IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR CUTTING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Arthur Biddell, of Ipswich, in the County of
Suffolk, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
CUTTING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 12th September 1854, and dated the 10th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Arthur Biddell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th July 1854.
I, GEORGE ARTHUR BIDDELL, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINES FOR CUTTING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES" to be as follows:-
These improvements refer principally to machines used for cutting fodder
for cattle, and relate to those parts of such machines as are intended to advance
the material to be cut to the knives of such machines, and consist in using a
cam or cams or excentric movement, instead of wheels, worms, or cranks, as
hitherto used; these cams or excentrics being made to act upon a friction
roller carried upon a lever, to which a pall is attached, and by which a ratchet
wheel fixed upon one of the feeding rollers is moved, so as to advance the
material as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions, of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Arthur Biddell in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd January 1855...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ARTHUR BIDDELL,. of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Arthur Biddell, Her special licence that I, the said George Arthur
Biddell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Arthur Biddell, 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 MACHINES POR CUTTING VEGETABLE AND OTHER SUBSTANCES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Arthur Biddell,
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 monthis next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George, Arthur Biddell, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say) :—
:
These improvements refer principally to machines used for cutting fodder
for cattle, and relate to those parts of, such machines: as are intended to
advance the material to be cut to the knives of such machines, and consist in
using a cam or cams, or other eccentric movement, instead of wheels, worms,
or cranks, as hitherto used, these cams or eccentrics being made to act upon a
friction roller carried upon a lever, to which a pall is attached, and by which a
ratchet wheel fixed upon one of the feeding rollers is moved, so as to advance
the material as required.
Having described the nature of my Invention, I will now describe the

page_text: accompanying Drawing, which represents my invention, in what I Deneve
to be the most convenient form and arrangement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are to a scale of 1 inches to a foot; Figures 4 and 5
are to a scale of 6 inches to the foot, the same letters of reference in each
Figure referring to the same parts of the machine.
Figure 1 is a plan of the machine; Figure 2 is a longitudinal elevation;
Figure 3 is a front elevation.
Figures 4 and 5 are elevations, to a larger scale, of those parts of the machine
to which this Invention more particularly relates. a is a frame of wood, upon
which the metal work of the machine is mounted; b is a wooden trough or
box, into which the material to be cut is placed, whether for the food of animals
or otherwise; it is attached to and supported by the frame at one end and by
a leg cat the other. d is a cast-iron frame, in which the two rollers e, e',
revolve, as also one end of the main spindle f, the other end being carried by
a thimble g. The spindle f has a crank handle h attached to one end of it, as
also a fly wheel i, which carries two knives in the usual manner. The double
cam k is also attached to the main spindle f. This cam is of cast iron, and
chilled upon the face, which acts upon the friction roller 1, which is of steel or
wrought iron, case hardened. This roller is carried by a bent lever m, which
moves upon the axis of the lower roller as a fulcrum, and to the other arm of
this lever a pall n is attached by a pin, upon which it is free to move. This
lever is represented edgeways by Figure 5. o is a pall, attached to the frame d
by a screw p, upon which it is free to turn. This pall acts as a retainer for the
ratchet wheel q, which is firmly attached to the axis of the lower roller e'. The
two rollers e and e' are put in motion at the same time by means of two spur
wheels, which are fixed firmly to the axis of each roller; only one of these
wheels is shewn by the Drawing. The lever m is shewn in the Drawings
at its extreme range when acted upon by the cam, and when out of its action
it rests with its horizontal arm upon the frame a, and with this extent of
motion it operates upon the distance of two teeth of the ratchet wheel q, and
thus gives the greatest extent of motion at one time to the rollers; but if the
motion due to only one tooth of the ratchet wheel is required, the lever must
not be allowed to fall so far as to touch the frame a; and this is arranged for
by having a piece of wood s to slide upon the frame, (as shown in Figures 1
and 2,) which can be moved to or from the iron frame, and retained in its
position by the thumb screw t.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying it into effect, I would have it understood that I do not claim any of
the mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise form of
the cam, or to the details of construction, as set forth in the description and
Drawings; but what I claim is, the combination of a cam or cams with friction
roller or rollers and lever, for the purpose of advancing the vegetable or other
substances towards the knives..
In witness whereof, I, the said George Arthur Biddell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
ARTHUR THOMAS COLE,
of Ipswich,
Accountant.
GEORGE ARTHUR BIDDELL. (L.B.)