IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING, SEPARATING, AND OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS FROM VARIOUS PLANTS AND TREES
Year: 1875

page_text: ..
ETTERS PATENT to John Garrett Tongue, of the Firm of Tongue and
Birkbeck, Patent, Agents and Engineers, of, 34, Southampton
Buildings, Chaucery Lane,, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING,
SEPARATING, AND OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS FROM VARIOUS PLANTS
AND TREES." Communication from abroad by Felix Roland,
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Garrett Tongue,
☐☐ at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd December 1875.
.
I, JOHN GARRETT TONGUE, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck,
Patent Agents and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN' MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING,
SEPARATING AND OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS FROM VARIOUS PLANTS AND
TREES," to be as follows:-
.
"This Invention relates to improvements in machinery for decorticating.
fibrous materials.
J
2. +
i :

page_text: The object of this improved machinery is to decorticate, peel, extract,
and soften the textile filaments or fibrous materials of different plants,
such as ramie, hemp, flax, jute, nettle, hop, mulberry tree, banana
tree, and of any other textile plants, and in general of all the plants
out of which fibrous materials can be obtained for manufacturing
purposes.
1st. One or two pairs of fluted feeding rollers or cylinders a of iron or
other material capable of being adjusted at a suitable distance from
ch other by means of springs 6 or otherwise in order to suit the
hickness of the stalks or fibrous materials to be worked or passed
through between them. The rollers or cylinders a are provided with
rings of triangular form. The rings or circular grooves may vary in
depth according to the nature of the fibres to be treated. They are put
in motion by means of cog wheels c, d, and e, geared by the wheel f
keyed on the shaft g on which the crank h is fixed.
'
2nd. One, two (or more) pairs of beating rollers or cylinders are
arranged, provided with rakes or pointed bars of iron or other suitable
material. Each rake bar or surface is provided with two blades, fixed
by means of bolts or otherwise. The blades 7 made of iron, steel, wood,
horn, or other suitable material are rigid and inflexible, and serve to
break the stalks on the rollers or cylinders a: The blades m are flexible
or elastic; in order to afford sufficient elasticity they are made of india-
rubber covered with steel, or of steel. By acting as scrapers they
remove or separate from the bark the epidermis or skin, and clean the
same of the fragments of wood or refuse which are produced by the
´ crushing of the stalks in passing through the rollers or cylinders, which
are put in motion by the driving wheel n which gears with the wheel o.
The beating rollers or cylinders revolve three, four, or five times faster
than the feeding rollers or cylinders, and they may be arranged in such
manner: that the rakes of the top cylinder are opposite to or alternate
with the bottom cylinder according to the nature of the stalks or fibrous

page_text: materials to be decorticated. Each rake of the beating cylinders carries
a comb p of caoutchouc, steel, horn, or other suitable material to aid the
process of decorticating the fibrous materials; q, set screw to regulate
the beating cylinders; r, table to receive the stalks to be decorticated.
5. The stalks or fibrous materials to be operated upon are placed on the
table r, the top ends being first put into the feeding cylinders, the
crank being turned to set the machine in motion. The feeding rollers or
cylinders a take in the stalks, crush them, and pass them to the beating
cylinders y and clean out the woody part contained in the fibre without
damaging the same. The blades l, m, and the combs p of the beaters
clear out the wood and the epidermis from the bark. The bark thus
cleansed the fibres are delivered from the beating cylinders on to an
endless cloth and are then piled up close to the machine.
Figure 4 shows a plan of a machine actuated by steam or other
motive power in order to deal with larger quantities of fibrous material;
Figure 7 is a transverse section of the same showing the rotary motion
well as the lateral to-and-fro movement of one of the annular
cylinders.
as
Figure 6 shows an elevation of the machine as seen on the right-hand
side Figure 7 shows an elevation of the same as seen from the left-
hand side; Figure 8 shows a longitudinal section of the same; Figure 9
is a transverse section of the same, showing the manner employed for
reversing the movement of two of the beating cylinders.
In all of these Figures the same letters refer to the same. corre-
sponding parts.
a is a table, fixed or moveable, on which the stalks or fibrous materials
are placed to be decorticated; b, feeding rollers or cylinders which are
grooved longitudinally and parallel to the axis; c, driving shaft;
d, feeding cylinders provided with rings or circular grooves of, tri-
angular form, perpendicular to the axis according to the nature of
the materials to be operated upon. These cylinders carry forward the.
stalks, pushing them from the front to the back of the machine,
crushing, opening, and dividing them longitudinally without damaging
the fibres. ŕ, beater, placed direct at the back of the bottom cylinder d,
consisting of a plate of iron or steel as long as the cylinder fixed upright,
being either coated or not with india-rubber, leather, or other suitable
material, and having the effect of an anvil on which the wood and

