IMPROVEMENTS IN SQUEEZING MACHINES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Birch, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SQUEEZING MACHINES."
Sealed the 29th September 1877. and dated the 6th April 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Birch at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th April 1877.
WILLIAM BIRCH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist.
MENTS IN SQUEEZING MACHINES."
"IMPROVE-
Instead of the expensive sycamore, cotton, rubber, or other flexible material
hitherto employed for the rollers of squeezing machines, I employ metal, being
much more durable and cheaper in use. In order, however, to attain the same
conditions as if the rollers were made of more flexible material, I make them very
narrow and spread the work over the whole of the working face, thus distributing
the pressure, and consequently the wear and tear over the whole working surface
equally. This I accomplish by forming one of the two rollers with a groove round
its circumference, the bottom of which forms the working face of the roller. This
groove is widest at the top and slopes narrower towards the bottom for a certain
part of its depth, and then becomes a little wider again towards the bottom, the
taper of the lower portion being very slight, and that of the upper part very large,
the groove having the shape of two dovetails joined at their narrowest parts. The
second roller is of the same width as the narrowest part of the groove and works in
the same, the cloth or other material to be operated upon passing through the
groove between the working faces of the rollers, and the groove being wider at the
bottom prevents the binding and consequent cutting and damage of the cloth
between the edges of the one roller and the sides of the groove.
Important points in this Invention are:-The form of the groove of the roller, it
tapering wider from a certain point towards the bottom to prevent binding of the

page_text: material to be worked, and tapering wider from the same place towards the top, to
avoid rewetting the cloth or other material after having passed between the
rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Birch in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th October
1877.
WILLIAM BIRCH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist.
MENTS IN SQUEEZING MACHINES."
"IMPROVE-
Sycamore has hitherto been chiefly employed for the rollers of squeezers, but as
it wears out rapidly and is becoming scarcer every year, and consequently dearer,
cotton, rubber, and other flexible materials being also very expensive, I construct
these rollers of metal or other hard material which is more convenient, durable, and
cheaper in the end.
To compensate for the absence of that degree of flexibility possessed by the
materials mentioned, and to produce generally the advantageous conditions obtained
with the employment of those materials, I contract both the material to be squeezed
and the working length, width, of face of the rollers into the narrowest possible
limits; thus the rollers take the shape of discs, their edges being the working face,
and with the object of spreading the pressure equally over the whole material, out
of which the water is to be squeezed, and over the working face of the rollers,
I form one of the rollers with a flange on each side, thus forming a groove through
which the material to be squeezed passes, and the other roller. pressing it into the
groove.
To prevent the binding of the cloth or other material that is boing worked at the
edges of the roller (male) working in the groove (of the female roller), I make the
groove slightly wider at the bottom or face of the roller, its section thus resembling
a dovetail, the inclination being very slight; the edges of the flanges or groove,
however, I bend outwards in bell-mouth shape, which thus serves in throwing off
the water as it is being pressed out of the cloth or other material.
To secure a tight and yet easy fit of the male roller with the sides of the groove
on the female roller, I insert continuous strips of flexible material, leather, rubber,
or the like, a little distance from the edge, & I always place the grooved or female
roller uppermost to prevent rewetting the worked material.
The Drawing shows a machine as used by bleachers, dyers, calico printers, &c.,
with the cloth passing through a trough placed below, Fig. 1 being a sectional side
elevation, Fig. 2 a back view, and Fig. 3 a top view or plan, and Fig. 4 a section of
the edges of the two rollers on a larger scale.
The same letters denote the same parts.
M is the cloth or other material out of which the water is to be squeezed,
T being a trough, and r, r³, and 71 friction rollers; R is the plain or male, and R¹
the grooved or female roller revolving on axles A and A', the latter having a fixed
centre, while A is carried by the double lever L, L', centered at C, and pressed into
the groove, and against the material M by the spring S which is regulated to the
desired tension by a set screw K; P is the driving pulley, and F the frame of the
machine.
In Figure 4, E shews the edges or flanges of the grooved or female roller, and B
the packing in the straight or male roller.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed or carried out in practice,
I hereby declare that I do not limit myself to the precise forms or details described
and shewn, but claim (substantially as set forth), a squeezer with narrow metal or
other rollers, the upper one of which is made with flanges forming a groove, the

page_text: edges of which taper slightly inwards and then outward, in dovetail and bell-mouth
shape respectively, and the other one having a suitable packing slightly protruding
on each side.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Birch, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
WILLIAM BIRCH. (L.S.)
Witness,
A. HILDEBRANDT.