A NEW OR IMPROVED SIFTER FOR SIFTING CINDERS, SLACK, AND GRAVEL, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Cope, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
SIFTER FOR SIFTING CINDERS, SLACK, AND GRAVEL, AND FOR OTHER LIKE
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 13th April 1866, and dated the 18th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Henry Cope
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th October 1865.
I, CHARLES HENRY COPE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
OB IMPROVED SIFTER FOR SIFTING CINDERS, SLACK, AND GRAVEL, AND FOR OTHER
LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a sifter for sifting cinders, slack, and gravel, and
for other like purposes, constructed in the following manner :-In the upper
part of a case, which may be made of wood or metal, is a horizontal shaft or
axis, terminating at one end with a winch or crank external to the said case.
Upon the said axis is mounted a drum made of wire gauze or perforated
metal or other material proper for sifting. The said perforated drum has in
transverse section the figure of the curve called the volute, the said curve

page_text: making one and a quarter convolutions about the shaft. The case is pro-
vided with a lid at its upper part, at which the cinders or matters to be sifted
are introduced, and also with a drawer underneath to receive the ashes or
other matters passing through the sifter. In using the sifter the lid is opened
and the handle turned upwards, in which position of the handle the drum is
properly situated for receiving the cinders. The cinders are put in with a
shovel, the lid is closed, and the drum turned five or six times in the direction
proper to drive home a screw, the handle being left in the position indicated
by a mark on the case. This operation causes the cinders at each revolution
to pass over the whole of the perforated surface of the drum and to fall from
the axial to the outer part, the ashes falling through the perforations into the
drawer at the lower part of the case. The shovel is then passed under the
drum, which is turned backwards through one revolution, bringing the handle
to its first or upright position. By the last described motion the cinders well
sifted will fall from the drum into the shovel. By means of a moveable
inclined plane the ashes and the cinders may be respectively guided into
channels on either side of the case, down which the ashes and cinders pass into
any provided receptacle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Henry Cope in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HENRY COPE, of Birmhãm, in the County of Warwick, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
'One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of He
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Henry Cope, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Henry Cope, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles Henry Cope, 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

page_text: for "A NEW OR IMPROVED SIFTER FOR SIFTING CINDERS, SLACK, AND GRAVEL, AND
POR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Charles Henry Cope, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Charles Henry Cope, 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 :-
The apparatus consists of a perforated cylinder or drum shaped like a
volute or nautilus shell, revolving within a box or case. The drum is formed
of two boards or end plates of wood, metal, or other material, cut somewhat
in the proportions of an ionic volute, which being set in a parallel position,
are connected by a cross piece or sheet of pierced metal, wire gauze, or other
perforated material, running round and fixed to the peripheries of the side
plates, and extending so far into the interior of the volute as to form alto-
gether about a circumference and a quarter. From the end plates axle pieces
project, upon which the drum is revolved within a box or case of wood, metal,
or other material by means of a winch handle fixed to one of the axles. This
box has a lid in its upper part, which being opened and the drum in position
for receiving the material to be sifted, that is to say, the mouth upwards
and the lip or edge of it resting on a steel spring catch, which requires a
little force to turn the mouth of the drum past it, the friction being sufficient
to hold it in position, the ashes are introduced by means of a shovel, the lid
is then closed, and the drum revolved four or five times as if it were dredging;
the mouth is then again brought to its primary position. By this operation
the dust and ashes fall through the perforations of the drum into a drawer at
the bottom of the case; the shovel is then passed through an opening below
(closed by a lid or door) in a horizontal direction underneath the drum, which
is revolved once backwards, and thus deposits the cinders sifted and free from
dust into the shovel ready for use.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
A is the outer case; A', the handle for turning the drum; B, the lid
through which when raised the ashes or other material are introduced;
fine duct Leand

page_text: D, the lid or door through which the shovel is introduced for catching the
cinders, &c.; E, sides of the volute drum; F, pierced metal, wire gauze, or
other perforated material of the sieve; F, the lip spring on the inside of
the case pressing against the lip of the drum, but allowing it to be turned
past it when a little force is applied to the winch handle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Henry Cope, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
CHARLES HENRY COPE. (L.S.)