IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING OR PULVERISING BY PER- AWOSTAT OF WICH ARE APPLICABLE TO HAMMER
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Donald and Albert James Atkey, both
of 33, Cornhill, in the City of London, Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING OR PULVERISING BY PER-
AWOSTAT
Sealed the 7th November 1871, and dated the 15th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Donald
and Albert James Atkey at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th May 1871.
We, ALEXANDER DONALD and ALBERT JAMES ATKEY, both of 33,
Cornhill, in the City of London, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING
OR PULVERISING BY PERCUSSION, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO STEAM
HAMMERS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the construction of apparatus for the crushing
or pulverising of ores or other substances by the blow of a hammer or

page_text: ram worked by steam or fluid pressure, and has for its object means of
working the valve gear of such hammers, of feeding the material to
be operated on, and of arranging the hammer so as to avoid the action
of grit and dirt on the working parts. In securing some of these
objects we adopt modes of construction which are applicable to steam
or other fluid pressure hammers generally.
For working the valve gear according to our Invention we employ
an anvil supported on the ram of an hydraulic cylinder. This con-
struction of anvil for steam hammers is known and we therefore make
no claim to it as our Invention, except in the combination which we
will now describe. The valve which admits steam to the steam cylinder
of the hammer is pressed in one direction by a spring or other suitable
force, and it is acted on in the opposite direction by the piston or ram
of a cylinder, which for the sake of distinctness we will call a tappet
cylinder. This tappet cylinder communicates by a pipe with the
hydraulic cylinder of the anvil, and is fitted with an adjustable valve or
plug for regulating the escape of liquid from it.
The action of this valve gear is as follows:-When the blow of the
hammer is struck on the anvil fluid pressure is communicated from
the hydraulic cylinder of the anvil to the tappet cylinder, and thus the
steam valve is moved so as to admit steam for raising the hammer.
While the hammer rises the liquid escapes from the tappet cylinder
and the valve is returned by the spring to its proper position for the
downstroke of the hammer. The hydraulic cylinder instead of being
applied to the anvil may be applied to the striker, and in this case the
fluid pressure may be conveyed to the tappet cylinder by a pipe flexible
or jointed so as to allow for the motion of the striker. Instead of using
the tappet cylinder with its piston or ram for acting on the valve as
above described, a bent pipe may be employed as in pressure gauges,
which tending to straighten itself on being subjected to internal pressure
would give the necessary movement to the valve.
Our improved apparatus for feeding material to be crushed or pul-
verised to the coffer where it is subjected to the action of the striker
is constructed as follows:-We place above the coffer a hopper in the
bottom of which are fitted one or more trapdoors or valves closed by
means of a spring or weight. The hammer is fitted with a tappet or
projection which during its descent acts on levers so as to open the
hopper valves and thereby admit a charge to the coffer. By fixing

page_text: the tappet or projection so that the valves are opened during the latter
part of the down stroke of the hammer, the quantity of the charge is
limited, and should the charge previously admitted to the coffer not
have been ejected the hammer is stopped by it before completing its
full stroke, and thus no fresh charge is admitted. The material falls
from the hopper on a curved incline, so that it is carried to the middle
of the coffer by the velocity acquired in its descent. Instead of tappets
or projections for working the hopper valves as above described, other
suitable mechanism may be employed, such as levers jointed to the
hammer and carrying stops adjusted so as to act upon the hopper valves,
or curved or inclined grooves on the side of the hammer acting by
bell cranks or other suitable levers on the hopper valves.
For crushing or pulverising as well as for the other purposes of steam
hammers a construction has been employed wherein the cylinder is the
moving and striking part, the piston being fixed. This form of hammer
is particularly suitable for pulverising and crushing as it provides a
striker of large surface, and the stuffing box being at the top of the
cylinder is removed to a distance from the grit and dirt of the coffer,
and accordingly we prefer to employ this form in combination with the
improvements which we have described. We also employ a form of
hammer in which the steam cylinder is fixed and the piston moves in
it, having its rod passing through a stuffing box in the bottom of the
cylinder and taking hold of an annular striking cylinder made to
surround the steam cylinder and to work up and down upon it as a
guide. By this means we obtain the desired large area of striker and
protect the stuffing box and guides from the grit and dirt of the
coffer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Donald and Albert James Atkey in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEXANDER
DONALD and ALBERT JAMES ATKEY, both of 33, Cornhill, in the City
of London, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Alexander Donald and Albert James
Atkey, Her special licence that we, the said Alexander Donald and
Albert James Atkey, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Alexander Donald and Albert James Atkey, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CRUSHING OR PULVERISING BY PERCUSSION, PARTS
OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO STEAM HAMMERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Alexander Donald, and Albert James Atkey,
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 Alexander Donald and Albert
James Atkey, 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 :—
Our Invention relates to the construction of apparatus for the
crushing or pulverising of ores or other substances by the blow of a
hammer or ram worked by steam or fluid pressure, and has for its object
means of working the valve gear of such hammers, of feeding the
material to be operated on, and of arranging the hammer so as to avoid
the action of grit and dirt on the working parts. In securing some of
these objects we adopt modes of construction which are applicable to
steam or other fluid pressure hammers generally.
For working the valve gear according to our Invention we employ an
anvil supported on the ram of an hydraulic cylinder. This construction
of anvil for steam hammers is known and we therefore make no claim
to it as our Invention, except in the combination which we will now
describe. The valve which admits steam to the steam cylinder of the
hammer is pressed in one direction by a spring or other suitable force,

