Improvements in or in connection with Machinery for Pressing Liquorice Juice and other Plastic or Semi-fluid Materials.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 17th Feb., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or in connection with Machinery for Pressing
Liquorice Juice and other Plastic or Semi-fluid Materials.
I ERNEST HILLABY of The Lion Works Tanshelf Pontefract in the County of
York Liquorice Refiner 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 :-
My invention refers more particularly to improvements in screw presses and
accessory mechanism for manipulating and driving the same for liquorice juice,
but as is evident is also more or less applicable to presses for other material of a similar
plastic consistency. My invention has for its object to provide means for adjusting
and regulating with facility the pressure and speed of such presses, and to render
the press to a certain extent automatic in its action, to keep the screw clean, that
is not liable to be clogged and smeared with the juice or other material.
A pressing plant constructed in accordance with my invention comprises as
follows:-
of a screw.
A press cylinder into which the juice or other material to be pressed is introduced,
and which is pressed or squeezed by a ram forced into the press cylinder by means
Hitherto the screw has been provided with a ram head and advanced
by rotation through a fixed nut. The juice under pressure frequently exuded past
To avoid
the ram head and fell on to the screw dirtying and clogging the same.
this defect I make the ram hollow and of considerable length, and provide the same
at the forward end with a head closely fitting the interior of the press cylinder. At
the opposite end the ram is provided with a nut in which the screw works,
i.e. rotates. The screw is prevented from moving longitudinally by means of a
fixed thrust collar bearing, and is provided at the back end with a large pulley for
effecting the forward motion of the ram, and a small pulley for a quick return
motion, and an equal sized small loose pulley.
The forward driving motion consists of a broad driving pulley on
a main
(overhead) line of shafting and belt to fast and loose pulley on a counter-shaft, a
second pair of-fast and loose pulleys on the counter shaft and belt to a fast attached
to a long cone pulley, both flat and cone pulleys being loose on the main line
shafting, strap or belt connection back to a corresponding, (i.e. reversely placed
end for end), cone pulley on the counter shaft, a belt pulley attached to the cone
pulley on the countershaft, and thence by belt to the before mentioned large
driving pulley on the screw shaft.
The return driving motion consists of a broad pulley on the main line shaft with
a belt to the before-mentioned fast and loose pulleys on the screw shaft.
The automatic motion for reversing the thrust screw immediately the full forward
pressing motion has been completed consists of the following mechanism. A tappet
arm is attached to the back end of the thrust ram, which acting on a weighted chain
passing round guide pulleys and a disc pulley, rotates the disc in such a manner
that a projecting pin on the face of the disc engages with a belt shifting rod, and
this latter slides the cone driving belt on to the loose pulley stopping the forward
motion; a second pin on the disc then slides the belt shifting rod so as to move the
return driving belt on to the small fast pulley on the screw shaft. The reverse or
back motion of the screw and ram bring back the tappet arm and the weighted
chain, so that on the completion of the back stroke, the weighted chain acting in
the opposite direction moves the belt shifting rods on the completion of the return

page_text: motion of the screw and ram in the contrary direction, so as to start the forward
motion for pressing.
To arrest the working of the above mechanism in order to fill the juice cylinder
or for other purposes, the first belt from the main line shafting to the counter shaft
is thrown on to the loose pulley on the countershaft by means of a shifting lever
and handle.
In order to rotate the twist head of the juice cylinder, I provide a small broad
driving pulley on the main line shafting and a fast and loose pulley on a gear shaft
mounted in bearings alongside and parallel to the juice cylinder. By means of bevel
or skew wheels at the opposite end of the shaft and gear wheels or worm and worm
. wheel, the twist head is rotated.
The trays for receiving the expressed juice are carried on an endless travelling
belt, and in order to drive and regulate the speed of the same, I provide the
following mechanism. A cone pulley is fitted on the main line shafting, and by
means of a belt drives a corresponding cone pulley on a short countershaft. A belt
from a small pulley on this countershaft passes down to a larger pulley, to which
latter a cord or band pulley is attached. By means of guide pulleys the cord or
band is guided round a cord pulley on the axis of the driving pulley of the endless
travelling belt. This endless tray carrying belt is driven from the underside of the
driving pulley, but when out of action hangs clear off the same. By means of a
weighted double armed hinged lever carrying a weight at the lower end and a small
pulley at the upper end, the travelling belt is lifted by the small pulley and pressed
against the driving pulley. A foot lever on the axle of the hinged lever serves
to raise the weight and to lower the small pulley and belt out of contact with
the driving pulley, and thus to arrest the motion of the tray carrying belt."
The cone belts are shifted by means of screws, on which are mounted the frames
carrying the belt shifting pulleys. A chain wheel on each screw and a chain
depending from the chain wheels enable the attendant to vary either the speed of
the ram or the speed of the tray carrying belt.
In order to be able readily to tilt the juice cylinder into a vertical position for
filling with juice, and afterwards to readily lock the cylinder in a horizontal
position, I provide a weighted hinged locking lever, which engages with a lug on
the trunnion when the cylinder is in a horizontal position, and locks the cylinder in
this position; but on raising the weighted end of the lever the cylinder is released,
and inay be tilted into a vertical position.
And in order that my invention and the manner in which the same is to be
performed may be more readily and clearly understood, reference is hereinafter
given to the accompanying drawinge and to the letters and marks thereon, in
which
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan of a liquorice juice pressing
plant constructed in accordance with my invention.
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section to a larger scale of the juice press and
ram connections.
Fig. 4 is a cross elevation of the driving arrangements.
In all the figures the same reference letter refers to the same part of the
apparatus.
a is the juice cylinder, mounted on trunnions, and capable of being rotated into
the position shewn in dotted lines in Fig. 3. b is the weighted hinged locking lever,
which engaging with the lug c on the trunnion, normally holds the juice cylinder a
in a horizontal position; but on raising the weighted end of the lever b, the cylinder
is free to tilt into a vertical position.
d is the hollow ram provided at one end with the head e, closely fitting the interior
of the ram; and at the opposite end with the nut, in which works the screw g.
h is a cross bearing or guide for the forward end of the ram. i is the thrust bearing
for the screw g. jis the large driving pulley for the forward motion; and k the
fast, and the loose pulley for the return motion of the screw,

