IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO CENTRIFUGAL DRYING MACHINES OR HYDRO-EXTRACTORS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George William Wigner, of No. 1, Saint Swithin's
Lane, in the City of London, Analytical Chemist, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO CENTRIFUGAL DRYING
MACHINES OR HYDRO-EXTRACTORS."
Scaled the 12th July 1870, and dated the 8th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George William Wigner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th March 1870.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM WIGNER, of No. 1, Saint Swithin's Lane, in the
City of London, Analytical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO CENTRIFUGAL
DRYING MACHINES OR HYDR)-EXTRACTORS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to centrifugal drying machines otherwise known
as hydro-extractors used for drying sewage deposit, earth, mud, sugar,
and other plastic or moist substances.

page_text: The said machines consist of perforated metallic cylindrical baskets
or sieves for containing the substance to be dried, which baskets or
sieves revolve within cylindrical casings, into the annular space between
which baskets and casings the water extracted from the substance under
treatment is thrown by centrifugal force. Such substance as it is dried
accumulates around the internal circumference of the basket or sievc,
and is usually removed therefrom by shovelling or digging.
Now my Invention consists of the machinery or apparatus herein-after
described to be applied to centrifugal drying machines for the purpose
of removing and discharging therefrom the sewage deposit, mud, sugar,
or other substance accumulated around the side of the basket or sieve as
aforesaid.
The said machinery or apparatus is constructed and arranged as
follows. To the edge of the cylindrical casing within which the basket
or sieve aforesaid revolves is affixed a bed on which moves horizontally
a sliding bracket (somewhat resembling the slider of the slide rest of a
lathe), which bracket is traversed as required in the direction of a radius
of the machine by means of a screw and winch or other suitable
mechanical arrangement. The inner end of this bracket projects over
the basket or sieve, and carries a slider to which vertical motion in
either direction can be imparted by means of a worm wheel mounted on
a shaft or axle turning in bearings in the horizontal sliding bracket
aforesaid, the thread of which worm wheel engages in a rack formed on
the said vertical slide. The shaft upon which the said worm wheel is
affixed carries a bevil toothed wheel which is turned by means of another
bevil toothed wheel mounted on a shaft furnished with a winch.
Any other suitable mechanical arrangement may however be used for
the purpose of raising and lowering the vertical slide. On the lower
end of the said slide is formed or affixed an axis which carries two plates,
the lower one of which is capable of partial rotatory motion on the said
axis. To this lower plate is affixed a socket or a bracket in which is
inserted or to which is affixed the cutting tool used for removing the sub-
stance accumulated around the side of the basket or sieve. Concentric
curved slots are formed in one of the said plates through which pass
screws carried by the other plate and furnished with nuts, by means of
which arrangement the moveable plate and the socket and cutting
tool carried thereby can be fixed at any angle to which they have been
moved,

page_text: The cutting tool herein-before referred to may be either tubular, or of
any other form suitable for cutting. When a tubular tool is used it
may be of any convenient form in cross section, and communicates with
a discharge pipe which rises and falls with the vertical slider herein-
before described. In some cases an india-rubber or other flexible tube
may be attached to a cutting length of metallic tube so as to discharge
the substance at any convenient point. When a cutting tool which is
not tubular is used the discharge pipe referred to is or may be dispensed
with, and an endless travelling belt or band may be used for effecting
the removal from the machine of the substance taken off the side of the
basket or sieve by the said tool.
The action of the apparatus is as follows.-The horizontal sliding
bracket is moved towards the circumference of the basket, and adjusted
at such a distance therefrom that the cutting tool shall enter the
substance to be removed. The said tool is then moved up and down
so that as the said substance is brought under the operation of the said
tool by the revolution of the basket or sieve a helical cut is made in the
said substance. The portion thus cut away from the mass passes either
through the tool and the discharge pipe in connection therewith (where
a tubular tool is used) or (where a cutting tool which is not tubular is
used) on to the endless belt or band herein-before referred to. When the
cutting tool has arrived at the end of its upward or downward traverse
and before its motion is reversed the horizontal bracket is moved
towards the side of the basket or sieve so as to cause the said tool again
to enter the substance to the depth required for the next cut.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George William Wigner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILLIAM WIGNER, of No. 1, Saint Swithin's Lane, in the City of
London, Analytical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and