page_text: and it is acted on in the opposite direction by the piston or ram of a
cylinder, which for the sake of distinctness we will call a tappet cylinder.
This tappet cylinder communicates by a pipe with the hydraulic cylinder
of the anvil, and is fitted with an adjustable valve or plug for regulating
the escape of liquid from it.
The action of this valve gear is as follows:-When the blow of the
hammer is struck on the anvil the fluid pressure is communicated from
the hydraulic cylinder of the anvil to the tappet cylinder, and thus the
steam valve is moved so as to admit steam for raising the hammer.
While the hammer rises the liquid escapes from the tappet cylinder,
and the valve is returned by the spring to its proper position for the
down stroke of the hammer. The hydraulic cylinder instead of being
applied to the anvil may be applied to the striker, and in this case the
fluid pressure may be conveyed to the tappet cylinder by a pipe flexible
or jointed so as to allow for the motion of the striker. Instead of using
the tappet cylinder with its piston or ram for acting on the valve as
above described, a bent pipe may be employed as in pressure gauges,
which tending to straighten itself on being subjected to internal pressure
would give the necessary movement of the valve.
Our improved apparatus for feeding material to be crushed or pul-
verised to the coffer where it is subjected to the action of the striker is
constructed as follows:-We place above the coffer a hopper in the
bottom of which are fitted one or more trap doors or valves closed by
means of a spring or weight. The hammer is fitted with a tappet or
projection which during its descent acts on levers so as to open the
hopper valves and thereby admit a charge to the coffer. By fixing the
tappet or projection so that the valves are opened during the latter part
of the down stroke of the hammer the quantity of charge is limited,
and should the charge previously admitted to the coffer not have been
ejected the hammer is stopped by it before completing its full stroke,
and thus no fresh charge is admitted. The material falls from the
hopper on a curved incline so that it is carried to the middle of the
coffer by the velocity acquired in its descent. Instead of tappets or
projections for working the hopper valves as above described other
suitable mechanism may be employed, such as levers jointed to the
hammer and carrying stops adjusted so as to act upon the hopper valves,
or curved or inclined grooves on the side of the hammer acting by bell
cranks or other suitable levers on the hopper valves.

page_text: 0
valve 8.
The tappet cylinder is fitted with a piston t, the stem of which
passes through a guide u and is connected by a rod to the lever w
which works the slide valve c by a rod and levers x, x. The lever w
is drawn down by a spring y. The plunger of the feed pump o is drawn
upwards by a spring and pushed down by a lever z carrying a roller z',
which bears against the side of the striker b. On this side there is an
inclined projection 6¹ which as the striker descends forces back the
roller z¹ and thereby causes the plunger of o to descend. As the striker
rises the plunger is raised by the spring *.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-By raising the lever w
and thereby depressing the slide c, steam passing down the middle of
the slide flows by the port d into the annular space above the piston
and raises the striker b, the steam below the piston escaping by the
port e. When the handle w is released it is drawn down by the spring y,
thereby reversing the slide c, so as to admit steam through the ports e
and e¹ to the under side of the piston, and to allow the steam to escape
from the annular space above the piston by the port d', thus causing the
striker b to descend. When the blow is struck on the anvil 9 a little
water is driven by the passage i and pipe into the tappet cylinder k
so as to force up the tappet piston t, thereby raising the lever w and
depressing the slide c to the position for the up-stroke of the striker b.
As 6 ascends the spring y pulling down the lever wo forces back into
the cavity of the anvil block h the water that had been ejected from it by
the blow, and at the same time reverses the slide c for the down stroke,
when the like series of operations is repeated. The spring y may be
made to act with greater or less force upon the tappet piston, and
thereby to allow time for a shorter or longer stroke by adjusting its
tension and its leverage on the lever w. The expansion coupling allows
for the sinking of the block and provides against the fracture of the
pipes by the shocks. By means of the adjustable plug water under
pressure may be admitted into the tappet cylinder from the boiler to
make up for loss by leakage, or to raise the anvil, or it may be pumped
in by working the feed pump o by hand. a¹ is an annular trough
containing water from which the feed pump o may conveniently draw
its supply. The bottom of this trough is perforated with numerous
holes f¹ through which the water required for washing passes into the
coffer. The top of the anvil g is made with a circular overhanging lip g₁
to which is attached a cloth g³. The lower edge of this cloth rests on

