AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR METHOD FOR SIZING CORKS, OR FOR SEPARATING AND DISTRIBUTING THE DIFFERENT SIZES, OF CORKS OR OTHER 95
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Noah William Mitchell, of Somers' Road,
Southsea, in the County of Southampton, Cork Cutter, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR METHOD FOR SIZING CORKS, OR
FOR SEPARATING AND DISTRIBUTING THE DIFFERENT SIZES, OF CORKS OR OTHER
95
Sealed the 22nd May 1874, and dated the 26th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Noah William Mitchell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th November 1873.
I, NOAH WILLIAM MITCHELL, of Somers' Road, Southsea, in the
County of Southampton, Cork Cutter, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR METHOD FOR SIZING
CORKS, OR FOR SEPARATING AND DISTRIBUTING THE DIFFERENT SIZES OF CORKS OR
OTHER ARTICLES REQUIRING TO BE SORTED INTO DIFFERENT SIZES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing a machine by means of which
corks or other articles of different sizes may be sifted or sized,

page_text: The machine by means of which I propose to accomplish the above
object is constructed as follows:-A. hopper, into which corks of all
sizes are thrown, is placed above a tray into which the corks fall.
Underneath the said tray a circular disc revolves. This disc is provided
with a number of small boxes, into which one end of a lever works; the
fulcrum of the said lever is placed outside the aforesaid revolving disc.
The other end of the said lever comes in contact with pawled spindles,
the length of which is regulated by means of set screws working in
brackets fixed outside the revolving disc on a box provided with a certain
number of shoots placed in a line underneath the above described boxes.
The said shoots are provided with cam-shaped plates, made in such a
manner that each of them shall act only on one of the aforesaid levers.
Tubes are placed at certain distances asunder, and in such a manner that
if a cork is dropped therein it will fall into one of the boxes aforesaid.
A fixed plate is placed underneath the revolving disc, the distance to
which may be regulated by means of set screws.
The above-described shoots are provided with guides so as to allow
only one cork to fall down the said shoots at a time.
'
It will be obvious that if the pawled spindles are regulated in such a
manner that when they come in contact with one end of the aforesaid
levers, the other end of the said levers will allow only of one size cork
to drop between it and the side of the box in which it works. When
the lever of this box comes in contact with the cam-shaped plate placed
over the shoot which is to receive the cork, it will be sufficiently
depressed to loosen its hold on the said cork, which will then drop down
into the said shoot, and thus each of the aforesaid shoots will receive
only one size cork.
Motion mar be given to the disc by means of a treadle or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Noah William Mitchell in the Great Seal Patent 30
Office on the 26th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NOAH
WILLIAM MITCHELL, of Somers' Road, Southsea, in the County of
Southampton, Cork Cutter, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Noah William Mitchell, Her special licence®
that I, the said Noah William Mitchell, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Noah William Mitchell, 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 AN IMPROVED
MACHINE OR METHOD FOR SIZING CORKS, OR FOR SEPARATING AND DISTRIBUTING THE
DIFFERENT SIZES OF CORKS OR OTHER ARTICLES REQUIRING TO BE SORTED INTO
DIFFERENT SIZES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Noah William Mitchell, my executors or administrators, by an instru->
ment 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.
65
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Noah William Mitchell, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in constructing a machine by means of which
corks or other articles of different sizes may be sifted or sized.
The machine by means of which I propose to accomplish the above
object will be better understood by reference to the Sheet of Drawings
(which represents a machine for sizing corks) accompanying these
Presents, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon, as follows:-

page_text: A quantity of corks of mixed sizes are put into the hopper A, the
lower end of which opens into the wooden tray B, which is kept full of
corks. The operator puts the corks into the feed tube C, under which is
a revolving disc D containing a series of boxes E. Each of the boxes E
is fitted with a lever F, either horizontal as shown at Figures 1, 2, and 3,
or perpendicular as shown at Figure 4, one end of the lever G being
forced into the box E by means of a spring or weight f. As each of the
boxes E approach the said feed tube C, the other end of the lever H
comes into contact with an opening cam J, by which the end of the said
lever G is withdrawn out of the box E. As soon as the box E has
passed under the aforesaid feed tube C and received a cork, one end of
the lever G enters the box E and holds the cork against the end thereof,
and the other end of the lever H projects more or less, according to the
diameter of the cork. As the box E revolves that end of the lever H
strikes against one of the graduated gauges L, and the cork falls into
one of the shoots M. An adjustable table N is placed below the
revolving disc D, and exactly under the feed tube C for the cork to rest
upon until carried away by the box E. Attached to the feed tube C are
checks P and R to prevent blocking. One of the checks P being opened
by means of slots S in the disc D. The feed tube C is fixed to a hinged
plate T so as to allow of its being thrown back when necessary.
The machine represented is a double one. The corks put into one of
the feed tubes C are being delivered during one half of the revolution,
and those put into the other feed tube during the other half of the
revolution, and by simply taking away one of the feed tubes C and the
opening cam J belonging to it, the machine is converted into a single
one, giving double the number of divisions of the sizes.
I propose to work the said machine by means of a treadle, very
similar to that of a sewing machine or other suitable motive power.
Having now described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "An Improved Machine or Method for Sizing Corks, or
for Separating and Distributing the Different Sizes of Corks or other
Articles requiring to be Sorted into Different Sizes," and the means
whereby it may be effected, I would remark in conclusion that I do not
intend to limit or confine myself to the precise details above described
and represented, as the same may be varied according to the nature of the
articles which it is required to size or sort, as for example, oranges and

page_text: nuts; but what I claim as my Invention, and desire to secure by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, constructing a machine
by means of which corks or other articles of different sizes may be sifted
or sized, substantially as above described and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Noah William Mitchell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four