Improvements in Machinery for Decorticating Fibrous Plants, Stems, and Leaves.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 19th July, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 19th Apr., 1894-Accepted, 9th June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Decorticating Fibrous Plants,
Stems, and Leaves.
We, JOHN CHARLES WALKER and JONATHAN EDWARD STEPHENSON, both
of Shipley Fields Mill, Shipley, in the County of York, Machine Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to Improvements in Machinery for Decorticating Fibrous
Plants, Stems or Leaves particularly applicable to that type of machine in which a
rotary beater having radial beater arms is arranged to act upon the stems or the
like whilst they are fed over a bed or counter-beater and the primary object of the
invention is to provide a more positive feed capable of dealing with plants, stems or
leaves varying considerably both in thickness and density or tenacity.
For this purpose we employ a pair of feed rollers one or both of which may be
fluted and instead of directly gearing these rollers together we drive them by
independent gearing of any suitable description so that however widely said rollers
may be parted by the plants, stems or leaves passing between them they are both
positively driven. An adjustable scraper may be provided particularly when plain
rollers are employed to prevent any portion of the plants or foreign matter
introduced therewith from adhering to the roller or rollers.
We find a fluted upper roller mounted in movable bearings regulated by weights
or springs and arranged in conjunction with a plain bottom roller revolving in rigid
bearings and provided with a scraper at the back next to the beater an efficient
arrangement.
When a curved bed or counter-beater is employed concentric with the beater we
prefer to form the top or edge of said bed first meeting the beater of an adjustable
steel plate which may be removed and ground to renew this edge.
We find a fly wheel on the beater shaft is a great advantage when dealing with
plants of irregular size and density.
A further object of our invention is to provide a simple arrangement for moving
the decorticated fibres away as they leave the machine.
For this purpose we allow the fibres as they leave the machine to drop across a
support with one end hanging down on each side. But to move the fibres along as
they accumulate we employ a bar or its equivalent preferably arranged in a space
or groove in said support open at the top. This bar is mounted upon cranks or
their equivalent so arranged that it may be periodically raised above said support
thereby raising the fibres and at the same time moving forward by the action of the
cranks or their equivalent carries the fibres with it before again dropping them upon
the support. Said bar may be operated automatically.
To prevent the two ends of the fibres being entangled the said support is
continued down below the end of the fibres.
To remove the fibres from the support a rod or pole may be placed preferably
alongside said bar and the fibres be lifted by it and carried away with it to be
dried.
Dated this 18th day of July 1893.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Decorticating Fibrous Plants,
Stems, and Leaves.
We, JOHN CHARLES WALKER and JONATHAN EDWARD STEPHENSON, both
of Shipley Fields Mill, Shipley, near Bradford, in the County of York, Machine
Makers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention relates to Improvements in Machinery for Decorticating Fibrous
Plants, Stems or Leaves particularly applicable to that type of machine in which a
rotary beater having radial beater arms is arranged to act upon the stems or the
like whilst they are fed over a bed or counter beater and the primary object of the
invention is to provide a more positive feed capable of dealing with plants, stems or
leaves varying considerably both in thickness and density or tenacity.
For this purpose we employ a pair of feed rollers one or both of which may be
fluted and instead of directly gearing these rollers together we drive them by
independent gearing of any suitable description so that however widely said rollers
may be parted by the plants, stems or leaves passing between them they are both
positively driven. An adjustable scraper may be provided particularly when plain
rollers are employed to prevent any portion of the plants or foreign matter
introduced therewith from adhering to the roller or rollers.
We find a fluted upper roller mounted in movable bearings regulated by weights
or springs and arranged in conjunction with a plain bottom roller revolving in rigid
bearings and provided with a scraper at the back next to the beater an efficient
arrangement.
When a curved bed or counter-beater is employed concentric with the beater we
prefer to form the top or edge of said bed first meeting the beater of an adjustable
steel plate which may be removed and ground to renew this edge.
A further object of our invention is to provide a simple arrangement for moving
the decorticated fibres away as they leave the machine."
For this purpose we allow the fibres as they leave the machine to drop across a
support with one end hanging down on each side. But to move the fibres along as
they accumulate we employ a bar or its equivalent preferably arranged in a space
or groove in said support open at the top. This bar is mounted upon cranks or
their equivalent so arranged that it may be periodically raised above said support,
thereby raising the fibres, and at the same time moving forward, by the action of
the cranks or their equivalent, carries the fibres with it before again dropping
them upon the support. Said bar may be operated automatically.
To remove the fibres from the support a rod or pole may be placed preferably
alongside said bar and the fibres be lifted by it and carried away with it.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying sheet of drawings forming a part of
this Specification in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts
in each of the figures.
Figure 1, represents a plan view of a decorticating machine constructed in
accordance with our improvements. The feed table and a portion of the frame-
work at the feed side is shown broken away to economise space.
