IMPROVE- MENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES, AND IN DRIVING THE SAME
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES, AND IN DRIVING THE SAME."-A com-
munication.
Sealed the 17th April 1855, and dated the 28th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th October 1854.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES, AND IN DRIVING THE SAME,"
(communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad,) to be as follows:—
The first improvement consists in fitting inside of the drum of centrifugal
machines rollers or cylinders, plain, grooved, perforated, or otherwise, accord-
ing to the nature of the goods. They are made to press against the goods
under operation, so that they shall not only have the centrifugal power acting
upon them, but also that due to the pressure from the rollers, and for some
purposes steam is also employed. For some descriptions of goods an apparatus
is fitted to the centrifugal machines, in order to move or displace the goods
while under operation, and water or steam is supplied to the machine.

page_text: The second improvement consists in balancing the drum upon its shaft, and
is effected as follows:-The drum is hung or centred loosely on the shaft, and
the goods are loaded equally, so as to make it balance; or the drum may be
made to balance by liquid flowing in a pipe or channel round the drum, and
displaced by air being forced in, which will drive the liquid to the lighter part
or side of the drum, and thus balance the goods.
The third improvement consists in combining with centrifugal machines a
crane, for the purpose of loading or unloading.the drum..
And the improvement in driving centrifugal machines consists in imparting
the power from a main pulley to friction bands or straps which are passed
round a pulley and the shaft of a centrifugal machine; one main pulley may
thus be made to drive several machines by frictional contact between its peri-
phery and a driving band, passed over a pulley and the shaft of a centrifugal
machine. A lever is fitted to each small pulley and shaft, whereby the band
may be brought into contact with the periphery of the main pulley, or removed
therefrom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Пer Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, fr
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 CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES, AND IN
DRIVING THE SAME," communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald
from

page_text: Brooman, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Archibald Brooman, 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 thercof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed (that is to say) :-
The first improvement consists in fitting inside of the druin of centrifugal
machines rollers or cylinders, plain, grooved, perforated, or otherwise, accord-
ing. to the nature of the goods. They are made to press against the goods
under operation, so that they shall not only have the centrifugal power acting
upon them, but also that due to the pressure from the. rollers, and for some
purposes steam is also employed. For some descriptions of goods an appa
ratus is fitted to the centrifugal. machines, in order to move or displace the
goods while under operation, and water or steam is supplied to the machine....
Figure I. of the Drawings hereunto annexed is a vertical section,' and
Figure II. a plan, of a centrifugal machine for. washing purposes, having
rollers or cylinders fitted inside of the drum, according to this improvement.
A is a foundation or base plate, on which is fixed the cylindrical chamber or
casing B, in which the centrifugal drum .C turns. This drum is composed of
a bottom piece a, and two envelopes b, b, concentrically fixed on the bottom
piece, which is attached to the hollow cone a¹ at the centre of the drum. 611
is a moveable envelope, between which and the perforated envelope b¹. the
materials to be operated on are placed; this envelope is drawn out of the drum
when it is set in motion, and the materials are then retained in their place by
centrifugal force. The lid of the drum is formed in two parts; a flat ring.c,
which covers the space in which the materials to be washed are placed, and
another ring c', with cross arms, which covers the central part of the drum; a
circular opening is left between the parts c and c', through which the moveable
envelope 6 is drawn out of the drum when it is set in motion. The drum
has two shafts, D and E, one passing through the other, and it is fixed to the
outer shaft D, the hollow cone a being bolted to the flange d, formed at the
top.of the shaft D, so as to hold the drum securely on the shaft. The inner
shaft E passes up through the centre of the drum and through the lid c, by
which means the. drum is maintained concentric with the shaft at the top.
The upper part of the shaft E which passes through the drum. is hollow, and

