IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING TIN PLATES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lewis Griffiths, Engine Fitter, and Richard
Lewis, Foreman in Tin Works, both of Swansea, in the County of
Glamorgan, for the Invention of " IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING
TIN PLATES."
Sealed the 7th March 1876, and dated the 14th October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lewis Griffiths and
Richard Lewis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 14th October 1875.
We, LEWIS GRIFFITHS, Engine Fitter, and RICHARD LEWIS, Foreman
in Tin Works, both of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVED MACHINERY POR
CLEANING TIN PLATES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a machine which will
rapidly and efficiently clean the surfaces of tin plates after they have
left the bath.

page_text: The machine consists of two chains (one on either side) which pass
through a box for containing bran, and revolve around drums or pullies
at either end of the machine. Attached to these chains are a series of
spindles which carry seven or more clips with clamp levers on each,
keyed into spindles, and with springs underneath to raise them.
Friction rollers are keyed on to the ends of spindle levers, which
rollers run against longitudinal bars placed one on either side of and
inside the bran box, and thus close the clips.
The clamp levers are pointed at the ends so as to enter between
revolving wipers which run in sliding bearings provided with springs to
bring the wipers down after the clips have passed. Guide bars are
provided to support the plates during the cleaning process.
The tinned plates having passed through the tinning process are
placed on the chains and guide bars, under which a small fan is placed, so
as to cool the plates before entering the bran box. As the drums revolve
the chains travel forward, and the friction rollers on ends of spindles
are brought to bear against the longitudinal bars, and thus cause the
clips to grip the plates. The plates are then carried through the bran
box (which is filled with bran), passing between a pair of hinged or
spring wipers, and then through the revolving wipers, which cause clean
bran to pass continually over both surfaces of the plates. At the end of
the box is fixed another pair of hinged or spring wipers, which clean the
bran from off the plates. The plates are then carried through two
dusters which revolve and dust the plates. When the clips arrive at
the end of the longitudinal bars the clips are raised by the springs, and
allow the plates to fall on to a table, from whence they are removed as
required.
As a modification of the above we fix projecting pieces on to the links
of the chains, which projections can be adjusted to suit different sized
plates, and are intended to catch the plates and force them through the
bran box. This box contains one revolving wiper, which is covered with
matting or other suitable material, and wipes the top of the plates,
while it keeps them pressed against the bran underneath. In this plan
the longitudinal bars are prolonged as far as the dusters, which are
placed at the end of the machine, whence the plates are carried out by a
pair of rollers and allowed to drop on to a table.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Lewis Griffiths and Richard Lewis in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, LEWIS
GRIFFITHS, Engine Fitter, and RICHARD LEWIS, Foreman in Tin Works,
both of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five,
in the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Lewis Griffiths
and Richard Lewis, Her special licence that we, the said Lewis
Griffiths and Richard Lewis, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Lewis Griffiths and Richard
Lewis, our 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 for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR CLEANING TIN
PLATES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Lewis
Griffiths and Richard Lewis, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Lewis Griffiths and Richard Lewis,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures marked
thercon (that is to say):
The object of this Invention is to provide a machine which will

page_text: rapidly and officiently clean the surface of tin plates from grease after
they have left the bath.
The machine consists of two chains, one on either side, which carry
the tin plates in regular succession through a box containing bran, and
between rotating brushes and stationary rubbers or wipers, whereby the
dust or bran left on the plates by the cleaning operation are removed.
The carrying chains revolve around drums, pullies, or wheels at either
end of the machine. Attached to these chains are a series of spindles,
which carry clips provided with clamp levers on each. Springs are also
provided for closing the clips on the edges of the plates, so that the
latter may be drawn forward by the chains. The clamp levers are
pointed at the ends so as to enable them to enter easily between the
revolving wipers, which run in sliding bearings provided with springs to
bring the wipers down after the clips have passed.
In the accompanying Drawings Figure 1, Sheet I., is a longitudinal
vertical section of our improved machine or apparatus for cleaning tin
or terne plates; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same.
Figure 3 is a plan view of the machine as seen from above;
Figure 4 is an end elevation of the machine.
and
The main feature of the Invention consists in delivering the plates to
be operated upon to spring clips or other equivalent devices attached to
endless travelling chains which will drag or carry the plates or cause
them to travel through the bran box and between rotating brushes and
rubbers or wipers, and deliver them in succession at the other end of the
machine.
By means of the mechanism shewn in the Drawings, and hereafter
described, the plates are automatically delivered to the spring clips or
other equivalent devices, it being only necessary for the attendant to
place the plates on a stationary grating or table a at one end of the
machine, and remove them from another table b, on which when cleaned
they are deposited at the opposite end of the machine; c, c, are the
travelling endless chains, which carry or drag forward the plates to be
operated upon. These chains pass round the chain wheels or pullies c', c',
on the shaft of one of which is mounted the driving pulley d,
whereby the working parts are operated by means of suitable gearing,

