IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MINCING MEAT
Year: 1879

page_text: :
LETTERS PATENT to William Ovens and Thomas Charles Ovens, of No. 54,
Saint John's Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, for.
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR MINCING MEAT."
Sealed the 10th October 1879, and dated the 21st July 1879.
:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ovens and Thomas
Charles Ovens at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st
July 1879.
WILLIAM OVENS and THOMAS CHARLES OVENS, of No. 54, Saint John's Street,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR MINCING MEAT."
Our Invention relates to that class of machines for mincing meat, in which the
meat is cut by knives carried by a rotatory shaft, and working in a rotatory bowl,
the said shaft and bowl rotating in planes at right angles to each other.
According to our Invention we mount the rotating bowl on a plate which forms
the base plate of the machine, and we secure to the said base plate standards, the
upper ends of which support a plate or table, which we term the knife table, and
which is of such a form as to partially cover or close the mouth of the bowl, sufficient
space being left to admit of the meat being fed into the bowl and turned over and
mixed by hand as it is carried round from under the knives, and of being removed
from the machine while it is in action. The said standards are capable of vertical
adjustment in the base plate so as to admit of the distance between the knife table
and the upper part of the bowl being regulated. On the upper side of the knife
table we mount in bearings two rotatory shafts, each of which carries two knives,
which work through a slot or slots formed in the table, to which at the sides of the
said slot or slots we secure steel cutters, so that they may be easily adjusted and
removed when necessary, between which cutters and the knives the meat carried up
by the said knives (as they rise from the bowl) is cut. In order to prevent the
meat being thrown through the slot or slots out of the machine when it is in action
we affix plates to the knife table between the sides of the said slot or slots so as to
leave only sufficient space for the knives to pass. The bowl is provided with a
fixed rib, which causes the meat to be raised as the bowl rotates, and the edges of

page_text: which constitute fixed cutters. To the underside of the knife table we affix a
curved plate, so that one of its edges is nearly in contact with the side and bottom
of the bowl, which plate as the bowl rotates causes the meat (which by the action of
the knives has been collected on the sides of the bowl) to turn completely over and
Ffall towards the middle-of-the-bowl-the-meat-being-thus-thoroughly-exposed-to-the-
action of the knives. Rotatory motion is given to the bowl by means of a worm
and worm wheel, as usual, the worm shaft (which constitutes the main shaft, and
carries fast and loose pulleys and a fly wheel) being mounted in bearings on the
base plate. For driving the knife shafts we use friction gearing, consisting of
drums, the peripheries of which are faced with india rubber. One of these drums
we mount on the worm shaft, the said drum gearing with a drum on one of the knife
shafts, from which motion is transmitted to the other knife shaft, so that the knives
are caused to work in opposite directions, whereby vibration of the machine when
it is in action is avoided. The use of the gearing described causes the machine to
work almost without noise, which is a great desideratum.
We prefer to coat the interior of the bowl and the underside of the knife table
with enamel, so that the meat may not be injured by contact with the said parts,
and we so connect the knife table with its standards or supports that it may be
readily removed or turned back from the bowl when required. We prefer to arrange
and secure the knives on their shafts in the following manner -We form a slot in
each of the said knives, through which the shaft is passed, and we form on each
shaft a shoulder or abutment, against which one of the pair of knives when placed
on the shaft bears, the pair of knives being kept at the requisite distance apart by
a collar or tube passed onto the said shaft between the knives, which are locked in
their places by a screw collar or nut, which screws onto the knife shaft, and bears
against that one of the pair of knives most distant from the shoulder on the shaft.
This arrangement admits of the knives being readily adjusted when they become
worn.
Although we prefer to mount two knives on each shaft, a greater or less number
may be mounted thereon, and instead of two shafts one only may be used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said William Ovens and Thomas Charles Ovens in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st January 1880.
WILLIAM OVENS and THOMAS CHARLES OVENS, of No. 54, Saint John's Street,
Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
FOR MINCING MEAT."
Our Invention relates to that class of machines for mincing meat, in which the
meat is cut by knives carried by a rotatory shaft and working in a rotatory bowl,
the said shaft and bowl rotating in planes at right angles to each other.
According to our Invention we mount the rotatory bowl on a plate which forms
the base plate of the machine, and we secure to the said base plate standards, the
upper ends of which support a plate or table, which we term the knife table, and
which is of such a form as to partially cover or close the mouth of the bowl, sufficient
space being left to admit of the meat being fed into the bowl and turned over and
mixed by hand as it is carried round from under the knives, and of being removed
from the machine while it is in action. The said standards are capable of vertical
adjustment in the base plate so as to admit of the distance between the knife table
and the upper part of the bowl being regulated. On the upper side of the knife
table we mount in bearings two rotatory shafts, each of which carries two knives,
which work through a slot or slots formed in the table, to which at the sides of the
said slot or slots we secure steel cutters, so that they may be easily adjusted and
removed when necessary, between which cutters and the knives the meat carried up
by the said knives (as they rise from the bowl) is cut. In order to prevent the
meat being thrown through the slot or slots out of the machine when it is in action
we affix plates having cutting edges to the knife table, which plates nearly close
the spaces between the pairs of knives, leaving only sufficient space for them to
pass. The bowl is provided with a fixed rib, which causes the neat to be raised
and turned over as the bowl rotates. To the knife table we affix a curved plate or
blade of such a form that one of its edges is nearly in contact with the side of the
bowl, which plate as the bowl rotates causes the meat (which by the action of the
knives has been collected on the sides of the bowl) to turn completely over and fall
towards the middle of the bowl, the meat being thus thoroughly exposed to the.
action of the knives. Rotatory motion is given to the bowl by means of a worm
and worm wheel, as usual, the worm shaft (which constitutes the main shaft, and
carries fast and loose pulleys and a fly wheel) being mounted in bearings on the
base plate.
For driving the knife shafts we use friction gearing consisting of drums, the
peripheries of which are faced with india-rubber. One of these drums we mount
on the worm shaft, the said drum gearing with a drum on one of the knife shafts,
froin, which motion is transmitted to the other knife shaft, so that the knives are
caused to work in opposite directions, whereby vibration of the machine when it is
in action is avoided. The use of the gearing described causes the machine to work
alinost without noise, which is a great desideratum.
We so connect the knife table with its standards or supports that it may be
readily removed or turned back from the bowl when required.
We prefer to arrange and secure the knives on their shafts in the following
manner: We form a slot in each of the said knives, through which the shaft is
passed, and we form on each shaft a shoulder or abutment, against which one knife
of the pair of knives when placed on the shaft bears, the two knives being kept at.
the requisite distance apart by a collar or tube passed onto the said shaft between
the knives, which are locked in their places by a screw collar or nut which screws
onto the knife shaft, and bears against that one of the pair of knives most distant
from the shoulder on the shaft. This arrangement admits of the knives being
readily adjusted when they become worn.

