IMPROVEMENTS IN METHODS EMPLOYED FOR CLEANING ROTARY SCREENS WITH OR WITHOUT ADJUSTMENT OF THE WIRES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Brinsmead, of Ipswich, in the County of
Suffolk, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN METHODS
EMPLOYED FOR CLEANING ROTARY SCREENS WITH OR WITHOUT ADJUSTMENT OF
THE WIRES,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Brinsmead at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th August 1874.
I, HENRY BRINSMEAD, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN METHODS EMPLOYED FOR CLEANING ROTARY SCREENS WITH OR
WITHOUT ADJUSTMENT OF THE WIɛs," to be as follows:-
In order to illustrate my improvements I will describe its application
to the rotary adjustable screen for which Letters Patent were granted to
William Mitton and John Penny, No. 379, A.D. 1860.
Near the top
of the screen I mount in suitable bearings a tube which has a slot of

page_text: the length of the screen; inside the tube is a coiled spring having the
same number of coils as the wires of the screen. Upon the outside of
the tube are a number of plates of thin metal which slide freely upon
the outside of the tube. One plate is attached to each coil of the
spring within the tube by a narrow tongue or strip passing through the 5
slot. The tube with the plates upon it is caused to revolve by the
rotation of the screen, and the plates are so formed as to pass between
the wires of the screen and to revolve clear of the main bars of the
screen. At each end of the tube is placed a disc which bears against
a cam ring at each end of the screen. These cams have an inclination 1
exactly corresponding with the inclination of the wire coil of the
screen and carry the tube and plates along at the same rate as the coil
of the screen advances; and at each revolution of the screen, and at
the instant when the plates upon the tube are clear of the wires of the
screen the tube and plates shift bodily endways by the distance of 1
one coil of the wires of the screen; the tube is held up to the cams by a
spring or otherwise. One end of the spring within the tube rest against
a permanent stop, while the opposite end of the spring is free to follow
the adjustable end of the screen, the plates upon the tube being
carried by the spring within the tube will therefore always be at the 2
same distance apart as the wires of the screen.
When my improvements are applied to rotary screens without adjustable
wires, the spring within the tube may be dispensed with, and the plates
may in such cases be permanently fixed upon a bar.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, :
filed by the said Henry Brinsmead in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENDY
BRINSMEAD, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
. Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
cighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
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page_text: give and grant unto me, the said Henry Brinsmead, Her special license
that I; the said Henry Brinsmead, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Brinsmead, my exe-
cutors, 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
METHODS: EMPLOYED FOR CLEANING ROTARY SCREENS WITH OR WITHOUT ADJUSTMENT
OF THE WIRES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Brinsmead, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Offico within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, tho said Henry Brinsmead, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
I :
This Invention has for its object improvements in methods employed
for cleaning rotary screens, and may be adapted to screens with or
without adjustment of the wires.
:
In order to illustrate my improvements I will describe its application
to the rotary adjustable screen for which Letters Patent were granted to
William Mitton and John Penney, No. 379, A.D: 1860. Near the top
of 'the screen I mount in suitable bearings a tube which has a slot of
the length of the screen; inside the tube is a coiled spring having the
same number of coils as the wires of the screen. Upon the outside of
the tube are a number of plates of thin metal which slide freely upon
the outside of the tube. One plate is attached to cach coil of the
spring within the tube by a narrow tongue or strip passing through the
slot. The tube with the plates upon it is caused to revolve by the
rotation of the screen, and the plates are so formed as to pass between
the wires of the screen and to revolve clear of the main bars of the
screen. At each end of the tube is placed a disc which bears against
a cani'ring at each end of the screen. These cams have an inclination

