AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR DECORTICATING RAMIE AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Clayton Mewburn, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City
*
of London, Patent Agent and Consulting Engineer, for an Invention of
AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR DECORTICATING RAMIE AND OTHER VEGETABLE
FIBRES." A communication from abroad by Joseph Barnabé Sauvadon, of
1. Boulevard St. Denis Paris France
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Clayton Mewburn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th October 1881.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR DECORTICATING
RAMIE AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES." [A communication from abroad by
Joseph Barnabé Sauvadon, of 1, Boulevard St. Denis, Paris, France.]
The object of this Invention is to construct a portable machine for decorticating
ramie or other vegetable fibres either in the green or the dry state. The
improved machine is composed of side frames, between which are mounted
flattening and breaking rollers, and a beater or scutcher acting against a flexible
table to beat the pith and foreign matters from the fibres of the plant.
Having stated the nature of the Invention, I will describe the construction of
the machine more fully.
There are two frames between which are mounted, first, a pair of hollow cast
iron rollers, about 3 millimetres apart, for giving a first crushing or flattening to the
stalks or fibres. On leaving these rollers the fibres travel along a table and pass
between a second pair of rollers which are only one millimetre apart. The fibres
are thus further crushed or flattened.. They then travel along another table and
pass between a pair of fluted or grooved rollers of cast iron, wood, or other suitable
material which finally break the stalks or fibres. The fibres then pass over a
flexible table and are acted upon by a beater or scutcher, and they finally fall
down an inclined table or shoot. All the parts above described are worked by
means of a crank handle on a transverse shaft carrying a fly wheel. On this shaft
is a toothed wheel which gears with other wheels on the shafts of the two pairs of
crushing rollers. The fluted rollers and the beater are driven by belts from pulleys
on the shaft of one of the crushing rollers. The machine is mounted on a table or
on a small carriage, by which it can be moved from place to place.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Clayton Mewburn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1882.
JOHN CLAYTON MEWBURN, of 169, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent and Consulting Engineer. "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR DECORTICATING
RAMIE AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES." (A communication from abroad by
Joseph Barnabé Sauvadon, of 1, Boulevard St. Denis, Paris, France.)
The object of this Invention is to construct a portable machine for decorticating
ramie or other vegetable fibres either in the green or the dry state. The improved
machine is composed of side frames, between which are mounted flattening and
breaking rollers, and a beater or scutcher acting against a flexible table to beat the
pith and foreign matters from the fibres of the plant.
Having now stated the nature of the Invention, I will describe the construction
of the machine more fully, and will refer to the annexed Sheet of Drawings, in
which Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2, a longitudinal section; and Figure 3,
a front view of one of the improved machines.
There are two frames B, B, between which are mounted, first, a pair of hollow
cast iron rollers a, a', for giving a first crushing or flattening to the stalks or
fibres. On leaving these rollers the fibres travel along a table c and pass between
a second pair of rollers b, b', which are nearer together than the first pair. The
fibres are thus further crushed or flattened. They then travel along another table c¹
and pass between a pair of fluted or grooved rollers d, d', of cast iron, wood, or
other suitable material which finally break the stalks or fibres. The fibres then
pass over a flexible table ƒ and are acted upon by a beater or scutcher g, and they
subsequently fall down an inclined table or shoot h. All the parts above described
are worked by means of a crank handle i on a transverse shaft u carrying a fly
wheel v.
On this shaft is a toothed wheel; which gears with other wheels k, k¹,
1, 1, on the shafts of the two pairs of rollers a, a, b, b¹. The fluted rollers d, d¹,
are driven by a belt passing over a pulley m on the shaft of the roller a, and over
a pulley m¹ on the shaft of the roller d, the roller d driving the roller d². The
beater g is driven by a belt passing over a pulley n on the same shaft as the
pulley m, and over a pulley n³ on the shaft of the beater. The arrows indicate
the motion of the different parts. The machine is mounted on a table or on a
small carriage by which it can be moved from place to place.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention as communicated to me
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
The improved machine, constructed substantially as herein before described and
represented in the annexed Drawings, for decorticating ramie and other vegetable
fibres.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Clayton Mewburn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
J. C. MEWBURN. (L.S.)