page_text: the manner in which it is to be performed, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
The same letters and figures of reference indicate the same parts in the several
Figures-of-the-Drawings
Figure 1 is an elevation, Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 is a vertical section
taken on the line 1, Figure 2, of a machine for mincing neat, to which our
-improvements are applied; Figure 4 is a section of part of the knife table taken on
the line 2, Figure 2; Figures 5 and 6 are details herein after referred to. A is the
rotatory bowl, on the underside of which is formed a socket a¹; B is the base plate
to which a pin b¹ is secured by means of the nut 62 which takes onto the screw 6s
on the said pin. The socket a' on the bowl A fits over the pin b', which forms the
axis on which the said bowl rotates; a² is the worm wheel-keyed on the socket a¹.
A is the main shaft working in bearings a*, a*; as, a, are the fast and loose pulleys;
a is the fly wheel, a is the india-rubber faced drum by which motion is communi-
cated to the knife shafts as hereinafter described, and a' is the worm which gears
with the worm wheel a²; b, b, 65, 65, are the standards which are secured to the
base plate by means of screw nuts 66, 66, which engage with screw threads b', b²,
formed on the lower ends of the said standards; C is the knife table supported by
the said standards, one side of the said table being hinged to the standards b*, *,
at c¹, c¹, and the other side being secured by means of keys or wedges 68, 68, driven
into slots in the upper ends of the standards 65, 65, which project above the knife
table c. Figure 2 is an opening in the knife table through which the meat may be
withdrawn from or fed into the bowl while the machine is in action. The knife
table may be readily freed from the standards for removal when necessary by
driving out the wedges 68, 68, and withdrawing the screw bolts 6º, 6º, which confine
the said table on the hinged side. In Figure 2 a portion of the table C is shown
broken away, in order to show clearly the parts beneath it. By means of the
screw nuts 6º, 6º, and screws 67, 67, the distance between the knife table C and the
upper part of the bowl may be regulated. D, D, are the knife shafts mounted in
bearings, d', d', on the knife table, and E, E, E¹, E', are the knives carried by the said
shafts, which knives have slots e¹, e¹ (see Figure 3), formed in them, through which
the shafts on which they are mounted are passed; d,d, are the shoulders or abutments
formed on the shafts D, D, against which shoulders or abutments the knives E, E, bear;
d³, d³, are the collars or tubes by which the pairs of knives are kept apart; and d³, d³,
are the screw collars or nuts by which the knives are locked in their places, the said
nuts d, d, engaging with screw threads d³, d³, formed on the said shafts, and
bearing against washers do, do, which bear against the knives E¹, E'. Those parts
of the shafts D, D, on which the knives are mounted are flattened, as shown in
Figure 3, in order to prevent the knives from turning thereon. The arrangement
herein-before described for securing the knives admits of their being readily adjusted
when they become worn, the adjustment being effected by loosening the screw
nuts d³, d³, and sliding the knives on the shafts in the direction of the length of
"the slots. By then screwing up the nuts the knives are again secured in the
position to which they have been brought. We prefer to arrange the knives on their
shafts, as illustrated in Figure 6 of the accompanying Drawings, which is a trans-
verse section of one of the shafts showing a pair of knives secured thereto.
d', ds, are india rubber faced drumis keyed on the knife shafts D, D, motion being
received by the drum d from the drum a, and communicated to the drum d³.
The knives are thus caused to work in opposite directions, whereby vibration of
the machine, when it is in action, is avoided. The directions in which the drums
and knives and bowl revolve when the machine is in action are indicated by the
arrows. F, F, are the fixed cutters secured by screws f¹, f¹, to the knife table C
at the sides of the slot in which the knives E, E, E¹, E¹, work. The holes in
the said cutters through which the screws f¹, f¹, pass are slotced so as to admit
of the cutters being very accurately adjusted when their edges become worn; c², c²,
are the plates screwed to the knife table C, the said plates having cutting edges c³, c³,-