page_text: exactly corresponding with the inclination of the wire coil of the screen,
and carry the tube and plates along at the same rate as the coil
of the screen advances; and at cach rovolution of the screen and at
the instant when the plates upon the tube are clear of the wires of the
screen the tube and plates shift bodily endwise by the distanco of 5
one coil of the wires of the screen; the tube is held up to the cams by a
spring or otherwise. One end of the spring within the tube rests against
a permanent stop while the opposite end of the spring is free to follow
the adjustable end of the screen. The plates upon the tubo being carried
by the spring within the tube will therefore always be at the same 1
distanco apart as the wires of the screen.
When my improvements are applied to rotary screens without
adjustable wires the spring within the tube may be dispensed with, and
the plates may in such cases be permanently fixed upon a bar.
And in order that my Invention may be clearly understood and 1
readily carried into practice, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hcreto annexed.
Sheet I. represents portions of a screen similar to that known as
Penney's, with my Patent cleaner attached; Figure 1 being a side view
of the fixed end of the screen, and Figure 2 a side view of the adjustable 20
end; and Figure 3 a cross section.
Sheet II. shews two modifications in the mechanical construction of
my Patent cleaner, the application and action being the same as that
shown on Shect I. On Sheet I. A, A, are portions of the screen cylinder,
and B, B, portions of my cleaner adapted thereto. a is a tubo tho 20
full length of the screen; b is a coiled spring inside the tube a and
having the same number of coils as the wire cylinder A of the screen.
Upon the outside of the tube a are a number of thin metal plates c
which slide freely upon it. One plate is attached to each coil of tho
spring b within the tube a by a narrow tongue or strip & passing through 30
the slot e; these joints are soldered. The tube a with the plates c upon
it is caused to revolve on the gudgeons ƒ and g fixed into the ends of
the tube by the gear wheel h fixed upon the screen head and which
gears into the pinion i fixed upon the tube. The wheel and pinion
are proportioned, so that the springs ; of the screen as they succes- 85
sively come under the cleaner will be opposite one of the notches or
recesses cut in the plates c for the purpose. The cleaner B will

page_text: W
thus in its rotation step over the springs of the screen, and the plates c
williinsert themselves between the wires of the screen and so effect tho
cleaning. At each end of the tube a is placed a disc l, a cam groove m
being formed upon each of the screen heads for the said discs. to run i
in.
The cam grooves m have an inclination corresponding exactly with the
inclination of the wire coil of the screen and carry the tube a and plates c
along at the same rate as tho wiro coil of the screen advances; but once
in cach revolution of the screen and at, the instant wlien the plates c
are clear of the wires of the screen tlie tube and plates are caused to
shift bodily endwise the distance of one coil of the wires of the screen.
This is effected by a suitable formation of the cam grooves m·shewn
clearly at in Figures 2 and 3: The disc is permanently attached
to the pinion i but the disc is free to slide along the tube a and will
therefore be carried by the cam groove in the movable head of the screen
when the screen is adjusted. The spring 6 within the tube a is attached
at each end respectively to the discs and ", and the plates c being carried
by the spring they will always be the same distance apart as the wires
of the screen, and thus always be in a proper position to insert them-
selves into the spaces between the wires of the screen.
I sometimes find it convenient to construct my Patent cleaner
according to the modifications shown on Sheet II., in which for facility
of manufacture I employ a double spring and fix the plates between
them. I sometimes also, as here shewn, substitute a round or square
bar for the tubo above described. But various other modifications
might be employed without departing from my Invention.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and some of.
the best modes of putting the same into practice as at present known
to me, I would have it it distinctly understood that I do not limit myself
to the precise methods herein-above described and shewn on the Drawings,
but what I claim as of my Invention is,―
First. The combination with rotary adjustable screens of cleaners
consisting of thin metal plates which revolve against the screen and
insert themselves between the wires of the screen, such plates being
carried by a spring or springs, which spring or springs are contracted or
expanded to suit the adjustment of the screen, and carry the thin metal
plates with them, substantially as described.

page_text: Second. The method of shifting of the cleaner endwise bodily in
every revolution of the screen by the discs and cams substantially
as described.
Third. The arrangement of apparatus for cleaning rotary screens
whether adjustable or otherwise, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Brinsmead have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this First day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
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