IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR MINCING SAUSAGE MEAT AND SUBSTANCES."OTHER
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Williams, the younger, of West Smithfield, in the
City of London, Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR MINCING SAUSAGE MEAT AND
SUBSTANCES."
OTHER
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Williams at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th February 1880.
THOMAS WILLIAMS, the younger, of West Sinithfield, in the City of London,
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR
MINCING SAUSAGE MEAT AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
This Invention relates to what are commonly known as silent mincing machines,
wherein rotary knives or cutters work in conjunction with a horizontal rotary
bowl, & has for its object the simplifying the construction of the machine, rendering
its action more efficient, & enabling the machine to be more easily driven, whilst
affording greater facility for the lubrication of the pivot of the bowl.
According to my Invention I combine a single horizontal shaft carrying one, two,
or more series of knives (disposed as hereinafter explained) with a horizontal rotary
bowl of the usual shape, the pivot of the said bowl working in an oil cup or in a
footstep or other suitable bearing, & being capable of being lifted along with the
bowl by a lever connected with the pivot, & actuated either directly by hand or
indirectly through a connecting rod & treadle by the pressure of the foot, the
object of such lifting motion being to facilitate the lubrication of the said pivot &
bearing. The knives are secured in pairs, side by side, to the opposite sides of
bosses or collars on the cutter shaft, countersunk screws being by preference
employed in order that all projections likely to take up the meat & thereby
derange the action of machine may be obviated. Each knife is slotted, & the
securing screws pass through the said slots, thereby enabling the knives to be readily
adjusted as desired to compensate for wear, any number of pairs of knives being
thus secured to each boss. By employing two or more series of knives working;
say, on opposite sides, and near the middle of the bowl the meat is cut in two
directions at right angles to each other, whilst the peculiar arrangement of the
knives in pairs, side by side, on each boss ensures that two knives shall always be
cutting together in each series, thereby cutting the meat or other substance cleaner

page_text: & quicker than by the usual arrangement, wherein only one knife in each series
is in action at one time. An opening is left in the cover of the bowl at the front
of the machine to facilitate the feeding & turning of the meat, & the knives
work through slots in the said cover, or in a single slotted plate secured to the
cover, the slots extending not quite up to the edge of the said opening or mouth, so i
that all risk of injury to the fingers of the attendant is avoided. The knife table
is brought to the front of the machine, & is there secured by pins or hasps in lieu
of being secured at the side, as heretofore, which is a less convenient arrangement.
In some cases, for greater convenience of access, I combine with & fix to the
frame of the improved mincing or cutting machine any convenient or well known
arrangement of filling machine, so that operations of mincing the meat & filling
the skins can both be carried on in one machine.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th August
1880.
"
THOMAS WILLIAMS, the younger, of West Smithfield, in the City of London,
Engineer. IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING OR
MINCING SAUSAGE MEAT AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
My said Invention relates to improvements in what are commonly known as
"silent mincing machines," wherein rotary knives or cutters work in conjunction
with a horizontal rotary bowl, and has for its object improving the action of the
machine, simplifying its construction, and affording greater facility for cleaning and
lubricating the pivot or spindle which supports the bowl.
In machines of this class as heretofore generally constructed the bowl has been
made to revolve loosely upon a fixed vertical stud or pivot, such fixed pivot passing
through an opening in the bottom of the bowl in order to admit of the plough being
secured to the top of the pivot in the centre of the bowl; or the said fixed pivot,
although not passing completely through the bottom of the bowl, was nevertheless
in communication with the interior thereof by a hole made in the centre of the
bowl for the reception of a screw which entered the top of the fixed pivot for the
purpose of securing the plough in position. Both these arrangements are objectionable,
inasmuch as they afford a means of access of the water and juices of the meat to
the wearing surface of the fixed pivot, which in consequence became rusted and
corroded, causing the bowl to revolve less freely, and as no ready means of access
to the pivot was provided it was necessary, in order to clean and lubricate the
same, to detach the plough and lift the bowl wholly or partly from off its
pivot.
Now in order to obviate these objections I mount the bowl fast on a vertical
rotary spindle in lieu of loose upon a fixed stud, centre, or pivot, the said rotary
spindle being supported by and caused to rotate in an oil cup or footstep bearing,

