IMPROVEMENTS IN SUGAR CANE $3 BELLUS
Year: 1875

page_text: .LETTERS PATENT to James Gregson Chapman, of the Firm of
Fawcett, Preston, and Company, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, and 25, Austin Friars, in the City of London, Engineers,
11
for the Invention
TO
IMPROVEMENTS IN
SUGAR CANE
$3
BELLUS.
Sealed the 29th February 1876, and dated the 20th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Gregson Chap-
man at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th December 1875.
I, JAMES GREGSON CHAPMAN, of the Firm of Fawcett, Preston, and
Company, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and 25, Austin
Friars, in the City of London, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SUGAR CANE MILLS," to be as
follows:-
C
It is well known that in working the ordinary three-roll mill the
crushed cane is liable to accumulate under the centre roll above the
returner bar; the pressure against the top roll consequently becomes so

page_text: great that the engine is brought up as if a brake of enormous power
were applied, and the downward pressure upon the returner bar fre-
quently bends it when of wrought iron, or breaks it if of cast iron; or
in case the returner bar be inade so massive as to resist the force
brought upon it when the mill chokes, then if the engine is powerful
enough to continue to move, the result is the fracture of a crown
or "collar” or a shaft, and possibly a headstock or the mill frame. In
fact the returner bar is liable to cause so many accidents that it has
become an open question with engineers of great experience whether
it should be made so strong as to resist the breaking strain when the
mill chokes, and thus by sheer force overcome the effects of a bad
arrangement, or whether the returner bar should be straightened every
time the mill chokes, the loss of time thereby occasioned being patiently
put up with. Now the object of my Invention is to entirely dispense
with this returner bar which is the cause of so much anxiety, trouble,
and expense; this I effect by the employment of two independent pairs
of rolls. The cane after passing through the first pair of rolls slides down
an inclined table and falls upon a carrier (in the form of an endless travel-
ling apron or otherwise) which carries it to the second pair of rolls.
As there is no confined space in which the cane can become jammed, like
there is between the rolls and the returner bar of a three-roll mill, all
the excessive friction and danger of breakage in the three-roll mill are
avoided. The only friction or strain which takes place is that due
to the crushing of the cane, and the whole of this strain is taken
by the bolts and wrought-iron caps, and thus no part of the cast-iron
frame is subjected to any excessive violence as in the old mills. I
prefer to place the lower roll of each pair in advance of the upper, that
is to say, nearer the feed board.
A mill constructed according to my Invention, as before described,
which I call the "duplex two-roll mill," has the further advantage of
allowing machinery for a macerating process to be conveniently applied
such as that known as Russell's process patented by George Walters
Risien, on the 30th November 1874, No. 4094, the heat and moisture
chamber used in that process being placed between my two pairs of
rolls; a third pair of rolls may be added if thought necessary.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Gregson Chapman in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 19th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GREGSON CHAPMAN, of the Firm of Fawcett, Preston, and Company, of
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and 25, Austin Friars, in the
City of London, Engineer, send greeting.
+
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December,. in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Gregson Chapman,
Her special licence that I, the said James Gregson Chapman,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Gregson Chapman, 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 SUGAR CANE MILLS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Gregson
Chapman, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Gregson Chapman, do
hereby declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
It is well known that in working the ordinary three-roll mill the
crushed. canë iś. liable to accumulate under the centre roll above the

page_text: returner bar; the pressure against the top roll consequently becomes so
great that the engine is brought up as if a break of enormous power
were applied, and the downward pressure upon the returner bar fre-
quently bends it when of wrought iron, or breaks it if of cast iron; or
in case the returner bar be made so massive as to resist the force
brought upon it when the mill chokes, then if the engine is powerful
enough to continue to move, the result is the fracture of a crown wheel
or "collar," or a shaft, and possibly a headstock or the mill frame. In
fact the returner bar is liable to cause so many accidents that it has
become an open question with engineers of great experience whether
it should be made so strong as to resist the breaking strain when the
mil chokes, and thus by sheer force overcome the effects of a bad
arrangement, or whether the returner bar should be allowed to bend
and be again straightened every time the mill chokes, the loss of time
thereby occasioned being patiently put up with. Now the object of my.
Invention is to entirely dispense with this returner which is the
cause of so much anxiety, trouble, and expense. This I effect by the
employment of two independent pair of rolls. The cane after passing
through the first pair of rolls slides down an inclined table and falls
upon a carrier (in the form of an endless travelling apron or otherwise)
which carries it to the second pair of rolls. As there is no confined
space in which the cane can become jammed, like there is between the
rolls and the returner, bar of a three-roll mill, all the excessive friction
and danger of breakage in the three-roll mill are avoided. The only
friction or strain which takes place is that due to the crushing of the
cane, and the whole of this strain is taken by the bolts and wrought-
iron caps, and thus no part of the cast-iron frame is subjected to any
excessive violence as in the old mills. I prefer to, place the lower roll
of each pair in advance of the upper, that is to say, nearer the feed
board.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2
a plan of a mill constructed according to my Invention.
A, A, represent the first pair of rolls, and B, B, the second pair. The
cane from the feed board C passes through the first pair A, A, slides
down an inclined table D and falls upon a carrier E. This carrier is
composed of an endless travelling apron or series of laths, and it
carries the cane to the second pair of rolls B, B. The cane from these
rolls slides down the table F and is carried away by a similar carrier G,

page_text: or in any other convenient manner. The other parts of the mill will
be fully understood on reference to the Drawings without further
explanation.
A mill constructed according to my Invention, as before described,
which I call the "duplex two-roll mill," has the further.advantage of
allowing machinery for a macerating process to be conveniently applied,
such as that known as Russell's process, patented by George Walters
Risien, on the 30th November 1874, No. 4094, the heat and moisture
chamber used in that process being placed between the two pairs of rolls
A, A, and B, B. A third pair of rolls may be added if thought
necessary.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, con-
structing sugar cane mills, substantially as herein-before described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Gregson Chapman, have
hercunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
J. G. CHAPMAN. (L.S.)