A MACHINE FOR BREAKING STONES & OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Reidy, of 27, Cook Street, in the City of
Cork, Gasfitter & Engineer, for the Invention of "A MACHINE FOR
BREAKING STONES & OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Reidy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
March 1860.
I, JAMES REIDY, of 27, Cook Street, in the City of Cork, Gasfitter &
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A MACHINE
FOR BREAKING STONES & OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The annexed Drawing represents at Fig. 1 a transverse section of the
machine for breaking stones and other hard substances; it consists of
hammers a, mounted on stems b, sliding in suitable guides, the stems and
hammers being raised by cams or arms c on a rotating shaft d, driven by steam
or other suitable power. These hammers a are of hardened steel, and are
suspended immediately above a series of sharp steel cutters e, shown separately
in plan at Fig. 2; it will be observed that the cutters radiate from a point,
consequently the spaces between them increase downward. Although one
hammer only is shown, the machine is fitted with a series, in this the number
is eight, as seen by the number of cams c, and each hammer strikes on a set of

page_text: cutters, each having also cross cutters to make the set complete. The stems b
have stops on them, which prevent the hammers descending to touch the
cutters, and are furnished with springs to sustain them and break the con-
cussion should they fall when no substance to be broken rests on the cutters e.
The stones or other hard substances to be broken are fed in above the cutters e
from a suitable supply by the self-action of the machine. The rise and fall of
the hammers at same time going on, the substances so disposed to be broken
are cut and driven through between the cutters e, and fall into a receptacle
below, all under a certain size, according to the distance between the cutters e.
In the case of stones, the receiver should be a large truck, which can be easily
withdrawn and replaced by an empty one.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Reidy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
REIDY, of 27, Cook Street, in the City of Cork, Gas Fitter & Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Reidy, Her special licence that I, the said James
Reidy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Reidy, 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
"A MACHINE, FOR. BREAKING STONES AND OTHER HARD SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Reidy, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Reidy, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for breaking stones and
other hard substances, such as are used for macadamizing roads, ballasting
railways, concretes, and other like purposes, and which consists of one or more
hammers suspended on vertical guide rods, and rising and falling on a certain
description of cutter disposed beneath. The hammers are raised by suitable
cam or tappet apparatus & suffered to fall by their own gravity on the stones
beneath, the stoves at the time rest on a peculiar description of cutter box, in
which they are broken and driven through between the cutters by the force of
one or more blows of the hammer. A suitable supply of the stones or other
hard materials to be broken is maintained in the cutter boxes by feeding rollers
or other suitable means. The stones or other hard materials to be broken
are previously, of a suitable size naturally, to be supplied to the machine, or
are rendered so by being roughly broken by hand or otherwise.

page_text: the several hammers by the rotation of the shaft n; it will be readily understood
that the hammers are lifted by the tappets m, and released suddenly, & conse-
quently fall with great force on anything placed below them. The tappet
shaft n may either be driven by strap rigger p direct, as represented, or by
means of wheel gearing, as will be readily understood. The gearing at the
opposite end of n is for the purpose of communicating motion to the feed
rollers, which are to be arranged on one side of the bed, and driven at a slow
rate, & according to the nature of the materials under operation. These rollers
are a series of rollers forming an inclined plane, over which the stones are
carried by their motion being all in one direction, and conveying the stones
from a supply maintained at a higher elevation. R is the cutter box, seen in
section at Fig. 2, and separately represented in plan at Fig. 3, it is firmly
fixed in the bed b, and consists of a series of steel cutters 7, 7, radiating from
a centre, as seen in the section Fig. 2, but arranged parallel to each other in
the direction of the length of the machine; these cutters have their sharp edges
adjusted in a segment of a circle described from same centre as the lower end
of the hammer, as seen in the section Fig. 2, so that the blow is likely to take
equal effect on the whole series; these cutters are of cast steel, and suitably
hardened for the purpose, and are fitted in their box or frame so that they can
be easily removed for sharpening, &c.
It will be readily understood that stones or any other hard substance fed
into the cutter box will be broken by the repeated blows of the hammers, and
not only broken into pieces, but driven through the spaces between the
cutters r, r, and consequently all reduced below a certain regulated size, ac-
cording to the description of the cutters. The stones thus broken are received
in a suitable receptacle placed immediately below the cutters r, r, and in case
of stones this should be a truck moving on rails, and capable of holding eight
or ten tons. Motion is communicated to the shaft n of the machine by a steam
engine or other suitable driving power.
In order to prevent danger to the cutters 7, 7, in case there are no stones
between them and the hammers in falling, I dispose suitable spiral springs on
the rods d, between the collars l, formed on the rods d and the guide e, whereby
the fall of the hammer is alltogether arrested before it can come in contact
with the cutters; there is further introduced a large spring at the end of each
frame, to protect the entire number of hammers from striking the cutters.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same,
I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the arrangement of a
hammer or hammers & cutters operating as herein-before described with

page_text: reference to the Drawing annexed, for the breaking of stones and other hard
substances, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Reidy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JAMES REIDY. (L.S.)