page_text: refuse of the stalks are crushed and broken into fragments by means of
the beaters. e are beating cylinders provided with rakes, bars, or
surfaces arranged in pairs, of U form, and bolted to the shaft of the
beater representing upright blades; the edges being sharpened serve to
crush and crumble the wood or straw and refuse from the stalks on the.
counter beater or on the cylinder provided with rings when the counter
beater is dispensed with. These beaters are provided with elastic blades,
having the effect of springs, secured between the axis and the rakes or
bars afor said. Each blade forms an angle with the pair of rakes or
bars under which the blades are fixed. These blades, made of steel,
caoutchouc, leather, or other suitable elastic material, cleause and scrape
the bark of its epidermis, gum, and fragments of wood produced by the
crushing of the stalks by the beating cylinders. The beating cylinders
revolve at a greater speed than those of the feeding cylinders, and as
they revolve the rakes act against the spring blades. f, cleaning
cylinders, coated with caoutchouc, leather, or other suitable material to
cleanse the beaters and prevent the fibres from winding around the
beaters; g, scraping cylinders or rollers, which are of similar construc-
tion to the beating cylinders e, but they are not provided with elastic
blades. The axes of the cylinders g are surrounded with a thick coating
of caoutchouc, leather, or other suitable material on which rakes or
instruments are fixed similar to those of the beaters, the edges being
sharper. During the working these rakes rub or act in pairs, reciprocally
in such inanner that their sharp edges press on the caoutchouc coating
of the axis. h, clutch boxes mounted on the axes of the scraping
cylinders g in order to cause the latter to revolve in the direction of the
beating cylinders e, or in opposite directions. This is effected by winding
on the three toothed pinions i, j, and k, a chain / which puts them in
motion.
The wheels and ; may either alternately be fixed or loose so that
when the wheel is thrown into gear the wheel i runs loose and the
cylinders revolve in the same direction as the beaters. When the
toothed wheel i is thrown into gear the wheel, runs loose and the
cylinders revolve in opposite directions to the beating cylinders.
In order to change the direction of the material to be decorticated by
the movement of the scrapers is reversed by means of the double ended
lever and hand wheel on the m fixed on the axis of the clutch box n.
n, o, reciprocating friction cylinders having rings or circular grooves

page_text: perpendicular to the axis or oblique in a spiral line in one direction,
only right or left like the thread of a screw. Or the grooves may be
oblique in both directions or lougitudinal grooves parallel to the axis
and circular grooves perpendicular to the axis may be employed. The
cylinder n has a double rotating movement and a lateral to-and-fro
movement. The rotating movement is imparted by a toothed wheel p,
and the to-and-fro lateral movement by a connecting rod 7 and an
excentric r. s endless table or apron grooved perpendicular to the axes,
composed of plates joined together by means of hinges, and the whole
forming an endless chain which revolves round the wheels or rollers 1,
v, friction cylinder fixed crossways above the endless tables and having
à double rotating movement and a lateral to-and-fro movement. This
rotating movement is imparted by means of a toothed wheel v, and
the lateral to-and-fro movement by means of a connecting rod & or
otherwise. z cross friction plate grooved transversely, receiving a
lateral to-and-fro movement hv means of a connecting rod Wand

