IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Martin Heathorn, of Wateringbury, in the
County of Kent, Brewer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
"
Sealed the 26th July 1864, in pursuance of an Order of the Lord Chancellor,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Martin Heathorn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th January 1864.
I, THOMAS MARTIN HEATHORN, of Wateringbury, in the County of Kent,
Brewer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING LIQUID FROM SOLID SUBSTANCES CONTAINING
LIQUID," to be as follows:-
My machinery consists of a cylinder or case open at top to receive a piston,.
and formed with grooves in the same line as that in which the piston is made
to travel extending from top to bottom of the case. In this case I fit a
perforated or openwork false bottom, and in the bottom itself there are one or
more outlets for carrying off the liquid separated as hereafter explained. The
top of the piston is fitted with a socket or stop to receive the lower end of a
rod threaded at top; a nut is placed on the screw, and a forked lever rests
upon this nut; the long arm of the lever is weighted. The matter to be
operated upon, say, for instance, yeast, is placed in bags of porous material,
made for convenience capable of being opened at bottom, in order to their
being readily cleaned, and fitted at top with a nozzle, to which a pipe passed

page_text: through the piston may be applied, in order to supply fresh matter to the bags
as fast as liquid is expressed; the lower end of the piston rod is placed in the
sucket on the piston, the nut is next adjusted on the screw, the lever is
brought down on the nut, and the weights on the lever cause it to exert a
continuous pressure, whereby the piston is forced down on to the bag, and the
liquid separated from the solid portions of the contents thereof.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Thomas Martin
Heathorn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MARTIN HEATHORN, of Wateringbury, in the County of Kent, Brewer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Martin Heathorn, Her special licence that I, the said
Thomas Martin Heathorn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Martin Heathorn, executors, adminis-
trators, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SEPARATING LIQUID FROM
SOLID SUBSTANCES CONTAINING LIQUID," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Martin Heathorn, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Thomas Martin Heathorn, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is, to say :-

page_text: My machinery consists of a cylinder or case open at top to receive a piston,
and formed with grooves in the same line as that.in which the piston is made
to travel extending from top to bottom of the case. In this case I fit a
perforated or openwork false bottom, and in the bottom itself there are one or
more outlets for carrying off the liquid separated as hereafter explained. The
top of the piston is fitted with a socket or step to receive the lower end of a
rod threaded at top, a nut is placed on the screw, and a forked lever rests
upon this nut, the long arm of the lever is weighted. The matter to be
operated upon, say, for instance, yeast, is placed in bags of porous material,
made for convenience capable of being opened at bottom, in order to their.
being readily cleaned, and fitted at top with a nozzle, to which a pipe passed
through the piston may be applied, in order to supply fresh matter to the bags
as fast as liquid is expressed. The lower end of the piston rod is placed in
the socket on the piston, the nut is next adjusted on the screw, the lever is
brought down on the nut, and the weights on the lever cause it to exert a
continuous pressure, whereby the piston is forced down on to the bag, and the
liquid separated from the solid portions of the contents thereof.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation, showing three
machines for separating liquid from solid substances constructed according to
my Invention, and arranged in one frame, the centre machine is drawn partly
in section; Figure 2 is an end elevation, partly in section, through the line x, x,
of Figure 1.
:
A, A, are cylinders or cases open at top to receive pistons B, B, and formed
with grooves a extending from top to bottom of the case. In each case or
cylinder A, I fit a perforated or openwork false bottom b, and in the bottom c
itself I form one or more outlets d, which carry off the liquid separated from
the material under treatment. The top of each piston B is fitted with a
socket or step to receive the lower end of a rod D threaded at top. The
lower end of the rod must be free to turn in the socket, and without being
separated therefrom, and for that purpose it may be secured by a screwed cap
or otherwise. The rod D passes through guides e, e, in the framing of the
macbine; a square or rectangular nut E is placed on the threaded part of the
rod D, and a forked lever F rests upon this nut. The long arm of the lever F
is weighted at f, and the short arm is fulcrumed to a bar G forming part of
the framing, or it may be fulcrumed at any other convenient part. The
forked lever is shown detached in Figure 3. The yeast or other matter to be
operated on is placed in bags of porous material, which, as before stated, I
prefer to make capable of being opened at bottom, and with a nozzle at top,
to which a pipe g passed through the piston B may be applied, in order that

page_text: fresh matter may be supplied to the bags. I enclose the upper end of the
pipe 9 by a plug or stopper h.
The operation is as follows:-When the case A contains a bag filled with
the matter to be treated, the rod D is turned by means of the handle H, so as
to cause the piston B to press upon the bag by continuing to turn the
handle H; the nut E, which up to this time has rested on the framing of the
machine, as seen in the two outer machines in Figure 1, then rises on the
threaded part of the rod D, the lever F rising with it, the weights f are then
applied to the lever, whereby a continuous pressure is exerted on the nut E,
rod D, and piston B, and the liquid is separated from the solid portions of the
contents of the bag in the case A. To raise the piston B and rod D the
handle H is turned in the reverse direction. I prefer to suspend the
weights from a chain attached to a link i, free to slide on the lever F, in
order that the power applied to the lever may be adjusted as required.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in Machinery for Separating Liquid from Solid Substances containing
Liquid," the combined employment of a piston, threaded rod, nut, and weighted
lever, arranged and acting in manner and for the purpose herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Martin Heathorn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.