Improvements in Slicing Machines for Sugar Cane and the like.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Nov., 1890-Accepted, 7th Mar. 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by SANGERHÄUSER ACTIEN MASCHINENFABRIK &
EISENGIESSEREI, VORM. HORNUNG & RABE, and ERNEST SCHULZE, of
Sangerhäuser, in the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire, Engineer.]
Improvements in Slicing Machines for Sugar Cane and the like.
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 :-
5 This invention relates to an improved slicing or cutting machine for saccharine
materials more especially for sugar-cane intended to be subsequently heated by the
diffusion process.
In the slicing or cutting machines for sugar-cane as heretofore generally
employed the sugar-cane is, in most cases, inserted into the feeding hopper by
hand, so that it is not practicable to use cane conveyers for such slicing or cutting
machines as are commonly used in connection with sugar cane mills, to any
advantage as a special conveyer would be required for each of the feeding hoppers.
The object of my present invention is to provide for more advantageously
feeding the sugar-cane to such slicing machines so as to allow of providing said
machines with any desired number of cutter discs combined with a corresponding
number of feeding hoppers and with suitable means for automatically and con-
tinuously conveying the sugar-cane, by one single cane conveyer, into the said
number of feeding hoppers and in front of each of the cutter discs of the slicing
machine.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a plan of the machine
Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line A. B. and
Figure 3 is a section on the line C. D. of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the cutting or slicing machine in connection with a
common cane conveyer drawn to a reduced scale and
Figure 5 is a plan view of the same
Figure 6 is a vertical transverse section illustrating the arrangement of the cutter
isc with a cutter box inserted therein, drawn to enlarged scale.
Figure 7 is a front view of the same, and
Figure
8 a section on the line E. F. of Figure 6.
Figures 9 and 10 are diagrams shewing a modified form of the slicing machine, as
en from above, with straight instead of conical cutter dises, and the corresponding
umber of feeding hoppers arranged in different positions.
Figure 11 is a modified arrangement to be used in connection with the machine
hen provided with conical cutter discs.
Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 a indicates a horizontal shaft on which may be
ounted two or more conical cutter discs. In the example given in the drawings
ree,,,, are used the said cutter discs being arranged so that the feeding
ppers c, 2, 3, of which there must be one for each disc, will when viewed from
ove, appear as lying the one immediately alongside of the other, without either
erlapping, or leaving any intermediate space between each other as shewn in
gures and 5.
The cutter discs are formed near their outer conical portion, with a suitable
nber of cut away openings o, Figures 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7, for inserting the cutter
es, t, the latter being secured therein in the usual manner, a springs, Figures 6
7, retaining them while being fastened and

page_text: shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 7, or they may be closed, the arrangement of a
cutter box within one of the openings being shown on an enlarged scale in
Figures 6 to 8.
{
The projections a¹ a' prevent the cutter boxes inserted into the cutter discs from
flying out at the top, the said projections being so arranged as to engage with the
suitable bevelled edges of the cutting disc from below, in a manner similar to that
of the dovetailed projection c¹ fitting in the opening after the cutter boxes have
been inserted from above and slightly pressed towards the periphery of the disc,
the openings, thereby serving the purpose of freely admitting the projections a³
whilst the cutter box is being inserted.
The feeding hoppers for the sugar-cane are inclined towards an imaginary
horizontal plane passing through the centre of the cutter discs, they are all of the
same size and shape and run parallel to each other, their position being such as to
cause the sugar-cane to automatically slide from their highest point f, down to the
outer conical portion of the cutter dises. At the lower end of the feeding hoppers,
nearest to the cutter dises, the intermediate space between the lower edges of the
said feeding hoppers and the said cutter discs may be adjusted so as to become
larger or smaller by means of adjustable counter-pieces i,,, in the same manner
as in the usual kind of slicing or cutting machines having horizontal cutter discs.
dd designate screws for securing the counter-pieces on the cast iron seats e', e², e³.
gg indicate bearings in which the shaft a rotates, and h, h¹ a fast and a loose pulley,
respectively, for imparting movement to the machine in a manner well-known.
The shaft a being rotated in the direction of the arrow shewn in Figure 3, the
blades of the cutter box inserted in the cutter discs will slice or cut off the lower
ends of such of the pieces of sugar-cane within the feeding hoppers as come into
contact with the cutter discs.
The cutter discs are surrounded by a metal casing 1, preferably of wrought iron,
preventing the parings or slices from being thrown out, the casing being provided
with openings K K K having lids for allowing access to the interior of the
machine so as to exchange the cutter boxes. u illustrates an iron bed plate upon
which the machine rests. The parings of sugar-cane drop into a hopper e provided
below the cutter discs and having a lower opening m, below which a suitable
conveyer may be arranged to convey the cut-up cane to the diffusing apparatus.
In Figures 4 and 5 the slicing inachine is shown in combination with a cane
conveyer n, the feeding hoppers c', e², being continued by obliquely arranged
chutes p, extending at the same angle as that formed by the feeding hoppers
with regard to a horizontal plane, in such a manner that the upper edges of the
chutes will form a continuation of the cane conveyer at the point q, where the cane
is discharged by the said cane conveyer the latter moving in the direction indicated
by the arrow and the chutes and feeding hoppers thus forming a continuation of
the feed conduit by which the sugar-cane is conveyed to the slicing machine. The
breadth of the cane conveyer is equal to the breadth of one hopper multiplied by
the total number of hoppers employed in the machine.
In
It is obvious that instead of being of conical shape as in Figures 1 to 3 the cutter
discs may also be formed with straight surfaces, as shown in Figures 9 and 10.
this case the feeding hoppers e c² 3 may be either arranged in the same manner as
hereinbefore described with regard to the slicing machine with conical cutter discs,
that is to say, so as to be inclined laterally to the plane of surfaces of the cutter
discs and to adjoin each other laterally as shown in Figure 9 or they may be
arranged so as to lie the one directly on top of the other as shown in Figure 10.
The connection between the feeding hoppers and the cane conveyer n is here formed
in the same manner as in the case of conical cutter discs, by means of obliquely
arranged chutes p³, p², p³.
In the modified arrangement of the slicing machine with conical cutter
discs 1, 2, 3, as illustrated in Figure 11, the feeding hoppers c', c², c³, are so
arranged as not to approach the outer surfaces of the conical cutter discs, as in
Figure 2 but so as to approach with their lower ends the inner surfaces of the said

page_text: cutter discs. It is obvious that in the latter case the conical discs cannot be
provided with supporting ribs or flanges on their innermost side but that such
flanges, if any be necessary must be arranged on the outer surface. Also the cutter
boxes would have to be inserted in the opposite way that is to say with the blades
extending inward.
Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is :-
First. A slicing machine for sugar-cane or the like having a number of cutter
discs mounted on a horizontal shaft in combination with a corresponding number of
feeding hoppers arranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Second. In a slicing machine for sugar-cane and the like the combination with a
number of cutter discs mounted on a horizontal shaft and a corresponding number
of feeding hoppers therefor of a corresponding number of inclined chutes of laterally
arched configuration, and a cane conveyer connected with the latter on one straight
horizontal line substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Third. In a slicing machine for sugar cane and the like, the combination with a
number of cutter discs mounted on a horizontal shaft and a corresponding number
of feeding hoppers therefor, of a corresponding number of inclined chutes of lateral
arched configuration the upper ends of which coincide or join each other on a straight
horizontal line substantially as and for the purpose specified.
D1
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.