IMPROVEMENTS IN MEAT MINCING MACHINES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Barr, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Hydraulic Engineer and Machine Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEAT MINCING MACHINES."
Sealed the 8th April 1879, and dated the 10th October 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Barr at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th October 1878.
ALEXANDER BARR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Hydraulic Engineer and Machine Maker. " IMPROVEMENTS IN MEAT MINCING
MACHINES."
This Invention has for its object to improve the construction and action of meat
mincing machines, so as to render them more efficient and satisfactory, and less
noisy than machines hitherto constructed for the same purpose..
In a machine made with one modification of the improvements there is a circular*
vessel to receive the meat, having a flat wooden bottom, and with its sides by
preference of a curved or bowl-like form. The sides of this vessel may be of cast
iron enamelled internally or of earthenware, or of any suitable material of a nature
not to injure the meat. The mincing is effected by circular knives or knife-edged
discs, of which there are two sets fixed on two horizontal shafts placed on opposite
sides of the centre in the same diametrical line, and driven in opposite directions by
means of spur gearing from a parallel shaft below, on which latter shaft there is a
handle for the application of manual power, or a pulley for a driving belt. Whilst
the circular knives rotate the vessel or dish is turned so as to bring the different.
parts of the meat in succession under the knives by a cord passing round the out-
side of the vessel, and round a pulley actuated from the gearing; or teeth or a
toothed ring on the outside of the vessel may be acted on by a pinion receiving its
motion from the gearing. The vessel or dish is not a fixture, but is guided so as to
be capable of moving vertically, and it is borne up against the circular knives by
the action of one or more counterweighted levers or cords passing over pulleys to

page_text: counterweights, or springs may be applied instead of weights either directly or
through levers. With this arrangement of the dish or vessel there is no tendency to
choke the circular knives, and if there should be bones or hard substances amongst
the meat the knives will not be injured as the vessel will yield downwards when
such substances pass under the knives.
In another modification the vessel or dish is made annular, and the two knife
shafts are geared together by bevil wheels at the centre, the motive power being
applied directly or indirectly to one of them. In other modifications, grooved or
other frictional gearing or belts may be substituted for toothed gearing. It is
preferred to have two or three circular knives in each set, but the number may be
varied, and modifications may be formed with one instead of two sets of circular
knives, but the speed of operation will be proportionally diminished. Stationary
scrapers are fixed to the framing against the knives for the knives to clean them-
selves on in rotating, and stationary ploughs or deflectors, also fixed to the framing,
are set in the parts of the vessel or dish, midway between the sets of knives, to
make the meat turn over as it is carried round by the vessel or dish.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alexander Barr in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
April 1879.
ALEXANDER BARR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Hydraulic Engineer and Machine Maker. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEAT MINCING
MACHINES."
My said Invention has for its object to improve the construction and action of
meat mincing machines, so as to render them more efficient and satisfactory, and
less noisy than machines hitherto constructed for the same purpose.
In my improved machine the mincing is effected by circular knives or knife-edged
discs fixed on one or more horizontal shafts and acting in combination with a
circular vessel or meat carrier having a flat wooden bottom, such vessel being made
to rotate slowly about a vertical axis so as to carry the meat continuously and
repeatedly under the knives. The vessel or dish is not a fixture, but is guided so
as to be capable of moving vertically, and it is borne up against the circular knives
by the action of one or more counterweighted levers, or by cords passing over
pulleys to counterweights; or springs may be applied instead of weights either
directly or through levers. With this arrangement there is no tendency to choke
the circular knives, and if there should be bones or hard substances amongst the
meat the knives will not be injured, as the vessel or dish will yield downwards
when such substances pass under the knives.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings,
to be herein-after referred to, and representing one modification of my improved

