AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF AND MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING AND CLEANING VEGETABLE FIBRES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Threlfall, of San Francisco, in the State of Cali-
fornia, one of the United States of America, Gentleman, for an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF AND MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING
AND CLEANING VEGETABLE FIBRES."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Thomas Threlfall at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th July 1880.
THOMAS THRELFALL, of San Francisco, in the State of California, one of the
United States of America, Gentleman. "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF AND MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING AND CLEANING VEGETABLE FIBRES."
My said Invention relates to an improved process of and machinery or apparatus
for separating and cleaning vegetable fibres, such as ramie, jute, flax, hemp, and
other fibrous plants, and is mainly adapted to the treatment of the plant called
ramie (or rhea), whereby the fibre of this and other plants is produced in a much
I attain this
better condition than has heretofore been possible by other means.
object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my machine; Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional
view; Figure 3 is a top view; Figure 4, a side view; Figure 5, a top view; Figure
6, a detail view showing the pressure-regulating mechanism for the upper series of
rollers. Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views. Upon
a table or frame having suitable legs or standards for a proper support I place my
machine or apparatus, which consists of a series of six or more sets of rollers; each
set is composed of two rollers, and one roller is placed above the other throughout
the whole series; these several sets of rollers are held and supported in the sides of
a frame A, A, by means of journals a and boxes b, b¹, in such a manner that the
upper series of rollers will move up and down automatically, according to the thick-
ness of the stalks or fibres which are caused to pass between them, the object being
to effect a sufficient amount of pressure to reduce the stalk and separate the woody
portion and gum or bark without cutting or otherwise injuring the fibre in passing
through or between the rollers. To accomplish this object I place a spiral spring B
between the journal boxes b, b', of the rollers, and upon the top of the upper boxes
vertical screw studs C, which move in the screw cylinders C¹; these screw cylinders
or guides extend to the top of the frame at both sides, and connect with the

page_text: longitudinal shafts D by means of the bevelled mitre gear whees D'. The points of
these screw studs rest upon the plate c, between which and the top of the journal
boxes b is placed a spring or packing of india-rubber d. By this means a greater or
less pressure can be applied to the material passing between the rollers by turning the
horizontal shafts by the hand wheels E attached.to.one-end-of-the-shaft,-which-draws-
the rollers nearer together or further apart, according to the distance which the
vertical screws are caused to travel, while the spiral springs B serve to keep
the rollers apart, and provide that elastic or yielding pressure so essential to the
treatment of fibre in order to prevent bruising or cutting in passing through the
corrugated rollers of which my machine is composed, and which will hereinafter be
more fully described.
The first two sets or forward rollers F of my machine are composed of smooth or
plain surfaces, and these are succeeded by four or more sets of corrugated rollers
F', F2, every alternate set being corrugated spirally, as shown at f, f¹. All of these
rollers are provided with toothed wheels G at one end, which mesh into each other,
so that when power is applied to one it operates, by means of the connecting idle
cog wheels G¹, the whole series. Between each lower set of rollers I place a shelf g,
over which the material slides or passes on its way to the upper end of the machine,
and between each set of the upper rollers I place a rotating fan H, which is caused
to travel or rotate in the same direction as that of the material, and this serves to
keep down all of the slivers of the fibre, and prevent it from adhering to the rollers.
They are operated by the spur wheels H'. I operate my machine by a pulley and
belt connection (not shown) to the spur wheel H². The stalks are first thoroughly
dried in the sun or by artificial heat, so as to expel the sap, juice, or gum, and they
are fed to the machine continuously endways by the endless apron or belt I, passing
between the first series of smooth rollers, and on between the second series of
smooth rollers, which thoroughly crush the stalks lengthwise, thence on between
the corrugated rollers, those having spiral corrugations being arranged alternately
with those having longitudinal corrugations. These rollers F¹, F2 break and par-
tially strip the woody portion of the stalk into fine particles, according to the
fineness of the corrugations, the corrugation of all the rollers being round or without
angles or sharp edges, so as not to cut the fibre. The woody portion having been
separated from the fibre is caused to drop in broken bits between the rollers, and
the bark with the fibre passes on or is carried out at the upper end of the machine,
and this latter operation I term the stripping process, or removing or separating the
wood from the fibre. When a sufficient quantity of material has been stripped,
then the two sets of plain rollers may be removed and the longitudinally corrugated
rollers substituted in their place, and the stripped fibre is then passed through the
machine in bulk for the cleaning process in layers of from one to twelve inches in
thickness, which removes the bark from the fibre which remains after having passed
through the machine the first time, as above described, the longitudinal corruga-
tions cutting the bark in a transverse manner, and the spiral corrugations cutting
it in a diagonal manner after the longitudinal transverse corrugations have been
made. The fibre is now easily deprived of all remaining bark or gum left after the
previous manipulation, and is beaten out and falls in fine particles beneath the
rollers. The rollers being held in springs or elastic bearings will accommodate
themselves to the unequal thickness of the fibre which is being fed to them.
For the purpose of more thoroughly cleaning and separating the bark from the
fibre in this last operation I provide a means for producing a horizontal recipro-
cating or a forward and backward motion, so that the fibre will pass more slowly
through the machine, and be subjected to a repeated action of the corrugated
rollers; this motion may be accomplished by so many different means that I do not
deem it necessary to suggest any particular device for the purpose; suffice it to say
that it may be attached to and be combined with the pulley which drives the
machine, that is to say, the spur wheel H2, which operates all of the rollers by the
meshing of each into the other. This driving pulley may be made so as to convert
the action of the rollers into a horizontal reciprocating motion or a continuous rotary

page_text: motion, as desired. By this means the fibre of the plant called ramie, which here-
tofore has been found so difficult to separate and clean in such a manner as to place
it in the market extensively as an article of commerce, can be furnished in a
thoroughly cleaned manner, and at a moderate cost of manipulation.
Having thus fully described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is,
First. The process of separating and cleaning vegetable fibre by first drying the
stalks or plants and passing them through or between a series of smooth rollers to
crush the stalks lengthwise, thence through or between alternate horizontal and
spirally corrugated rollers to break and separate the woody portion transversely and
diagonally, and again through or between corrugated rollers having a continuous
rotary or reciprocating motion to separate the gum or bark, substantially in the
manner as herein set forth and specified.
Second. In a machine adapted for separating and cleaning plants of fibrous
material, the combination of a series or group of smooth rollers F, longitudinally cor-
rugated rollers F', and spirally corrugated rollers F³, each group or series composed
of two rollers, arranged and operating substantially in the manner as herein set forth
and specified.
Third. In a machine adapted for separating and cleaning plants of fibrous
material, the combination and arrangement of a set or series of smooth, longitu-
dinally, and spirally corrugated rollers, each set composed of two rollers operated
on journals a, a, in boxes b, b¹, with a rotating fan H between each set of said
rollers, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth and
specified.
Fourth. In a machine adapted to separating and cleaning fibres of plants having
a series of transverse rotary rollers operating in journals and journal bearings or
boxes, the combination of the spiral springs B, elastic packing d, and screw studs and
cylinders C, C, operated by horizontal shafting D and bevelled gear wheels D¹, so as
to elevate and depress the rollers and impart to them an elastic and yielding action
to engage and operate upon material of unequal thickness passing between the said
rollers, constructed and arranged and operating substantially in the manner as
herein set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Threlfall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, A.D. One thousand eight hundred
and eighty.
THOMAS THRELFALL. (L.S.)