IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR KNEADING DOUGH
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
06, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR KNEADING DOUGH."
-A communication.
ne, the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR KNEADING DOUGH."
-A communication.
Sealed the 26th January 1858, and dated the 26th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1857.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR KNEADING DOUGH,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to subject dough, through the agency of
machinery, to an operation resembling that of kneading by hand.
The Invention consists chiefly in the use of what is termed by the inventor
"a flopper," which is a swinging blade attached to a wheel or carrier that
rotates within a barrel or trough, in which the flour, water, and yeast, or other
ferment are placed. This flopper has such a motion imparted to it besides the
rotary motion it derives from the wheel or carrier, to which it is attached, that
at every revolution of the carrier, it (the flopper) cuts into, opens, and divides
the mass of dough or other material in the barrel or trough, takes up a large
portion of it, turns that portion over and throws it down upon the portion

page_text: remaining at the bottom of the barrel or trough, thus imitating some of the
movements made by hand in kneading; and by attaching to the revolving
whcel or carrier, which carries the flopper, one or more rigid bars to revolve
within the trough and work through the dough, the operation of kneading by
hand, which makes a very superior bread to any heretofore kneaded by
machinery, is almost exactly imitated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 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 "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR KNEADING DOUGH," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates

page_text: to the subjecting of dough, through the agency of machinery, to an operation
resembling that of kneading by hand, which operation consists not only in
mixing the flour, water, and yeast, or other ferment thoroughly, but in opening
the mass, dividing it, and reuniting it repeatedly, thereby causing air to enter
it and be retained within it in large quantities, and distributed throughout it
in small cellules, making a very light bread with a small quantity of yeast
or ferment.
The Invention consists chiefly in what is herein-after termed the "flopper,"
which is a swinging blade attached to a wheel or carrier that rotates within a
barrel or trough, in which the flour, water, and yeast or other ferment are
placed. This flopper has such a motion imparted to it, besides the rotary
motion it derives from the wheel or carrier, to which it is attached, that at
every revolution of the carrier the flopper cuts into, opens, and divides the
mass of dough or other material in the barrel or trough, takes up a large
portion of it, turns that portion over, and throws it down upon the portion
remaining at the bottom of the barrel or trough, thus imitating some of the
movements made by hand in kneading, and by attaching to the revolving
wheel or carrier, which carries the flopper, one or more rigid bars, to revolve
within the trough and work through the dough, the operation of kneading by
hand, which makes a very superior bread to any heretofore kneaded by machi-
nery, is almost exactly imitated.
The Invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which
Fig. 1 is an end view of a kneading machine, with the improvement applied;
Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; Figures 3 and 4 are transverse vertical sections
of the same, in different conditions. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in the several figures.
A, B, B', is the stationary barrel or trough, in which the kneading is per-
formed, consisting of a vessel of cylindrical or other circular form, arranged
with its axis in a horizontal position. The sides A of this vessel are made of
wooden staves or of sheet iron, and the heads consist of two open wheel-like
standards B, B, in the inner faces of each of which is a groove a to receive
the edges of the part A. The standards B, B¹, are intended to be bolted to a
suitable bed plate, or to floor, and they may be stayed together by horizontal
stays outside the trough. In the top of this trough A, B, B', there is (repre-
sented in Fig. 3) a wide opening b, b, for the introduction of the flour, water,
and ferment of which the dough is to be made, but a portion c, c, of one side
of the trough is made so as to be capable of sliding in the groove a in such a
manner as to open the side of the vessel instead of the top, to allow the dough
to be discharged from the trough after it has been sufficiently kneaded.
a