page_text: at suitable distances apart with spring clips e, e, which catch hold of the
margin of the plates and draw them through the bran box g, g, g, and
between the pairs of rotating brushes f, f, and the spring rubbers or
wipers i, i.
The peculiar construction and operation of the spring clips e, e, will
be best understood by referring to the detached Figures 5 and 6, which
are drawn on an enlarged scale. It will be seen that the clip is
composed of a sheet of steel bent up into the form of a flat tube (as
shewn at Figure 5), at the edges of which are projecting tongues e¹, e¹,
which when opened lay hold of the edge or margin of the plate to be
operated upon, and draw it forward as the chains c, c, travel onward.
The flat tube e is secured by each end to the chains c, c, so that it
extends across the machine, and through it passes the oval shaft or
spindle j, on each end of which is keyed a short lever k.
The normal position of these levers is vertical or at right angles to the
chains c, as shewn at Figure 5, but as the chain travels forward it brings
the upper end of these levers against the fixed bars 7, 1, Figures 1 and 2,
so that the levers are forced back into the position shewn by dots in
Figure 5. By this means the oval shaft j is rocked on its centre, and the
jaws of the clip e are thereby forced open ready to receive the edge of a
tin plate which is pushed forward from the grating a by the horizontal
pusher bar m, which is actuated in the following manner:―The pusher
bar m is attached to the end of two guide rods m³, m³, and also to a
central screwed shaft m², whereby its position on the grating a is
adjusted by turning the hand wheel m³. The rods m¹ and m² pass
through the horizontal bar n at the upper end of the weighted vibrating
bell-crank levers n', n', and act therewith. A pair of rods o, o, are jointed
to the bell-crank lever n', and are provided at their opposite ends with
hooks o¹, o', (sec Figure 2), which catch over square studs ¹, Figure 5,
on one side of each of the levers k, k, when the latter are brought under
the hooks of the rods o, o, as the levers / are brought round by the
travelling chains c. The effect of this will be that the rods o, o, will be
drawn forward, and with them the pusher bar m, which will consequently
push forward the tin plate from off the grating a into the open jaws of
the clips e, e, which will have been opened by the levers & being thrusţ

page_text: back into the dotted position shewn at Figure 5, as already explained.
Now in order to release the hooks o' of the rods o, and also to allow the
jaws of the clips e to close on the tin plate, the projecting tails of the
hooks o are brought against pins projecting from the sides of the fixed
bars 1, 1, and are thereby lifted up until the studs ¹ on the levers / are
released from the notches of the hooks o¹; the clasticity of the spring
clips e, e, will then force back the oval shafts j and levers k into their
original position, so that the clips will close on and securely hold the
plate and draw it forward as the chains travel onwards.
We would here remark that although we have found the construction
of spring clip just described acts in a very satisfactory manner we do
not mean or intend to limit ourselves thereto, as other forms of spring
clip will answer the purpose equally well.
When the plates are held by the clips they are carried forward by the
chains through the bran box g (which is filled with bran), and they also
pass between the two pairs of revolving brushos f, f, and also between
the hinged or spring wipers, which cause clean bran to pass continually
over both surfaces of the plates. The pair of hinged or spring wipers
which are placed at the end of the boxes clean the bran from off the
plates, which are then carried forward out of the machine. When the
clips e arrive at the end of the machine the levers k come against the
bars, and are forced back into the dotted position shewn at Figure 5, so
as to open the clips and allow the plates to fall on to a table or grating p
below, from whence they are removed as required. In their passage
from the last pair of wipers i, i, the plates are drawn over the adjustable
matting q, which holds them up until they are released from the
clips e, e.
The bran box g is divided into compartments by means of a series of
vertical partitions g', g, g', through horizontal slots in which the
travelling endless chains with their clips will draw the plates to be
operated upon, and in order to prevent an undue waste of the bran the
horizontal slots are provided with flexible lips, as shewn at g², g³, in
Figure 1, which will allow the chains and plates to pass, but will keep
back the bran.
As a modification of the above we sometimes dispense with the spring
.

page_text: shewn in Sheet II., in which Figure 7 is a longitudinal vertical section;
Figure 8, an end elevation; Figure 9, a side elevation; and Figure 10, a
plan view of this modification. The projecting pins or studs can be adjusted
at different distances along these endless chains c, c, to suit different
sized plates, and they are intended to catch the plates and carry or drag
them through the bran box I, J. This box contains two pairs of
revolving brushes or wipers, which may be covered either with bristles
or matting or other suitable material, which wipes and cleans both sides
of the plates, as in the former instance. As in this plan there are no
clips to open the hooked rod o, o, and the other parts connected there-
with may be dispensed with, as it will only be necessary for the attendant
to place the plates on the chains or on the grating a in such a position
that the studs or projections on the chains may as the latter travel
forward catch against the edges of the plates and push them forward.
In this plan the plates are carried through the machine by the chains,
as in the former instance, and after passing between the stationary
wipers they are deposited on a grating or table b at the other end,
from whence they are removed when required.
Having now described our Invention of improved machinery for
cleaning tin plates, and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, we would observe in conclusion that although we prefer
to use chains for carrying the tin plates through the machine, as hercin
shewn and described, yet it will be evident that the spring clips or
analogous devices for holding and drawing forward the plates may be
attached to flexible metal or other bands instead of chains, we do not
therefore mean or intend to confine ourselves to the use of chains for
this purpose, but we claim as the Invention secured to us by Letters
Patent as aforesaid,―
The combination with the bran box or chamber g, g, or any analogous
device for holding the bran or cleaning material of travelling endless
chains or bands provided with spring clips, fingers, projecting pins,
studs, or other analogous devices for the purpose of catching hold of and
carrying forward through the machine the plates that are to be operated
upon.
We also claim the combination with the travelling endless chains or
bands, as shewn and described in reference to the Figures in Sheet I., of
the reciprocating pusher bar and the hooked bars o, o, or other equiva-

page_text: lent devices, together with the spring clips e, et, the oval spindle j, with
the lever and the devices for actuating the same for automatically
opening and closing the spring clips, as and for the purpose herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Lewis Griffiths and Richard
Lewis, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twelfth day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-six.
L. GRIFFITHS.
(L.S.)
R. LEWIS.
(L.S.)