IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND PULPING TURNIPS AND OTHER VEGETABLES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Hornsby, junior, of Spittlegate Iron
Works, Grantham, Lincolnshire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND PULPING TURNIPS AND OTHER VEGETABLES."
Sealed the 27th February 1863, and dated the 4th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Hornsby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
December 1862.
I, RICHARD HORNSBY, junior, of Spittlegate Iron Works, Grantham,
Lincolnshire, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND PULPING TURNIPS AND OTHER VEGETABLES," to be
as follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for cutting and
pulping turnips and other vegetables. For the purpose of cutting turnips and
vegetables I employ a disc or wheel mounted on a horizontal axis, and
capable of being caused to rotate by means of a crank handle or otherwise.
The roots or vegetables to be cut are placed in a hopper and rest against the
revolving disc or wheel, and this has knives upon it suitable for cutting the
roots or vegetables into small pieces. The pieces as they are cut pass through
passages left for them in the disc or wheel, and fall down on the other side
into another hopper placed to receive them..
Up to this point however the machine is not new, but such machines as

page_text: usually constructed are defective in that they allow the last slice of the root or
vegetable to escape as a single piece much exceeding in size the other pieces;
this arises in consequence of its being necessary to leave a space at the
bottom of the feeding hopper for the knives on the disc or wheel to pass, and
hence as soon as the root or vegetable is reduced to a slice sufficiently thin to
pass this opening it falls through as a complete slice.
Now, according to my Invention, I, in the following manner receive the
slices so falling through and return them to the feeding hopper, and in this
manner insure their being properly cut up. Below the bottom of the
feeding hopper I place a. vertical board or screen parallel to the wheel or
dise, and at such a distance from the lower part thereof that the knives
will just pass clear, and I also form a flange projecting inwards on or
near the periphery of the disc or wheel. It results from this arrangement that
the slices which fall through are retained between the vertical board or screen,
and the flange on the disc or wheel and the knives as they sweep round bring
them up again into the hopper. The flange need not necessarily be formed on
the disc or wheel it may be attached to the face of the board or screen, the
method of operation will be in no way changed by this modification. The
flange and the board or screen are conveniently perforated or divided, so
that small pieces which do not require again cutting may fall through.
I also, according to my Invention, arrange the sets of knives around the
surface of the disc in a curve similar to that usually given to the knife of a
chaff cutter, so that the amount of work on the knives is uniform in every part
of the revolution of the disc or wheel. I do not (by preference) fix the knives
directly to the disc or wheel, but to a curved bar bolted thereto; this
arrangement allows of the knives being more readily fitted and removed or
changed when required. The size of the pieces cut may also, when the bars
are suitably formed, be adjusted by placing packing pieces under the bars,
or by other similar means altering the position of the bars on the disc or
wheel.
In constructing a machine for pulping (in place of cutting) turnips and
other vegetables, I employ a disc or wheel and feeding hopper as before, and
into the disc or wheel I fix a number of separate cutters sharpened at their
ends. Each cutter is fixed in its place by passing it through a hole in the
dise or wheel, and is secured by a key or wedge of wood; there is also in
front of each cutter another hole through which the material removed by
the cutter passes. These holes are not essential to the successful working of
the machine, but they render it much more rapid, and reduce the power
necessary to work it. The cutters are so placed that when the disc or wheel