page_text: carries the rollers or cylinders F by means of arms e¹, one of which is screwed
with a right-handed and the other with a left-handed screw, and which work
in a moveable screwed tube e, which passes across the shaft E, and is turned
in it by means of the bevil wheel k on the shaft h, which gears into a corre-
sponding bevil wheel on the tube e. The outer ends of the arms e¹ are fitted
with loose rings e¹¹, to which the double arms f are jointed by means of axes i.
The arms f carry between their curved ends g the rollers or cylinders F, which
turn on the axes g¹. When the rollers F are to be advanced towards or with-
drawn from the materials under operation, the shaft h is turned by means of
the handle 7, so as to give motion to the screwed tube e, and thereby act
on the screwed arms e', so as to lengthen or shorten them accordingly. The
upper ends of the arms fare formed with eyes through them, so as to slide on
the rods m fixed to the shaft E, for the purpose of maintaining the rollers F in
a perpendicular position. The pressure of the rollers upon the materials under
operation is equalised by the action of the springs p, in conjunction with the
jointed connection of the arms f, to the screwed arms e¹.. For the purpose of
withdrawing the moveable envelope from the drum while in rotation, it is
furnished with cross pieces G, G, which connect it with a tubular collar o,.
turning on the shaft h. This collar carries a spring r, to which is fastened a
section of a nut o³, cut with a screw thread which fits the screw of the shaft h.
By pushing the sectional nut o¹ into gear with the screwed shaft h through an
aperture in the collar o while the drum is in motion, it is caused to run up
the shaft h, (which must be put out of gear with the tube e by raising the bevil
wheel k, and held by the hand to prevent it from turning with the drum,) and
the envelope 6 is thereby raised out of the drum. In order to admit of the
envelope 6 being removed when raised out of the drum, the inlet steam pipe
o and the handle of the shaft h are made moveable. The washing liquid is
then poured into the drum, and the rollers F are set in motion. The rollers F
may be perforated, in order to allow the water to pass through them when
pressing on the goods, or they may be formed with projections, so as to pro-
duce the effect of beaters or stampers.. During the operation the washing
water is kept hot by steam, which is introduced into the space between the
envelopes 6 and through the hollow shafts h and E and the pipes s and t,
as shown by the arrow in Figure I. The water is let out of the drum during
or after the operation through a slide valve u, near the bottom of the drum,
which is opened and closed by the rod w. The top of this rod is provided with
a projecting piece v, in the forn of a wedge, as shewn in Figure III., which is
acted on so as to draw up the rod by means of the bolt, which is capable of
being raised or lowered so as to be brought in contact with the wedge piece v,

page_text: according as the valve u is to be opened or closed. The drum C is set in
motion by a strap acting on the pulley w, fixed on the drum shaft D, and the
shaft E, by which the rollers F are driven, receives motion from the shaft D
by means of the wheel-gearing E¹, which is arranged so that the rollers F may
be caused to revolve at a less speed than the drum in any required proportion;
or it may be driven by a strap, as shewn by the dotted lines in Figure I.
When a centrifugal machine of this construction is employed for crushing or
reducing materials, such as colours, mineral or chemical products, &c., the
envelope b¹ may be dispensed with, unless the goods under operation require
heating, in which case both the envelopes 6 and 6¹ must be plain, and steam is
introduced in the space between them. The rollers F may be formed plain or
with projections, or otherwise, according to the effect they are required to pro-
duce. For some purposes the machine may be constructed with drums placed
in a horizontal position, in which the rollers may be placed loosely and without
being attached to guides, being kept rolling on the goods when the centrifugal
drum is revolving by their own weight.
Figure IV. is a vertical section, Figure V. a plan, and Figure VI. a transverse
section, of a pair of centrifugal machines, each of which is fitted with an appa-
ratus for the purpose of moving or displacing the goods under operation. This
machine may be used for extracting, separating, and forming purposes. The
materials are placed in layers one upon the other at the periphery of the drum;
at each operation a fresh layer is introduced, and a finished or exhausted one is
removed from the drum, by which means each layer will be subjected to as
many operations as there are layers at once under treatment. The centrifugal
drum E is composed of a bottom a, a solid periphery 6 fixed to the bottom, and
a moveable and perforated periphery b³, placed concentrically with the peri-
phery b. In the centre of the bottom is a conical envelope a', with a bush a",
by means of which the drum is fastened to its shaft B. The space in the
drum which contains the matter to be operated on is divided into compart-
ments by division plates C, and it is covered over by two rings d, d¹, placed
concentrically one within the other. The inner ring d is fixed on the division
plates C, and the outer ring d¹ is moveable and fastened by bolts. Over the
opening covered by the ring d¹ is formed a circular channel e, which acts as a
tun dish for the introduction of the materials to be treated into the drum. The
perforated periphery 6' is divided into as many parts as there are compart-
ments between the division plates C, and these parts are fitted into the open-
ings of the compartments, so as to be capable of moving in them like pistons
towards the centre of the drum; they are supported by an envelope f of wire,
wound round their exterior in a spiral form. By means of these parts or

page_text: pistons the matter under operation is displaced and pushed towards the centre
of the druin, the pistons being provided with four rods g fitted to each of them,
which pass through slide studs h in the outer periphery b, and come in contact
with an open ring i, the ends of which are connected together by means of a
screwed rod; when the diameter of the ring i is contracted by turning the
screw k, the pistons will be forced towards the centre of the drum, and when
the ring is brought back to its former diameter, the pistons will be pressed out-
wards to their former position by means of the springs 2 pressing against the
slide studs h. In order to facilitate the working of the machine, a division
composed of some woven stuff is placed between the. layers of material under
operation. These divisions are introduced into the drum by means of the
following arrangement:-m is a ring with cross arms m', by means of which
it is connected to the collar n, which slides on the shaft n', fixed above the cen-
trifugal drum; for each compartment of the drum.there are fixed. to the ring
m two rods o, on which is fitted the woven stuff to be placed between the
layers of materials; the ring m is then drawn down, and the woven stuff
enters the drum and rests against the pistons. When the material to be
operated on is introduced into the drum, it holds the woven stuff against the
pistons, and, the ring m with the rods o can then be drawn out of the drum,
which is closed by means of the cover d', and set in.motion. With a view to
extract all the liquid or juice from..the material. under operation, a washing
process is combined with the centrifugal action of the machine. A tube p with
a funnel mouth, closed at its lower end, and reaching nearly to the bottom of
the drum, is employed for this purpose. The side of the tube which faces the
material in the.drum is perforated, and water is introduced into the. funnel
mouth when the drum is rotating, so as to be spread over the most exhausted
portions of the material, and driven by centrifugal power through the whole
mass, so as to wash away any extractive matter that might not otherwise be
separated from the material. This. construction of machine may also be used
for forming or moulding the solid parts remaining in the drum, such as sugar,
and in this case the division plates C, forming the sides of the compartments,
are to be parallel throughout.
The second improvement consists. in balancing the load of centrifugal, drums,
and is effected as follows:-The.drum is hung or centred loosely on the shaft,
and the goods are loaded equally, so as to make it balance; or the drum may
be made to balance by liquid flowing. in a pipe or channel round the drum, and
displaced by air being forced in, which will drive the liquid to the lighter part
or side of the drum,.and thus balance the goods.
"
Figure VII. shews the first of these arrangements.. .A is the drum, which