page_text: grant unto me, the said George William Wigner, Her special licence that
I, the said George William Wigner, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George William Wigner, 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 5
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 OR APPLICABLE TO CENTRIFUGAL DRYING MACHINES OR HYDRO-EXTRACTORS,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George William 1
Wigner, 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 1
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George William Wigner, 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 :—
My Invention relates to centrifugal drying machines, otherwise known
as hydro-extractors, used for drying sewage deposit, earth, mud, sugar,
and other plastic or moist substances.
2
The said machines consist of perforated metallic cylindrical baskets
or sieves for containing the substance to be dried, which baskets or sieves 2
revolve within cylindrical casings, into the annular space between which
baskets and casings the water extracted from the substance under
treatment is thrown by centrifugal force. Such substance as it is dried
accumulates around the internal circumference of the basket or sieve,
and is usually removed therefrom by shovelling or digging.
Now my Invention consists of the machinery or apparatus herein-
after described to be applied to centrifugal drying machines for the
purpose of removing and discharging therefrom the sewage deposit,
mud, sugar, or other substance accumulated around the side of the
basket or sieve as aforesaid.
The said machinery or apparatus is constructed and arranged as
follows: To the edge of the cylindrical casing within which the basket
or sieve aforesaid revolves is affixed a bed on which moves horizontally
3
3

page_text: a sliding bracket (somewhat resembling the slider of the slide rest of a
lathe), which bracket is traversed as required in the direction of a radius
of the machine by means of a screw and winch or other suitable
mechanical arrangement. The inner end of this bracket projects over
the basket or sieve and carries a slider to which vertical motion in either
direction can be imparted by means of a worm wheel mounted on a
shaft or axle turning in bearings in the horizontal sliding bracket
aforesaid, the thread of which worm wheel engages in a rack formed on
the said vertical slide. The shaft upon which the said worm wheel is
affixed carries a bevil toothed wheel which is turned by means of
another bevil toothed wheel mounted on a shaft furnished with a
winch.
Any other suitable mechanical arrangement may however be used for
the purpose of raising and lowering the vertical slide. On the lower
end of the said slide is formed or affixed an axis which carries two plates,
the lower one of which is capable of partial rotatory motion on the said
axis. To this lower plate is affixed a socket or a bracket in which is
inserted or to which is affixed the cutting tool used for removing the
substance accumulated around the side of the basket or sieve. Con-
centric curved slots are formed in one of the said plates, through which
pass screws carried by the other plate and furnished with nuts, by means
of which arrangement the moveable plate and the socket and cutting
tool carried thereby can be fixed at any angle to which they have been
moved. The cutting tool herein-before referred to may be either tubular
or of any other form suitable for cutting. When a tubular tool is used it
may be of any convenient form in cross section and communicates with a
discharge pipe which rises and falls with the vertical slider herein-before
described. In some cases an india-rubber or other flexible tube may be
attached to a cutting length of metallic tube so as to discharge the
substance at any convenient point. When a cutting tool which is not
tubular is used the discharge pipe referred to is or may be dispensed with
and an endless travelling belt or band may be used for effecting the
removal from the machine of the substance taken off the side of the
basket or sieve by the said tool.
The action of the apparatus is as follows.-The horizontal sliding
bracket is moved towards the circumference of the basket and adjusted
at such a distance therefrom that the cutting tool shall enter the sub-
stance to be removed. The said tool is then moved up and down so