page_text: meat mincing apparatus. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used
to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is an end elevation of the
machine, with the gearing at the near end removed; Figure 2 is a vertical section
as at right angles to Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a plan of the meat vessel or dish
and the knives, with the covers or shields removed.
In the modification of my improved meat mincing apparatus, shown in the
Drawings, the parts are carried by a single frame standard or casting 4, made with
end upright parts 5, which are connected by upper and lower horizontal bars 6, 7.
On the upper horizontal shaft 6 there is fixed a central pillar 8, which serves as a
centre and guide for the dish 9, and as a support for the inner ends of the shafts
10, 11, which have the knives or knife-edged dises 12 fixed on them. The meat
dish is an annular vessel made with an elongated hollow boss or tubular centre
13, which is fitted to turn and move vertically on the pillar 8. The bottom of the
dish 9 is made with an annular recess, in which wood 14 is fixed, such wood having
its upper surface made flat, and flush with the part of the dish around the recess,
which part joins the sides or outer rim with a curve. On the boss 13 of the dish
there is fixed a spur wheel 15, by means of which the dish is turned, as herein-after
explained, and beneath this wheel 15 there is a loose ring 16, made with diametri-
cally opposite pins or trunnions, which engage with gabs in a handled lever 17,
made with a middle open or bowed part embracing the pillar 8. This lever 17 is
centered on a bracket 18, and on the further side of its centre has a weight 19
adjustably attached to it by means of a screwed rod 20 and nuts 21, 22. The rod 20
may pass through a slot in the lever 17, admitting of the rod being fixed nearer to
or further from the centre, so that the upward pressure on the dish 9, produced by
the action of the counter weighted lever 17, may be adjusted or regulated as may
be found desirable in practice. The screw arrangement of the rod 20 also allows of
the parts (at any time, and whatever be the diameter of the knives 12, within
certain limits) being adjusted so that the weight 19 just touches the floor on the
dish 9 being raised high enough for the wood bottom 14 to just touch the bottom
of the knives, and so that the wood bottom 19 will not be pressed against the
knives to the injury of both when there is no meat in the dish.
The knives 12 are simple flat discs fixed on horizontal shafts 10, 11, which shafts
are carried in bearings on the central pillar S, and in the upright parts 5 of the
frame. One knife shaft 10 has fast on it a pinion or spur wheel 23, which is in
gear with a spur wheel 24 on a horizontal shaft 25 having a crank handle 26 on
it. The shaft 25 has also fast on it a spur wheel 27 in gear with an intermediate
pinion 28 carried on a stud, and having in gear with it a spur wheel 29 on the
second knife shaft 11, on which there is also a fly wheel 30. The two knife shafts
10, 11, by means of the gearing just referred to are made to rotate in opposite
directions, as suits their diametrically opposite positions and the movement of the
dish 9. A bevil wheel on the shaft 25 drives a bevil wheel 31 on a short vertical
spindle, which is carried by brackets, and has on it a pinion 32 gearing with the
spur wheel 15, herein-before described as fixed to the boss 13 of the dish 9, and by
these parts the dish receives a rotatory motion about a vertical axis, such motion
having a ratio to the motion of the knives 12 depending on the gearing, the ratio
of which may be made whatever is found to be best in practice. The pinion 32 is
made with elongated teeth to allow of the vertical movement of the dish 9 and
wheel 15, without the wheels 15 and 32 getting out of gear. The lever 17 can be
moved by hand for lowering the dish 9 whenever required, and on being depressed
to its lowest position the lever 17 can be held by a catch 38, and the spur wheel 15
is then clear of the pinion 32, so that the dish 9 can be turned by hand indepen-
dently of the gearing.
A board or table 33 made with a circular opening of about the internal size of
the rim or sides of the dish 9, and with a rectangular or other convenient form at
its outer edge, is fixed at about the level of the knife shafts 10, 11. A strip or
shell 34 of metal is fixed round the edge of the opening of the table 33, so as to

page_text: project down a short distance into the dish 9, and shields or covers 35 are fixed on
the table over the knives 12, both as guards and to prevent the meat from being
thrown out by the knives. Guides or deflectors 36, 37, are fixed to the table 33,
and to the central pillar S, respectively, so as to project down into the dish and
have the effect of turning the meat over from the outer sides, and from the centre
into the middle of the annular space as it is about to pass under the knives.
Amongst the various modifications of which my improved meat mincing apparatus
is susceptible, the following may be mentioned. The two knife shafts (10, 11,) may
be geared together by bevil wheels at the top of the central pillar (8), the motive
power being applied directly or indirectly to one of the shafts. Steam or other
inotive power may be applied for driving the apparatus. Grooved or other frictional
gearing or belts may be substituted for the toothed gearing. I prefer to have two
or three circular knives in each set, but the number may be varied; and modifica-
tions of the apparatus may be formed with one instead of two knife shafts and sets
of knives. The sides of the meat vessel or dish (9) may be of cast iron enamelled
internally, or of earthenware, or of any suitable material of a nature not to injure
the meat.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described and delineated, but that what I believe to be novel
and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of machines for mincing
meat, substantially in the improved manner herein-before described.
2. The combining of circular knives or knife-edged discs on one or more rotating
shafts, with a meat carrier turning on an axis at right angles to the knife shaft or
shafts, substantially as herein-before described.
3. The combination of a counterweight or spring for bearing up the meat carrier
in the manner herein-before described.
+
4. The arranging of the meat carrier so as both to turn and to move in the
direction of its axis in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Barr, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ALEX BARR. (L.S.)