page_text: the sloping table g³. By this means the matter escaping from the coffer
is carried away clear of the fitting parts of the hydraulic cylinder, which
are thus preserved from dirt and grit.
Fig. 2, Sheet II., represents a vertical section of part of an ore-crushing
machine illustrating our improved method of feeding the material to be
crushed. a, a, is part of the framing; 6 is the striker, and 9 is the anvil;
c is a hopper, at the bottom of which are two flaps or valves d and e.
Their spindles d¹ and e¹ are coupled outside the hopper by a rod and
levers f, f, so that when one flap rises the other descends. The flap e is
pressed upwards by a spring and its spindle e¹ is connected by crank
arms and a rod to a lever i fitted with a roller which bears against the
side of the striker b. On this side there is an inclined projection b
which as the striker approaches the end of its down stroke acts on the
lever i so as to open the flap e downwards, and at the same time to raise
the flap d and thereby to agitate the contents of the hopper. The flap e
being opened, as represented in the Figure, pieces of the material 'to be
crushed fall from the hopper on to a curved incline ; and slide along it,
acquiring a velocity which carries them forward to the middle of the
coffer. As the striker rises the spring h raises the flap e and lowers the
flap d, but not enough to give passage for pieces from the hopper, and
thus prevents further feed of material to be crushed until the striker
again approaches the end of its down stroke.
In Sheet III., Fig. 3 represents a vertical section with parts in
elevation of an ore-crushing machine in which the steam cylinder
is fixed with the piston moving on it, and the striker is of cylindrical
form embracing the steam cylinder. a, a, is the framing; b, is the
steam cylinder which hangs downwards from the upper part of the
framing; c is the piston rod attached by a ball-and-socket joint d to
the striking cylinder e; f is the slide, and g the steam pipe. The
arrows indicate the course of the steam during the descent of the piston.
The slide is moved, as herein-before described, by the action of the
blow on the hydraulic anvil. In this Figure such an anvil is represented
in a modified form. The anvil h is hollowed underneath so as to form
the hydraulic cylinder, the block j forming the ram. Only a small
space is allowed for water between the anvil h and the block j, so that
when the blow is struck and the water driven by a passage ¹ through
the ram into the tappet cylinder, the anvil then rests solidly on the
block and the pipes are at once released from further strain. The water

page_text: is returned into the space between the anvil and the block by means of
the spring acting on the tappet cylinder, as already described. The
anvil block j is by preference built up in a series of rings for con-
venience of transport. The above-described arrangement of inverted
cylinder may be applied to ordinary steam hammers so as to save
height.
Fig. 4, Sheet III., represents a vertical section partly in elevation of
a steam hammer in which the hydraulic valve motion is applied to the
striker. a is the hammer head which receives the end of the piston
rod fitted with hydraulic cup leathers, with play or space filled with
liquid (which in this case may be oil) to work the tappet cylinder c,
with which the space in the hammer head communicates by a flexible
pipe e. When the blow is struck the end of the piston rod closes down
in the head, thereby forcing the liquid into the tappet cylinder c and
moving the slide. As the hammer rises the liquid flows back into the
space in the head from the tappet cylinder, assisted by the spring d.
Fig. 5, Sheet III., represents a section of part of the anvil and block
of a steam hammer, constructed according to our Invention, for working
the slide by hydraulic apparatus similar to that herein-before described
with reference to the ore-crushing machine represented in Fig. 3,
Sheet III. a is the striker; b, the anvil hollowed underneath to form
the hydraulic cylinder, and c is the anvil block forming the ram, a
passage in which communicates by a pipe d with the tappet cylinder.
The action is similar to that already described.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and in what
manner it is to be performed, we would have it understood that we do
not confine ourselves to the details or proportions represented in the
Drawings, as these may be varied to suit different conditions without
departing from the principles of our Invention; we would also have
it understood that we do not claim generally the construction of ore-
crushing machines or steam hammers with hydraulic anvils or strikers;
but we do claim,―
First. The working of the slides or valves of ore-crushing machines
and steam hammers by the action of the hydraulic apparatus, sub-
stantially as herein described.
Secondly. The mode of feeding material to be crushed, substantially
as represented in Fig. 2, Sheet II., of the Drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: Thirdly. The construction, substantially as represented in Fig. 2,
Sheet III., of an ore-crushing machine or steam hammer with an
annular cylindrical striker embracing a fixed steam cylinder.
And, fourthly. The several apparatus for these purposes herein-before
described, and their substantial equivalents.
In witness whereof, I, the said Albert James Atkcy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord 1871.
Witness,
ALBERT JAMES ATKEY. (L.S.)
ALEXANDER P. WRIGHT,
Engineer,
55, Millbank Street,
Westminster, S.W.