page_text: means of two pinions l', m². n, toothed wheel keyed on the shaft c and
geared with the wheel o keyed on the shaft of one of the bottom beating
cylinders c; this shaft is provided with another pinion p¹ which gives
motion to one of the top cylinders e by means of the pinion q'; r, fixed
pinions on the shafts of the scraping rollers and actuated by the
toothed pinions i, j, k, and the endless chain described above; s, endless
chain gives motion to the wheel p as well as the friction cylinder n, on
the shaft of which is keyed a wheel which gives motion to the wheel »¹
as well as to the friction cylinder o ; v, pinion receives rotary motion by
means of the endless chain s¹, and gives motion to the drawing
cylinder e¹¹, toothed wheel keyed on the shaft of the cylinder e¹ and
geared with the wheel y', giving motion to the endless table s; r, toothed
wheel, which by means of the endless table s gives motion to the
cylinder v by means of the toothed wheel v.
It should be clearly understood that the friction roller and friction
plate may be replaced by an endless grooved table, as stated above.
This table will have rotating motion, and at the same time a to-and-fro
movement, in that case the friction roller will operate between two
grooved endless tables.
The machine arranged as above described acts as follows:-The fibre
or stalks to be operated upon or decorticated are placed on the table, and
the top ends are first placed into the grooved feeding rollers and are
crushed in passing through, dividing them longitudinally. As the
stalks pass through the grooved or fluted cylinders they travel into the
counter beater, when they are submitted to the action of the rakes of
the top beater which crushes the wood into fragments. The leaves,
straw, and refuse of the stalks become engaged between the two beaters,
which by means of their reciprocal gearing and the combined action of
the rakes and instruments and the spring blades detach by means of
their rapid movement above and below the fragments of wood, refuse of
epidermis and gummy matter from the textile filaments or fibres. The
stalks already in a fibrous state still travel and pass between the decor-
ticating cylinders coated with caoutchouc or india-rubber, travelling
onward they are acted upon between the scraping cylinders, by which
means they are scraped above and below lengthwise. Lastly, the fibres
pass between the friction cylinders across the friction plate and the
endless grooved table, by which means they are cleansed, completely

page_text: softened, and brought into a state ready for combing; the fibres are
then passed through a cylinder, and then by means of a fan the
operations for extracting and separating the textile filaments terminate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Garrett Tongue in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
GARRETT TONGUE, of the Firm of Tongue and Birkbeck, Patent Agents
and Engineers, of 34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
41
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Garrett Tongue,
Her special license that I, the
said John Garrett Tongue, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Garrett Tongue, 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 16 IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
DECORTICATING, SEPARATING, AND OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS FROM VARIOUS
PLANTS AND TREES," a coinmunication to me from abroad by Felix Roland,
of Paris, in the Republic of France, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Garrett Tongue, 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 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.

page_text: First. One or two pairs of fluted feeding rollers or cylinders a of iron
or other material, capable of being adjusted at a suitable distance from
each other by means of springs b or otherwise, in order to suit the
thickness of the stalks or fibrous materials to be worked or passed
through between them. The rollers or cylinders a are provided with
rings of triangular form. The rings or circular grooves may vary in
depth according to the nature of the fibres to be treated; they are put
in motion by means of cog wheels c, d, and e, geared by the wheel f
keyed on the shaft g, on which the crank h is fixed.
Second. One, two (or more), pairs of beating rollers or cylinders are
arranged, provided with rakes or pointed bars k of iron or other suitable
material. Each rake bar or surface is provided with two blades fixed
by means of bolts or otherwise. The blades made of iron, steel, wood,
horn, or other suitable material are rigid and inflexible, and serve to
break the stalks on the rollers or cylinders a. The blades m are flexible
or elastic in order to afford sufficient elasticity; they are made of india-
rubber covered with steel, or of steel. By acting as scrapers they a

