Improvements in Apparatus for. Moulding or Forming Pats or Blocks of Butter or other like Plastic, Material.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 19th Oct., 1896 - Accepted, 21st Nov., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for. Moulding or Forming Pats or Blocks
of Butter or other like Plastic, Material.
We, WILLIAM HUCKS, and WILLIAM HUCKS, Junior, both of 22 Oval Road
Camden Town, in the County of London, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows
This invention relates to improvements in the apparatus for. moulding, or
forming pats, or blocks of butter or other like plastic. material, described in the
Specification of Letters Patent No. 18749 granted to one of us (namely, William
Hucks, Junior) and dated the 19th October, 1892, the object of the present invention
being to increase the simplicity, compactness, and efficiency of the apparatus and
to render it very convenient in use.
For convenience of description I will now describe the invention as applied to
the making of pats of butter.
The butter is placed in tubes of a character fitted to be held in the tube carrier
of the machine, a number of the said tubes containing any given quantity of butter
to be operated being supplied to the user of the machine.
In the
In order to conveniently permit of the insertion of the said tubes into the
carrier therefor 1 mount the said carrier upon a lever, the said carrier being
retained in its normal position by reason of the said lever bearing against a
retaining catch which can be readily moved out of position to release the lever
and allow of the said lever turning on its fulcrum and therefore the butter tube
carrier swinging to a position in which the butter tubes can be conveniently
inserted or withdrawn. The stamp or design impressing device should always be
retained in water when not stamping. For this purpose I mount the said stamp
in a vessel which will contain water and is so arranged that when the stamping
device is in its lowest, or inoperative, position, the water will rise above the stamp,
or the stamp will sink below the water, and, when the said stamping device is
brought up into its operative position for impressing the butter, the water will
descend below the stamp or the stamp will be elevated above the water.
former case this may be effected by connecting the said water vessel with a
receptacle which remains stationary, so that the level of water in the vessel in which
the stamp is situated lowers when the said vessel is raised and rises when the said
vessel descends. In the other. case, namely, when the stamp is operated in the
water the stem carrying the stamp may pass through a gland in the lower part of
the water vessel and be acted upon by a cam which presses up the stamp above the
level of the water when the stamping device is in operation, a spring, or weight,
or the same cam returning it to its position beneath the water when the stamping
device is returned to its inoperative position. The mechanism of the machine may
be operated by means of a handle which is raised to effect the stainping and lowered
to protrude the required amount of butter from the tube and to operate the device
for severing the portion of butter so protruded. The handle may operate the
mechanism by being keyed to a shaft, or to a collar on a shaft, carrying a cam
or cams for acting upon the device which causes the depression of the plunger
into the tube containing the butter, the said cam or cams being so arranged that at
the final portion of the rise of the handle a slight depression is given to the plunger
sufficient to withstand the upward pressure of the stamp, and on the descent of the

page_text: handle to protrude the butter the requisite distance for a pat. The stamping device
and device for severing the protruded portion of butter may be operated by links from
the said shaft, or sleeve thereon, connected by other links to pieces sliding in vertical
guides in the frame of the machine these pieces being connected by further links
respectively to the stamping device carrier and to the carrier of the device for severing
the pat so that when the handle is raised the severing device is retreated and the
stamping device is operated to make its stamping stroke, and on the depression of the
handle, the stamping device returns to its normal position and the severing device
moves forward to sever the protruding butter.
In order to allow of the water being removed from the vessel containing the stamp,
its carrier may be arranged to turn upon the links by which movement is imparted to
it and the said carrier be connected by other links to a shaft carried in open bearings,
the said shaft being retained in normal position by a catch. When the said catch is
moved out of its retaining position the said shaft and the stamping device and its
carrier can be swung out of its normal position to discharge the water from the vessel.
The wire, or other device, used for severing the protruding butter should be brought
up in position for coming into contact with the end of the tube containing the butter
during the severing operation. This may be effected by carrying the support for the
severing device in slippers which run along grooves in the frame of the machine, the
hindermost slippers forming bearings on which the severing device carrier can turn,
whilst the forward slipper (or each of the forward slippers) has an inclined surface on
it which as the severing device carrier moves forward acts upon it to elevate the
severing device to the required position, whilst on the return stroke the said inclined
surface allows the severing device to return to its lowered position.
