Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Tea Leaves.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Dec., 1894-Accepted, 2nd Feb., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Treating Tea Leaves.
I, WILLIAM Gow, of 13 Rood Lane, London, E.C. Tea Broker, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to bo
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
-
My invention relates to apparatus for treating tea leaves by breaking up the
balls of rolled leaf, giving the leaves a final rell, separating the product into finer
and coaiser portions, exposing then freely to the action of air and if desired by
applying heat to the leaves while they are being separated so as to produce a
similar effect to that produced by the process known as panning.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of my apparatus according to this invention,
Fig. 2 18 an end view and
Fig. 3 is a plan.
Fig. 1 is a section of the upper part made of wood when no heat is applied.
Fig. 4 is a part section of the radial corrugations of the surfaces between which,
when suitably separated, the tea leaves pass.
The leaves are fed by a hopper A through a disc or plate B which when heat is
not to be used may be made of wood as shewn in Fig. 1, but when beat is employed
it is made of iron forming a casing for steam or hot water as shewn in Fig. 1.
The leaf is made to pass between the lower face of the fixed disc or casing B
and the upper face of a similar disc C which revolves on a vertical shaft D the
two surfaces between which the leaf passes being corrugated as shewn in Fig. 4.
The leaves discharged over the edge of C fall into an inclined sieve E to which
an oscillating motion is given by a cam on the shaft D which carries the disc C.
This shaft is duiven by bevil gear F and its lower bearing G is provided with
means of adjusting vertically. The larger leaves are discharged over the end of
the stove E the stall particles passing through its meshes
When the disc o plate B is made as shewn in Fig. 1 it is hinged at b to the
frame below so that it can be easily raised to give access for cleaning the coniugated
faces of B and C. When the dise B is made as in Fig. 1, access for cleaning 19
obtained by lowering the shaft D and disc C. It may however be hinged as
shewn in Fig 14.
Fig. 5 is a side view, Fig. 6 is an end view and Fig. 7 15 a plan of a modified
form of the apparatus.
In this case the corrugated dises B and C are vertical, the
hopper A opens into a hollowed part of the stationary disc B so that the tea passcs
between it and the revolving disc C. The sieve E is caused to oscillate by its
connection to a crank h on the shaft of the dise C. The sifting surface of the
sieve 18 ate and the bottom el of the sieve is closed. The larger leaves are
discharged over the end of e, the smaller particles being discharged over the
end of e¹.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same 16 to be performed, I declare that what I
claim 18:-
Apparatus for treating tea leaves consisting of two corrugated discs between

page_text: which the tea leaves are fed, the one disc which may be heated being stationary
and the other revolving, and an oscillating sieve arranged and operating,
substantially as described.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1894
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.