IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXTRACTING OIL FROM THE COCOA-NUT AND OTHER VEGETABLE MATTERS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Perkes, of Clapham, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXTRACTING OIL FROM THE COCOA-NUT
AND OTHER VEGETABLE MATTERS."
Sealed the 12th April 1859, and dated the 14th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Perkes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th October 1858.
I, SAMUEL PERKES, of Clapham, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR EXTRACTING OIL FROM THE COCOA-NUT
AND OTHER VEGETABLE MATTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for extracting
oil from the cocoa-nut and other vegetable matters. For these purposes the
coprah is reduced into a pulp by a rotating rasp made up of circular saws, and
such pulp or other vegetable matter from which oil is to be extracted is con-
tinuously fed on to an endless table or chain, which is reticulate, or made with
suitable passages through for the passage of the oil. This endless chain or
table is supported by several rollers on its under side, and the pulp of coprah
is fed on to the same at the upper end of the machine, there being suitable
mats or fabrics of cocoa-nut fibre or other material on the under and upper
surface of the vegetable matters so fed on to the endless table, which is

page_text: arranged by preference in the form of an inclined plane from the upper to the
lower end of the machine. The part of the endless chain or table for the time
out of action passes under the supporting rollers, and there are trays under
the supporting rollers to receive and conduct off the oil to suitable receivers.
The endless chain or table in its movement over the supporting rollers passes
under a number of pressing rollers, there being one such roller over each
supporting roller. The first or uppermost pressing roller is at the greatest
distance above the table or endless chain, so as to offer comparatively little
pressure to the vegetable matters on the table, and the rollers in succession
are set nearer and nearer to the endless table or chain, by which, as the table
or chain progresses, the matters thereon become subjected to greater and
greater pressure. The rollers are made hollow in such manner as to be
heated by any suitable hot fluid, or otherwise, and in some cases the pressing
surfaces of the rollers are of glass. In order to separate the fluid oils from
foots and foreign matters, I employ centrifugal machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Perkes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
PERKES, of Clapham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Perkes, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Perkes, my
executors, adininistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Perkes, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR EXTRACTING OIL FROM THE COCOA-NUT AND OTHER VEGETABLE
MATTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Perkes, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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

page_text: 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 Samuel Perkes, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for extracting
oil from the cocoa-nut and other vegetable matters. For these purposes the
coprah is reduced into a pulp by a rotating rasp made up of circular saws, and
such pulp or other vegetable matter from which oil is to be extracted is con-
tinuously fed on to an endless table or chain, which is reticulate, or made
with suitable passages through for the passage of the oil. This endless chain
or table is supported by several rollers on its under side, and the pulp of
coprah is fed on to the same at the upper end of the machine, there being
suitable mats or fabrics of cocoa-nut fibre or other material on the under and
upper surface of the vegetable matter so fed on to the endless table, which is
arranged by preference in the form of an inclined plane from the upper to
the lower end of the machine. The part of the endless chain or table for the
time out of action passes under the supporting rollers, and there are trays
under the supporting rollers to receive and conduct off the oil to suitable
receivers. The endless chain or table in its movement over the supporting
rollers passes under a number of pressing rollers, there being one such roller
over each supporting roller. The first or uppermost pressing roller is at the
greatest distance above the table or endless chain, so as to offer comparatively
little pressure to the vegetable matters on the table, and the rollers in
succession are set nearer and nearer to the endless table or chain, by which, as
the table or chain progresses, the matters thereon become subjected to greater
and greater pressure. The rollers are made hollow in such manner as to be
heated by any suitable hot fluid, or otherwise, and in some cases the pressing
surfaces of the rollers are of glass. In order to separate the fluid oils from
foots and foreign matters, I employ centrifugal machines.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.

page_text: tion; Figure 4 is a transverse section taken at the line 1, 1, in Figure 1, and
Figure 5 is a right-hand side view of the two ends of the machine. The
coprah or other vegetable matter first reduced to a fine pulp by a rotary
rasp made up of circular saws; these saws I prefer should be about 24 inches
in diameter, and have about 150 teeth, a sufficient number of them to
make a rasp of the length required (say, three feet,) are strung on an axis, and
held together
nuts screwed on to the ends of the axis. This rasp is driven
at a speed of about 500 to 800 revolutions per minute, and the matters are
fed up to it by a hopper, or otherwise. The pulp is then fed on to the endless
chain a, a, at the point indicated by the letter A, and is carried between the
rollers b, b, which are placed nearer and nearer together as they approach the
other end of the machine, so that the matters under operation may be sub-
jected to a progressive increasing pressure, and the oil expressed therefrom
passes down through the endless chain a, a, (which is made reticulate for
that purpose) on to trays c, c, d, d, and e, e; the oil received by the tray c, c,
is of the first or best quality, because the matter from which it is expressed
is subjected to the least pressure; that received into the tray d, d, is of a
second or medium quality, and that received into the tray e, e, is of a third
quality. ff is a receiving tray for conducting off into suitable receptacles
any oil which may drop from the endless chains on their return; and in
order that they may be more effectually cleansed, there are brushes i, i, placed
for that purpose, the one above and the other below the chain, as shown in
Figure 1. 9, 9, are pipes for supplying steam or heated liquids to the upper
rollers b, b, and in order that the rollers & may be adjustable in position, the
pipes g, g, are provided with a branch g', shown in Figure 3, working in a
stufling box g in the pipe h', which is a branch from the pipes h, h, for
supplying steam or heated liquids to the lower rollers, thus forming a
telescopic joint between the heating pipes g and h. The machine is driven
in the following manner is a toothed wheel on the axis k; it receives
motion from a spur wheel, which is not shown in the Drawing; the axis k
has mounted on it as many worms 1, working into worm wheels m, as there are
pairs of rollers, and thus are the lower rollers & driven; and there is also
another toothed wheel n on the axis o, and it has similar worms p, and worm
wheels g, to communicate the requisite motion to the upper rollers. 7, r, are
rollers to support the chain a, a, as it returns; s, s, are screws for adjusting
the upper rollers b, b. The oils after they have passed from the machine are
then placed in centrifugal machines, in order to separate the fluid oils from
The centrifugal machines I employ are of an ordinary description, and
are lined with felt or other suitable filtering material. The chain a is made
foots.
b

page_text: up of links, such as is shewn in the Drawing, connected together by steel pins
or rods; for convenience of manufacture it is made in several widths across the
machine.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim
to any of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is,-
First, the improvements in combining apparatus herein described for
rasping and for expressing or extracting oil from cocoa-nut and other
vegetable matters.
And, secondly, I claim the separating of the fluid oils from foots and
foreign matters by centrifugal machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Perkes, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
E. BARKER.
SAMUEL PERKES. (L.S.)