IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL FROM FIBROUS MATERIALS, SUCH AS PEAT, SPENT TAN, AND OTHER FIBROUS REFUSE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Simpson and John Alfred Simpson,
both of Ilford, in the County of Essex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL
FROM FIBROUS MATERIALS, SUCH AS PEAT, SPENT TAN, AND OTHER FIBROUS
REFUSE."
Sealed the 5th September 1873, and dated the 8th July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Simpson and
John Alfred Simpson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 8th July 1873.
WC, WILLIAM SIMPSON and JOHN ALFRED SIMPSON, both of Ilford,
in the County of Essex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OF FUEL FROM FIBROUS MATERIALS, SUCH AS PEAT, SPENT TAN, AND OTHER FIBROUS
REFUSE," to be as follows:-

page_text: for fuel by operating thereon in the following manner:-The improved
machinery or apparatus consists of a conical or hopper shaped vessel
supported vertically by a framing, and in adapting thereto and therein
the following parts:-A vertical shaft is mounted and revolves in
suitable bearings at the top and bottom of the aforesaid conical vessel;
this shaft has a number of horizontal knives or blades fixed thereon
extending to the side of the conical shaped vessel aforesaid, and capable
of revolving freely therein. Immediately below the lowest set of knives.
there is a grating or bottom with holes therein fixed to the conical
vessel, and below this grating and fixed around the aforesaid vertical
shaft is an archimedian screw blade, the lower part of which revolves
freely in a cylinder fixed to the bottom of the conical vessel. The
bottom of this cylinder is closed, and there is an opening at the side of
the said cylinder for discharging the contents thereof. On that part of
the aforesaid vertical shaft which projects outside the bottom of the
cylinder we fix a bevil or mitre wheel, which gears into another similar
wheel fixed on a horizontal shaft for imparting rotatory motion to the
knives by any suitable prime mover.
The operations of the machinery above described are as follows:-The
fibrous material is placed in the open end or top of the conical vessel,
and as the knives therein revolve the material will be cut up or the
fibres disentegrated and reduced to pulp, which as it passes through the
aforesaid grating or perforated bottom is carried downwards by the
archimedian screw and forced out of the opening at the side of the
cylinder ready to be moulded into blocks of the desired shape and size,
and afterwards dried by preference in the open air.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM 30
SIMPSON and JOHN ALFRED SIMPSON, both of Ilford, in the County of
La sond greeting

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Simpson and John Alfred Simpson,
Her special licence that we, the said William Simpson and John Alfred
Simpson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said William Simpson and John Alfred Simpson, our 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 ** IMPROVED
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF FUEL FROM FIBROUS
MATERIALS, SUCH AS PEAT, SPENT TAN, AND OTHER FIBROUS REFUSE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Simpson and John
Alfred Simpson, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, 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 we, the said William Simpson and John Alfred
Simpson, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 consists of improved machinery or apparatus for
treating or preparing peat, spent tan, and other fibrous refuse suitable
for fuel by operating thereon in the following manner:-The improved
machinery or apparatus consists of a conical or hopper shaped vessel
supported vertically by a framing, and in adapting thereto and therein
the following parts:-A vertical shaft is mounted and revolves in
suitable bearings at the top and bottom of the aforesaid conical vessel;
this shaft has a number of horizontal knives or blades fixed thereon
extending to the side of the conical shaped vessel aforesaid and capable
of revolving freely therein. Immediately below the lowest set of knives
there is a grating or bottom with holes therein fixed to the conical
vessel, and below this grating and fixed around the aforesaid vertical
shaft is an archimedean screw blade, the lower part of which revolves
freely in a cylinder fixed to the bottom of the conical vessel. The

page_text: bottom of this cylinder is closed, and there is an opening at the side of
the said cylinder for discharging the contents thereof. On that part of
the aforesaid vertical shaft which projects outside the bottom of the
cylinder we fix a bevil or mitre wheel, which gears into another similar
wheel fixed on a horizontal shaft for imparting motion to the knives by
any suitable prime mover.
The operations of the machinery above described are as follows:-The
fibrous material is placed in the open end or top of the conical vessel,
and as the knives therein revolve the material will be cut up or the
fibres disintegrated and reduced to pulp, which as it passes through the
aforesaid grating or perforated bottom is carried downwards by the
archimedean screw, and forced out of the opening at the side of the
cylinder ready to be moulded into blocks of the desired shape and size,
and afterwards dried by preference in the open air.
And in order to explain our said Invention more fully we now
proceed to describe the means by which it may be carried into practical
effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings accom-
panying these Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters of
reference marked thereon respectively as follows:-
}
Figures 1, 2, and 3, are sectional elevations of three different methods
of carrying out the said Invention. In cach of these Figures similar
letters denote corresponding parts.
A is the hopper shaped vessel, into which peat, spent tan, or other
fibrous material is introduced; B, the aperture, through which the peat,
spent tan, or other fibrous material is discharged after it has been cut
up; C is a vertical shaft receiving rotary motion from a pair of mitro
wheels D, one of which D' is fixed on a shaft D¹¹, to which manual or
other power may be applied; E, Figures 1 and 2, are blades fixed on to
the shaft C in such a manner that when the fibrous material shall come
in contact therewith it will be forced down on to the perforated plate or
bottom G, which may have slots g cut therein, and be constructed as
shown at Figure 1, or may be flat and perforated with holes h, as shown
at Figure 2. H are the knives fixed on the shaft C, and rotating
therewith; K is an archimedean screw, the object of which is to seize
the fibrous material when it has been cut up by the blades H and forced

page_text: through the bottom G, discharging it in a compact and compressed mass
through the aperture B.
In Figure 3 the bottom G is dispensed with, and a cone L is fixed on
the shaft C where the fibrous material is compressed between its surface
and the side of the conical shaped vessel A, by means of cutting blades F
and an archimedean screw F¹, which in this case replaces the blades E,
shown in Figures 1 and 2. The blades H placed underneath the cone L
will scrape against the sides a of the vessel A.
The operations of machines as above constructed are as follows:-The
fibrous material is introduced into the hopper A, and is then seized by
the revolving blades E, Figures 1 and 2, by which it is forced on to the
knives H, and after being cut up through the perforated bottom G. The
archimedean screw K then discharges it in a compressed form through
the opening B.
In Figure 3 the fibrous material is forced between the cone L and the
sides of the vessel A by means of the cutting blades F and an archi-
medean screw F¹, where it comes in contact with the revolving knives H,
by which it is cut up and discharged in a compressed form through the
opening B by the archimedean screw K. as before.
Having now described and set forth the nature and object of our said
Invention for "Improved Machinery or Apparatus for the Manufacture
of Fuel from Fibrous Materials, such as Peat, Spent Tan, and other
Fibrous Refuse," we would remark in conclusion that we hereby declare
our Invention to consist in and we claim, the general combination and
arrangement of the several parts of our improved apparatus substantially
as described and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Simpson, one of the parties
hereto, have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Eighth day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.