IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY AND PROCESS FOR REDUCING WOOD TO A FIBROUS CONDITION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STUFF OR PULP."
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Heinrich Rocckner, of Richmond Terrace,
Clapham Road, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY AND PROCESS FOR REDUCING WOOD TO A FIBROUS
CONDITION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STUFF OR PULP."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Heinrich Roeckner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st July 1863.
I, CARL HEINRICH ROEOKNER, of Richmond Terrace, Clapham Road, in
the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inventiou
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND PROCESS FOR REDUCING WOOD TO A
FIBROUS CONDITION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STUFF OR PULP," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
The improved machinery consists, 1st, of a cylinder or cylinders mounted
in suitable bearings, and having the external surfaces cut or pointed similar to
that of a rasp or file, or sow teeth, or a number of cylindrical rasps or files
fixed to a suitable centre, and mounted so as to form the surface of a cylinder
to rotate upon an axis; 2ndly, a number of circular saws, either in one piece
or in segments, to fit an axis placed side by side, so as to form a cylinder or
saws fixed upon the surface of a cylinder; 3rdly, for purposes where a fine
fibre is required I have the teeth of circular saws or segments of circular
saws pointed in an entirely new manner, so as to form as many threads as
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page_text: possible, or saws fixed upon a cylinder in such a position as to touch the
wood in as many different points as possible.
The process consists in placing the log or piece of wood of any description
(without its being necessary to cut it into peculiar lengths, and to fix it in a
box or boxes) upon the surface of the cylinder or cylinders above described,
in such a manner that it rests or is pressed upon the rotating cylinder, so as
not to act like a break, and causing it to move towards the cylinder as quickly
as the touching part of it is reduced to fibre. The wood may move towards
the cylinder forwards or backwards, or both ways alternately, upon rollers
or other suitable bearers capable of being adjusted, as required. This im-
provement in the process saves the labour and expense of cutting it into
blocks, and its not acting as a break admits of reducing the wood to fibres
of any dimension without loss of power. Water may be applied sufficiently
to prevent the clogging of the cylinder. The fibre so obtained or reduced
will be applicable for the manufacture of paper, pasteboard, pupier machée,
roofing felt, or other similar purposes, as also for being pressed into forms,
and for substituting or replacing carved woods.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Carl Heinrich Roeckner in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 21st January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARL
HEINRICH ROECKNER, of Richmond Terrace, Clapham Road, in the County
of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Carl Heinrich Rocckner, Her special licence that I, the said Carl
Heinrich Roeckner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Carl Heinrich Roeckner, 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 AND PROCESS FOR REDUCING WOOD TO A FIBROUS
CONDITION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STUFF OR PULP," upon the con-

page_text: dition (amongt. others) that I, the said Carl Heinrich Roeckner, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Carl Heinrich Rocckner, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction and
application of machinery for reducing wood to a fibrous condition for the
manufacture of paper, pasteboard, papier machée, felt, and the like, or into
pulp for being pressed by moulding or otherwise into forms in substitution
of wood or other matter in mouldings, frames, and the like.
The improved machinery consists, first, of a cylinder or cylinders mounted
in suitable bearings, and having the external surfaces cut or pointed somewhat
similar to that of a rasp or file, or saw teeth, or a number of curved rasps or
files fixed so as to rotate about the central axis. These rasp or file-like
surfaces do not, however, file or scrape the wood like the ordinary file or rasp,
but act upon the same as knife-like cutters; the teeth enter and pass through
the wood edgeways, the operation being somewhat similar to passing a rasp or
filo sideways instead of end ways along the wood. 2ndly, a number of circular
saws either in one piece or in segments, fitted together and placed side by side
so as to form a cylindrical or segmental cutter rotating or moving upon an
axis, or formed and mounted so as to have a reciprocating motion. In order
to obtain a very fine fibre I form the teeth of these circular saws or segments
in an entirely new manner, so that each tooth terminates in a point like a
needle or knife, being so fixed upon a cylinder as to touch the wood in as
many different points as possible.
The process consists in placing the log or piece of wood of any description,
without previously cutting it into short lengths, upon the surface of the
cylinder or cylinders above described, in such a manner that the wood may
pass from end to end of its length in contact with the cutters, but so as not
to act like a break, the wood being carried forwards and backwards by rollers
or other equivalent mechanism capable of being adjusted as required. When
the wood to be acted upon is in the form of a plank placed flatways to the
cylinders, this motion may be dispensed with, as the cutters in that case may

