Improvements in Tea Machinery.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 12th July, 1893-Accepted, 19th Aug., 1893.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tea Machinery.
I WILLIAM PARNALL of 108 Victoria Street Bristol Grocers' Outfitter. do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
. My invention relates to tea breaking and sifting machines. The cutting rollers
instead of being fixed in the ordinary manner are provided with a groove at one
end of the roller, into said groove I drop a plate or other suitable stop to retain
the roller or rollers in position. In connection with the said rollers I arrange one
or more knives but instead of being fixed, or made to lift, are constructed to move
backwards and kept against a shoulder by means of a lever weighted at the end.
Working against said knife or knives I construct a special form of ratchet or
wheel arranged so that the teeth are not provided with a continuous flange. The
forenamed may be worked with a tea sifting machine.
Dated this 10th day of September 1892.
WILLIAM PARNALL.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tea Machinery.
I, WILLIAM PARNALL of 108 Victoria Street, Bristol, in the County of Gloucester,
Grocers' Outfitter, 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 tea breaking and sifting machines and will be best
understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is an end elevation of apparatus constructed according to this
invention.
Figure 2 a plan.
Figure 3 a transverse section on line 3-3 of Figure 2.
Figure 4 a perspective view of a portion of one end of the apparatus showing one
of the rolls wholly removed and the other partly so.
Figure 5 is an edge view of separated portions of two of the "ratchets" or discs
of which the rolls are constructed, and
Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 showing the two portions closed together
as in the completed roll.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
A AA is the casing in which all the operative parts of the machine are
supported. B B¹ are the rolls each of which is preferably constructed of a number
of "ratchets" or discs, portions of which are shown in detail in Figures 5 and 6.
Each of these discs at its edge is provided with a wall B' which forms a zigzag and
extends inwards towards the centre of the disc to a depth corresponding with the
depth of the pockets B³, Figure 3, it is desired to provide the finished roll with.
These zigzag walls, when the discs are placed side by side, as shown in Figure 6,
form the square pockets B³ without the employment of continuous flanges which is
considered advantageous in so far as it renders the roll less liable to damage.
A number of the discs are secured on shafts C so as to form rolls of desired length
and each series of discs are clamped tightly together between a fixed collar or
shoulder on the shaft and a nut screwed on said shaft or in other convenient
Instead of employing
manner as for example on a sleeve secured on the shaft C.

page_text: rolls constructed as last described I may use rolls or "ratchets
construction.
"
of ordinary
The ends of the shafts C project through the end walls A' A² of the casing, one
of these walls viz. ;-A being provided with bearings A³ for supporting the
shafts.
The wall A is formed with openings A* of sufficient size to admit of the
rolls B B being passed through them and form bearings for the larger ends of
the rolls, the diameter of the parts B supported and rotating in these openings or
bearings A being preferably the same as the portion of the rolls ordinarily located
at the inside of the casing. The parts B₁ of the rollers may be in the form of
sleeves rigidly secured on the shafts C and if desired they may be formed in part
(as large bosses) with the spur wheels D secured on shafts C and which are
adapted to gear together as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Each of the bosses B4 is
formed with a circumferential groove B Figure 4 which, when the roll is in
working position is located within the appropriate bearing A and receives one
corner of a plate E, which corner projects through an opening A' Figure 4 and, as
shown in dotted lines in Figure 1 enters said groove B.
The shafts C extend beyond the spur wheels D as at C¹ so as to admit of their
being used as handles when moving the rolls B B in or out of the machine.
6
The plate E is capable of being raised and lowered in a socket or guide A
formed in or on the wall A³ conveniently by means of a handle E' its motion being
limited by a screw or equivalent E2 working in a slot A' in the guide A®.
F are bars, or they may be rollers, extending from one end plate A¹ to the
other A² in close proximity to the surface of the rolls B B' so as to form supports
for the inner parts of the rolls when they are being moved in or out of the
machine.
G is a bar conveniently secured by flanges G' and bolts G2 to the end walls A' A'
and which has a preferably diamond-shaped section as shown in Figure 3 its sharper
edges being in close proximity to the surface of the rolls B B' so as to prevent the
tea when charged into the machine from falling between the rolls, and also serving,
should the rolls be rotated in the reverse direction, as edges or knives against which
the tea will be broken:
H are the knives each of which consists of a blade or knife proper H secured by
bolts or equivalent H₁to arms or a plate H2 secured on a shaft H³ the ends of which
are supported in suitable bearings in walls A'A'. At one end, each of the shafts H³
projects beyond the wall A2 and has secured on it an arm H on which is secured a
weight H, which latter may be adjustable on said arm H*. I are stops secured in
the walls A' A2 and against which the knives H are normally pressed by the
weights H; these stops may conveniently be square headed bolts screwed into the
walls A¹ A'.
J is the driving shaft supported in suitable bearings in walls A¹ A2. and having
secured on one end a spur wheel J' in gear with the wheel D of roll Band on the
other end a crank handle or pulley or equivalent (not shown in the drawings) by
means of which it may be rotated either by hand or power.
K are lubricators applied to the bearings A.
In operation the shaft J and wheel J₁ and through them the wheel D and
rolls B B are rotated in the directions respectively indicated by the arrows in
Figures 1 and 3 and the tea is charged into the machine through a suitable hopper
or the like. The tea is then carried by the rolls against the knives H and thereby
broken and should any hard substances or articles such as: nails, which would
.otherwise injure the machine be contained in the tea, they will, when brought
against the knives H cause said knives to be lowered or moved aside against the
influence of the weights H' and thereby allow said hard substances or articles to
pass through the machine without damaging it, the knives after the passage beyond
them of these substances or articles being immediately returned by the weights H$ 5
to their proper working position.
When it is desired to remove the rolls from the machine to replace them by

page_text: others or for other purposes all that is necessary is to raise the plate E out of
engagement with the grooves B and draw the rolls longitudinally through the
openings or bearings A' as shown in Figure 4; to lock the rolls in their working
position the plate E as before described is lowered so as to engage with the
grooves B'.
The before described apparatus may either be employed by itself and have a
hopper attached to the lower part of the casing A A A to deliver the broken tea
into any desired receptacle or it may be used in conjunction with or form part of a
sifting machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
"
1. In apparatus such as described a "ratchet or disc having a zigzag wall or
edge such as B substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings..
"
2. In apparatus such as described a roll composed of "ratchets or discs having
zigzag walls or edges such as B2 substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
3. Iu apparatus such as described the combination with a grooved roll such
as B B or B B of a movable plate such as E substantially as and for the purpose
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4. In apparatus such as described the combination with the rolls of yielding
knives such as H substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
5. In apparatus such as described the combination with the rolls of bars such
as F and G substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
6. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete tea
breaking machine substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 7th day of July 1893.
WILLIAM PARNALL.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.