page_text: C, C, D, D, is a rotating carrier, which carries the flopper E and the bars
F and G, which effect the kneading operation. This carrier consists of two
short shafts C, C, arranged in line with one another, and working in bearings
in the centres of the heads B, B', of the trough, and each having rigidly
keyed or otherwise secured to it one of the two circular plates D, D, which
occupy positions nearly close to the open leads B, B', and whose circum-
ferences are such that they will just rotate within the trough. The plates D, D,
thus constitute practically the ends of the trough. The said plates are stayed
together rigidly by the two rigid straight wooden bars F, G, which extend
from one to the other, and parallel with the shafts C, C, and which are bolted
to the said plates D, D. The bar F, whose duty is to stir and mix the flour
water, and ferment well together, may be of square, round, or polygonal form,
but the square form is to be preferred. It is placed at some distance from
the sides of the trough. The bar G, whose duty it is to scrape the dough
from the sides of the trough, is made of flat form, and arranged with its
broader sides or faces radial, or nearly so, to the shafts C, C, and it is bevelled.
on its outer edge. The flopper E is a broad wooden blade, extending the
whole of the distance between the two plates D, D, or ends of the trough, and
attached at one edge by suitable iron straps, or other contrivances at each end
to a shaft E*, which is fitted to bearings in the plates D, D, and permitted to
turn therein far enough for the flopper to move between the pins d and g,.
which are secured in one of the plates D, D. The shaft E* carries at one
end (outside of the plate D in which that end is supported), a wiper e,
which by the rotary motion of the carrier is brought into contact with a
fixed stud projecting from the inner side of the standard B, and is caused
to receive and impart to the shaft. E the motion necessary to shift the
flopper from a position of rest against the pin d over against the pin g, such
movement of the flopper taking place as the flopper arrives near its highest
position, and serving to turn over the dough which it has taken up from the
bottom of the trough, and drop or throw it back to the bottom again. H is
the driving shaft of the machine, fitted to turn in bearings on the standards
B, B. This shaft, which may be turned by a hand crank or driven by power,
carries two small spur wheels I, which gear with a pair of larger wheels J, J,
inounted one on each of the carrier shafts C, C, and are intended to receive
a slow motion, say, from eight to twelve revolutions per minute.
The operation of kneading is performed in this machine in the following
manner: As much four as will fill the trough to one-third of its depth.
with the requisite quantity of water and ferment to convert it into dough,
having been put into the trough through the opening b, b, in the top, motion.

page_text: is given to the shaft H to cause the rotary motion of the carrier, and the
revolution of the bar F, scraper G, and flopper E in the direction of the arrows
shown in Figures 1, 3, and 4. While the bar F stirs and mixes the flour,
water, and ferment well together, by passing through the middle of the mass,
the scraper G scrapes the bottom and sides of the trough, and prevents any
part of the mass from remaining adhering thereto, and thereby escaping the
mixing operation. The flopper E during the descending portion of its revo-
lution generally rests against the pin g, as shewn in red outline in Fig. 4,
till its edge strikes the dough or material in the lower part of the trough,
though it may sometimes descend so far without coming in contact therewith
as to hang loosely below its shaft E*, but as soon as the edge touches the
dough or material and meets with a resistance, it is held back in some degree,
and the flopper by the continued onward movement of its shaft E* is made
gradually to assume a position radial to the centre of the trough and axis of
the carrier, with its edge nearly touching the surface of the trough, in which
position it is held by coming in contact with the pin d. Fig. 4 exhibits, in
black outline, the position of the flopper at the instant of its coming in contact
with the pin d. The flopper in moving to the radial position, cuts into the
mass in the trough, as illustrated in Fig. 4, and as it moves onward it carries
a great portion of the mass before it, and up one side of the trough, retaining
its radial condition relatively to the trough till it arrives near the mouth b, b,
of the trough, by which time the wiper è comes in contact with the stationary
stud f, as shewn in black outline in Fig. 3. The continued revolution of the
flopper with the carrier, after this takes place, causes the flopper, through the
movement which the wiper derives in part from stud f, and in part from its
revolution with the carrier, to move over to the pin g, as shown in red outline
in Fig. 3, and thus turn over the dough or partly made dough which it
has carried up, and which now being unsupported falls back to the bottom
of the trough and reunites with the portion remaining there. Any tendency
of the dough to stick to the flopper after the latter is turned over will be
overcome by the flopper always coming down on to the pin 9 with some
violence whenever the dough adheres.
The above described operation is repeated at every revolution of the carrier,
and the dough is in a short time sufficiently mixed and kneaded. When the
kneading operation is completed, the slide c, c, is intended to be moved upward
in the groove a, to open the trough at the side, to enable the dough to be
swept out of the trough by the movement of the flopper E and scraper G.
Instead of constructing the trough with open heads B, B', and the carrier
with circular plates D, D, of the full size of the circular interior of the trough,

page_text: as described, the heads B, B', may be made of closed plates, and instead of
the carrier being provided with circular plates D, D, the carrier shafts C, C,
may simply be provided with arms to carry the bar F, scraper G, flopper E,
and pins d. g.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Kneading Dough," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the
application to kneading machinery of a swinging piece or flopper, operating
in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)