IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBRE BEARING PLANTS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Andrews, of New Brentford, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBRE BEARING PLANTS."
Sealed the 28th January 1873, and dated the 3rd December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Andrews
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd December 1872.
I, GEORGE HENRY ANDREWs, of New Brentford, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBRE
BEARING PLANTS," to be as follows :—
This Invention relates to a modification of a further improvement on
the machinery or apparatus for treating fibre bearing plants, described in
the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, the said George Henry
Andrews, and William Gibbs, bearing date the 25th of September 1871,
No. 2525, and consists essentially, in substituting for the peculiar mallet
and stationary anvil employed in beating the fibre bearing plants, or
parts of fibre bearng plants therein described of a combination of two
•

page_text: mallets, beaters, or stampers, both made to vibrate or reciprocate in
opposition to each other, the leaves or other parts of the plants operated
upon being drawn slowly between the two opposing mallets, beaters, or
stampers by drawing rollers, cams, or tappets, in conjunction with
springs are employed for imparting motion to the said mallets, beaters, or
stampers, the springs being either specially provided or the shanks of
the mallets or beaters themselves being made sufficiently elastic to
constitute springs.
In all other respects the machine may be of the same general con-
struction and arrangement as that described and illustrated in the said
former Specification.
The making the shanks of the mallets or beaters elastic or so as to
operate as springs is also equally applicable to the shanks of the mallets
or beaters described in the said former Specification, by which arrange-
ment the speed and productive power of the machine is materially
increased..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said George Henry Andrews in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th March 1873.
C
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HENRY ANDREWS, of New Brentford, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Henry Andrews, Her special license
that I, the said George Henry Andrews, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Henry Andrews, my
executors, administrators, or 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING FIBRE BEARING PLANTS," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Henry Andrews, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 George Henry Andrews, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say :-
My said Invention relates to a modification of or further improvement
on the machinery or apparatus for treating fibre bearing plants, described.
in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, the said George
Henry Andrews, and William Gibbs, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, No. 2525, and
consists essentially in substituting for the peculiar mallet and stationary
anvil employed in beating the fibre bearing plants or parts of fibre
bearing plants therein described of a combination of two mallets, beaters,
or stampers, both made to vibrate or reciprocate in opposition to each
other, the leaves or other parts of the plants operated upon being fed in
leaf by leaf, or in two or more leaves at one time, and drawn slowly
between the two opposing mallets, beaters, or stampers, by drawing
rollers. The beating faces of the said mallets, beaters, or stampers, may
be of any convenient or suitable form, but I prefer to make the faces of
both beaters ribbed or composed of two or more rounded rods placed (say
about half an inch apart more or less) similar to those which form the
anvil faces in the Specification of my Patent herein-before referred to,
or one beater may be plain or flat on its face, and the other beater face
may be ribbed or composed of one, two, or more of the said rounded
rods; these beaters may work either vertically, horizontally, or at any
convenient angle; cams or tappets in conjunction with springs are
employed for imparting motion to the said mallets, beaters, or stampers,
the springs being either specially provided for giving the blow, or the
shanks of the mallets or beaters themselves may be made sufficiently
elastic to constitute springs. In this machine only one pair of beaters

page_text: or row of beaters need be employed in lieu of a series of rows as
described in my said former Specification.
The making the shanks of the mallets or beaters elastic or so as to
operate on springs, thereby obviating the necessity for using separate or
special springs, is also equally applicable to the shanks of the mallets or
beaters described in the said former Specification, by which arrangement
the speed and productive power of the machine is materially increased.
and its cost of construction reduced.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to described the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a vertical section of a machine
shewing one form in which my before-mentioned improvements may be
carried out; Figure 2 is a corresponding front elevation of a portion of
the said machine; and Figures 3, 4, and 5, are enlarged details of
different forms of beater faces.
A is the framing of the machine, which may be of wood or metal; B,
B', are two beaters opposed to each other and sliding between the guid-
ing cheeks C, C; any desired number of pairs of beaters may be disposed
side by side or in a row, as shown in Figure 2. These beaters B, B¹, may
be constructed of wood faced with metal on their striking faces a, a, one
of which may be flat so as to act tangentially on the rounded bars as
described in the said former Specification; and the other ribbed, that is
to say, composed of two, three, or more round rods of copper or other
suitable material inserted into the tops of a set of projecting ridges, as
shewn at Figure 3, which arrangement is equivalent to a number of the
anvils described in my before-mentioned Specification brought closer
together and operated upon by a single mallet or beater; or both the
beaters may be ribbed in the manner described as shewn in Figure 1 and
in detail at Figure 4; or each beater may be constructed like one of the
anvils referred to in my said former Specification, as shewn in Figure 5.
The said mallets or beaters may be fitted to arms or shanks vibrating
on centres in the manner described in my said former Specification or
(which I prefer), they may work between guiding cheeks as shewn in

page_text: the Drawings hereunto annexed. In this case each beater may be pro-
vided with a guiding spindle b, b', working freely through an adjustable
screwed collar c, c¹, and surrounded by a helical spring d, d, for impart-
ing the blow, the opening or separation of the beaters being effected by
the tappet cams D, D'. The force of the blows may be adjusted or
regulated at pleasure by simply adjusting the screwed collars c, c¹, upon
which one end of each spring bears. The tappet cams D, D', act directly
upon the beaters causing them to recede and then releasing them,
thereby allowing them to strike together by the action of the springs d,
d. The tappet cams are respectively mounted upon the shafts E, E³,
extending the entire width of the machine, such shafts being geared
together by gearing F, F, and driven by the belt G and pullies H, H',
the pulley H being fast on the main driving or first motion shaft I.
Immediately behind each pair of beaters there is a pair of drawing rollers
K, K', which are pressed together by a spring or springs for scizing the
end of each leaf, and slowly drawing the same between the corresponding
beaters which at the same time impart a rapid succession of blows to the
upper and under surfaces simultaneously of the leaf, and thereby remove
or loosen the pulpy matter adhering to the fibrous portion of the leaf.
The lower set of these drawing rollers are driven by a slow positive
motion, as for example by a worm L gearing into a worm wheel M on
the drawing roller shaft N, the worm L being mounted on an upright
shaft O, which is driven by bevel gearing P from the first motion shaft
I; e is a water jet pipe situate behind the beaters for directing a power-
ful jet of water upon the fibres of the plant in a direction contrary to.
that in which it is travelling at the time the said fibres are being
operated upon by the mallets, stampers, or beaters, thereby effectually
removing the gum, pulp, and chloriphyle or coloring matter of the
plant therefrom. In order to facilitate the feeding in by the attendant of
a fresh leaf or leaves as soon as the preceeding one has passed from
between the beaters, each pair of beaters may be connected with a lever
Q worked by the foot (as shown in the Drawings) or otherwise, the
depression of which lever will through the intervention of the rods R,
R¹, open the pair of beaters sufficiently wide apart to throw them beyond
the range of the tappet cams, thereby arresting their action until the end
of the fresh leaf has been caught between the drawing rollers, where-
upon on the release of the stop lever the beaters are allowed to resume
their action.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The application and use of mallets, beaters, or stampers, made
to vibrate or reciprocate in opposition to each other, for separating the
pulp contained in the leaves or other portions of fibre bearing plants
from the fibres therein, also contained substantially as herein-before
described, and illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
Second. The combination with the before mentioned arrangement of
mallets, beaters, or stampers, of drawing rollers for moving the leaf or
other portion of the plant operated upon slowly between the two
opposing beaters, as herein-before described and illustrated by the
Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry Andrews have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth
day of March, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.