page_text: is pivotted loosely on its shaft, a cavity being made in the bush a to receive
the shaft; the cavity in the bush is square, and that part of the shaft which fits
into the cavity is also square, so that as the shaft revolves, the drum is caused
to revolve also. Four springs a are placed about the shaft, so as to hold it in
the centre of the cavity in the bush a. In this case the balancing of the drum
is effected by loading the goods equally about its centre. The other arrange-
ment for balancing the drum by means of water is also shewn in Figure VII.
For this purpose a channel b is fixed round the drum, and divided vertically-
into two compartments by means of a flexible diaphragm c; the inner com-
partment is partly filled with water, and the outer compartment is divided into
four chambers, to each of which leads a pipe d from the centre of the drum,.
the pipes being cach provided with a valve c. When the drum is unequally.
loaded, the valve c on its heaviest side is opened by the change of position of
the drum, and air is then blown into the chamber, communicating therewith
through the aperture f at the centre of the drum, which air displaces the water
in the chamber, and forces it to pass over to the opposite side of the drum, and
thereby balances the drum. The opening of the valves e is effected by making
them rest on the bevilled parts g on the top of the shaft, so that as the drum
shifts its position, the valves will slide up the bevilled parts, and thus open the
pipes d, and allow the air blown in at f to pass through them.
The third improvement consists in combining with centrifugal machines a
crane, for the purpose of loading or unloading the drum. This improvement
is shown in Figure VII., in which A is the drum of the centrifugal machine;
and B, the crane, by which it is lifted for the purpose of loading or unloading.
The improvement in driving centrifugal machines consists in imparting the
power from a main pulley to friction bands or straps, which are passed round
a pulley and the shaft of a centrifugal machine. One main pulley may thus be
made to drive several machines by frictional contact between its periphery and
a driving band passed over a pulley and the shaft of a centrifugal machine; a.
lever is fitted to each small pulley, whereby the band may be, brought into
contact with the periphery of the main pulley, or removed therefrom.
Figures IV., V., and VI., shew a pair of centrifugal machines which are
arranged to be driven according to this improvement. G is a bed or founila-
tion plate, which supports the oscillating cylinder D, and which is also
furnished with steps A, to receive the shafts B of the centrifugal drums E:
The steam cylinder D turns in a bearing F in the bed plate, in which arc
formed the necessary passages for the admission and exit of steam into and
from the cylinder. G' is a horizontal pulley, placed between the two centri-
fugal machines, and turning on a shaft II. This pulley is driven direct from

page_text: the oscillating cylinder D, the piston rod I being attached to a crank pin J on
the face of the pulley, and motion is communicated from the pulley G' to the
centrifugal drums by frictional contact of its periphery against bands or straps
passed round the pulleys K' and L, the pulleys K' being fixed on the shafts of
the centrifugal drums, and the pulleys L turning loosely on axes mounted on
levers M, which are capable of turning about the steps of the drum shafts B.
When the straps which pass round the pulleys K and L are pressed in
contact with the pulley G' by means of the levers M, motion is given to the
centrifugal drums, and the drums are stopped by moving the levers M, so as
to take the straps passing round the pulleys K' and L out of contact with the
pulley G!.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as the said
Invention is,
First, the adaptation to the drums of centrifugal machines of rollers or
cylinders formed plain, grooved, perforated, or with projections, to produce a
stamping effect or otherwise, which are made to act on the goods under
operation, so that they shall not only have the centrifugal power exerted upon
them, but also that due to the action of the rollers.
Second, the adaptation to the drums of centrifugal machines of apparatuses
for moving and displacing the goods while under operation, and the employ-
ment in combination with such apparatuses of water or steam forced through
the materials under operation, for the purpose herein-before described.
Third, the modes of balancing the drums of centrifugal machines, as
herein-before described.
Fourth, the combination with centrifugal machines of a crane, for the purpose
of loading and unloading the drum thereof.
And, fifth, the mode of driving centrifugal machines, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
K. A. BRUUMAN. (L.S.)