IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR EXPRESSING LIQUIDS FROM ORGANIC SUBSTANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Ward, of the City of Hamburgh, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR EXPRESSING LIQUIDS FROM
ORGANIC SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 10th September 1858, and dated the 1st April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Ward, at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st April
1858.
I, HENRY WARD, of the City of Hamburgh, Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR EXPRESSING
LIQUIDS FROM ORGANIC SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates chiefly to extracting by means of pressure the
saccharine juices from beetroot pulp. For this purpose, instead of subjecting
the pulp to the slow gradual pressure of an hydraulic press, I feed the pulp
from à hopper into a compressing chamber, the form of which may be
somewhat varied, but I prefer to use a broad chamber, narrow in cross
section, and gradually tapering towards the bottom. The sides of this
chamber I construct of strong plates of iron, grooved on their opposite sides
with deep cross grooves, which by meeting form numerous equidistant holes
all over the plates. The inner faces of these plates I cover with fine wire
gauze or other filtering material; and I set the plates at a slight inclination
from a vertical line, in order to contract the compressing space gradually
towards the bottom of the chamber. These plates I make adjustable for the

page_text: purpose of regulating the amount of pressure, and the bottom of the chamber
I close with a weighted valve. A reciprocating plunger fits into the throat
or vertical extension of the chamber, and in rising opens a way for the passage
downwards of pulp, which is fed into the press from adjacent pulp graters.
In its descent the plunger thrusts down the fresh charge of pulp on to that
contained in the chamber, and thus by small and continuous additions it
keeps up a constant pressure on the pulp in the compressing chamber, forcing
it down at every stroke into narrower limits, and eventually causing its
discharge at the bottom of the chamber. During this operation the juice
from the pulp flows through the wire gauze and grooved plates, and is dis-
charged in continuous streams into suitable receptacles placed to receive it.
From the above description it will be understood that the press may be also
applied with advantage for obtaining oleaginous and other extracts. I may
also find it desirable to subject the material under operation to preliminary
pressure before it comes under the severe action of the plunger before men-
tioned, in order to extract so much of the liquid as will flow away freely.
This might be done by means of rollers or plungers fitted in the hoppers,
their action being to assist the feed of the material to the compressing
chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Ward in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WARD, of the City of Hamburgh, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Ward, Her special license that I, the said Henry Ward, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
time agree
Ward, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR EXPRESSING LIQUIDS PROM ORGANIC SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that I, the said Henry Ward, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Henry Ward, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention relates chiefly to the extraction by a pressing process of the
saccharine juices from beetroot pulp, the object being to act upon com-
paratively small quantities of the pulp at a time, and to press out the
saccharine juices immediately the beetroot has been reduced to pulp, and
before fermentation has had time to commence.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved
press, and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a partial plan view, shewing the pressing plates in edge view, and
Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view taken in the line 3, 4, of Fig. 2.
A, A, are standards bolted to a bed plate, and carrying at their upper ends
a crank shaft B, to which the driving power for working the machine is
applied in any convenient manner. Pendent from this crank shaft are two
crank rods B, B*, to the lower ends of which is secured the cross head of
a plunger or piston C. The ends of this cross head work in guides carried
by the side standards, to ensure the parallel action of the plunger. Imme-
diately below the plunger, and supported on an inner frame D, to which it is
securely bolted, is the compressing chamber E, the form of which may be
somewhat varied. I prefer, however, that it should be narrow in cross section,
but broad laterally, so that it may present an extended surface to the pulp to
be placed therein. The capacity of the chamber will also contract towards
its lower end. The sides of this chamber being intended to act as strainers or
filters, and permit the juices to exude while the solid portions of the pulp are
prevented from escaping with the liquid; I construct them in the manner
shewn in the enlarged views, Figures 5 and 6; Fig. 5 being a vertical
section, and Fig. 6 a cross section, of a portion of the pressing chamber.
a, a, are strong plates of iron, having on one side vertical and on the opposite
side horizontal parallel grooves, which are cut sufficiently deep to meet and
form numerous holes all over the plates. The inner faces of these plates I

page_text: cover with perforated plates of brass b, b, or fine wire gauze, and these again
I cover with fine woven cloth. The plates, it will be seen, are set at a slight
inclination from a vertical line; this is for the purpose of contracting the
compressing space gradually towards the bottom of the chamber, and thereby
intensifying the pressure on the pulp as it descends.
The screws are
The plates a I make adjustable for the purpose of regulating the amount of
pressure to be imparted to the pulp; c, c, are cross heads carried by the frame
D and secured thereto, so as to resist great strain; these cross heads are
tapped to receive regulating screws d, which are intended to bear against the
plates that form the chamber E, and keep them in place.
put into and out of action by loose handles attached to their heads. The
bottom of the chamber is closed by a weighted valve e, which gives way to the
pressure of the reciprocating plunger, and allows of the discharge of a portion
of the pressed pulp at each descent of the plunger. This plunger fits into the
throat or vertical extension E* of the chamber E, in which lateral openings
e are formed to admit the pulp into the chamber; F is a double trough for
receiving the pulp as it descends from a pair of adjacent pulp graters G, and
guiding it to the lateral openings e, e; as the plunger rises it opens up a
way for the descent of the pulp, and on the return of the plunger the fresh
charge of pulp is thrust down on to that contained in the chamber. Thus by
small and continuous additions of pulp to the chamber, a large amount of beet-
root may be subjected to severe pressure in a comparatively small space of
time, each descent of the plunger causing simultaneously a discharge of the
exhausted pulp at the bottom of the compressing chamber, and the discharge
of the juice through the sides of the chamber. The juice as it flows out of
the chamber is received on to inclined plates f. f, which guide it into suitable
receptacles placed to receive it; and the solid matter driven out of the bottom
of the chamber E is received into a proper receptacle placed below. The
discharged pulp may be used as food for cattle, or it may be saturated with
water and again passed through the machine before being so employed. The
graters or pulping cylinders employed in connection with this machine, may be
of any suitable construction; and they may receive rotary motion from the
crank shaft B; their speed of rotation being regulated to ensure a supply of
pulp proportionate to the working capacity of the press.
The fluid obtained by this speedy method of extraction will not only be
quite fresh (a state most important to secure, in order to prevent the waste of
the saccharine principle), but also in a more concentrated state than that in
which it is now generally obtained; and it will consequently require less ex-
penditure of heat to bring it to a crystalline state.

page_text: I
may
From the above description it will be understood that the press may be also
supplied with advantage for obtaining oleaginous and other extracts.
also find it desirable to subject the material uuder operation to preliminary
pressure before it comes under the severe action of the plunger C in order to
extract at the outset so much of the liquid as may be discharged with a small
expenditure of mechanical force. This might be done by means of rollers or
plungers fitted in the hoppers, their action being to assist the feed of the
material to the compressing chamber.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improved machinery
for expressing liquids from organic substances and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the use of a reciprocating plunger in
combination with a compressing chamber constructed as above described for
separating the fluid from the fibrous portions of the substance submitted to
pressure and discharging the same into separate receptacles by one continuous
operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Ward, have hereunto set my
band and seal, the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
HENRY WARD. (L.S.)