A New or Improved Machine for Squeezing and Drying Leather and the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 24th July, 1897-Accepted, 4th Sept., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Machine for Squeezing and Drying Leather and
the like.
I, DAVID WRIGHT, of the Firm of Messieurs B. and D. Wright, of Oxford Works,
Meanwood Road, Leeds, in the County of York, Engineers, 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:-
This invention relates to a new or improved machine for squeezing out the water
and drying the hide or leather prior to the stuffing operation; and the object of this
invention is to construct a machine that will automatically adapt itself to the
varying thicknesses of material operated upon.
In the drawings hereunto annexed I have shown a convenient method for carrying
the invention into practice, in which
Fig. 1 is a front elevation,
Fig. 2 an end elevation, and
Fig. 3 a sectional elevation on line xx Fig. 1.
Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a sectional and an end elevation of section
roller.
A is suitable framework in which are mounted adjustable head B,-to which the
sliding blocks b b are holted and which work in the slotted portions of the frame-
work A as shown, and the whole are hereafter termed and included in the term the
adjustable head B, and any desired number of rollers say for example four
marked C, D, E and F, constructed as hereafter described.
In the adjustable head B,-which is carried in any suitable form of slides say as
just described and arranged to be adjusted to and from its work by screws G and
hand wheels H or their equivalents,- -are mounted the two rollers, namely the stay
roller Cand top roller D, made, say, of metal, and arranged one above the other. The
stay roller C is made much shorter than the roller D, and it (the roller C) is carried
in the adjustable bearings c c. The stay roller C is employed for strengthening and
maintaining the roller D level and rigid whilst the material is being operated
upon.
The stay roller C, in its longitudinal length, may be divided, if desired, into one or
more parts, or it may be made, as shown, in one roller, say, about one half or three
fourths the length of the roller D. When the said roller is divided into more than
one part, suitable bearings say such as c c are provided for them in the adjustable
head B.
•
Immediately below these said two metal rollers CD but carried in bearings in
respectively the framework A and the front and back plates I and J which are
bolted to the framework are the rollers E and F. The roller E, which is hereafter
termed a sectional roller E, is built up in any desired number of sections E on a
shaft e armed with bosses e¹ fixed thereon by set screws e² as shown at
Fig. 4.
.
The internal diameter of each section E, see Fig. 4, is larger than the diameter of
the boss el on the shaft e so that the periphery of each sectional portion E is loose
and capable of rising and falling independently of the other sections. A hole e is

page_text: provided in each section E larger in diameter than the shaft e, which passes through
it, but smaller than the diameter of the boss e'. The sectional roller E is arranged
to pass between the two end pieces of the framework and to pass between the plates I
and J, or it may be mounted in bearings on the framework. In either case it is
arranged to work upon the roller F (carried in bearings on the framework) the
periphery of which is covered with india-rubber or other elastic or flexible
material.
Motion is imparted to the rollers Dand F from driving pulley L, shaft M, spur
gearing N and a train of gearing O, P, Q. The sectional roller E is driven by its
frictional contact with roller F.
A suitable table K, armed, if desired, with a holding bar or bars, not shown in the
drawings, is also fixed to the framework A over which the material to be operated
upon is passed to and between the sectional roller E and the roller D carried in the
adjustable head B.
In the drawings provision is shown for applying the pressure to the adjustable
head B by screws G and hand wheels H, but it may also, if so desired be applied by
levers, treadle, or any other suitable power arrangement. By permitting the sectional
roller E to work upon the india-rubber periphery of roller F provision is thereby
made for the depression of any portion of the roller E so that it may adapt itself to
any inequalities in the thickness of the material operated upon during its passage
between the rollers D and E from table K to the back plate J.
When desired one or both of the rollers D and E may be heated by steam for
diying purposes, such steam being conveyed thereto and from through suitable inlet
and outlet pipes and valves,, not shown in the drawings.
Troughs (not shown in the drawings) may also be provided, if desired, for receiving
and carrying the liquids away that escape or are extracted from the material during
the squeezing operation
The material to be operated upon is placed and spread out upon the table K, and
passed between the rollers D and E, which have previously been adjusted by the
screws G and hand wheels H so as to give the required pressure. The operator keeps
the material tightly spread out upon the table so as to allow it to pass as evenly as
possible between the squeezing rollers D and E for the removal of the water.
By constructing the roller E in sections as above described damage to the material
is obviated. The hide or leather is then ready for the stuffing drum.
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 -
In a machine for squeezing and drying leather, and the like, the combination of a
sectional roller E with the roller F, faced with india rubber or other flexible material,
and the metal rollers C, D, all arranged and mounted adjustably or otherwise in the
framework A and operating in the manner substantially as and for the purposes
described and illustrated.