CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PAPER
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WRIGLEY, of Bridge Hall Mills, Bury, in the County of Lancaster, Paper
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster the Eighth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and forty-
two, in the sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Wrigley, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Wrigley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas
Wrigley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should agree with, and no
other, from time to time, and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PAPER;" in
which Letters Patent is contained a proviso requiring me, the said Thomas
Wrigley, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Thomas Wrigley, 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, and the Drawings therein
referred to, and to these presents annexed :-
66
My improvements in machinery for manufacturing paper relate to that descrip-
tion of apparatus usually employed in the early part of such manufacture, and
generally known by the name of "the rag engine," this engine or machine
being employed for washing, separating, opening, and beating up the rags,
and converting them into pulp, from which paper is subsequently to be manu-
factured. The ordinary "rag engine" consists simply of a vessel or chamber
in which the rags are placed and saturated, and also washed, separated, opened,
and beaten up by the action of a cylinder or "roll," the circumference or
periphery of which is furnished with a series of blades called "roll bars," and
the bottom of the engine, is also provided with a series of somewhat similar
blades, commonly called "plates." Then as the roll revolves above the stationary
plates" at the bottom of the rag vessel the rags are washed, separated,
opened, beaten up, and converted into. pulp by the continuous action of the
roll bars and plates. The pieces of rags are, at the commencement of the
operation, large and coarse, and the roll must consequently, at first, revolve at
some distance above the plates; but as the rags approach to complete saturation,
and the fibres become opened, it is necessary to lower the roll nearer and nearer
to the bottom plates until the roll and stationary plates just touch each other;
and act closely upon the fibres at the lowest point of the roll's depression, where
thé roll is retained until the pulp is beaten up and made of a sufficient fineness.
The lowering the roll so as to obtain the pulp from the rags in the least time
and in the most advantageous manner is a matter of great nicety, for the roll
should be lowered more quickly at first than afterwards; also the roll, when
arrived at its lowest point, must not continue there beyond a certain time. or
a certain number of revolutions, otherwise the pulp will be beaten away and
injured; the roll must also be elevated a little, and retained at that elevation;
for the purpose of clearing the pulp from knots, and reducing it to a fit state
to be made into paper. All this part of the process, which requires much care
and judgment in the operator, and a considerable expenditure of labor and
time, I effect by means of machinery or apparatus driven by power or manual
Jabour, as herein-after described. Such being the nature of my said Invention
I proceed to describe the manner in which the same is to be performed; and
in order that my improvements may be fully explained, both in constructive
detail and in their practical application to ordinary "rag engines," I have

page_text: attached to these presents a Sheet of Drawings containing several views of the
improved "rag engine," drawn upon a scale of about one inch to the foot,
and also detached representations of the working parts drawn for the sake of
distinctness upon a larger scale. Similar letters of reference are marked upon
corresponding parts of the machanism in all the Figures.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan or horizontal view of the "rag engine," as seen from
above; Figure 2, a side elevation; Figure 3, an end view of the same; and
Figure 4 is a transverse section taken longitudinally through about the midḍle
of engine. Figure 5 is a plan view of the improved apparatus detached upon
a larger scale, and Figure 6 is an elevation of the same.
The vessel or
chamber in which the rags to be operated upon are placed is shewn at a, a, a,
Figure 1, and in about the centre of this vessel is placed the beating or tritu-
rating "roll," b, b. This roll is surrounded with the blades or roll bars c, c, as
seen in the sectional Figure 4. The roll is mounted upon a shaft d, d, one :end
of which is placed in a pedestal or bearing at one side of the chamber a, and
the other in a bearing or pedestal upon the arm or lever e, e*, which is sup-
ported by its fulcrum at the end 1* in one of the standards f, f, and at the other
end by a pin fixed in the connecting rod g, g. At the upper end of this con-
necting rod there is a cross piece or head h, having turned pivots at each
end, upon which are placed small rollers i, i, resting upon a horizontal cam k, k,
which is caused to revolve by the gearing, as hereafter explained. And I
would here direct particular attention to this cam or mechanical, contri-
vance k, k, in connexion with its accompanying gearing, and its mode of
action upon the lever e, e*. It causes the roll, in the first place, to wash the
rags a short time, being level on a portion of its surface, to be lowered at
whatever rate is desired for breaking, to be retained at the lowest point for the
required number of revolutions for beating, and to be raised and retained as
required for the purpose of clearing the pulp. The cam is cast or otherwise
formed in metal or other hard substance, and its upper or working edge or
surface is to be exactly shaped according to the action required by the
"engine roll;" as, for instance, suppose the previous operation of washing to be
completed, and the time required for the operation of the "rag engine" to be
three hours, one of which is required for lowering the roll, that, or the first
part, portion, or division of the working surface of the cam k, k, must be
so sloped or inclined that, according to the speed it is driven or caused to
revolve, the rollers upon the cross head shall be exactly that portion of the
time allowed in descending the incline upon the cam, and consequently lower-

