IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING FIBROUS SLABS BY ROLLING PRESSURE, THE SAID APPARATUS BEING APPLICABLE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis James Odling, of 199, Adelaide Road,
South Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING
FIBROUS SLABS BY ROLLING PRESSURE, THE SAID APPARATUS BEING APPLICABLE
Sealed the 31st August 1875, and dated the 9th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis James Odling
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th July 1875.
I, FRANCIS JAMES ODLING, of 199, Adelaide Road, South Hampstead,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MANU-
FACTURING FIBROUS SLABS BY ROLLING PRESSURE, THE SAID APPARATUS BEING
APPLICABLE ALSO IN EXPRESSING OILS OR OTHER LIQUIDS FROM SEEDS OR PULPS,"
to be as follows:-
:-
M Tenation malator
11.
01

page_text: millboard or other sheets consisting of fibrous materials, pulped with
water, oil, or other liquid in a continuous manner by means of apparatus
which I will describe. I mount in a framing two pairs of rollers, the
upper pair farther apart from each other than the lower pair, and I
make the bearings of these rollers adjustable so that they can be brought
nearer together or moved farther apart in a horizontal direction. Over
the pair of rollers on each side I pass a continuous web of wire gauze or
other porous material, and I back up this web with perforated plates
placed in an inclined direction between the upper and lower rollers on
each side. Behind these plates I provide spaces in which a partial
vacuum is maintained by pumping or otherwise. The space between
the two webs is thus of a tapering or funnel shape, widest at the top
and gradually contracting to the narrow space between the lower rollers.
Into this space I pour the pulp to be operated on, which is prevented
from escaping sideways by the sides of the machine. I then cause the
rollers to revolve slowly, the webs travelling with them, whereby the
pulp is made to descend in the continually contracting space; the chief
part of the liquid passes from it through the webs and perforated plates
into the vacuum spaces behind them, and the fibre with the remaining
liquid is carried through between the lower rollers, from which it issues
as a continuous sheet or slab. A vibrating or rotating agitator may be
mounted in the funnel-shaped space to keep the pulp in agitation while
it descends. Also the lower rollers may be perforated and may have a
partial vacuum maintained in their interior.
It may be readily understood that seeds or pulps placed in the funnel-
shaped space above mentioned can be operated on in the manner above
described for the purpose of expressing oil or other liquid therefrom,
and for obtaining the solid residue in the form of a compressed cake.

page_text: 1.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the 'year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis James Odling,
Her special license that I, the said Francis James Odling, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
James Odling, 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 THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANU-
FACTURING FIBROUS SLABS BY ROLLING PRESSURE, THE SAID APPARATUS BEING
APPLICABLE ALSO IN EXPRESSING OILS OR OTHER LIQUIDS FROM SEEDS OR PULPS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis James
Odling, 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 Francis James Odling, 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, reference being had to the, accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :—
My Invention relates to the manufacture of fibrous slabs, such as
millboards or other sheets consisting of fibrous materials, pulped with
water, oil, or other liquid in a continuous manner by means of apparatus
which I will describe. I mount in a framing two pairs of rollers, the
upper pair farther apart from each other than the lower pair, and I
make the bearings of these rollers adjustable so that they can be brought
nearer together or moved farther. apart in a horizontal direction. Over
the pair of rollers on each side I pass a continuous web of wire gauze or
other porous material, and I back up this web with perforated plates>
placed in an inclined direction between the upper and lower rollers on