page_text: entirely reduce the wood from one end to the other without otherwise
moving it, and where the cylinders are of sufficient size, the backward and
forward motion of the baulk or whole timber may be dispensed with.
This improvement in the process saves the labour and expense of previous
sawing,and the wood being carried over the cutting cylinders upon adjusting
rollers prevents it from acting like a break, and thus saves a loss of power
consequent upon the break action. Water may beapplied sufficiently toprevent
the teeth or blades of the cylinders from getting clogged with the fibre.
Having thus stated the nature and object of my said Invention, I will
now proceed more particularly to describe the means which I propose to
apply for carrying the said improvements into effect in practice, reference
being made to the accompanying Drawings.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a front view of a machine, of which A is the cylinder upon
which the cutters are mounted; B, the trough in which it partially rotates;
C, C, the bearings in which the central shaft or axis turns; 1), the pulley
thereon for driving the same; E, the wood to be reduced. In this machine
the cutters are formed in segments of circles or rings, and placed side by
side, as shewn at 1, b. These cutters are also shewn in section lettered with
the same letter at Fig. 4. The mode of forming and pointing these cutters,
and their peculiar operation in the process of reducing the wood to fibre,
is herein-after explained.
Fig. 2 shews another cylinder in which the cutters are formed of straight
flat plates with cross teeth on the edges. These plates are placed length.
ways upon the cylinder in the direction of its axis, as shewn in section
at 1, Fig. 4.
Fig. 3 represents another cylinder in which the cutters are fixed singly
in rows or otherwise through perforations in the cylinder, as shewn at 63,
Fig. 4; Fig. 4 is a transverse section, shewing segments of the above-
mentioned cylinders respectively.
Figs. 5 and 6 show an enlarged segmental cutter detached.
Fig. 7 represents the wood, and shews the mode in which the respective
cylinders operate thereon.
Fig. 8 shews a cross cut plate such as I use in the cylinder, Fig. 1,
detached. The peculiar action of the machinery upon the wood, in the
process of reducing the same to the required condition, will, I conceive, be
best explained by reference to Figs. 5 and 6.
My object was first to obtain a cutter, either in the form of a rasp or saw,

page_text: or the like, which should reduce the wood by a process of longitudinal cutting,
slitting, or splitting, thereby first dividing it into a hair-like long and fine
fibre or fibrous surface similar to that of the edge of a ream of very thin
paper, and for that purpose I required a number of blades or points to be so
formed and arranged that they should cut or divide the surface of the wood
side by side as close as possible to each other without actually touching; and,
secondly, to obtain if possible such a form of blade on the edge of an ordinary
saw plate or a plate of not more than of an inch or thereabouts in
thickness.
In my first experiments I proposed to use metal or stone cutters, and in my
Provisional Specifications I mentioned dividing cutters in the form of files
or rasps; I do not, however, scek to obtain any exclusive right to the use
or application of rasps or files of the ordinary form, nor to use stone except
for setting or imbedding the cutters which I propose to use t' erein.
It will be seen that what I designate rasp-like, file-like, and saw-like cutters
are totally distinct from those instruments as hitherto formed, used, and
applied for like purposes; and I hereby further state, that in my improved
process I do not propose to "grind," "file," or "scrape" the fibres of the
wood, but to reduce the same by a very close, slip or leaf-like dividing or
cutting. The way in which I prefer to effect this is by the blades formed as
shown at Figs. 5 and 6. a' and b is a segmental metal plate formed to the
required radius and of about the thickness shewn at Fig. 6..
The outer edge of this plate is notched or pointed,as shewn by the numbers
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c. (see Fig. 5), and when tempered to the required hardness,
these teeth are ground off on one side, as shewn at a, c, e, and on the other
side as shewn at d, f. The result of this mode of grinding is to leave the
points in the line 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c. (Fig. 6), or as more definitely marked by
a continuous dotted line a, c, d, e, b, at the lower part of Fig. 6.
1
Anumber of plates formed, pointed, and ground in this manner are placed
side by side, as shewn at 6', 6', Fig. 1. It will now be seen that the points of
these blades have an almost infinite division as the plate rotates edgeways, and
that although the thickness of each plate is not mere than of an inch, the
blades thereon will cut from 30 to 50 strips or slits (more or less) in that
thickness, and when in motion, and the wood is brought into contact there-
with, and passed over the cylinders, as before described, by the rollers, the
surface is reduced into a fine long hair-like fibres, which are simultaneously
detached in the way desired, see Fig. 7. When this kind of blade is used,
they may be placed at right angles to the cylinder, or be inclined a little
thereto.

page_text: A similar mode of reducing the wood may be obtained by the flat blade
cutters 63, 6, as shewn at Fig. 2 and Fig. 9. In this case the teeth are cut
like the edge of a knife, and the teeth thus formed being all cut to the
same gauge, the plates are placed on the cylinder so that each tooth has
the sinullest possible lead laterally in advance of the tooth of the adjoining
plate, or they may be cut to different gauges, and the lead may be given in
alternate or other series.
Another mode by which I obtain a similar result is by forming the cylinder
as shown at Fig. 3; in this case the shell is perforated to receive single blades
or cutters, which may be pointed like a needle or the end of a knife, and each
screwed or otherwise fixed and adjusted forward as they wear in use. These
may be placed in rows in the direction of the axis of the cylinder and in parallel
lines, but are fixed slightly in advance of each other around the circumference,
as shewn by the dotted lines a and a', and by varying the angle of this line of
inclination with the axis, the desired form of cylindrical cutters is obtained.
Another mode in which a cylinder may be formed with saw blades con-
sists of segmental or circular plates, the edges of which are cross cut, that
is to say, where the teeth on the edge are cut to needle or knife-like points
or holders on opposite sides alternately, as shewn at Fig. 8, and placing
such plates as shewn at e, f, Fig. 1.
When the circular and segmental saw-like plates are fitted to the
cylinders at an angle, they will be required to be first fitted and reduced
a little to the true circle before the teeth are finally cut and pointed, or
be formed in the shape of segments of ellipses.
Having thus explained and described the nature of my said Invention
I hereby further declare that what I more particularly claim as my improve-
ments consist in the peculiar mode of reducing the wood by first slitting
and splitting the same into a long and finely-divided hair-like fibre, and
the machinery and process for effecting the same, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carl Heinrich Roeckner, have hereunto
eet my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
CARL HEINRICH ROECKNER. (L.S.)