Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for the Manufacture of Cotton Seed or the like Feeding Cakes.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for the Manufacture of
Cotton Seed or the like Feeding Cakes.
I, JOSEPH EVANS, of Mercer Villa, Wallasey, in the County of Chester, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:―
This invention relates to apparatus for the manufacture of feeding cakes such
as are usually known in the trade as compound cakes. Such cakes are at present
formed or moulded by subjecting the material to a suitable pressure between
plates or moulds in a hydraulic press, the material and the said press plates being
arranged alternately so that a number of cakes are produced at the one operation.
In some cases the press plates have a series of projecting ridges which serve to indent
the surface of the cakes so as to facilitate the subsequent breaking up of the latter
into suitable and equal sized pieces, and as the material and the plates are
arranged alternately in the press, it will be seen that both sides of each plate,
except of course the end ones, come into contact with the material and therefore
require to be ridged and to have a clean bright surface in order to produce a
cake with a smooth surface which will easily come away from the plate.
According to the present practice, the plates are made of malleable cast iron,
and as the surface of the latter material does not produce the desirable smooth-
ness, such plates are galvanised in order to obtain the necessary surface.
The process of galvanising is both inconvenient and costly, and moreover the
repeated galvanising which is found necessary to maintain the surface has a de-
teriorating effect on the material of the plates.
I have endeavoured to overcome these objections by using plates composed
wholly of spelter, but I have found that such plates although particularly suit-
able in respect to their surface and the case with which they can be moulded, do
not possess sufficient strength for this purpose, and the object of my present in-
vention is to provide a compound plate with a surface of spelter and suitably
strengthened by a metal possessing the requisite tenacity and so disposed as to
resist the tendency of the spelter to spread or fracture.
I construct such plates as follows:
I provide what I term a backing plate of, say, malleable cast metal similar in
shape to the usual plate but somewhat larger; this backing plate is provided with
a projecting flange or rim on each face extending continuously around the
periphery of the plate, the flanges are recessed or under-cut on their inside edges,
and a transverse section of the plate therefore shows a dovetail recess on each face
of the plate. The spelter is cast in these recesses, the mould being so arranged
as to form the necessary projecting ridges which serve to indent the cake as
described. In this way I provide plates having a suitable clean and smooth
moulded surface, which of course, does not require renewing as in the case of the
galvanised surface, and I obtain the necessary strength by means of the backing
plate

page_text: The construction of the backing plate may obviously be modified without exceeding
the limits of my invention: for instance, instead of making the backing plate of
malleable cast metal it may be formed out of two sheets of steel or brass suitably
flanged and afterwards united back to back, the plates being suitably
perforated so that the spelter surfaces on opposite sides shall be united through
the perforations. Instead of spelter any other suitable metal or alloy may of
course be used.
Dated this 13th day of October 1807
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for the Manufacture of
Cotton Seed or the like Feeding Cakes.
I, JOSEPH EVANS, of Mercer Villa, Wallasey, in the County of Chester, Engineer,
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 follow-
ing statement:
This invention relates to apparatus for the manufacture of feeding cakes such
as are usually known in the trade as compound cakes. Such cakes are at present
formed or moulded by subjecting the material to a suitable pressure between
plates or moulds in a hydraulic press, the material and the said press plates being
arranged alternately so that a number of cakes are produced at the one operation.
In some cases the press plates have a series of projecting ridges which serve to indent
the surface of the cakes so as to facilitate the subsequent breaking up of the latter
into suitable and equal sized pieces, and as the material and the plates are
arranged alternately in the press, it will be seen that both sides of each plate,
except of course the end ones, come into contact with the material and therefore
require to be ridged and to have a clean bright surface in order to produce a
cake with a smooth surface which will easily come away from the plate.
According to the present practice, the plates are made of malleable cast iron,
and as the surface of the latter material does not produce the desirable smooth-
ness, such plates are galvanised in order to obtain the necessary surface.
The process of galvanising is both inconvenient and costly, and moreover the
repeated galvanising which is found necessary to maintain the surface has a de-
teriorating effect on the material of the plates.
I have endeavoured to overcome these objections by using plates composed
wholly of spelter, but I have found that such plates although particularly suit-
able in respect to their surface and the case with which they can be moulded, do
not possess sufficient strength for this purpose, and the object of my present in-
vention is to provide a compound plate with a surface of spelter and suitably
strengthened by a metal possessing the requisite tenacity and so disposed as to
resist the tendency of the spelter to spread or fracture.
I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings in which Figs. I,
II, and III show a form of my invention in which the backing plate is a malleable
casting, Fig. I being a plan and Figs. II and III being sections on the lines A, A,
and B, B, respectively; in Fig. I a portion of the spelter surface is removed to
show the construction of the plate. Figs. IV, V and VI are views analogous to
Figs. I, II and III, and illustrate a mode in which the construction of the backing
plate may be modified.
Referring to Figs. I, II and III, I provide what I term a backing plate 1 of,

page_text: say, malleable cast metal similar in shape to the usual plate but somewhat larger;
this backing plate is provided with a projecting flange or rim 2 on each face, which
rim runs continuously around the periphery of the plate; the flanges may be
recessed or undercut on their inside edges, as shown, in order to hold the spelter 3,
which is cast in position, in place; in some cases however the undercutting is
dispensed with, as for instance when the backing plate is formed from a drop
forging or by means of dies in a hydraulic press, in which case the spelter is held
in place by uniting the two portions which are on opposite sides of the backing
plates, when they are cast, through holes such as 4 formed in the backing plate.
In some cases I prefer, as shown, to undercut the flanges as well as provide the
holes.
The surface of the spelter may, of course, have any desired configuration, but I
have, for convenience, shown an ordinary plane surface.
The construction of the backing plate may obviously be modified without ex-
tending the limits of my invention, for instance it may be formed of two sheets
of steel, brass or the like suitably flanged and afterwards united back to back, as
shown in Figs. IV, V and VI; the plates are suitably shaped so that the portions
of spelter on opposite sides are united and the peripheries of the plate are tied
together by cross-pieces such as 5. There are of course many other ways in
which the details of construction of the backing plate may be varied by one
skilled in the art, the main features to be observed being,-to provide for a sub-
stantial thickness of spelter or the like metal having a surface suitable for the
purpose, and to provide the necessary strength and stiffness, which are not
possessed by such metals, by means of the backing plate which must be so shaped
as to hold the spelter or the like in position, and to prevent the fracture thereof
by resisting bending and spreading.
I have found that composite plates of this kind are much more durable and less
costly to maintain than galvanised plates; and, as the mode of construction per-
mits the selection of the most suitable surface metal without regard to its strength
and stiffness, and the selection of a strong backing metal without regard to the
suitability of its surface in respect to the cakes, I am enabled to provide plates
having a maximum efficiency in respect of strength, and quality and durability
of surface.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. The improvement in press plates for the manufacture of feed cakes and the
like, which consists in providing a main plate of spelter or the like metal having
the necessary surface quality, and a backing plate such as 1, on which the spelter
is cast, and which is adapted to stiffen and support the spelter and to prevent the
spreading thereof; substantially as described and illustrated.
2. The improved press plate, substantially as described and illustrated in
Figs. I, II and III.
3. The improved press plate, substantially as described and illustrated in
Figs. IV, V and VI.
Dated this 13th day of July 1898.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
34, Castle Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.