IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING OR BREAKING BONES FOR DOMESTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lamb Hancock, of Ley Hill, Sutton Cold-
field, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING OR BREAKING BONES FOR
DOMESTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 14th June 1870, and dated the 17th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lamb Hancock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th December 1869.
I, JAMES LAMB HANCOCK, of Ley Hill, Sutton Coldfield, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING OR BREAKING
BONES FOR DOMESTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to produce a handy portable apparatus
by which bones may be crushed or broken for domestic purposes so that
the marrow can be extracted by a scoop or otherwise, or to facilitate the
escape of the marrow and gravy in boiling, or to render them sufficiently
small for food for dogs, also for the purposes of manure.

page_text: According to one method I take a bar of iron or steel, and after
preparing its ends for the reception of a cross head I bend the bar in the
middle to bring the two ends close together or at a sufficient distance
apart for the largest bone, after which I place the cross head upon the
ends and secure it thereon by rivets or nuts. The central part of the
cross head is threaded for receiving a threaded rod which is fitted with a
handle for turning the same. I fit a plain or a serrated faced plate on
the inner end of the screwed rod and another upon the inner face of the
loop or bend, so that when the screw plate is forced towards the loop and
the bone being between them it becomes crushed or broken by the
pressure. The movable plate embraces the legs of the loop and serves to
guide it in its to-and-fro movements. In some cases instead of making
the plate approach the bend as above described I fit the end of the
screw in a block so that on turning the handle the frame and plate are
caused to move.
By another method I join the two legs at the bend and bring the
loose ends toward one another by a threaded rod working transversely
through them.
The apparatus is provided with a suitable stand or frame to enable it
to be secured to a table or block. A wheel and pinion may be employed
to work the screw if very great power is required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Lamb Hancock in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LAMB HANCOCK, of Ley Hill, Sutton Coldfield, in the County of
Warwick, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Lamb Hancock, Her special
licence that I, the said James Lamb Hancock, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Lamb Hancock,

page_text: 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
APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING OR BREAKING BONES FOR DOMESTIC AND OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Lamb Hancock, 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 James Lamb Hancock, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to produce a handy portable apparatus
by which bones may be crushed or broken for domestic purposes, so that
the marrow can be extracted by a scoop or otherwise, or to facilitate the
escape of the marrow and gravy in boiling to render them sufficiently
small for food for dogs, also for the purposes of manure.
According to one method I take a bar of iron or steel, and after pre-
paring its ends for the reception of a cross head I bend the bar in the
middle to bring the two ends close together or at a sufficient distance
apart for the largest bone, after which I place the cross head upon the
ends and secure it thereon by rivets or nuts. The central part of the
cross head is threaded for receiving a threaded rod, which is fitted with
a handle for turning the same. I fit a plain or a serrated faced plate on
the inner end of the screwed rod and another upon the inner face of
the loop or bend, so that when the screw plate is forced towards the loop
the bone being between them it becomes crushed or broken by the
pressure. The movable plate embraces the legs of the loop and serves
to guide it in its to-and-fro movements. In some cases instead of
making the plate approach the bend as above described I fit the end of
the screw in a block, so that on turning the handle the frame and plate
are caused to move.

page_text: By another method I join the two legs at the bend and bring the loose
ends towards one another by a threaded rod working transversely
through them.
The apparatus is provided with a suitable stand or frame to enable it
to be secured to a table or block. A wheel and pinion may be employed
to work the screw if very great power is required.
The Invention will be well understood by referring to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of
an apparatus constructed in the manner before explained.
A, A, are the two legs or side pieces formed by bending a strip or bar
of metal into the shape shown, so as to leave a back piece B of the width
suitable to admit the largest bone it would be required to crush or break.
The free ends of the legs A, A, are screw threaded for the reception of
nuts C, C, to hold the cross head D firmly thereon, which acts as an
abutment at one end of the apparatus to receive the strain during the
crushing or the breaking of a bone. This cross head has a socket E on
its inner face to serve not only as supports but also as a guide to the
threaded rod F when the crank handle G is turned to move the knife to
and fro for crushing or breaking purposes. The knife H is preferably
fitted in a block or plate J formed of three pieces of metal; two of these
pieces, that is, the top and bottom ones K, L, are of greater length than
the central piece J, so that they bear upon or against the side legs A, A,
as shewn, to ensure the parallel motion of the plate. The pieces just
mentioned are firmly bolted or rivetted together to form a solid block
with the exception of the aperture for the inner end of the threaded
rod F to revolve in in the manner well known to practical men. There
is also a space in the face of the plate to admit of the insertion of the
knife H which can be bolted in place and held firm by the screwed pins or
bolts N, N, at the looped end of the apparatus; the second knife P is
fixed by the pins or bolts Q, Q, which pass through the legs A, A, in a
vertical direction, the knife being previously passed into the slots formed
for that purpose. To enable the apparatus to be fixed to a table, stand,
or other support I secure two straps or feet R, S, to the under side of it,
which can be screwed thereto by screws being passed through the
holes a, a, as would be well understood. The front legs R, R, should be
arranged near the head of the stand to give freedom for the rotation of
the crank handle.

page_text: The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The knife H is drawn back
by turning the threaded rod F in the required direction by the crank
handle G to make the opening between the two knives large enough to
admit of the bone to be crushed or broken being inserted between them
to the depth required, the handle is then to be turned in the reverse
direction to force the knife H against the bone, when on continuing the
rotation the knife is caused to enter it to make the required depth of cut,
when the handle can be again reversed to release the bone. If at this
time the bone is not sufficiently broken it can be turned round and the
knives can be made to act upon another part; this plan will be found
advisable in breaking bones containing marrow, as the marrow can then
be caused to drop out by gently tapping the bone with the back of an
ordinary table knife or other article, but in the case of knuckle or other
solid bones the knives H and P may be caused to meet and thus divide
the bone completely.
By this Invention bones of the hardest character can be cut into thin
slices or wafers, so that on boiling them the whole of the gelatinous
matter can be extracted from the cells of which the bone is formed to
make soup; when the bones are thus cut up and all the gelatinous matter
removed from them they can easily be crushed into small particles to be
spread upon the ground as manure or used for any other purpose for
which they are suitable. Of course the bones can be crushed or broken
into any given size, so that they can be given to dogs or other animals or
to poultry for food, and this may be done before they are boiled or after
as desired. It is not compulsory to actuate the threaded rod by a crank
handle, as a fly wheel of comparatively heavy weight or a pinion or other
mechanical appliance can be fitted upon it as found most desirable.
I do not desire to confine myself to the employment of the threaded
rod as other means or apparatus can easily be arranged to draw the
movable knife to and fro, for instance, pins or studs may project from
the outsides of the plate; upon these pins, bars T, T, may be secured so
that they can be drawn to and fro by the rotation of the cranks which
receive their motion from the pinions U, U, driven by the crank
handle G, as shown in Figure 2.
I have heretofore only referred to the knife H as being the movable
one, but in some cases it would be advisable to make that one a fixture
and only move the back one, and in others both knives may be arranged to
move at the same time and at the same speed or at different speeds. The

page_text: two legs may be joined at the bend and the loose ends brought towards
one another by a threaded rod working transversely through them.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
Invention of improvements in apparatus for crushing or breaking bones
for domestic and other purposes, the improvements before referred to
and shewn in Figure 1 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
I also claim the modified arrangements or modes of working the
knife or knives in the manner and for the purposes before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lamb Hancock, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
JAMES L. HANCOCK. (L.S.)