page_text: is revolved no two cutters pass over the same track, and consequently the
root or vegetable is equally cut over its whole surface, which causes the cutting
action to progress regularly. In order to prevent any portions escaping at the
bottom of the hopper which are not properly cut, there is a bar at the bottom
of the hopper with teeth upon it, between which the cutters on the disc or
wheel pass. To prevent the teeth on the bar coming in contact with those on
the disc or wheel, which were the bar fixed they would be liable to do, (for as
before mentioned no two teeth on the disc or wheel follow in the same track)
the toothed bar has a to-and-fro movement communicated to it by an eccentric
at each rotation of the disc or wheel, and the arrangement of the cutters on the
latter is such that this motion of the bar just allows the teeth to clear. This
oscillating toothed bar may also be applied to construct a pulping machine
having a cylinder with cutters upon it, arranged as above explained, so that
no two shall pass over the same track; the action of the machine will be
similar, but the form is not so convenient as that first described.
Also, according to my Invention, in constructing machines to pulp turnips
and other vegetables, I mount the cutters on a disc or wheel, and dispense
altogether with the use of the toothed bar. This allows of pieces falling
through at times at the bottom of the hopper, but by means of a flange
on the wheel or disc (or otherwise), and a vertical board or screen, as before
described as respects the cutting machine, I return the pieces so falling
through to the hopper, so that in the end they become thoroughly pulped.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Hornsby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HORNSBY, junior, of Spittlegate Iron Works, Grantham, Lincolnshire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Richard Hornsby, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Hornsby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Richard Hornsby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should

page_text: 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 APPARATUS FOR CUTTING AND PULPING TURNIPS AND OTHER
VEGETABLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Hornsby, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Hornsby, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for cutting and
pulping turnips and other vegetables. For the purpose of cutting turnips and
other vegetables I employ a disc or wheel mounted on a horizontal axis,
and capable of being caused to rotate by means of a crank handle or otherwise.
The roots or vegetables to be cut are placed in a hepper and rest against
the revolving disc or wheel, and this has knives upon it suitable for cutting
the roots of vegetables into small pieces. The pieces as they are cut pass
through passages left for them in the disc or wheel, and fall down on the
other side into another hopper placed to receive them.
Up to this point however the machine is not new, but such machines as
usually constructed are defective in that they allow the last slice of the root or
vegetable to escape as a single piece much exceeding in size the other pieces;
this arises in consequence of its being necessary to leave a space at the
bottom of the feeding hopper for the knives on the disc or wheel to pass, and
hence as soon as the root or vegetable is reduced to a slice sufficiently thin to
pass this opening, it falls through as a complete slice.
Now according to my Invention, I in the following manner receive the
slices so falling through and return them to the feeding hopper, and in this
manner I ensure their being properly cut up. Below the bottom of the
feeding hopper I place a vertical board or screen parallel to the wheel or disc,
and at such a distance from the lower part thereof that the knives will just
pass clear, and I also form a flange projecting inwards on or near the periphery
of the disc or wheel. It results from this arrangement that the slices that

page_text: fall through are retained between the vertical board or screen, and the flange
on the disc or wheel and the knives as they sweep round bring them up
again into the hopper. The flange is conveniently perforated or divided so
that small pieces which do not require again cutting may fall through.
I also, according to my Invention, arrange the sets of knives around the
surface of the disc in a curve similar to that usually given to the knife of a
chaff cutter, so that the amount of work on the knives is uniform in every
part of the revolution of the disc or wheel. I do not (by preference) fix
the knives directly to the disc or wheel, but to a curved bar bolted thereto;
this arrangement allows of the knives being more readily fitted and removed
or changed when required. The size of the pieces cut may also, when the
bars are suitably formed be adjusted by placing packing pieces under the
bars, or by other similar means altering the position of the bars on the disc or
wheel.
In constructing a machine for pulping (in place of cutting) turnips and
other vegetables, I employ a disc or wheel and feeding hopper as before, and
into the disc or wheel I fix a number of separate cutters sharpened at their
ends. Each cutter is fixed in its place by passing it through a hole in the
disc or wheel, and is secured by a key or wedge of wood. There is also in
front of each cutter another hole through which the material removed by the
cutter passes. These holes are not essential to the successful working of the
machine, but they render it much more rapid, and reduce the power necessary
to work it. The cutters are so placed that when the disc or wheel is revolved
no two cutters pass over the same tract, and consequently the root or vegetable
is equally cut over its whole surface which causes the cutting axis to progress
regularly. In order to prevent any portions escaping at the bottom of the
hopper which are not properly cut, there is a bar at the bottom of the hopper
with teeth upon it, between which the cutters on the disc or wheel pass. To
prevent the teeth on the bar coming in contact with those on the disc or
wheel, which were the bar fixed they would be liable to do, (for as before-
mentioned no two teeth on the disc or wheel follow on the same track,), the
toothed bar has a to-and-fro movement communicated to it by an excentric
at each rotation of the disc or wheel, and the arrangement of the cutters on
the latter is such that this motion of the bar, just allows the teeth to clear.
This oscillating toothed bar may also be, applied to construct a pulping
machine having a cylinder with cutters upon it, arranged as above explained,
so that no two shall pass over the same track; the action of the machine will
be similar, but the form is not so convenient, as that first described...
Also, according to my Invention, in constructing machines to pulp turnips