Dated this 18th day of December 1895.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Apparatus for Moulding or Forming Pats or
Blocks of Butter or other like Plastic Material.
We, WILLIAM НUCKS and WILLIAM HUCKS Junior, both of 22 Oval Road, Camden
Town, in the County of London, Engineers, 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 the apparatus for moulding, or forming,
pats, or blocks of butter, or other like plastic material, described in the Specification
of Letters Patent No. 18749 granted to one of us (namely William Hucks Junr.)
and dated the 19th October 1892, the object of the present invention being to
increase the simplicity, compactness, and efficiency, of the apparatus and to render
it very convenient in use.
I will describe the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings
as applied to the making of pats of butter. Figure 1 being a longitudinal vertical
section and Figure 2 a front elevation of the apparatus. The butter is placed in
tubes of a character fitted to be held in the tube carrier of the machine, a number
of the said tubes, containing any given quantity of butter to be operated, being
supplied to the user of the machine.
A is the carrier for the butter tubes B, one of which is shewn in position in the
carrier. To permit of the ready insertion and removal of the said tubes into and
from the carrier A, the said carrier is mounted upon a lever B' pivotted at B² to
the frame C of the apparatus so that the carrier can be tilted from its normal
position into an inclined position shewn by dotted lines in Figure 1. The carrier A

page_text: is retained in its normal position by a weighted or spring catch D engaging the
lever B¹ which catch can be readily moved out of position to release the lever and
allow of the said lever turning on its fulcrum B and therefore the carrier A
swinging to a position shewn by the dotted lines, in which position the butter tubes
can be conveniently inserted or withdrawn. The stamp for impressing a design on
the butter should always be retained in water when not stamping. For this purpose
I mount the said stamp in a vessel D2 which contains water and it may be so
arranged that when the stamping device is in its lowest, or inoperative position,
the level of the water will rise above the stamp, or the stamp will sink below the
water, and when the said stamping device is brought up into its operative position
for impressing the butter the level of the water will descend below the stamp, or the
stamp will be elevated above the water. In the former case this may be effected by
connecting the said water vessel with a receptacle which remains stationary, so that
the level of water in the vessel D² is situated lower, when the said vessel is raised
and rises when the said vessel descends. In the other case, as shewn in the drawings,
the stamp is carried on a stem c which passes through a gland or stuffing box d in
the lower part of the water vessel D2 and is acted upon by a cam E which presses the
stamp up above the level of the water when the stamping device is in operation,
a spring F surrounding the stem c returning the stamp to its normal inoperative
position beneath the water after each stamping operation.
The mechanism of the apparatus may be operated by any suitable means. I have
shewn a bandle G for the purpose, which handle is raised into the position shewn in
the drawings to effect the stamping and lowered to protrude the required amount of
butter from the tube B and to operate the device for severing the portion of butter so
protruded.
The handle G is keyed to or formed in one piece with a sleeve or collar H on a
non-rotating shaft or rod H₁ connecting the two side frames C of the apparatus.
On the collar or sleeve H is or are fixed or formed a cam or cams I which cam or
cams when the handle is depressed acts or act upon the device which causes the
depression of a plunger K into the tube B containing the butter.
The plunger is carried on the lower end of a rod K2 provided with rack teeth k
with which engages a pawl L carried in arms mounted on a shaft or rod M the
said pawl being weighted or acted on by a spring tending to force the detent into
engagement with the rack teeth.
The cam or cams has or have a projection or projections i so arranged that at
the final portion of the rise of the handle G, as to impart a slight depression to the
plunger K sufficient to withstand the upward pressure of the stamp when stamping
the device on the lower end of the charge of butter contained in the tube B. On
depressing the handle G, the cam or cams I act on the arms carrying the pawl L
which being engaged in the rack teeth k depresses the plunger K and forces the
butter from the lower end of the tube B to a distance necessary to form a pat.