page_text: 2°
ing the roll upon the plates n in Figure 4; and if the second hour shall be
required for the "roll" to beat up the rags, the "roll" revolving all the
time in contact with the plates, the second part, portion, or division of the
cam k, k, must be so shaped or formed (that is level) that the "roll" shall be
allowed to remain during that period at its lowest point; and if the third
portion of time or hour shall be required for raising the "roll" again,
either gradually or interruptedly, then the third part, portion, or division of
the cam k must be suitably shaped or inclined so as to cause the cross head to
lift the "roll" during such interval or space of time, the particular shape
of the inclined portions of the cam depending on the manner in which the
manufacturer may wish the roll to approach to or recede from the bottom
plates during its descent and ascent respectively. Its mode of connexion and
operation in the rag engine is as follows:-Supposing the rags intended to be
beaten up to be placed in the vessel a (as shewn in Figure 4), and motion to be
communicated from a steam engine, water wheel, or other power to the spur
pinion upon the shaft d, the roll 6 will thus be caused to revolve, and the
rags washed, broken, and beaten up as they proceed up the "front weir" m
over the bottom plates "n," and again round by the back weir "o." There
is a small pulley p upon the other end of the shaft d, around which a band q
passes, and also round another pulley upon the cross shaft 8. Upon this shaft
is a worm t, gearing into a worm wheel u, fixed upon another shaft v below,
upon the reverse end of which is a pinion w, gearing into a spur wheel x, upon
the end of the shaft y; and upon the centre of this shaft y there is another
worm z, gearing into a horizontal worm wheel I, upon which the cam k, k, is
fixed. Thus it will be seen that the requisite slow motion is communicated to
the cam, which may be made to perform half a revolution in three hours, or it
will be evident that half a revolution of the cam k, k, may be performed in
any other given time, according to the calculation of the gearing employed. It
is obvious that the shaft y may be driven by manual labour, so as to give the
required motion to the cam. Supposing now, at the beginning of the operation,
the cross head bearing the lever and "roll" to be. at the highest point upon
the cam k, k, as its revolution commences the "roll" will revolve for a short
time on the level surface of the cam, and will then be lowered in order to open
the rags and separate them as required, until the cam k, k, has arrived at that
point which rules or governs the time that the roll remains at its lowest point for
the purpose of beating the rags into pulp, and as the cam k, k, still continues to
revolve, and thus brings the opposite incline on the third portion of its working
surface into action upon the cross head, the roll will be raised in order to clear
the pulp from knots and other imperfections, and thus complete the operation

page_text: of the engine. In order to raise the cross head and roll to the height from
which it descended, without loss of time, or to lift the cross head entirely
from off the cam when requisite, a lever Q, or other suitable contrivance,
may be attached to the apparatus; also a shaft may be passed across
the rag engine, and both ends of the roll may be raised instead of one
only, as above described. Instead of completing the operation of con-
verting the rags into pulp in one machine, as herein-before described, it is
sometimes preferred to commence the operation in one engine and complete it
in another. In such cases a portion only of the cam adapted to the performances
of each engine is employed, and the roll may be raised to the height from
which it descended at the commencement of the operation by a lever or other
suitable apparatus, as above described, whenever, from that portion of the
process assigned to this engine being complete, it is desirable that the roll
should be returned to the point from which it descended with as little loss
of time as possible. The arrangements and apparatus herein-before described,
and the application and construction of the cam, are, according to my present
experience, extremely well adapted to carrying out my Invention in practice;
but any intelligent mechanic will perceive that many other similar and well
known mechanical arrangements may be employed, and adapted to the same
purpose; as, for instance, the same effect might be produced by a stationary
cam, the rollers of the cross head being made to move across its surface by
applying the power directly thereto; or by an interrupted screw, the thread
having a suitable inclination, according to the rate at which the roll is required
to ascend or descend; or by other inclined or suitably shaped surfaces, the
application of which to modifying motion is well known.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim, as
of my Invention, the lowering and raising the roll of the rag engine, that
having been long practised; nor do I claim as of my Invention the lowering
of the roll of the rag engine by mechanical apparatus, a particular mode of
gradually lowering the roll by such apparatus having been described in the
Specification of certain Letters Patent granted to Charles Edward Amos, and
bearing date on or about the tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty; nor do I claim the exclusive use of
the several parts of the apparatus and arrangements herein-before mentioned,
except so far as the same may be used for the purposes of my said Invention,
which I hereby declare to consist in the application of machinery whereby the
roll of the rag engine (whether for washing, breaking, opening, separating,
beating up, and clearing the rags,) in the manufacture of paper may be held,

page_text: lowered, caused to divell and beat up, when at its lowest point, for any given
or required length of time, and raised again, thus completing, perfecting, or
performing the requisite operations of the rag engine, by means of machinery
driven by power or manual labour, and self-acting, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wrigley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.