page_text: which are grooved longitudinally and parallel to the axis; c, driving
shaft; d, feeding cylinders provided with rings or circular grooves of
triangular formi perpendicular to the axis according to the nature of the
materials to be operated upon. These cylinders carry forward the
stalks, pushing them from the front to the back of the machine,
crushing, opening, and dividing them longitudinally without damaging
the fibres; ", beater placed direct at the back of the bottom cylinder d,
consisting of a plate or piece of iron or steel as long as the cylinder
fixed upright, being either coated or not with india-rubber, leather, or
other suitable material, and having the effect of an anvil, on which the
wood and refuse of the stalks are crushed and broken into fragments
by means of the beaters; e are beating cylinders provided with rakes,
bars, or surfaces, arranged in pairs of U form and bolted to the shaft of
the beater, representing upright blades, the edges being sharp serve
to crush and crumble the wood or straw and refuse from the stalks on
the counter beater, or on the cylinder provided with rings when the
counter beater is dispensed with. These beaters are provided with
elastic blades having the effect of springs secured between the axis
and the rakes or bars aforesaid. Each blade forms an angle with the
pair of rakes or bars under which the blades are fixed.
The blades,
made of steel, caoutchoue, leather, or other suitable elastic material,
cleanse and scrape the bark of its epidermis, gum, and fragments of
wood produced by the crushing of the stalks by the beating cylinders.
The beating cylinders revolve at a greater speed than those of the
feeding cylinders, and as they revolve the rakes act against the spring
blades; f, cleaning cylinders coated with caoutchouc, leather, or other
suitable material, to cleanse the beaters and prevent the fibres from
winding around the beaters; g, scraping cylinders or rollers, which are
of similar construction to the beating cylinders e, but they are not
provided with elastic blades. The axes of the cylinders g are surrounded
with a thick coating of caoutchouc, leather, or other suitable material
´on which rakes or instruments are fixed, similar to those of the beaters,
the edges' being sharper. During the working these rakes rub or act in
pairs reciprocally in such manner that their sharp edges press on the
caoutchouc coating of the axis; h, clutch boxes mounted on the axes
of the scraping cylinders g in order to cause the latter to revolve in the
direction of the beating cylinders e or in opposite directions. This is
effected by winding on the three toothed pinions i, j, and k, a chain l,
which puts them in motion. .

page_text: The wheels and j may either alternately be fixed or loose, so that
when the wheel ; is thrown into gear the wheel i runs loose and the
When the
cylinders revolve in the same direction as the beaters.
toothed wheel i is thrown into gear the wheel ; runs loose and the.
cylinders revolve in opposite directions to the beating cylinders.
The direction of the scrapers is reversed by means of the double-
ended lever and hand wheel m fixed on the axis of the clutch box h;
n, o, reciprocating friction cylinders having rings or circular grooves
perpendicular to the axis or oblique in a spiral line in one direction,
Or the grooves may be
only right or left like the thread of a screw.
oblique in both directions, or longitudinal grooves parallel to the axis,
and circular grooves perpendicular to the axis may be employed. The
cylinder n has a double rotating movement and a lateral to-and-fro
movement. The rotating movement is imparted by a toothed wheel p,
and the to-and-fro lateral movement by a connecting rod q and an
eccentric ; s, endless table or apron grooved perpendicular to the
axes, composed of plates joined together by means of hinges, and the
whole forming an endless chain which revolves round the wheels or
rollers ;, friction cylinder fixed crossways above the endless table
and having a double rotating movement and a lateral to-and-fro move-
ment. This rotating movement is imparted by means of a toothed
wheel v, and the lateral to-and-fro movement by means of a connecting
rod x,
or otherwise; z, cross friction plate grooved transversely,
receiving a lateral to-and-fro movement by means of a connecting rod w
and shaft a.
The cylinder and the friction plate z press and rub on the table s
and come in contact with the latter by means of springs not shown in
the Drawings, which press them as may be required during the friction
according to the thickness of the stalks or materials to be operated
upon, comb acting on the material from back to front, or in au
opposite way to its direction, being moved by excentrics c¹; d¹, eccen-
tric to lift the comb when the latter is brought to the back and is
not acting on the fibres. This comb acts with more or less speed,
according to the nature of the fibres to be operated upon; c, cylinder
provided with rings, which gears by means of its grooves with the
grooves of the endless table s on which it rests. This cylinder having
only one movement of rotation acts to draw the material operated upon;

