IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING ESPARTO AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Masson, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING
ESPARTO AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 21st January 1879, and dated the 26th July 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Masson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th July 1878.
ANDREW MASSON, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Engineer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING ESPARTO AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
This Invention relates to improved apparatus for treating esparto and similar
fibrous materials in a continuous, convenient, and improved manner, in order to
thoroughly cleanse such materials from dust or other foreign matters, and to admit
of the picking operation being more conveniently and thoroughly performed.
The improved apparatus is to be used in connection with the "willow" cleaning
machine, and the Invention also comprises an improvement in the construction of
the "concave" of the "willow" machine.
In carrying out the Invention an endless apron carried upon a series of rollors is
arranged transversely at the outlet end of the "willow." This endless apron is led
for a short distance past the end of the "willow," so as to allow of the esparto
being delivered upon it, and the endless apron is thence carried upwards upon rollers
in an inclined position for a suitable and convenient distance, and returns round a
roller slightly overhanging the ends of a series of rocking boards or "shakers."
These rocking boards or "shakers" are centred underneath, near their middles, upon
rocking bars, and motion is communicated to them by connecting rods, worked by
eccentrics or cranks from any prime mover, or a shaking motion may be given in
any other convenient manner.
The apparatus may be arranged so that the rocking motion is communicated
alternately to the alternate boards of the series or otherwise.

page_text: The esparto received on the endless apron is carried up the incline and delivered
to the rocking boards, which further cleanse the fibres from dust, and in their turn
deliver the materials into bags or other receptacles.
At convenient distances along the inclined portion of the endless apron attendant
workers are stationed to pick from the esparto or other materials as they travel along
any objectionable matters, such as roots and weeds.
In some cases it may be advantageous to employ two endless aprons arranged in
a manner similar to that already described, but running in opposite directions, and
starting from the centre of the end of the "willow."
A rotatory rake is employed to spread the esparto or other materials upon the
endless apron as they leave the "willow."
The improvement in the "willow" machine consists in setting the slips of steel
or iron composing the "concave" obliquely.
By this arrangement the esparto or other materials, whilst being acted on by the
"willow," are less liable to pass through the " concave " and be carried away with
the dust by the current of air, which is produced by a fan or blower, and applied so
as to draw the dust through the " concave "of the machine.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Andrew Masson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th January
1879.
ANDREW MASSON; of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, Engineer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING ESPARTO AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
My said Invention relates to improved apparatus for cleaning or treating esparto
and similar fibrous materials in a continuous and convenient manner, in order to
separate dust and other foreign matters from such materials, and to admit of the
picking operation being more conveniently and thoroughly performed.
My improved apparatus is to be used in connection with the "willow" cleaning
machine, and my Invention also comprises an improvement in the construction of
the "concave" of the "willow" machine.
"
In carrying out my Invention an inclined endless apron or
felt," carried upon a
series of rollers, is arranged with its lower end at the end of the "willow," so as to
allow of the esparto being delivered upon it. The upper end of the endless apron
slightly overhangs a series of rocking boards or shakers, which are centred near
their middles, and are made to oscillate by eccentrics or cranks on a rotating shaft,
or a shaking or jigging motion may be imparted to them in any other convenient
way.
Along the sides of the endless apron platforms are constructed for workers to
stand on, who pick from the esparto as it passes onwards any objectionable matters,
such as roots, or weeds, or others of a kind not likely to pass through the concave of
the willow, or through the grating of the shakers.
In some cases two endless aprons, with shakers at their upper ends, may be
arranged in connection with one willow machine, such aprons being placed either
parallel to each other or transversely to the willow machine, and running in opposite
directions from the centre.
My improvement in the willow machine consists in making the concave grating
of flat bars of steel or iron instead of round rods, such bars being set edgeways or
obliquely.
With this arrangement the esparto or other fibrous materials, whilst being acted
on by the willow, are less liable to be carried with the dust through the concave
grating by the current of air which is produced by a fan or blower, and applied so
as to draw the dust through the concave grating into an enclosed space beneath.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings,
to be herein-after referred to, and representing my improved arrangements. In
these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a plan, and Fignre 2 is a
sectional side elevation, showing the principal parts of my improved combined
apparatus.
Figure 3 is a sectional end elevation of the willow machine, and Figure 4 is a
section of a part of the concave grating, as modified.
Figures 5 and 6 are vertical sections, as at right angles to each other of the
shaking apparatus.
The driving gearing; which can be arranged in any usual or convenient manner,
is not fully shown in the Drawings.
The willow machine is in its general form and arrangement similar to such
machines as hitherto made. It comprises a hollow conical casing placed with its
axis horizontal, and having its upper half 1 of sheet iron fixed to cast-iron frames,
whilst its lower half is in the form of a concave grating 2. The lower half is enclosed
in a casing or chamber 3, formed by boards or plates, and which is connected to the
suction inlet of a fan or other blowing apparatus.

page_text: Inside the conical casing 1, 2, there rotates a conical or pyramidal drum 4, having
longitudinal heating ribs or bars.5 on its outside, and at the smaller end there is a
hopper 6, in at which the esparto to be operated upon is introduced. The willow
or drum 4, 5, acts on the esparto so as to loosen and separate dust from it, and the
dust is by the air suction drawn through the concave grating 2, whilst the esparto
is gradually moved towards the wider end of the casing, and is discharged there-
from. The esparto thus discharged from the willow machine is received upon the
lower end of an inclined endless apron 7, indicated by dotted lines in Figure 2, and
which is distended upon rollers 8, and is moved in the direction of the arrows by means
of one or more of these rollers.
The transference of the esparto from the willow machine to the endless apron 7
is aided by a rotating rake or pronged drum 9.
Along the sides of the endless apron 7 stages or platforms 10 are erected for workers
to stand on, and these workers pick out from the esparto as it is being conveyed
along by the apron any roots, or weeds, or other foreign matters that will not pass
through the concave grating 2 or the shakers.
The endless apron 7 delivers the esparto from its upper end upon the shakers 11.
These shakers are long rectangular frames 11, each fitted with a grating 12, consist-
ing of round rods placed longitudinally, as shown in Figures 5 and 6. The shaker
frames 11 are centered near their middles on a transverse horizontal shaft 13, and
each has jointed to one end of it the rod 14 of an eccentric 15, on a rotating trans-
verse horizontal shaft 16 below. The several eccentrics 15 are placed in different
positions on the shaft 16, and they cause the shaker frames 11 to oscillate, but with
the same phases of their motions, at different times. The mean position of the
shaker frames 11 is inclined downwards and outwards from the upper outer end of
the endless apron 7, and the esparto gradually moves down the shaker frames 11,
and is delivered at the lower ends into bags or other receptacles, whilst dust or
foreign matters not previously separated pass through the gratings 12 of the shaker
frames 11 into a casing or chamber 17 beneath.
My improvement in the concave grating 2 of the willow machine is shown in
Figures 2, 3, and 4, the last showing the flat bars, which I use (instead of the round
bars hitherto commonly employed) to form the grating as placed obliquely, whilst
in Figure 3 they are shown as placed radially or orthogonally to the inner surface
of the grating.
The flat grating bars are in short lengths, and are fixed upon semicircular ribs 18
of inverted T section.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original,
and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The combination of the endless apron or "felt" with the willow machine,
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
2. The combination of the endless apron or "felt" with the oscillating shaker
frames, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
3. The making of the concave grating of the willow machine with flat bars
arranged orthogonally or obliquely, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Masson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.