IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPLIANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE- FACTURE, RENEWAL, AND REPAIR OF KNOTTER PLATES USED IN PAPER MILLS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Annandale, the younger, of the
Beltonford Paper Mills, Dunbar, North Britain, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPLIANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE,
Sealed the 13th August 1872, and dated the 20th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Annandale at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th February 1872.
I, ALEXANDER ANNANDALE, the younger, of the Beltonford Paper
Mills, Dunbar, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPLIANCES FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE, RENEWAL, AND REPAIR OF KNOTTER PLATES USED IN PAPER MILLS," to
be as follows:-
My machinery or appliances for the manufacture, renewal, and repair
of knotter or strainer plates consist of revolving discs or stationary tools
with thinner intervening discs or slips of the correct size of the slit to

page_text: be operated on combined into a tool holder by means of a spindle, pin, or
in other suitable manner. This tool holder when fitted up is attached
to a press head or other suitable machine which has sliding or adjustable
mechanism arranged for shifting the tool over the entire width or length
of the plate or plates fitted on to a bed plate, the degree of pressure
exerted upon the plates being governed by a screw or lever as found
necessary. The bed plate may be a fixed or a movable one, and the tool
holder may be attached in such a manner that in the event of cutting
new plates the above tools could be removed as occasion required it, and
circular cutters or saws with washers of the required thickness of the
space between the cuts separating them could be placed in the holder
in lieu thereof, and be rotated to cut the slits in a new cast or rolled
strainer plate, the rotation being effected by a band or other transmitter
of power. The same appliances can be used for renewing the slits for
existing knotter plates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Annandale in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
ANNANDALE, the younger, of the Beltonford Paper Mills, Dunbar,
North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Annandale, Her special licence
that I, the said Alexander Annandale, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Annandale, 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 OR APPLIANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE, RENEWAL, AND REPAIR OF

page_text: KNOTTER PLATES USED IN PAPER MILLS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Annandale, 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 Lottore Patant
KNOTTER PLATES USED IN PAPER MILLS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Annandale, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Annandale, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to machinery for the manufacture, renewal,
and repair of knotter or strainer plates, and consists of one circular saw,
or a series of circular saws with an intervening disc or discs of the
thickness required, and one or a series of revolving discs or stationary
tools with thinner intervening discs or slips of the correct size of the
slits to be operated upon, these being connected with a holder in a press
head, or other framing to which a sliding or traversing motion is
imparted in one direction for determining the distances apart of the slit
to be formed, cut, or repaired, in a plate fitted upon a bed plate of solid
or slightly yielding material, the bed plate having a motion to and fro
by hand, or otherwise, to determine the length of the slits.
The Invention will be well understood by reference to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a face and edge
view of a holder a in the fork b, at the lower end of which are four thin
discs c, c, c, (shown in full size at Figure 2) for cutting or forming slits
in the plate d, the depth to which the edges of the discs enter being
governed by washers e, e, also shown in full size at Figure 3, aranged
upon the pin or spindle f, passed through the lips of the fork b. The
washers or dividers are each of the same thickness, and correspond with
the divisions between the hollows formed by rolling or casting the
plate d, and where the plate is thinnest the discs or saws can cut through
those portions easily. The holder a is capable of being held firmly in
the jaws or under a tightening plate 9 of a press head shown in
Figures 4 and 5, and to be raised or lowered and adjusted by the screw i

page_text: (or levers) to limit the degree of pressure to be exerted by the washers
on the surface of the plate, and thereby to prevent ragged edges at the
slits being left from the cutting. The bed plate on which the knotter
or strainer plate d is arranged can be caused to travel to and fro by
reversing gear when moved by steam or other power, but it may be a
moved to and fro by manual labor by turning the handle k, the limit
of travel being determined by stops or lugs on the sides.
The press head is also arranged to move transversely by power or
hand when the cutting discs are out of the slits by the screw 1, to bring
the discs over for a fresh series of slits to be cut or formed, and this is 1
repeated from time to time until the whole of the slits in a plate are
cut.
I have referred to circular saws as being employed for forming the
slits, and these may be driven if desired by a band from an overhead
motion, the plate being afterwards passed under plain edge discs and 1
washers to smooth and finish their surface.
The knotter plate is made plain or fluted (by rolling, casting, or
cutting), and previous to being operated on these hollows can be filled up
to give solidity by lead or some other comparatively soft material m, as
a matrix of the shape shown in Figure 6. By this means the plate can 2
be kept perfectly solid, flat, and level during the operation.
In the case of renewing the slits of damaged knotter plates it is not
necessary to re-cut, but to re-shape or re-form the slits, and this can
be done with the same machine as the cutting, the difference being in
the tools and in the discs which would be plain on the edges to enter 2
and the washer to bear upon the top edges to reduce the slit to the size
of the intervening disc. The plate may however be first passed through
roll to level the surface, and then the re-slitting can be effected. The
plates so cut, formed, or prepared can be of any length and breadth, but
I prefer that they be of limited size, and shaped at the edge to fit the s
skeleton frames referred to in the Specification of the former Patent
granted to be on the 27th January One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two, No. 270, so that they can be slid or dropped into position,
and be capable for easy removal for repairs, renewals, or otherwise.
Figures 7 and 8 show a modified form of washer or a pair of socket a
rings to fit over the spindle or pin in the fork to bear down the edges of
the slits in renewing the slits themselves, having flat strips of metal

page_text: laid in them from the upper or under side, and projecting slightly above
the surface where they are free to enter the space between the rings.
The renewals can be effected by first placing strips of metal in the slits,
and then passing the plates through and between suitably grooved
rollers, the pressure of which would be sufficient to force the strips into
the matrik until the top edges are level with the surface of the plate,
and the edges of the slits are re-formed or renewed, their sizes being
limited to the thickness of the metal strips placed in them.
I do not restrict myself to the use of the apparatus shown in the
Drawings annexed to this Specification, nor to any mode by which the
saws, or the plain discs or washers, or the plate itself can be operated,
as these are capable of considerable variation as far as moving them is
concerned.
is,
The main feature in this Invention, and which I desire to claim,
-
Forming or re-forming the slits in knotter or strainer plates used in
paper mills by means of fixed or rotating discs or saws arranged
between washers in a holder capable of adjustment, substantially in the
manner described and shown.
Secondly. I claim, renewing the surfaces of knotter or strainer plates
used in paper mills in the manner and by the appliances herein-before
described and shewn.
And, Thirdly. I claim the modified method of renewing the slits and
surfaces of knotter or strainer plates as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Annandale, the younger,
hath hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.