Figure 2, represents an elevation of the delivery end of the machine.
Figure 3, represents a side view of the same.
Figure 4, represents a cross section on a larger scale of a portion of the beater
and the counter-beater and certain other parts.
The beater A is fixed upon the driving shaft A' mounted in bearings A³ secured
to the side frames A³ of the machine. The cross stays of the framework are
omitted so as to show the other parts more clearly. The driving shaft is provided
with fast and loose driving pulleys A* and a fly wheel A°. The upper feed roller B

page_text: is mounted in bearings B' formed at the end of the arms B and B pivoted upon
the shaft A' and this roller is driven from said driving shaft by the spur wheel B*,
fixed on the latter, engaging the double stud wheel B carried by B² and this stud
wheel communicates motion to the toothed wheel B° fixed upon the shaft B' of the
roller B. The lower feed roller C is mounted in bearings C¹ secured to the side
frames and is driven by the wheel C² secured on its shaft C³ engaging the spur
wheel C on A'. The stems or other material to be treated is placed on the table D
and being introduced between the feed rollers B and C are fed thereby over the
the counter-beater E and the projections A of the rapidly revolving beater A
operating in the ordinary manner draw the stems down over the concentric face of
the counter beater and strike out and remove the pulpy and other non-fibrous
portion of the material treated. The rollers B and C being close up to the
beater A the full length of the stems with the exception of a very small portion
at the latter end are thoroughly decorticated in this way and the end first operated
upon hangs down against the endless revolving apron F (provided to prevent
accumulations of gummy and sticky matter at the bottom of the counter-beater),
and when the stems are completely through the rollers the upper end travels with
the beater down the counter-beater and is thrown off the end with considerable
jerk. This is not new but is described so as to explain the manner the stems are
delivered onto the receiving apparatus in the manner shown by G Figure 3 which
represents the decorticated stems lying across the carrier H with their ends hanging
down on either side.
The carrier H consists of a rod or bar enclosed, with the exception of the top,
by the sides or supports H', H' and is mounted upon the crank pins H2, H2 of the
crank discs H³, H. The crank discs H³, H³ have a rotary motion imparted to them by
the endless chain H* operated by the sprocket wheel H mounted on the shaft H.
The shaft He is driven by the bevel wheels H', H', the vertical shaft H³, the horizontal
shaft H, and the worm wheel thereon H0 engaging the worm H" on the shaft C³.
A hand lever H¹ is provided with a claw piece h engaging the annular groove H¹³
in the boss of the wheel H10 and this wheel is so arranged that it may be moved
by said hand lever along the shaft H in the direction of the arrow Figure 3 so as
to disengage it from the worm H" and thus put the mechanism out of gear if
desired. The bevel wheels ' connect the shaft H and H. The object of this
mechanism is to impart a rising and falling as well as a reciprocating movement to
the carrier H, and at each revolution of the discs H³ the top of the carrier passes
below the top of the sides H¹ and whilst below is reciprocated in one direction the
fibrous material for the time being rests entirely upon the sides H' but the further
revolution of H³ raises H above H¹ and consequently lifts the fibrous material and
as the carrier is at the same time reciprocated in the reverse direction to that when
it was below the sides the fibrous material is carried along with it a certain distance
before being deposited on H' again. A rod H" (Figure 3) may be placed on the
top of H' to enable the fibres to be readily lifted and carried away when required.
The upper portion E' of the counter-beater E is preferably made adjustable as
shown in Figure 4 so as to allow for the upper edge E2 being ground when reduced
by wear. Å series of bolts E³ are employed to securely clamp the adjustable
piece E¹ to E and set screws E₁ are also employed to withstand the downward
pressure. The top corner E³ of E' is also designed to act as a scraper to keep the
roller C clean but we may employ an independent scraper.
The apron F is mounted upon rollers F and F, and the roller F1 is driven by
the chain F3 from the sprocket wheel F on the shaft C³.
The roller B may be pressed towards the roller C with a suitable pressure by
suspending the required weight to the arms B and B³.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. A decorticating machine in which the feed rollers are each driven by

page_text: independent mechanism so arranged that both rollers are positively driven either
when close together or more or less separated, substantially as herein shown and
described and illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings.
2. In a decorticating machine formed with a curved bed or counter-beater,
constructing said counter-beater so that the upper edge may be ground to renew
same and be adjusted to position, substantially as herein shown and described and
illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings.
3. In a decorticating machine, constructing the upper portion of the bed to be
adjustable and form a scraper or cleaner for the lower feed roller, substantially
as herein shown and described and illustrated in the accompanying sheet of
-drawings.
4. The combination with a decorticating machine, of a rising and falling and
reciprocating support or carrier arranged to receive the decorticated fibres and
adapted to move the same along either continuously or at intervals, substantially
as herein shown and described and illustrated in the accompanying sheet of
drawings.
Dated this 17th day of April 1894
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Bradford, Agents.