IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLING MACHINES FOR MILLING PLAIT MADE OF STRAW OR ANY OTHER SUITABLE MATERIAL
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Thorburn at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 20th February 1878.
WILLIAM THORBURN, of Luton, in the County of Bedford.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
MILLING MACHINES FOR MILLING PLAIT MADE OF STRAW OR ANY OTHER SUITABLE
MATERIAL"
The object of my improvement is intended more particularly for milling straw
plait so as not to destroy the straw or fibre in the process of milling, make it
flexible, well finished, and uniformily turn its edge to any required width, form,
finish, and angle.
The milling machine is composed of a suitable frame, by preference made of
metal, and provided with bearings to receive the rolls. The rolls are made of
metal, by preference brass, and about 3 inches in diameter, more or less, and from
1 to 2 inches wide, more or less, to suit the nature of the work required to be done.
The face of the rolls are usually plain, and the lower roll is made wider than the
top one. The machine is provided with a table, the upper surface of which is made
flush with the top side of the lower roll, for placing the plait or braid on to pass
it between the milling rolls. This table is furnished with gauge and guide plates,
provided with adjustable screws or wedges for setting and holding purposes, for
regulating the width of the edge of the braid turned up between the guide plate
and end of the upper roll, and guiding it to the milling rolls.
In place of having movable gauge and guide plates one or both of the said plates
may be stationary, and the top roll so constructed as to have a longitudinal move-
ment for adjusting it to the stationary guide plate to determine the width of the
edge of the straw turned up, that is to say, the roll may be adjusted to a stationary
guide plate, or the guide plate to the rolls.
1
The rolls may be made to work in ridged adjustable bearings, or one or both sets
of the bearings may be provided with springs to permit the rolls to yield to any
irregularities in the thickness of the braid being milled, and in the meantime obtain
a uniform finish, and prevent any injury to the braid by the process of milling.
The face of the rolls may be provided with ornamental designs for impressing,
embossing, or printing the same on the braid in the process of milling.

page_text: In some cases there is an advantage in milling with heated rolls for improving
the finished appearance of the braid. For this purpose the rolls may be heated by
impinging a jet of burning gas against their ends, or by making them hollow and
passing a current of steam or heated air through them of the required temperature
for heating the same.
The machine is constructed for working by hand or any other power through the
medium of belts or gearings. The power is usually applied to the lower roll, and
the top one is made to revolve by frictional contact through the medium of the
braid being acted on, or by means of gear wheels attached to each roll.
While I prefer to make the milling rolls plain, and of metal for durability and
other advantages, I am aware that some of the harder kind of wood would answer
for ordinary milling purposes, when used in connection with the gauge and guide
plates or pieces arranged to the table of the machine, as and for the purposes
herein-before described, and therefore I consider the use of milling rolls made wholly
or partially of wood comes within the scope of my Invention; or milling rolls made
of any known suitable material or composition to work in connection with the
other portions of my improvement are embraced in my Invention.