page_text: that as the said substance is brought under the operation of the said
tool by the revolution of the basket or sieve a helical cut is made in the
said substance. The portion thus cut away from the mass passes either
through the tool and the discharge pipe in connection therewith (where
a tubular tool is used) or (where a cutting tool which is not tubular is
used) on to the endless bolt or band herein-before referred to. When
the cutting tool has arrived at the end of its upward or downward
traverse and before its motion is reversed the horizontal bracket is moved
towards the side of the basket or sieve, so as to cause the said tool again
to enter the substance to the depth required for the next cut.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner in which the same is to be performed, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a plan of part of a hydro-extractor and of the apparatus
above referred to, the said apparatus being represented partly in section;
Figure 2 is an elevation of the same; Figure 3 is a vertical section of
part of a hydro-extractor furnished with the aforesaid apparatus;
Figure 4 is a plan of the plate e³ herein-after referred to; Figure 5 is a
plan of part of the basket B, and of the plate e and tool holder e³ herein-
after referred to, part of the said basket being broken away in order the
better to exhibit the said plate; and Figure 6 is an elevation showing
the way in which the discharge pipe and the cutting tool herein-after
described are held together. The same letters and figures of reference
indicate the same parts in all the Figures.
A. is the cylindrical casing in which revolves the basket or sieve B, in
which the mud or other substance is dried. The said casing and basket
are of the ordinary kind; C is a dovetail bed fixed to the edge of the
casing A.; and D is a sliding bracket (somewhat resembling the slider
of the slide rest of a lathe), which bracket is traversed as required in the
direction of a radius of the machine by means of a screw & turned by a
winch d², which said screw works in a screw box d³ carried by the said
bracket, or the said bracket may be traversed by means of any other
suitable mechanical arrangement. The inner end of the bracket D projects
over the inner edge of the basket B, and carries a dovetail slider E, to
which vertical motion in either direction is imparted as required by means
of a worm d'affixed to or cast with an axis & which turns in bearings dº, dª.
The thread of the said worm engages in a rack e¹ formed on the slider E.

page_text: The axis d³ carries a bevil toothed wheel d', which is turned by means
of another bevil toothed wheel mounted on a shaft furnished with a
winch ď. Any other suitable mechanical arrangement may however be
employed to raise and lower the slider E. On the lower end of the said
slider is affixed or formed an axis e³ and a plate e³ (see Figure 4); e* (see
Figure 5) is another plate which is capable of partial rotatory motion
on the axis e². To this plate is affixed a socket e³ (furnished with
clamping screws) or a bracket, which socket (or bracket) carries the
delivery pipe F (or a channel) to which is affixed the cutting tool G
used for removing the substance accumulated around the side of the
basket B, the said discharge pipe and tube being held together by a
union nut H furnished with a shoulder which abuts against a shoulder g
on the end of the cutting tool, as represented in Figure 6. eª, eª, (see
Figure 4) are concentric curved slots, through which pass screws c², e²,
(see Figure 5) furnished with nuts e³, e³, by means of which arrangement
the plate e and the socket and cutting tool carried thereby can be fixed
at any angle to which they may have been moved. The cutting tool
used may be either tubular or of any other form suitable for cutting.
When a tubular tool is used it may be of any convenient form in cross
section and communicates with a discharge pipe which rises and falls with
the slider E. In some cases an india-rubber or other flexible tube may
be attached to a cutting length of metallic tube so as to discharge the
substance at any convenient point. When a cutting tool which is not
tubular is used the discharge pipe referred to is or may be dispensed
with, and an endless travelling belt or band or an endless chain of
buckets may be used for effecting the removal from the machine of the
substance taken off from the side of the basket or sieve by the said
tool.

page_text: before its motion is reversed the bracket D is again moved towards tho
side of the basket so as to cause the said tool again to enter the substance
to the depth required for the next cut.
Пaving thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details hercin-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as
my Invention, the improved apparatus hercin-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanying Drawing to be applied to hydro-extractors
for the purpose of removing therefrom the substance dried therein, that
is to say, a suitable cutting tool carried by sliders working in brackets,
the said sliders being so arranged and worked as to give to the said tool
the horizontal and vertical motions necessary to enable it to remove the
mud or other substance accumulated around the side of the revolving
basket, the said mud or other substance being discharged from the said
basket either by means of an endless belt or of an endless chain of buckets
or through a pipe attached to the cutting tool.
In witness whereof, I, the said George William Wigner, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Sixth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.
Witness,
H. H. MURDOCH,
G. W. WIGNER. (L.s.)