IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING OR PREPARING THE FIBRES OF THE PLANTAIN, BANANA, ALOE, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR VARIOUS MANUFACTURING PURPOSES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Burke, of Woodlands, Montserrat, British
West Indies, at present residing in London, Gentleman, for the Inven
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING OR PREPARING THE FIBRES OF THE
PLANTAIN, BANANA, ALOE, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR VARIOUS MANUFACTURING
PURPOSES
Sealed the 7th December 1855, and dated the 14th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Burke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
July 1855.
I, FRANCIS BURKE, of Woodlands, Montserrct, British West Indies, at
present residing in London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING OR PREPARING THE FIBRES OF
THE PLANTAIN, BANANA, ALOE, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR VARIOUS MANUFACTURING
PURPOSES," to be as follows:
My said Invention of "Improvements in Obtaining or Preparing the Fibres
of the Plantain, Banana, Aloe, and other Vegetables for various Manufac-
turing Purposes," consists in submitting the vegetables or vegetable substances
to the action of beaters or projections, fixed upon the periphery of a revolving
dram, roller, or cylinder, so that the fibres may be separated from the other
vegetable matters with which they may be combined or mixed.
An apparatus for this purpose, constructed according to my Invention, may

page_text: be furnished with one or with several cylinders or rollers, having such beaters
or projections as aforesaid fixed upon the periphery of each cylinder or roller.
The beaters or projections may be made of metal, wood, or other convenient
material, and they may be made in the form of bars, or of any other conve-
nient form, projecting to a sufficient distance from the surface of the cylinder
or roller upon which they may be placed, to cause them to act efficiently as
beaters, scrapers, or bruisers upon the vegetable matters to be operated upon.
The beaters or projections upon. a cylinder or roller may be all of the same
shape and size, or may be made of different shapes and sizes, so as to produce
a varied action upon the vegetable matters. The stalks, stems, or leaves of
the plants or other vegetable matters to be operated upon, are supported
or upheld upon a platform, travelling apron, or other convenient surface or
support whilst being subjected to the action of the beaters or projections, so
that the material may be allowed to travel slowly under or past the cylinder
or cylinders, and be subjected to the action of the beaters or projections, until
the required effect shall have been produced.
".
The platform or apron upon which the vegetable matters are placed, I
cover with leather or other soft material, or make it in such a manner as
to be somewhat yielding, in order to prevent the vegetable fibres being injured
by the action of the beaters or projections; and I mount or place the plat-
form or travelling apron upon or above yielding supports, springs, or joints, so
that they may yield when necessary to the pressure or action of the beaters
or projections upon the vegetable material opèrated upon.
When the apparatus is furnished with only one beating cylinder, the
material to be operated upon may be supported either upon a platform or upon
a travelling apron, and before the whole of the material has passed under the
beating cylinder it may be drawn back, so as to pass again under the beating
cylinder, more effectually to cleanse the fibre. One scraper or several scrapers
may be so placed behind the cylinder, or behind the last of the cylinders, as
to assist in cleansing the fibre when it has passed under the beaters or pro-
jections; but when the apparatus shall be intended to operate upon large
quantities of material, I prefer to construct it with two or more of such
cylinders, and to furnish it with one or more travelling aprons, 'passing under
and supporting the material whilst it is operated upon by the beaters of each
cylinder.
1.
do'
Instead of a platform or a travelling apron such as I have mentioned above,
a cylinder covered with leather or some other suitable soft material may be
used for supporting or upholding the material whilst it is operated upon by
the beaters or projections of the beating or bruising cylinder, such supporting

page_text: or upholding cylinder being mounted upon yielding supports or bearings, for
the purpose herein-before mentioned.
I cause the surface speed of each beating or bruising cylinder to be much
greater than the surface speed of the travelling apron, cylinder, or other
support by or upon which the vegetable material is supported or held, so that
each part of the material operated upon may be subjected to the action or
operation of several beaters or projections upon the beating or bruising cylinder.