page_text: readily accessible for the purposes of cleaning and lubrication, and by preference
made adjustable vertically. This arrangement not only facilitates the operations
of cleaning and lubricating the spindle and bearings, but also prevents all access of
the juices of the meat to the journals of the spindle, which are consequently less
liable to corrosion.
In order to obtain a better cutting action I arrange or disposo the knives on the
cutter shaft in pairs or sets of two or more knives in each set, placed parallel and
near to each other side by side. The several pairs or sets forming the series project
from opposite sides of the shaft, so that two or more knives in each series shall
always be cutting simultaneously; hence the meat or other substanco is cut cleaner
and quicker than by the usual arrangement, wherein the several knives of the series
mako their cuts singly and successively. In lieu of the cutter shaft passing bodily
through the butt ends of the knives, thereby necessitating an extra breadth of
knife, which increases the friction and tends to heat the meat, I prefer to secure
the knives directly to a fixed boss or bosses on the shaft by countersunk screws
in combination with loose end collars, the screws passing through adjusting slots in
the knives and through the boss and collars. The butt ends of the opposite knives
are so formed and arranged as that their contiguous edges shall fit accurately
together, thereby preventing any tendency to slip. The object of countersinking
the heads of the securing screws in the outside collars is to avoid all projections
liable to take up the meat and interfere with the proper action of the machine.
The knives work through slits in the rising cover, and a convenient opening is
formed in the front of the said cover to facilitate the feeding, removal, and turning
of the meat, such opening being beyond the range of the knives; hence all risk of
injury to the fingers of the attendant is avoided. The rising cover is brought to the
front of the machine, where it is held down by hingo catch lever-handles or other
suitable fastenings attached to the cover.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now proceed
more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to the
several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 of my Drawings is a side elevation of my improved silent mincing machine ;
Fig. 2 is a corresponding front elevation of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan of the top of
the machine corresponding to Fig. 1, with a portion of the rising cover cutter shaft
and driving gear broken away. The rest of the Figures are details, which will be
hereinafter referred to.
A is the framing of the machine; B, the first motion or driving shaft working in
suitable bearings secured to the main framing, and carrying a fly wheel and a winch
bandle, or fast and loose driving pulleys, according as the machine is to be driven
by hand or by power; C is a spur wheel fast on the driving shaft, and transmitting
motion through the spur wheel D to the cutter shaft E, which works in bearings F
on the rising cover G. A worm H on the driving shaft imparts a slow rotary
motion to the bowl I through the worm wheel K, which is fast on the rotating
vertical spindle L. The upper end of this spindle is made fast inside a boss Al cast
on the underside of the bottom of the bowl, but does not extend through into the
interior of the bowl itself for the purpose hereinbefore explained. The lower end
of the spindle L works in an oil cup or adjustable footstep bearing N, and is steadied
near its upper end by another bearing O in a cross bar P bolted to the main framing.
N' (Fig. 2) is an adjusting screw for setting up more or less as required the said
footstep bearing, and regulating or adjusting the height of the bowl. The rising
cover G is hinged at its back edge to lugs Q secured to the top of the framing and
fixed plate R, such lugs being carried upwards (as shown in Fig. 1) so as to form a
rest or support to the cover when turned back. S, S, are catch lover handles
hinged to the front edge of the rising cover, and hooking underneath a portion of
5 the framing, so as to hold down the cover when in its closed position, as shown in
my Drawings. These handles also facilitate the raising of the cover.
a, a, and
b, b, are two pairs of knives or cutters, the two knives of each pair being severally

page_text: secured to opposite ends of the fixed boss or shoulder c on the knife shaft by means
of countersunk screws d, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and outside loose collars
c, e, as shown more clearly in the details of the knives at Fig. 4, where f, f, are slots
in the butt ends of the knives for the screws to pass through to admit of the adjust-
ment of each knife, and y represents the adjoining straight edges of two opposite
knives which span the cutter shaft.
In my Drawings I have only shown one boss on the cutter shaft, carrying a series
of two pairs of knives a, a, and b, b, but it is obvious that two such bosses and
series of knives in pairs may be employed, operating on different sides of the bowl,
also that two or more pairs or sets of knives may be secured to each boss; h, h,
Fig. 3, are two narrow slits or openings in the rising cover for the knives to work
through, such slits being here shown as formed by a central tongue of metal i,
which is fixed in the centre of a slot cast in the cover; T is an opening for receiving
any shreds of meat that may be carried round by the knives, and allowing them to
fall back into the bowl; U is the feeding aperture formed in the front of the rising
cover. Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section of a portion of the bowl and upper part
of the said machine, showing the relative positions of the fixed surrounding top
plate R, rising cover G, and edge of the bowl I.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. Mounting the bowl of what is commonly known as a
"silent mincing
machine" fast on a spindle rotating in an oil cup or footstep bearing, readily
accessible for the purposes of cleaning and lubrication, substantially as herein before
described and illustrated by my Drawings.
Secondly. Arranging the knives in connection with the cutter shaft in a series of
pairs or in sets of two or more knives, placed side by side, so that two or more knives
in each series shall always make their cuts simultaneously, as herein before described
and illustrated by my Drawings.
Thirdly. The particular combination and arrangement of parts constituting as a
whole an improved "silent mincing machine," substantially as and for the purposo
herein before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Williams, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.