The stamping device is mounted on a shaft or spindle T passing through bosses t
formed on a piece U to which the vessel D2 of the stamping device is attached. The
spindle T is connected by links V to pieces P which slide in slotted guides p in the
frame of the apparatus and also by an arm W to a sleeve w which is free to turn
on a rod X carried in the frame of the apparatus, so that when the handle is
depressed the stamping device is caused to descend and also to move backwards
from beneath the tube B. The stamping device is retained in its vertical position by
links Y connected at one end to the piece U and at their other ends to a shaft or
spindle X fitted to turn in open slots y in the frame C the said shaft or spindle ✗*
being retained in the slots y by a catch a pivotted to the frame C. By disengaging
the catch a from the spindle X the stamping device can be turned on the shaft or
spindle T into an inclined position so as to discharge the water from the vessel D' and
Iso to facilitate the removal and replacing of the stamp; the shaft or spindle ✗
liding out of the slots y to admit of this movement. On the end of the armi W
which is connected to the shaft T, is the cam or projection E, which, when the
tamping device is being raised into position to stamp the butter, presses upon the

page_text: stem c of the stamp and raises the said stamp above the level of the water in
the vessel D' and into contact with the butter in the tube B. When the stainping
device is being lowered the cam E moves from beneath the stem c of the stamp and
the said stamp is drawn down in the vessel D² to beneath the level of the water by
the spring F which bears at one end on a collar or head on the stem c and at the
other end on a shoulder in the passage through which the stem passes. While the
stamping device is being returned to its lower position the plunger K is depressed so
as to force the stamped end of the butter from the tube B, the severing device being
also moved forward to sever the protruding butter. The wire e, or other device, used
for severing the protruding butter should be brought up so as to come into contact
with the lower end of the tube B containing the butter during the severing operation.
The wire e is tightly stretched between two arms of a frame Z journalled in
slippers g fitted to slide in guides h in the frame C, other slippers 92 being also fitted
to slide in the guides h the said slippers 9 having inclined slots 9 in which studs or
projections near the forward end of the arms f of frame Z slide. The
frame Z is connected by links m to the sliding pieces P and to the links V
on the shaft or spindle which carries the stamping device, so that when the
stamping device is depressed the frame Z is moved forward, causing the wire e
to separate the protruding portion of the butter from that contained in the
tube B. To prevent the wire or cutter from being damaged by coming against the
tube B as the frame Z moves forward the guides h in which the slippers slide
are inclined downwards from their forward to their rear ends the slots g³ in the
slippers being also inclined in the same direction so that as the frame moves
forward the wire or cutter enters the protruding portion of the butter slightly
below the end of the tube B and as it proceeds it is gradually raised by the studs
or projections f sliding up the inclined slots 93 in the slippers 92 until the wire
comes into contact with the surface of the end of the tube B whereby the protruding
butter is severed close to the said tube. The butter thus separated swings or falls
from the wire and as it falls it turns half round and alights with its stamped side
uppermost on a plate or other receptacle placed in position to receive it.
frame recedes for the next operation the studs or projections f slide down the
inclined slots gå in the slippers 9³ thereby bringing the wire or cutter e below the end
of the tube B so that it returns to its normal position without coming into contact
with the said tube.
As the
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. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the apparatus for
forming pats of butter and the like substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
2. In apparatus of the kind hereinbefore described, a carrier for holding the butter-
containing tubes in position beneath the plunger the said carrier being mounted on a
lever retained in its normal position by a retaining catch which can be readily moved
to release the lever and allow it to turn on its fulcrum so as to bring the carrier into
position to admit of the ready insertion and removal of the tubes, substantially as
herein before described.
3. In apparatus of the kind herein before referred to, a stamping device comprising
a stamp for stamping or impressing a design on the butter, the said stamp being
mounted in a vessel which will contain water the stamp being covered by the water
when the device is in its inoperative position and caused to project above the surface
of the water when the stamping device is brought into operative position for
impressing the butter, substantially as hereinbefore described.
4. The combination and arrangement of levers and connecting links for imparting
to the stamping device a parallel motion when moving it into operative and inoperative
positions substantially as herein before described.
5. In apparatus of the kind hereinbefore referred to, a cutting device for severing

page_text: the butter to form pats the said device being caused to reciprocate beneath the tube
from which the butter is protruded the frame of the cutting device being carried in
slippers which slide in guides in the frame of the apparatus the hindermost slippers
forming bearings on which the cutter frame can turn whilst the forward slippers have
inclined surfaces on which the cutter frame rises as it moves forward so as to cause.
the cutter to be elevated to the required position, whilst on the return movement of
the cutting device the said inclined surfaces allow the cutter frame to return to its
lowest position and so prevent the cutter from coming into contact with the tube.
containing the butter substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 19th day of October 1896.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.