page_text: m is the first motion pulley on the main line shafting n, connected by belt with
the fast and loose pulleys o and p on the countershaft g: rands are a smaller pair
of fast and loose pulleys on the countershaft, connected by belt to the broad pulley t
loose on the main shaft n. The pulley t is attached to the cone pulley u, also
loose on the main shaft n. is the driven cone pulley, loose on the countershaft
and attached to the pulley , which is connected by a belt to the large screw
driving pulley j. is a broad pulley on the main line shaft n, connected by belt to
the fast and loose pulleys k, l, on the screw shaft.
is the tappet arm attached to the back end of the thrust ram d, and engaging
with the weighted chain z, z, which passes round guide pulleys 1, 1, 1, 1, and drives
the disc pulley 2. The projecting pins 3, and 4, engage respectively and successively
with the belt shifting rods 5, and 6, for shifting the belts 7, and 8..
9 is a small pulley keyed to the main line shaft n, driving by belt the pulley 10 on
the shaft 11; which by means of gearing 12 as above described, rotates the twist
of the juice cylinder.
14 is the endless tray carrying belt, passing round the end drums 15, and over
the supporting drums 16, and driven by grip between the pulley 17 and the belt
lifting pulley 18. The pulley 17 is driven from the cone pulley 19 on the main
line shaft n by means of the intermediate mechanism to wit:-cone pulley 20,
countershaft 21, pulleys 22 and 23, cord pulley 24, and cord 25, passing round guide
pulleys 26, to cord pulley 27 on the axle of the pulley 17. The belt lifting
pulley 18 is attached to the upper end of the weighted hinged arm 28; and can be
depressed as above described by the foot lever 29, in order to arrest the traverse of
the tray carrying belt 14.
30 and 31 are screws for shifting the belts of the cone pulleys respectively for
regulating the speed of the feed of the ram d, and of the tray carrying belt 14.
32 and 33 are chain pulleys, (the latter connected by a cord to the pulley 34), from
which depend chains by means of which the attendant can rotate the screws.
The screws 30, 30, are connected by bevel gearing and the cross shaft 35.
The belt 36 can be shifted by means of a belt fork and depending handle 37.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1º. The combination of the hollow ram, (provided with a head tightly fitting the
juice cylinder and a nut at the opposite end), with the screw, (provided with a
thrust collar fitting in a thrust bearing), and with a press cylinder substantially as
and for the purposes herein set forth.
2°. The arrangement and combination of press cylinder, hollow thrust-ram, and
rotating screw, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
3º. The arrangement and combination of fast and loose pulleys, broad pulleys,
and cone pulleys, for the purpose of varying the power and speed of the thrusting
motion of the hollow thrust ram, substantially as herein set forth and illustrated.
4°. The arrangement and combination of the tappet arm weighted chain and
disc pulley mechanism for automatically and successively stopping and reversing
the motion of the thrust ram substantially as herein set forth.
5°. The hinged weighted lever belt-lifting pulley and foot lever arrangement and
combination for causing or stopping the traverse of the tray carrying belt sub-
stantially as herein set forth.
6°. In combination with the subject matter of Claim 5°, the cone pulley drive
and intermediate gear for driving and varying the speed of the tray carrying belt.
7°. In combination with the subject matter of Claims 3 and 6 respectively, the
screw belt-traversing arrangements for varying the power and speed of the thrusting
motion of the ram and the speed of the tray carrying belt.
8°. The combination of the weighted locking lever with the lug on the trunnion
of the juice cylinder operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

page_text: 9°. The general arrangement and combination of the various parts forming my
improved pressing plant for pressing liquorice juice and similar plastic material
substantially as herein set forth and illustrated.
Dated this 7th day of December 1893
J. CLARK JEFFERSON,
2, East Parade, Leeds, Agent for Applicant."