whereby I
obtain a firm but yielding pressure upon the coffee and free the berries
from the pulp without injuring them.
The said Invention consists,—
Thirdly. In the combination with the said pulping apparatus of a
rotating screen or perforated cylinder for separating the coffee berries
that have been freed of their pulp from any unripe, inferior, or un-
pulped cherries, or any particles of pulp that may pass with the pulped
berries from the said " chops."
And, Fourthly. In the combination with the above apparatus of a
second set of pulping mechanism for treating the said unpulped, unripe,
or inferior cherries.
The Drawing shews a longitudinal vertical section of a machine con-
structed according to my Invention. The said machine has a strong
frame a of wood or metal, upon which is mounted the pulping cylinder >
and other parts of the machine.
Instead of constructing the said cylinder as heretofore, that is to say,
with a body of wood and a surface of roughened sheet copper, I con-
struct the body of the said cylinder of cast iron or other suitable metal,
and with longitudinal dovetailed grooves or channels, extending from
end to end of its outer portion. Into these grooves or channels I drive
dovetailed strips or bars of wood 6', and to these strips or bars I secure
by nails, screws, or otherwise the roughened sheet copper 6* which
forms the pulping surface. By having these cylinder bodies formed of
metal and grooved, as above described, and fitted with strips or bars of

page_text: wood, it is obvious that they will be very durable and will always
remain perfectly true or unwarped, that is to say, they cannot lose their
proper shape, and their copper pulping surface may be readily renewed
when worn out by long continued use.
The hopper c is made of any convenient form and dimensions, and is
arranged in the proper position for delivering the cherry coffee to the
cylinder, and the upper and lower chops d, e, are arranged in the usual
position adjacent to the surface of the cylinder b; but instead of forming
these chops as heretofore I form the upper one entirely or partially of
india-rubber or any compound thereof, or other suitable material, which´
although sufficiently hard to effect the separation of the pulp from the
berries or grains when the cherry coffee is properly ripe, yet by reason of
its elastic or yielding nature will not be liable to injure any of the said
berries whatever may be their size or condition, that is to say, it will not
injure the large or unripe berries, and on the other hand will not permit
the small berries to pass unpulped; the lower chop is preferably formed
of iron and faced with brass. These chops retain the berries or grains
and the unripe and inferior cherries and discharge them into a sepa-
rating screen or drum, while the pulp passes away in the usual manner
down the shoot or spout f. The said chops are attached to adjustable
blocks g, g, and by the screws h or other suitable devices the said chops
are adjusted nearer to or further from the surface of the said cylinder as
required. The hopper is provided with a reciprocating slide i for pro-
ducing a regular and continuous feed or supply of coffee cherries to the
chops. This slide is operated by an eccentric 1, rock shaft 2, and rods 3, 4,
shewn in dotted lines. There is also a sheet of fine wire gauze or
perforated metal through which the excess of water from the coffeo
passes away.
In some instances I may use a pair of cylinders or rolls formed of or
covered with india-rubber arranged above the chops for the purpose
of partially pulping the coffee. I may also use rubber cylinders
for removing the parchment from the pulped coffee after the same has
been dried.
Behind the chops and placed longitudinally on the aforesaid frame
is the rotating screen or perforated cylinder j into which the coffee
berries and the unpulped or unripe coffee cherries, and sometimes a
small portion of the pulp will pass when thrown out by the said chops.
An inclined shoot or trough conducts them into the upper end of the

page_text: said screen or cylinder, which is more or less inclined downward towards
the opposite end of the machine; this trough receives a supply of water
through the said wire gauze or perforated metal ¹. The shaft j' of
this screen is geared by bevel wheels j, j³, with a countershaft
which receives motion from the shaft 6 of the cylinder 6 by a belt and
pullies or otherwise.
Below the outer or lower end of this rotating screen or cylinder I
place a second set of pulping mechanism consisting of a hopper m,
cylinder n, india-rubber chop o, and brass faced lower chop p constructed,
arranged, and operating relatively to each other in the same manner as
those above described.
The coffee berries or grains that have been freed from their pulpy
covering by the cylinder b and chops d, e, escape in their passage
down the screen through the holes or perforations thereof; this coffee is
of the first quality, and will be found to consist of large berries or grains
without any admixture of small or injured berries such as form a very
large proportion of the coffee pulped by the machines heretofore used;
but the unripe and other coffee cherries which cannot pass through the
perforations of the said screen are carried along the same and discharged
from its lower end into the second hopper m, and subjected to the action
of the cylinder n and chops o, p. The coffee obtained by this second
pulping operation, although not of such fine quality as the other will
be of very fair quality, and the grains or berries will not be bruised or
injured as in a machine when the upper and lower chops are of hard
or unyielding material.
Having thus fully described my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim in a machine
for pulping coffee,-
First. The novel construction of the pulping cylinder as herein set
forth.
Second. The employment of india-rubber or similar elastic material
in the construction of one or both of the chops employed in combination
with the pulping cylinder, as herein set forth.
Third. The combination with the said pulping mechanism of the

page_text: Fourth. The combination with the said screen or cylinder, and with
the other parts of the machine of the second set of pulping mechanism,
as herein set forth and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Van Vleck Lidgerwood,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-five.
WM. VAN VLECK LIDGERWOOD. (L.S.)
Witness,
JA³. EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.