Improvements in Machines for Preparing Vegetable Fibre.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Jan., 1896-Accepted, 8th Feb., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by TIMOTEO VILLAMOR, of Merida, Yucatan,
Mexico, Inventor.]
Improvements in Machines for Preparing Vegetable Fibre.
1, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the. County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to machines for preparing vegetable fibre.
In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan or top view of a machine
embodying my improvement. Figure 2 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale
taken at the plane of the dotted line -, Figure 1. Figure 3 is a still further
enlarged view of certain parts taken in the same plane as Figure 2.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all figures.
A designates the frame of the machine. It may be made of any suitable style
and materials. B designates a scraping wheel, which consists, as here shown, of a
wheel having a number of scrapers barranged radially upon it. This wheel is
supported on a shaft which is driven in any suitable manner, as for instance, by a
helt applied to a pulley b².
Opposite a portion of the wheel is an apron or support which sustains the leaves
that are intended to be scraped by the scraping wheel for the purpose of preparing
fibre. This support is curved concentrically, or approximately so, to the scraping
wheel. It may be made of any suitable materials, and preferably will be
adjustable at both ends, towards and from the scraping wheel.
The leaves which are to be scraped are grasped between a wheel D and a
chain E and while so grasped are carried between the scraping wheel B and the
support C.
The wheel D is affixed to a shaft d that is journaled in boxes d¹ fitted to
housings formed in brackets supported by the frame A of the machine.
Springs are interposed between the boxes d' and the tops of the housings so as to
bold the wheel D downwardly with a yielding pressure.
The chain E is composed of a number of links e pivoted by means of pins e'. It
passes around pulleys E', E2, E3. The pulleys E, E are journaled in brackets e, e.
The pulley Es is journaled in boxes e fitted in housings e formed in brackets e
Within the brackets e and above the boxes et are springs e and these may be
adjusted by means of screws e for the purpose of holding down the pulley E³ with
any desired force, but in a yielding manuer. The brackets e are fastened to the
frame A of the machine.
Motion is imparted to the chain E by means of a chain e engaging with
a sprocket wheel to affixed to the shaft of the pulley E' and a sprocket wheel e
affixed to a shaft F. The shaft F runs lengthwise of the machine and is provided
at one end with a bevel gear wheelf with which engages a bevel pinion faffixed to
a shaft f2 provided with fast and loose pulleys With these fast and loose
pulleys, is combined a belt f which also fits a pulley f affixed to the shaft b¹
of the scraping wheel B. Motion is thus imparted from the shaft of the scraping
wheel to the chain E. The wheel D runs idly.
Preferably the exterior of the chain E will be grooved and the wheel D will be

page_text: provided with a circumferential tongue for coacting with said groove to firmly grasp
the leaves which are to be treated..
I will now describe a means whereby the leaves will be presented to the chain E
and wheel D. G, H, designate two endless belts or chains running opposite to each
other, one above the other, for the purpose of taking the leaves by the stalks and
moving them along as indicated by the arrow in Figure 2, until an adjacent portion
of the stalks is passed between the chain E and wheel D, after which the endless
belts or chains G, H separate so as to release the stalks of the leaves.
The endless belt or chain G passes around pulleys, g, affixed to the same
shafts as the pulleys E', E2, and rotating therewith. The pulley g' imparts motion
to the endless belt or chain G; the periphery of the pulley and said chain being
constructed to interlock in any suitable manner, as for example, in the manner
shown in Figure 3. The pulley g is, however, smooth on the periphery, so that
the endless helt or chain may slip upon it.
The endless belt or chain H passes around pulleys h', h2, h3 which are severally
journaled in boxes fitted to housings and combined with springs . The
journal boxes of the pulley h' are fitted to move horizontally outwards under the
influence of their springs for the purpose of producing a tension upon the
endless belt or chain H.
The journal boxes of the pulley 2 are fitted to move vertically and their
springs force them towards the pulley so that the belts G, H at the point
where they come together to receive the stalks of the leaves, are capable of
a relative movement against the resistance of the springs.
The journal boxes of the pulley 3 are capable of movement transversely of the
line of the two belts G, H, and are moved by their springs as may be understood
by reference to Figure 2. Thus a tension is produced upon both the belts or
chains G, H.
The pulley is so far elevated above the pulley g that the endless belt or
chain H after leaving the pulley ³ will he caused to move upwardly away from the
belt G.
Obviously the stalks of leaves presented to the belts or chains G, H will be
gripped between these belts or chains and carried until the belts or chains separate
beyond the pulley 3, whereupon they will be released. By this time the stalks
of the leaves will have been grasped between the endless chain E and the
wheel D.
It will, of course, be understood that the endless belts or chains G, H are in a
different vertical plane from that in which the endless chain E and wheel D are
located, or, in other words, are arranged to one side of the latter; this arrangement
being necessary to enable the endless belt or chain E and wheel D to grip the stalks
of the leaves before they are released from the endless belts or chains G, H.
The endless chain or belt G will preferably be composed of a number of links
pivoted together and curved inwardly between the ends as illustrated in Figure 3,
and when so made, the periphery of the driving pulley g' will be provided with
alternate peripheral projections and recesses, as shown in the same figure, so as to
positively interlock the chain. The endless belt or chain II may be similarly made,
but as it is only intended to run idly, it is unnecessary that it should be so
constructed as to interlock with any of its pulleys.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a machine for preparing vegetable fibre, the combination with scrapers, a
traveling belt or chain and an opposite traveling part for carrying leaves past the
scrapers, of the endless belts or chains G, H, the pulleys g2 and h for causing the
belts or chains G and H to approach each other, and the auxiliary pulley ³ for
deflecting said belts so as to cause them to travel together under pressure,
substantially as specified.

page_text: 2. In a machine for preparing vegetable fibre, the combination with scrapers, a
traveling belt or chain and an opposite traveling part for carrying leaves past the
scrapers, of the endless belts or chains G, H, the pulleys 9 and h' for causing the
belts or chains G and H to approach each other, and the auxiliary pulley h³ for
deflecting said belts so as to cause them to travel together under pressure, the
pulley being resiliently supported, substantially as specified.
3. In a machine for preparing vegetable fibre, the combination with scrapers, a
traveling belt or chain and an opposite traveling part for carrying the leaves past
the scrapers, of the endless belts or chains G, H, and the pulleys g', and the
pulleys, h,, the pulley h being close to the pulley g, the pulley h³ being in a
position to deflect both belts or chains G, H, and the pulley h¹ being sufficiently
elevated above the pulley g' to cause a separation of the belts G, H, substantially
as specified.
Dated this 2nd day of January 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.