During the operation of the apparatus, a quantity of water (either cold or
hot) may be caused to fall or flow upon the material sufficient to keep it
thoroughly wet, and thus facilitate the action of the beaters or projections in
separating or detaching the fibres of the vegetable from the other matters with
which they are combined or mixed.
The fibrous material which has been obtained by the action of this appa-
ratus may be washed in water, for the purpose of further separating the other
matters with which it may be mixed, and the fibres may be subjected to any
ordinary processes for preparing them to be made into textile fabrics, or to be
applied to any other manufacturing purpose to which they may be applicable.
The apparatus may be used for operating upon vegetable matters in the fresh
or green state, or after being wetted or subjected to any process for facilitating
the separation of the fibres.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Burke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
BURKE, of Woodlands, Montserrat, British West Indies, at present residing in
London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Francis Burke, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Burke, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or..such others as I, the said Francis
Burke, my exccutors, 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING CR
PREPARING THE FIBRES OF THE PLANTAIN, BANANA, ALOE, AND OTHER VEGETABLES
FOR VARIOUS MANUFACTURING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Francis Burke, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Francis Burke, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-
-
My said Invention of "Improvements in Obtaining or Preparing the Fibres
of the Plantain, Banana, Aloe, and other Vegetables for various Manufacturing
Purposes," consists in submitting the vegetables or vegetable substances to the
action of beaters or projections, fixed upon the peripherie of a revolving drum,
roller, or cylinder, so that the fibres may be separated from the other vegetable
matters with which they may be combined or mixed.
An apparatus for this purpose constructed according to my Invention may
be furnished with one or with several cylinders or rollers, having such beaters
or projections as aforesaid fixed upon the periphery of each cylinder or roller.
The beaters or projections may be made of metal, wood, or other convenient
material, and they may be made in the form of bars, or of any other conve-
nient form, projecting to a sufficient distance from the surface of the cylinder
or roller upon which they may be placed, to cause them to act efficiently as
beaters, scrapers, or bruisers upon the vegetable matters to be operated upon.
The beaters or projections upon a cylinder or roller may be all of the same
shape and size, or may be made of different shapes and sizes, so as to produce
a varied action upon the vegetable matters. The stalks, stems, or leaves of
the plants or other vegetable matters to be operated upon, are supported or
upheld upon a platform, travelling apron, or other convenient surface or sup-
port whilst being subjected to the action of the beaters or projections, so that
the material may be allowed to travel slowly under or past the cylinder or
cylinders, and be subjected to the action of the beaters or projections, until the
required effect shall have been produced.
The platform or apron upon which the vegetable matters are placed, I cover
with leather or other soft material, or make it in such a manner as to be
somewhat yielding, in order to prevent the vegetable fibres being injured by
the action of the beaters or projections; and I mount or place the platform

page_text: or travelling apron upon or above yielding supports, springs, or joints, so that
they may yield when necessary to the pressure or action of the beaters or pro-
jections upon the vegetable material operated upon. When the apparatus is
furnished with only one beating cylinder, the material to be operated upon
may be supported either upon a platform or upon a travelling apron, and before
the whole of the material has passed under the beating cylinder it may be
drawn back, so as to pass again under the beating cylinder more effectually to
cleanse the fibre. One scraper or several scrapers may be so placed behind
the cylinder or behind the last of the cylinders as to assist in cleansing the
fibre when it has passed under the beaters or projections; but when the
apparatus shall be intended to operate upon large quantities of material, I
prefer to construct it with two or more of such cylinders, and to furnish it
with one or more travelling aprons, passing under and supporting the material
whilst it is operated upon by the beaters of each cylinder.
Instead of a platform or a travelling apron such as I have mentioned above,
a cylinder covered with leather or some other suitable soft material may be
used for supporting or upholding the material whilst it is operated upon by
the beaters or projections of the beating or bruising cylinder, such supporting
or upholding cylinder being mounted upon yielding supports or bearings, for
the
purpose herein-before mentioned.
