IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI- NERY FOR CUTTING TURNIPS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, WILLIAM
BURGESS,, of Newgate Street, in the City of London, Gutta Percha Dealer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Burgess, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Burgess, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Burgess, my
exors, admiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, 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, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI-
NERY FOR CUTTING TURNIPS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Burgess, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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, I, the said
William Burgess, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a certain combination of mechanical parts into a
machine for cutting turnips and other-substances.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side elevation in section; Figure 2 is a transverse section;
Figure 3 is a plan; Figure 4 shews a side elevation; and Figure 5 is an end
view of a machine made according to my Invention. Figure 6 is a plan, and
Figure 7 is a longitudinal section of what I call the cutter frame, which carries
a series of cutters or straight edged blades at both edges of the cutters.
a, α,
is the framing of the machine; b is the hopper or receptacle for the turnips or
other substances. The bottom of this hopper is partly open, it having blocks
or plates,, with spaces between them for the turnips or substances to fall
between, and as they fall through they descend on to and rest upon the boards
or plates c, c, fixed on the cutter frame c. These plates c I sometimes form
with openings, as shewn in the Drawings by one of them, to facilitate the
removal of small stones or other matters, and in such case I apply a box or
other suitable receptacle under those parts, to prevent such matters mixing
with the cut turnips. d, d, are several flat knives or cutters fixed across the
cutter frame c, and these cutters combined with the use of the clearing bars b¹
and the cutting blades 62, cause slices to be cut off, and the knives or cutters
to be cleared by the movement to and fro of the cutters, equal in thickness to
the space which is left between these cutters and the boards or plates c¹, c,
and therefore, according to the thickness of slice desired to be obtained, so
will be the depth of space between the cutters d, d, and the boards or plates
c, c. The frame d is supported by the flanched wheels f, f, moving on axes
fixed to the framing. By this arrangement the cutter frame can readily be
moved to and fro. 9 is a cranked axle having thereon a fly-wheel h and a
handle i, as shown. The crank gl gives motion to the cutter frame by means of
the connecting rod k, as will readily be understood on examining the Drawings,
or the cutter frame may be caused to move to and fro by any other convenient
means. By this arrangement of machine, supposing there were no other
knives or cutters than those shewn at d, d, the substances would only be cut
into slices, and therefore if it be desired to divide such slices, it will be requi-

page_text: site to employ other cutters 1, l, which make a vertical cut into the turnips
or other substances before the cutters d make their cuts. The details of the
machinery may be varied, and the parts shewn to be of wood may be of metal,
but I believe the arrangement and construction of parts shown to be the best
for the purpose.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise details; but what
I claim is, the mode herein described of combining the mechanical parts into
a machine for cutting turnips and other substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burgess, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand oight hundred and fifte on
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.