IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR REDUCING TURNIPS AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES TO A PULPOUS STATE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Josiah Rhodes, of the firm of J. Rhodes and
Company, of the Holborn Brass Foundry, in the Town and County
of the Town of Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR REDUCING TURNIPS AND OTHER VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES TO A PULPOUS STATE."
Sealed the 16th January 1857, and dated the 2nd August 1856.
.PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Josiah Rhodes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
August, 1856.
I, JOSIAH RHODES, of the firm of J. Rhodes and Company, of the Holborn
Brass Foundry, in the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR REDUCING TURNIPS AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUB-
STANCES TO A PULPOUS STATE," to be as follows:-
.
My Invention consists in reducing turnips and other vegetable substances
to a state of pulp, by means of an apparatus, in which are mounted two shafts
carrying toothed rollers which interlock with each other, and carry down from
a hopper the turnips or other vegetable substances to be reduced through
guides to a cutter plate, on which are screwed or otherwise attached plates or

page_text: knives radiating from the centre, which operate as scrapers, and reduce the
vegetable matter to a state of pulp. A shaft provided with knives is mounted
at the upper part of the hopper for slicing the turnips or other vegetable sub-
stances preparatory to their being fed down to the toothed rollers. Rotary
motion is imparted to the apparatus by manual, steam, or other power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Josiah Rhodes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSIAHI
RHODES, of the firm of J. Rhodes and Company, of the Holborn Brass
Foundry, in the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Josiah Rhodes, Her special licence that I, the said Josiah Rhodes, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Josiah Rbodes,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR REDUCING TURNIPS AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES TO A PULPOUS STATE,"
upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said Josiah Rhodes, 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 per-
formed, and cause the samo 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 Josiah Rhodes, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed, that is to
say-

page_text: My Invention consists in machinery or apparatus (for reducing vegetable
substances to a state of pulp), in which are mounted two shafts carrying toothed
rollers which interlock with each other, and carry down from a hopper the
turnips or other vegetable substances to be reduced through guides to a cutter
plate, on which are screwed or otherwise attached plates or knives radiating
from the centre, which operate as scrapers, and reduce the vegetable matter to
a state of pulp. A shaft provided with knives may be mounted at the upper
part of the hopper for slicing the turnips or other vegetable substances pre-
paratory to their being fed down to the toothed rollers. Rotary motion is
imparted to the apparatus by manual, steam, or other power.
The annexed Drawings illustrate the mannner in which my Invention is
carried into effect. Similar parts in all the Figures are lettered alike.
Figure 1, Sheet 1 of the Drawings, is a front elevation, and Figure 2, a
side view, of an apparatus for slicing vegetables, &c., constructed according to
my.Invention, having horizontal cutter plates. a, a, a, is a frame of cast iron,
supporting the several parts of the machine; 6 is the driving shaft, having a
pinion wheel keyed on one end, gearing into a wheel c, which is keyed on one
ond of the shaft c; at the other end of this shaft is keyed the wheel d', which
gears into a similar wheel on the shaft d. On each of the shafts c, d, are
fitted twelve toothed rollers e, e, (the teeth being cast in the form of stars,) the
points of six of them being placed intermediate with respect to the points of
the other six, and the whole being held in place by an intermediate collar
and nut at either end, the points of the stars on one shaft being opposite those
on the other shaft. f. f, are the cutter plates, screwed to a plate or plates g
on the short upright shaft g', supported at the lower end by the boss and cross
piece cast on to the pan or trough h, which pan prevents the vegetable matters
when reduced from being flung about by the revolution of the plate g, and
guides them in their descent, so that they fall in a heap on the floor or other
receptacle. Below the plate g is a bevil wheel 9', gearing into another
wheel g³ on the shaft b. i is a cast-iron guide plate, the width of the space
the star teeth work in, for preventing the substances to be cut from revolving
with the cutters and plate g, each side of the guide plate pointing upwards
in the direction opposite to that in which the plate g revolves, thus preventing
any of the roots, &c. being carried upwards by the star wheels or teeth, the
slots in the plate i being only wide enough for the star points to pass through.
jis the hopper, made in the usual way with iron bars at the bottom, for refuse,
sand, &c. to pass through, instead of passing to the cutter plates; is the fly
wheel on the shaft b.

page_text: Instead of twelve sets of toothed rollers e, e, as shewn, any other suitable
number similarly arranged may be mounted on the shafts c, d.
Figure 3, Sheet 2, is a side elevation, and Figure 4 a front elevation,
representing another form of machine, in which the cutter plates are perpen-
dicular, and cut across only one side of the machine, thereby cutting up only
half the quantity cut by the first-described machine. The several parts of this
machine are similar to the above described, excepting that the shafts c and d,
with their toothed rollers e, e, are placed above one another instead of hori-
zontally, and are held between the plates ; and motion is given to the
shafts c and d by. means of a worm m on the cutter shaft 6, gearing into the
wheel n at one end of a short shaft, having a spur wheel at the other end
gearing. into the wheel d on the shaft d, the castings a, a, a, supporting the
whole, the upper half of the circular-headed casting being a separate piece,
held on the lower half by. tabs and screws, as shewn, thus forming a box for
the plate g and cutters f to work in. The roots, &c. reduced to pulp pass
through the plate g, and fall down between the box a and back of g, and are
guided by the piece h to the floor or elsewhere.
Figure 5, Sheet 3, represents the under side of the plate to which the
cutter plates are screwed; Figure 6, an edge view of the same plate with the
cutters upon it. Figure 7 represents the two kinds of cutter plates f, and the
'way they are arranged relatively to each other, the tabs near each end fitting
in one of the short slots in the plate g, being held in that position by a screw
and washer. Figure 8 is a view of the plates fat the large end. Figure 9, a
front view of one of the stars e; and Figure 10 a side view of the same, shewing
their alternate positions.
The roots or vegetable substances to be reduced to pulp are first placed in
the hopper, whence they are received by the toothed rollers or shafts c, d, which
carry them forward. to the guide hopper or notched bar i, which not only
receives the vegetable substances from the shafts, thereby forming a rest for
them, but also serves to keep the rollers clean; the guide hopper being charged
by the continuous action of the toothed rollers, the vegetable matters press
against the cutter plates f, the plates 9 which carry the cutters revolving close
to the edge of the guide hopper, by the action of which the roots are reduced
to a state of pulp and delivered continuously.
The cutters may be of steel, or cast or wrought iron, arranged parallel with
the shaft on which they revolve, or in lines radiating therefrom, and they may
be constructed with a cast plate of the form shewn at Figures 7 and 8, or they
may be of perforated steel or wrought iron; and I do not confine myself to any

page_text: particular form of cutter, nor to any particular number of toothed rollers on
the shafts.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the machinery and
apparatus for reducing turnips and other vegetable substances to a state of pulp
in which toothed rollers mounted on shafts are employed for carrying down
the vegetable substances to cutting plates or knives, all as herein-before
described with reference to the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Rhodes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Middle Pavement, Nottingham.
JOSIAH RHODES. (L.s.)