I cause the surface speed of cach beating or bruising cylinder to be much
greater than the surface speed of the travelling apron, cylinder, or other
support by or upon which the vegetable material is supported or held, so that
cach part of the material operated upon may be subjected to the action or
operation of several beaters or projections upon the beating or bruising cylin-
ders. During the operation of the apparatus, a quantity of water (either cold
or hot, may be caused to fall or flow upon the material sufficient to keep it
thoroughly wet, and thus facilitate the action of the beaters or projections in
separating or detaching the fibres of the vegetable from the other matters
with which they are combined or mixed.
The fibrous material which has been obtained by the action of this appa-
ratus may be washed in water for the purpose of further separating the other
matters with which it may be mixed, and the fibres may be subjected to any
ordinary processes for preparing them to be made into textile fabrics, or
to be applied to any other manufacturing purposes to which they may be
applicable.
The apparatus may be used for operating upon vegetable matters in the
fresh or green state, or after being wetted or subjected to any process for
facilitating the separation of the fibres.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The form of the machine used may be varied in its detail, but in substance
the action will in all cases be the same. The vegetable matters above men-
tioned are, by preference, to be treated when in the green and undried state;
and the most simple form of machine, when the fibrous matters are not to be
held by the hand during the beating process, but fed continuously to the
machine, is as follows: A fluted roller of cast iron (about ten inches
diameter and about two feet six inches long) is the size I prefer, but the size
may be varied; and in place of being fluted, ribs or projections may be formed
or applied on. a cylinder or roller, and, by preference, parallel with the axis.
The outer edges of the flutes, ribs, or projections are to be formed smooth and
blunt, like the back of a table knife, so as to bruise and to some extent scrape
or force the green pulpy matter from the fibres without cutting. This roller
or cylinder I prefer to rotate at the rate of 1,000 to 1,500 revolutions in a
minute; but this may be varied. Below this roller is an endless apron, with
a slow surface speed; what I have used is a speed of about one fourteenth
of that of the surface of the roller or cylinder above described. This apron
I
prefer. to be of strong leather, on to which the vegetable matters are placed
longitudinally in a thin layer, and the same is pressed down on to the apron by
a:small pressing roller, and in this manner the vegetable substance is pre-
sented to the action of the beating cylinder or roller, and is beaten by the edges
of the flutes or projections. And in order to give effect to such beating, there
is a moveable bed or platform under the apron just where the beating takes
place, and I prefer that it should be coated with vulcanized india-rubber to
give elasticity thereto. This bed or platform is upheld by a spring, or it may
be by lever and weight. By this arrangement the vegetable fibrous-matters
above mentioned are moved slowly through the machine, whilst the beating of
the projecting ridges of the cylinder is in very quick succession.. And to aid
the process of separating the green vegetable matters from the fibres, I have
found it advantageous to have a continuous stream or dropping of water on
to the vegetable matter as the same comes under the beating action, but this
is not essential if water. cannot readily be obtained. If in passing the vege-
table matters once under the action of the machine they be found not to have
been sufficiently cleaned or separated, the matters, are to be again acted on
thereby; or in place of having only one beating cylinder or roller, and beds or
platforms, there may be two or more in succession acting with the same apron,
so that, the vegetable matter having passed under the action of the first beat-
ing cylinder or roller, it would be again acted on by another and then another..

page_text: In cases where it is desired to hold the fibre back at one end when the other
end of a quantity held in the hand of a workman is being acted on, I dispense
with the endless apron, and simply use the bed or platform, and the beating
cylinder or roller, in which case I prefer that the upper surface of the platform
or bed (which in each case only requires to be a few inches wide) should be of
wood. According to this arrangement the workman would hold a quantity
of the vegetable matters above mentioned in his hand, and would present the
other end to the beating roller and the bed, which would cause that end to be
beaten as it was drawn by the workman over the bed table or platform. The
workman would then turn the fibrous matters end for end, and have the other
end acted on in like manner.
The vegetable matters above mentioned having been beaten and acted on as
above described, are then to be well washed with water and dried, when they
will be in a condition to be used for manufacturing purposes by ordinary
processes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Burke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
HENRY HEATHCOTE,
Southampton,
17 Sept., 1855.
FRANCIS BURKE. (L.S.)