IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES
Year: 1871

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LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Shaw Hepworth, of Yonkers, in the
State of New York, United States of America; for the Invention of
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Samuel Shaw Hepworth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 13th December 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act; 1852:
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
SHAW HEPWORTH, of Yonkers, in the State of New York, United.
States of America, send greeting....
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto
me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn. Declaration that I am the first and
true Inventor thereof:
L

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Shaw Hepworth, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said. Invention, and.
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings making.
a part of this Specification
My Invention consists in a new and improved method of attaching
and suspending the basket and curb of a centrifugal machine to the
frame or support, and in the necessary mechanical details of construction,
which will be herein-after described.
The object of my Invention is to avoid the jar and vibration which is
communicated to the frame and even to the walls of the building in
which it is placed by the revolving basket of an ordinary centrifugal
machine.
Figure 1 shows a front view, partly in section, of my improved
machine; Figure 2 shows a top view of the same.
Figure 3 shows the friction band for arresting the revolving motion of
tlie basket shaft."
Figure 4 shows a top view of the valve for opening and closing the
openings in the bottom of the basket:
2
Figure 5 is a front view, partly in section, of another form of my
improved machine; Figure 6 is a top view.of the same.
-A, Figures 1 and 2, is the basket in which is placed the moist sugar or
other substance from which the fluid is to be expelled; B is the curb
or case which contains the basket; C is the basket shaft, which is keyed
to the basket and turns with it; D is a socket attached to the supporting
frame of the machine; E. is a bearing-having a spherical surface; and
forming-with-D-a-ball-and-socket joint; F is a cast head piece: firmly
attached to E by a large screw bolt and supported by it. To this piece F
are-attached the rods, two of which are shown by 1 and 2 (Figure 1)
which support the curb B. In the centre of this piece is the conical
bearing a of the upper journal of the shaft C; G is the pulley for driving
the shaft C H is a friction pulley; around which the band--is-clamped
by the action of the handle h; see also Figure 3. This friction band-is
attached to the piece Faby means of: the pillars p; p. The hollow,sleeve
forming, G. and H extends over the piece F, as shown in section on
Figure 1, and below F embraces the shaft C to which it is keyed. The

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curb, , as shown in the Drawings, is made of cast iron at the top and
bottom, with a plate forming the sides or cylindrical portion riveted to
the top and bottom castings. The top casting is firmly attached to
the rods. 1 and 2 by bolts and nuts, as shown in the Drawings. The
bottom casting g has a channel I around its outside edge below the basket
to catch and hold until removed to some proper receptacle the fluid
thrown out from the basket. The central portion of the bottom of the curb
is made in the form of an open cylinder, through which the contents of
the basket can be discharged after the liquid portion has been expelled.
J is a beam forming part of the bottom of the curb, and, extending.
across the cylindrical portion above described from side to side. This
beam supports the bottom of the shaft C in the following manner: The
sleeve d fits into the bushing e so as to have a slight vertical movement
for adjustment when necessary; it is supported from the beam J by the.
bolts nn. Inside of this sleeve is the socket for the foot of the shaft,
C, in which is runs on washers, to lessen the friction. The lower end of
the shaft C forms the taper journalb which runs in the box'c made of
suitable metal and of the same taper as the journal.
the box to its proper position is made by the nuts.
of the curb are attached the ear pieces K carrying the pins k, k. Around
Vare
these pins and similar ones upon the frame X of the machine
placed elastic bands i, which will permit of a small motion laterally of
the curb B: There are usually four of these elastic connections between
the curb and the frame. The basket ȧ is formed of an upper cast-iron
ring m and a bottom disk o of brass or other suitable metal, between
which the cylindrical portion of the basket! extends, and to which it is.
riveted. The central part of the disk o extends upwards and surrounds
the shaft C. Upon this portion of the disk the valve Lis fitted, so as
to have a circular motion around the shaft. This valve is for opening
and closing the apertures M in the bottom of the basket for the purpose
of discharging. the contents.
1..
The adjustment of
To the lower, sido
are
The modification of my Invention shown in Figures 5 and 6 has the
same' general arrangement of the basket and curb as already described,
but the latter is supported from below. The supports 1, 2, 'extending
from F to the bottom casting.of the curb taking the place of the rods
1 and 2 before described. The apparatus is supported by a ball-and-
socket joint D, E, at the bottom instead of at the top, as *before*
described, and the elastic connections of the curb with the frame are.
$

page_text: at the top All the parts are lettered as in the previous Figures, so that
the corresponding parts may be easily distinguished This modification
is practically, the same machine, inverted, with the openings in the top
and bottom of the curb and basket for the introduction and discharge of
the material operated upon adapted to the new position... " *
T
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I
In the Drawings, Figure 5, the support for the upper journal of the
shaft C: instead of being in a beam directly across, as at J, Figure 1,
is formed by continuing the bottom of the cylindrical portion of the
casting upwards in a conical form, as at J, leaving orifices at the sides.
for the escape of the discharged material. There is also a
modification
of the breaking apparatus for checking the revolution of the basket;
instead of the band acting upon the outside of the pulley H tlie friction
caused by pressing the cone N against the wooden lining of the pulley
This is done by means of the treadle O The cone N¹moves up,
and down on the slides, attached to the parts 1 and 2¹.
1 f
2.7
It will be observed that in both modifications of my improved cen-
trifugal machine the basket and curb always remain concentric with
each other, and form one, mass, which has a flexible connection with:
the frame at the end of the shaft most distant from the curb and an
élastic; lateral connection with the frame at the curb so that the inertia
of both the curbrand basket, tends to resist any, disturbancer of equi-
librium while the basket is revolving
زاد
"In the form here described my improved machine is more particularly
adapted to the separation of syrups from moist sugar, but it can be
adapted by a skilful mechanic to any of the ordinary purposes for which
centrifugal machines are used.
+
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3.
T.
✓
"
The operation of my Invention is as follows: Sugar or any moist
substance from which-it-is desired to expel the liquid is placed in the
_interior of the basket and then rapidly revolved, by any, suitable, power.
The liquid is thrown out through the porous circumference of-the-basket.
and falls into the trough. The valve-is-then-turned,-when the
sugar or other subs
other substance falls through the apertures Minto some suitable
receptacle below.
=
During the revolution of the. basket in. an ordinary centrifugal
machine as commonly constructed there is always a great amount of
vibration caused by the centre of gravity of the contained material-not

page_text: In my improved machine the basket adjusts itself automatically to
the temporary centre of gravity, the vibratory motion being counteracted
and absorbed by the inertia of the curb and basket and the elasticity of
the connections between the curb and the frame of the machine.
}
What I claim as my Invention is, a centrifugal machine in which the.
basket and its shaft turn in fixed bearings forming part of the curb or
its frame, so as to be always concentric with it, and in which the basket
and curb so connected is suspended by a ball-and-socket or other flexible
joint at the end of the shaft most distant from the curb, and at the
curb is held laterally by elastic connections, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Shaw Hepworth, 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-one.
די
SAMUEL SHAW HEPWORTH. (L.S.)