IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR BREAKING STONES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Thomas, of the Wharf, Cardiff, South
Wales, Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
POR BREAKING STONES."
Sealed the 27th December 1864, and dated the 1st July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Thomas at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st July
1864.
I, ALFRED THOMAS, of the Wharf; Cardiff, South Wales, Contractor, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR BREAKING STONES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for breaking
For these purposes a wheel or cylinder carrying projections at its
outer circumference is used. It is enclosed for the greater part of its circum-
ference in a fixed cover or case, and into an enclosed chamber connected with
this case or cover the stones to be broken are introduced by means of a hopper
or shoot. This chamber is capable of being raised or lowered at one end, so as
to cause its floor to incline towards the wheel or cylinder to a greater or less
extent, in order that the stones therein may slide down more or less rapidly,
as may be required, towards the wheel or cylinder; or the floor alone may be
arranged to move to be set at the desired inclination. At the end of the
floor next the wheel or cylinder an inclined trough is hinged, down which the
stones descend as they fall off the end of the floor; this trough is capable of

page_text: being adjusted to a greater or less distance from the wheel or cylinder, so that
larger or smaller stones may be allowed to pass. The projections on the
wheel or cylinder are faced with steel, and as the wheel or cylinder revolves
they act in succession against any stone or stones which may lodge between
the cylinder and the trough, or in a position to be struck by such projections,
and the stones will be broken by the sharp quick blows given to them by the
projections. The wheel or cylinder revolves so as to strike the stones upwards
and drive them again into the enclosed chamber, and at their next descent such
broken stones as are sufficiently reduced in size will pass between the inclined
trough and the wheel or cylinder and escape; they descend on to an
inclined screen, which discharges the broken stone free from dust into a
suitable receptacle, or on to a heap.
It is preferred that this machinery should be mounted on a suitable car-
riage on wheels, together with a steam engine to give a quick rotatory motion
to the axis of the wheel or cylinder, and such engine may by suitable gearing
give motion to one of the axles of the carriage, and thus render the carriage
locomotive; or the carriage may be arranged to be drawn by horses.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
THOMAS, of the Wharf, Cardiff, South Wales, Contractor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, 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 Alfred Thomas, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Thomas,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Thomas, my executors, 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 Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR BREAKING STONES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alfred Thomas, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should

page_text: 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 Alfred Thomas, 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 :-
stones.
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for breaking
For these purposes a wheel or cylinder carrying projections at its
outer circumference is used. It is enclosed for the greater part of its cir-.
cumference in a fixed cover or case, and into an enclosed chamber connected
with this case or cover the stones to be broken are introduced by means of a
hopper or shoot. This chamber is capable of being raised or lowered at one
end, so as to cause its floor to incline towards the wheel or cylinder to a
greater or less extent, in order that the stones thereon may slide down more or
less rapidly, as may be required, towards the wheel or cylinder; or the floor alone
may be arranged to move to be set at the desired inclination. At the end of
the floor next the wheel or cylinder an inclined trough is hinged, down which
the stones descend as they fall off the end of the floor; this trough is capable of
being adjusted to a greater or less distance from the wheel or cylinder, so that
larger or smaller stones may be allowed to pass. The projections on the
wheel or cylinder are faced with steel, and as the wheel or cylinder revolves
they act in succession against any stone or stones which may lodge between
the cylinder and the trough, or in a position to be struck by such projections,
and the stones will be broken by the sharp quick blows given to them by the
projections. The wheel or cylinder revolves so as to strike the stones upwards
and drive them again into the enclosed chamber, and at their next descent
such broken stones as are sufficiently reduced in size will pass between the
inclifed trough and the wheel or cylinder and escape; they descend on to an
ininclined screen, which discharges the broken stone free from dust into a
suitable receptacle, or on to a heap.
It is preferred that this machinery should be mounted on a suitable car-
riage on wheels, together with a steam engine to give a quick rotatory motion
to the axis of the wheel or cylinder, and such engine may by suitable gearing
give motion to one of the axles of the carriage, and thus render the carriage
locomotive; or the carriage may be arranged to be drawn by horses.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a side elevation, partly in section, and Figure 2 a front
end elevation, partly in section.
a is a wheel or cylinder having projections 6, 6, at intervals on its periphery;
this cylinder revolves within a case c, c, with considerable velocity, say, three
or four hundred revolutions per minute; d, d, is an enclosed chamber, which
is hinged at its front end, and is arranged to move up and down to some
extent, in order that the inclination of the bottom may be somewhat varied.
The forward end of this chamber enters the case, within which the wheel or
cylinder a, a, revolves. The stones to be broken are introduced into the
hopper or shoot e. The stones as they are struck with great force are thrown
into the chamber, and the pieces descend to the bottom of such chamber and
slide down towards the wheel or cylinder a, and any pieces of stone which
will not pass the plate at fwill be again and again struck by the projections
on the wheel a until they are sufficiently reduced in size to pass between the
plate fand the wheel a; they then fall into the shoot g.
In the arrangement shown the machinery is combined with a portable
engine, but this is not essential, as the machinery may be arranged separate
from the steam engine or power employed to actuate the machinery. The
raising and lowering of the bottom of the chamber is shown to be by rack and
pinion, but this may be varied. The stones as they are struck fly off to the
end of the chamber, and in order to prevent them rebounding they are by the
form of the chamber and the curved plate h deflected downwards on to
the bottom of the chamber.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim the combined
arrangement herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Thomas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
ALFRED THOMAS. (L.8.)