IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DECORTICATING HOP BINES, SO AS TO OBTAIN THEREFROM FIBRE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP, CORDAGE, WOVEN FABRICS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH VEGETABLE FIBRE IS APPLICABLE
Year: 1873

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR
DECORTICATING HOP BINES, SO AS TO OBTAIN THEREFROM FIBRE FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP, CORDAGE, WOVEN FABRICS, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES TO WHICH VEGETABLE FIBRE IS APPLICABLE.”—A communication
from abroad by Pierre Edouard Jourdeuil François Parisot and
Henri Guasco all of Beire le Chatel Cote d'Or France
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th June 1873.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
5 Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF AND
APPARATUS FOR DECORTICATING HOP BINES, SO AS TO OBTAIN THEREFROM FIBRE FOR

page_text: THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP, CORDAGE, WOVEN FABRICS, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES TO WHICH VEGETABLE FIBRE IS APPLICABLE," to be as follows:-
In the Specification of a Patent, dated the 3rd August, 1872, No. 2322,
granted to William Edward Gedge, for an Invention communicated to
him by the said Pierre Edouard Jourdeuil and François Parisot, was
described the use or application of hop fibre for the manufacture of
cordage and textile fabrics.
The present Invention relates to means of separating such fibre from
the hop bines in a condition to be treated by pulping and bleaching for
the production of paper pulp, or by carding, spinning, and weaving for
the production of cordage, thread, and woven fabrics, or for other uses
to which vegetable fibre is applicable. For this purpose the hop stalks,
after having been treated for about half an hour in weak ley at a tem-
perature of about 170° or 180° Fahr., are subjected to the action of the
decorticating apparatus, which is of the following description:―
It consists of a horizontal framing with guides, along which a carriage
can be made to run to and fro a distance suited to the length of the
stalks to be treated. This movement is conveniently imparted to the
carriage by bands attached to a pulley, which is caused to reciprocate by
means of gearing worked by a lever caused to oscillate to and fro by
hand. On the carriage is mounted a mandril having its axis in the
direction of the traverse of the carriage, which mandril is caused to
rotate in the one direction or the other as the carriage is moved to
or fro by means of bands fixed at either end of the framing, and passed
round pullies fixed on the mandril. On the face of the mandril is
provided a spring pincers or clip, into which is inserted the end of the
stalk when the carriage is at the one extreme of its travel, the stalk
having been also passed through a hole, square or polygonal, formed by
notches in the meeting blades of a spring pincers mounted at the end of
the framing next the carriage. The carriage being now made to travel
towards the other end of the framing the stalk is drawn through the
hole in the pincers, and at the same time a twisting movement is given
to it by the rotation of the mandril, which has the effect of stripping
from the woody portion fibre suitable for pulping or for textile uses.
The pincers on the mandril and framing may be opened automatically
by the carriage at either end of its stroke, acting on stops or tappets
connected to the pincers respectively, and the carriage itself may be

page_text: held at the end of its stroke for the reception of a fresh stalk by a catch.
which is disengaged by the first part of the movement of the hand lever
for effecting its return stroke.
The fibre, separated as above described, may be treated by carding,
spinning, and weaving, for the production of cordage, thread, and textile
fabrics, or it may be cleared by caustic alkali of its resinous and siliceous
matter, bleached and converted into pulp for the production of paper,.
or it may be otherwise treated as other known vegetable fibres for uses.
to which they are commonly applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her
special license that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Denton Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 THE PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DECORTICATING HOP
BINES, SO AS TO OBTAIN THEREFROM FIBRE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP,
CORDAGE, WOVEN FABRICS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH VEGETABLE FIBRE IS
APPLICABLE," a communication to me from abroad by Pierre Edouard
Jourdeuil, François Parisot, and Henri Guasco, all of Beire-le-Chatel,
Cote d'Or, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Denton Abel, my executors or administrators, by an instrument

page_text: 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 calender months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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 :-
In the Specification of a Patent dated the 3rd August, 1872, No. 2322,
granted to William Edward Gedge, for an Invention, communicated to
him by the said Pierre Edouard Jourdeuil and François Parisot, was
described the use or application of hop fibre for the manufacture of
cordage and textile fabrics.
The present Invention relates to means of separating such fibre :
from the hop bines in a condition to be treated by pulping and bleaching
for the production of paper pulp, or by carding, spinning, and weaving
for the production of cordage, thread and woven fabrics, or for other
uses to which vegetable fibre is applicable. For this purpose the hop
stalks, after having been treated for about half an hour in weak ley at a
temperature of about 170° or 180° Fahr., are subjected to the action of
the decorticating apparatus, which is of the following description:-
It consists of a horizontal framing with guides, along which a carriage
can be made to run to and fro a distance suited to the length of the stalks
to be treated. This movement is conveniently imparted to the carriage by
bands attached to a pulley, which is caused to reciprocate by means of
gearing worked by a lever caused to oscillate to and fro by hand. On
the carriage is mounted a mandril, having its axis in the direction of
the traverse of the carriage, which mandril is caused to rotate in the one
direction or the other as the carriage is moved to or fro by means of
bands fixed at either end of the framing, and passed round pullies fixed
on the mandril. On the face of the mandril is provided a spring pincers
or clip, into which is inserted the end of the stalk, when the carriage is
at the one extreme of its travel, the stalk having been also passed
through a hole, square or polygonal, formed by notches in the meeting
blades of a spring pincers mounted at the end of the framing next the
carriage. The carriage being now made to travel towards the other end

