An Improved Automatic Feed for Oil-cake Presses.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 25th Feb., 1899
An Improved Automatic Feed for Oil-cake Presses.
I, FRANK TUCKER, of Bathhurst Oil Mills, Bristol, in the County of Bristol,
Mill Foreman, 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:-
The object of this invention is to adapt to oil-cake pressing machinery, means
for automatically transferring the meal from the kettle to the moulds, and thereby
controlling the rate at which the cakes are produced, and ensuring thereby a
uniform pressing of the cakes.
The advantages obtained by controlling the output of the machinery are, that
a steady attention of the attendants to their work is compelled; that all the
cakes will be subjected to a uniform pressure, for the extraction of the oil; and
that a softer and more marketable cake will be produced than heretofore, there
being no possibility of hurrying the work, to make up for lost time.
These advantages I obtain by taking from the main driving shaft which
actuates the rotating stirrers in the kettle, the power for operating the strickling
box valve, and I thus place it out of the power of the attendant to hurry on the
filling of the moulds.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the meal kettle of the oil press, with the hydraulic
mechanism applied thereto for operating the strickling box, which transfers the
meal from the kettle to the moulds.
Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same; and
Fig. 3 is a cross section, taken on the line 1-2 of Fig. 2.
A A is a jacketted meal kettle, above which is mounted the driving shaft B,
fitted with a band pulley, through which it receives rotary motion.
b is a bevil pinion keyed to the shaft B, and gearing into a bevil wheel c
keved to the stirrer shaft C, mounted in the kettle as usual.
Dis the valve box of the hydraulic valve, the details of its construction being
illustrated in Figs. 4 to 7, inclusive.
Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the valve box D;
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same;
Fig. 6 is a vertical section of this valve box, taken on the line 3-4 of Fig. 5;
and
Fig. 7 is a horizontal section on the line 5-6 of Fig. 6.
In these views, E is a valve rod fitted with a slide valve E¹ for controlling a
port d in the casting of the valve-box.
Fis a pipe for delivering oil or water at high pressure to the valve box.
The valve rod E is made of two diameters, and a shoulder is thereby formed,
upon which the water or oil admitted to the valve box presses, so as to give the
valve a tendency to close the passage d, and cut off the supply of water or oil,
which leaves the valve box by the pipe to operate the strickling box.
Referring back to Fig. 1, 61 is a worm keyed onto the shaft B, and gearing
into a worm wheel keyed to a horizontal transverse shaft G.

page_text: This shaft turns in bracket bearings bolted to one of the bearings of the
shaft B, and upon it is mounted a cam H. It is by the rotation of this cam that
à vertical motion is imparted to the rod of the slide valve El, for cutting off from,
and admitting water or oil to, the pipe leading to the hydraulic cylinder of
the strickling box.
Fitted to the upper end of the valve rod E, is a bowl e, which overlies and bears
upon the periphery of the cam H. As, therefore, this cam is slowly rotated
through the gearing which connects its shaft with the main driving shaft, the
valve rod E will be caused to rise, lift its valve clear of the port d, and open a
way for the escape of water or oil under pressure from the valve box to the
hydraulic cylinder in connection with the strickling box.
So soon, however, as the largest diameter of the cam passes the bowl e, the valve
rod, under the pressure of the water in the valve box, will return the valve to the
closed position of Fig. 7, and allow the strickling box to return to its normal
position.
It will thus be seen that it is beyond the capacity of the attendant to vary the
speed of filling the moulds, which will be brought up in the usual way to receive
the charge of meal automatically delivered at a fixed rate by the strickling box.
It will be obvious that the gearing used for transmitting motion from the
driving shaft to the cam shaft may be varied at pleasure, to suit the varied
requirements of the presses to which my improved apparatus is to be applied.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:.
The means above described for imparting an automatic action to the strickling
box (independently of the attendant), for the purpose above set forth.
A
Labuon IXU
Hoto EN 1
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.