page_text: and nearly closing the spaces between the knives E, E, E¹, E¹, and preventing the
meat from being thrown out of the bowl by the said knives when the machine is in
action. The arrangement of the knives or cutters F, F, and plates c² is clearly
shown in the section, Figure 4. Gis the fixed rib set in the bowl A. and secured
at the centre of the bowl by the screw g' which passes through the rib and takes
into a screwed hole formed in the pin b¹; g², g², are pins formed on the ends of the
rib G, which pins engage in holes formed in the underside of the table C and
prevent the rib G from being carried round with the bowl; g³ is a washer by which
the said rib is kept out of contact with the bowl; H is the plate or blade affixed
by screws h,, to the knife table c, the said plate projecting into and being nearly
in contact with the innerside of the bowl. When the machine is in action the
rib G being stationary causes the meat as it is carried round by the bowl to be
raised and turned over, and the blade H, as the bowl rotates, causes the meat
(which, by the action of the knives, has been collected on the sides of the bowl) to
be detached. therefrom and to fall towards the middle of the bowl, whereby the
meat is thoroughly exposed to the action of the knives, and the meat does not
require to be turned over and mixed by hand, as in ordinary machines. In order
to ascertain if the meat has been sufficiently minced portions of it may be removed
from the bowl at the uncovered part without stopping the machine.
When it is found that the meat has been sufficiently minced the wedges or
keys 68, 68, are driven out and the knife table C is turned back on its joint or
hinges c', c. The bowl is thus uncovered and the meat may be removed; or the
meat may be removed from the bowl at the uncovered part, and the bowl may be
recharged without stopping the machine. If it be preferred to mix the meat by
hand the blade H may be removed by withdrawing the screws h¹, h¹. When in
use the machine is secured to a bench or table by bolts passed through the base
plate B.
We prefer to coat the interior of the bowl and the underside of the knife table
with enamel, so that the meat may not be injured by contact with the said parts.
Although we prefer to mount two knives on each shaft, and to use two shafts, a
greater or less number of knives may be mounted on the said shafts, and instead of
two shafts one only may be used.
Instead of forming cutting edges on the plates c², c², the said plates may be made
of a width less than the spaces between the knives, and other plates having cutting
edges formed on them may be adjustably secured one on each side of the said
plates c²; c². This arrangement is illustrated in Figure 5 of the accompanying
Drawings, which is a section of a knife table taken on a line corresponding with
that on which the section, Figure 4, is taken. In the said Figure 5, c, c, are the
cutters secured one on each side of the plate c² by screws c which pass through
slots in the cutters c³, c', thereby admitting of their ready adjustment when their
edges become worn.
Having now described the nature of our Invention of Improvements in
Machines for Mincing Meat," and the manner in which it is to be performed, we
wish it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise details
herein before described, as they may be varied without departing from the nature of
our Invention; but we claim as our said Invention,-
Firstly. Mounting on the knife table of the said machines two shafts, and
mounting on each of the said shafts two knives, and affixing to the said table at
the sides of the knives plates having cutting edges, and so gearing the said shafts
as to cause them to revolve in opposite directions, essentially as herein before
described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. Forming the knife table of the said machines so as to admit of the
meat in the bowl being examined, and of the said bowl being emptied and
replenished with meat while the machine is in action, essentially as herein before
described and illustrated in Figure 2 of the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly. The arrangement herein before described for adjustably securing the
knives to their shafts, that is to say, forming slots in the said knives and passing

page_text: the shafts through the said slots, and securing the knives by screw nuts passed
onto the said shafts, essentially as herein before described and illustrated in Figures
1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings.
Fourthly. Affixing knives or cutters to the knife tables of the said machines,
essentially as and for the purposes herein before described-and-illustrated-in-Figures-
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the accompanying-Drawings.
Fifthly. The use with the said machines of a fixed plate or blade projecting into
-the-bowl,-essentially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated
in Figure 2 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said-William-Ovens-and Thomas Charles Ovens,
have hereunto set our hands and seals this Nineteenth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.