page_text: of the framing the stalk is drawn through the hole in the pincers, and
at the same time a twisting movement is given to it by the rotation of
the mandril, which has the effect of stripping from the woody portion
fibre suitable for pulping or for textile uses. The pincers on the
mandril and framing may be opened automatically by the carriage at
either end of its stroke, acting on stops or tappets connected to the
pincers respectively, and the carriage itself may be held at the end of its
stroke for the reception of a fresh stalk by a catch which is disengaged
by the first part of the movement of the hand lever for effecting its
return stroke.
The fibre, separated as above described, may be treated by carding,
spinning, and weaving for the production of cordage, thread, and textile
fabrics, or it may be cleared by caustic alkali of its resinous and siliceous
matter, bleached and converted into pulp for the production of paper,
or it may be otherwise treated as other known vegetable fibres for uses
to which they are commonly applied.
The construction and operation of the decorticating apparatus which
it is preferred to employ will be understood on reference to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon.
Fig. 1 represents a side view; Fig. 2, a view of the one end; and
Fig. 3, a view of the other end; Fig. 4, a plan; Fig. 5, a transverse
section of the upper part on the line X X, Fig. 4; Fig. 6, a longi-
tudinal section of a portion of the apparatus on the line Y. . . Y,
Fig. 4,
--
-
And Fig. 7, a longitudinal section of a portion on the line Z - - - Z,
Fig. 4.
The apparatus consists of a framing presenting at its upper part
guides A, A, in which a carriage d is fitted to slide. In this carriage is
mounted a barrel k, on which are wound two cords or catgut bands 1, 1,
that pass over guide pullies, and are attached respectively at the two
ends of the framing; thus when the carriage d is made to traverse in
either direction along the guides, the barrel k is caused at the same time
to revolve. A ratchet is provided for tightening the cords or cat-
guts, . The carriage is moved by means of a cord or band attached
to it, and led over suitable guide pullies to the circumference of a drum p.
On the axis of this drum is a small pulley p' driven by a pitch chain from.

page_text: a larger pulley c mounted on the framing below. A crank 6 fixed on the
shaft of the pulley c is connected by a rod b' to a hand lever z. When
this lever is pulled back to the position marked by the dotted line a
(Fig. 1), the carriage d is drawn to the farther or right hand end of the
framing, and when the lever is pushed forwards to the position marked
by the dotted line a¹ (Fig. 1), the carriage d is drawn back to the nearer
or left-hand end of the framing. On this end of the framing are
mounted a pair of grippers pressed together by springs m, m². A
button f¹, having a conical end entering a coned hollow in these
grippers is pressed forward by a spring, but when the carriage d is drawn
quite back to the left, the button f¹ is pushed back by it, and causes the
grippers to open, so that a stalk or bine can be introduced between
them into the square hole or die o formed in their meeting edges. On
the mandril or spindle of the barrel k is fixed a chuck plate k¹, on which
is a pair of pincers kept open by a spring v, but capable of being tightly
closed by pushing down a lever n, having a wedge-shaped face which,
on pushing down the lever n, enters between the face of the chuck k³,
and the arm of the upper pincer h, thereby causing this pincer to close
tightly on the lower pincer. By the side of the hand lever z is mounted
a horizontal lever g acted on by a spring, so that its inner end i is
pressed inwards towards the middle of the framing, in order to catch
behind a projection ; on the carriage d, so as to hold the carriage at the
left end of the framing to which it is brought by moving the lever < to
the position a¹. On pulling back the lever zit acts on the sloped end y
of the lever g, so as to withdraw the other extremity i from behind the
projection j on the carriage, and so to leave the carriage free to be pulled
forward by the back stroke of the lever z. At the farther end of the
framing is mounted another spring lever q, so arranged that when the
carriage d approaches the farther extremity of its stroke a projection s
from the carriage bearing against the one end of the lever q, turns it
into the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 4, so that the other
end of the lever q catches the pincer lever n of the chuck as it revolves,
and causes its wedge face to be removed, leaving the pincers h free to be
opened by the spring v.

page_text: described, is then inserted in the die o between the grippers f, and its
end is secured between the pincers h by pushing down the lever n. The
lever z is then drawn back so as first by acting on the lever g to release
the carriage, and then to draw it along the framing. As the carriage
advances, its barrel is caused to rotate, and the stalk or bine held by its
pincers is thus at the same time drawn through the die o and twisted,
being thus stripped of its textile or fibrous covering. When the carriage
reaches the farther end of its traverse, its pincers open, and the stripped
stalk is withdrawn from the die. The carriage being brought back the
operation is repeated. The fibre, separated as above described, may be
treated by carding, spinning, and weaving for the production of thread,
cordage, and textile fabrics, or it may be cleared by treatment with
caustic alkali of its resinous and siliceous impurities, bleached and
converted into pulp for the production of paper, or it may be otherwise
treated as other known vegetable fibres for uses to which they are
commonly applied.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I claim,-
First. The process, substantially as herein-described, for separating the
fibre from hop bines, by first treating them in warm weak ley, and then
subjecting them to the action of the decorticating apparatus.
Second. The use for separating the fibre from hop bines, of decor-
ticating apparatus, constructed and operating substantially as herein
described, whereby the stalks, previously treated in warm weak ley, are
drawn through a die, and at the same time twisted.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy
three.