page_text: f, fan to act on the fibrous material to free it from wood, dirt, and
refuse which may still remain in the fibre.
The principal parts of the machine above described are put in motion
by means of toothed gearing and endless chains. On the driving shaft c
is keyed a toothed wheel g¹ geared with two other wheels h¹ and i¹. fixed
on the shaft of the feeding rollers or cylinders b and c which they
actuate. The shafts carrying the wheels h¹ and i¹ are provided with two
small pinions j¹ and k¹, which give movement to two other cylinders b, c,
by means of two pinions ¹, m¹. n, toothed wheel keyed on the shaft c
and geared with the wheel o keyed on the shaft of one of the bottom
beating cylinders e. This shaft is provided with another pinion p', which
gives motion to one of the top cylinders e by means of the pinion q¹.
r, fixed pinions on the shafts of the scraping rollers'g and actuated by
the toothed pinions i, j, k, and the endless chain / described above;
s, endless chain, which gives motion to the wheel p as well as the friction
cylinders n, on the shaft of which is keyed a wheel 7, which gives motion
to the wheel u¹ as well as to the friction cylinder o; v, pinion which
receives rotary motion by means of the endless chain s¹, and gives
motion to the drawing cylinder e¹; x¹³, toothed wheel keyed on the shaft
of the cylinder e¹ and geared with the wheel y' giving motion to the
endless tables; z, toothed wheel which by means of the endless table s
gives motion to the cylinder u by means of the toothed wheel v.
It should be clearly understood that the friction roller and friction
plate may be replaced by an endless grooved table, as stated above. This
table will have a rotating motion and at the same time a to-and-fro
movement. In that case the friction roller will operate between two
grooved endless tables.
The machine arranged as above described acts as follows:-The fibre
or stalks to be operated upon or decorticated are placed on the table and
the top ends are first placed into the grooved feeding rollers and are
crushed in passing through, dividing them longitudinally. As the stalks
pass through the grooved or fluted cylinders they travel on to the counter
beater, where they are submitted to the action of the rakes of the top
beater, which crushes the wood into fragments. The leaves, straw, and
refuse of the stalks become engaged between the two beaters, which by
means of their reciprocal gearing, and the combined action of the rakes

page_text: and instruments, and the spring blades detach by means of their rapid
movement above and below the fragments of wood, refuse of epidermis,.
and gummy matter from the textile filaments or fibres. The stalks
already in a fibrous state still travel and pass between the decorticating
cylinders coated with caoutchouc or india-rubber. Travelling onward
they are acted upon between the scraping cylinders, by which means
they are scraped above and below lengthwise. Lastly, the fibres pass
between the friction cylinders across the friction plate and the endless
grooved table, by which means they are cleansed, completely softened,
and brought into a state ready for combing. The fibres are then passed
through a cylinder, and then by means of the fan the operations for
extracting and separating the textile filaments terminate.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the
manner of performing or carrying the same into practice, it will be
evident that the details may be considerably varied without departing
from the true character of the Invention; but what I claim under the
above in part recited Letters Patent is, —

page_text: the same machine of different dimensions, to be worked either by hand,
horse, steam, or by any other motive power.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Garrett Tongue, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
JOHN GARRETT TONGUE. (L.S.)