page_text: and other vegetables,
mount the cutters on a disc or wheel, and dispense
altogether with the use of the toothed bar. This allows of pieces falling
through at times at the bottom of the hopper, but by means of a flange on
the wheel or disc, and a vertical board or screen, as before described as
respects the cutting machine, I return the pieces so falling through to the
hopper, so that in the end they become thoroughly pulped.
. Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a machine for cutting turnips and other
vegetables constructed or combined according to my Invention; Figure 2 is
a-transverse section thereof; and Figure 3 shows separately one of the curved
bars to which the knives or cutters are fixed.
a, a, is the disc or wheel which is mounted on and turns with the horizontal
áxis b; c, c, are curved bars to which the cutters or knives d, d, are fixed;
these bars are fixed by lugs c', c', to the disc or wheel a, so that by using
packing pieces between them and the disc or wheel their positions in respect
to the face of the disc or wheel may be adjusted. The dotted: lines e, e, show
the hopper into which the turnips or other vegetables are placed. At or near
the periphery of the disc or wheel a flange a', a', is formed or affixed; this
flange is, by preference, perforated in such manner that small pieces may
drop through the perforations or spaces between the neighbouring parts of the
flange a', a¹, hence as the flange rotates with the wheel or disc, the motion
thereof will tend to ensure the passing away of the small pieces, whilst the
larger pieces of turnips or other vegetable will be retained. f is. a screen
such as has before been employed in machines. .
In Figures 1 and 2, x is intended to represent a piece of turnip which has
been cut, and has passed downwards between the disc or wheel and the screen
or board f, and is prevented getting away by the flange a', a', fixed or formed
on the wheel or disc. Figure 4 shows a side elevation, and Figure 5 a plan,
of a pulping machine; Figure 6 shows a section of part of the disc a, with the
mode preferred of fixing the cutters thereto, and also the passages for the cut
matters to pass away through the disc. This machine is to have a hopper
(shewn by dotted lines) applied thereto in the same manner as is indicated in
Figures 1 and 2, and as is well understood in this class of machines. g a bar
having teeth thereon, which is caused to be moved to and fro by an excentric h
on the axis of the disc or wheel, by which, notwithstanding the cutters are
fixed in such manner as not to pass in the same track, the spaces between

page_text: the teeth on the bar 9 will at all times be in a position to allow the cutters on
the disc or wheel to pass between them.
I would state, that although I prefer to employ a bar g with teeth in making
pulping machines, the use of such bar may be dispensed with provided the
disc or wheel a be made with a flange such as before explained in respect to
Figures 1 and 2. A bar g with teeth may also be used in a machine where
the cutters are fixed on a cylinder, as is shown in Figure 7, which is a plan of
a machine so arranged; in this Figure g.is a bar which is moved to and fro
by an excentric h on the axis of the cylinder a, a cranked lever and connecting
rod being applied between the eccentric h and the bar g.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hornsby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
RICHARD HORNSBY, J. (L.S.)