page_text: each side. Behind these plates I provide spaces in which a partial
vacuum is maintained by pumping or otherwise. The space between
the two webs is thus of a tapering or funnel shape, widest at the top
and gradually contracting to the narrow space between the lower rollers.
Into this space I pour the pulp to be operated on, which is prevented
from escaping sideways by the sides of the machine. I then cause the
rollers to revolve slowly, the webs travelling with them, whereby the
pulp is made to descend in the continually contracting space; the chief
part of the liquid passes from it through the webs and perforated plates
into the vacuum space behind them, and the fibre with the remaining
liquid is carried through between the lower rollers, from which it issues
as a continuous sheet or slab. "A vibrating or rotating agitator may bo
mounted in the funnel-shaped space to keep the pulp in agitation while
it descends. Also the lower rollers may be perforated,
and may
have a
partial vacuum maintained in their interior.
It may be readily understood that seeds or pulps placed in the funnel-
shaped space above mentioned can be operated on in the manner above
described for the purpose of expressing oil or other liquid therefrom,
and for obtaining the solid residue in the form of a compressed cake.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a transverse section of a roller apparatus according
to my Invention for extracting oil or other liquid from seed, pulp, and
the like, and discharging the solid matter in the form of a slab or cake.
A, A, are the two upper rollers, and B, B, the two lower rollers with
continuous web O of wire gauze or other porous and flexible fabric
passed round each pair respectively. The upper rollers A, A, are made
smaller than the lower rollers, as shewn in the Figure, or they might be
of the same size but set with their axes farther apart so as to make the
two webs present a funnel-shaped passage into which the material to be
operated on D is charged. The webs being comparatively loose the
upper rollers A, A, need not be arranged to revolve but might be fixed
or replaced by stationary semicircular guides. The lower rollers B, B,
are made with numerous tubular channels b, b, in their periphery, and
their surface is perforated by numerous holes communicating with thoso
channels. On either or both cheeks of the side framing are provided
exhaust passages, of which Fig. 2 represents an elevation and Fig. 3 a
sectional plan communicating with the channels b as they come

page_text: successively round to face these passages, as I will now explain. E is
part of the cheek of the side framing, into holes in which are fitted
pieces F, F, free to slide therein, and communicating by pipes G, G,
with any suitable receiver, in which a partial vacuum is maintained by
pumping or otherwise. In each of the picces F is formed a hollow ƒ
occupying part of the circular sweep in which the ends of the channels
travel. The pressure of the atmosphere forces the pieces F close against
the ends of the rollers B, B, and each of the channels b as it comes in
its turn within the range of the hollow f is put in communication with
the vacuum receiver by the pipe G. Thus the rollers being caused to
revolve in the direction of the arrow the liquid is expressed from the
material D as it passes through between the rollers; it is drawn into and
along the successive channels b, whence it flows to the vacuum receiver
by the pipes G, whilst the compressed and consolidated material issues
from between the rollers in the form of a cake or slab d.
Fig. 4 represents a section of a similar apparatus arranged so that the
material operated on moves horizontally and can be partially drained of
its liquid before reaching the rollers. In this Figure the parts corre-
sponding to those in Fig. 1 are marked by similar letters of reference.
Instead of the upper rollers stationary curved guides A, A, are used to
turn back the flexible webs C, O, between which is the material D to be
operated on. Outside each of these webs is a vacuum chamber H, or a
set of such chambers I, I, connected respectively by pipes K with a
receiver in which a partial vacuum is maintained by pumping or other-
wise. The surfaces of those chambers are perforated with numerous
holes at h, i, so that liquid draining from the material D passes through
the meshes of the travelling webs C and through the perforations h, i,
into the chambers H, I, whence it flows by the pipes K to the receiver.
Vacuum chambers of this kind may be applied in the form of apparatus
described with reference to Fig. 1, as indicated at H, I, in that Figure.
In order to avoid the drag of the edges of the material D against the
fixed cheeks of the framing a deckle strap might be fitted at each side
of the feeding table so as to travel with the material operated on.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. The method, substantially as herein described, of manufacturing
slabs or cakes from pulp, seed, and the like, and expressing liquid there-

page_text: from by feeding the material to be operated on between two travelling
porous webs arranged so as to present a funnel-shaped opening, and
causing it to travel with the webs over perforated surfaces and between
perforated rollers, the perforations communicating with a receiver in
which a partial vacuum is maintained.
Second. The use for manufacturing slab or cake from pulp, seed, and
the like, and expressing liquid therefrom, of apparatus constructed and
operating substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1, 2,
and 3 of the accompanying Drawings, wherein two pairs of rollers are
arranged, the one pair above the other, with travelling webs, presenting
a funnel-shaped opening for feeding the material to be operated on, the.
lower rollers having perforations through their periphery communicating
by passages with a vacuum receiver.
Third. The use of the modified form of apparatus, substantially as
described with reference to Fig. 4 of the accompanying Drawings,
wherein the material operated on is made to travel over and between
surfaces having perforations communicating with a vacuous receiver so
as to be partially drained of liquid before reaching the squeezing
rollers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis James Odling, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of January, in the
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
year
FRANCIS JAMES ODLING. (L.S.)