IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR PULPING AND CUTTING TURNIPS AND MANGEL WURTZEL AND OTHER VEGETABLES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND SCREENING TURNIPS AND MANGEL WURTZEL AND OTHER VEGETABLES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Corbett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
June 1875.
I, SAMUEL CORBETT, of Wellington, in the County of Salop, Agri-
cultural Implement Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR PULPING AND
CUTTING TURNIPS AND MANGEL WURTZEL AND OTHER VEGETABLES, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND SCREENING TURNIPS AND MANGEL WURTZEL AND
OTHER VEGETABLES," to be as follows :—
My Invention consists first of the following improvements in the
machines for pulping and cutting turnips and other vegetables described
in the Specification of Letters Patent, granted to me on the Third day
of February 1871, No. 300.
My present improvements consist in making the disc wheel of the
pulpers or cutters so that the knives will fit any of the openings in the
said disc wheel, and making the knives adjustable to cut or pulp the
turnips or other vegetable matter finer or coarser as desired.
In carrying this part of my Invention into effect I make in the
pulping or cutting disc wheel in the direction of radii a series of oblong
openings or apertures, the said openings or apertures having flanges at

page_text: the back of the disc for the purpose of supporting and fixing the
adjustable knives or cutters. The said knives or cutters are situated
perpendicular to the face of the disc wheel, and the teeth or points of
the said knives project beyond the said face, and may be adjusted nearer
to or further from the said face of the disc by slots and screw pins, and
nuts. I make the pulping knives or cutters with sharp diamond points
on their edges, and opposite each cutting point a hole is made in the
disc wheel for the cut root to pass through. By adjusting by a sliding
motion the distance of the diamond points on the edges of the knives
from the holes in the disc wheel, the pulper may be fitted to cut or pulp
the turnips or vegetables finer or coarser as may be desired. The knives
or cutters for stripping the roots, that is, cutting them into thin strips
are made gouge-shaped on their edges instead of diamond pointed as
when used for pulping.
By the improvements described much labour is saved in fixing the
knives or cutters to the disc wheel, and as the said knives or cutters are
interchangeable, each knife fitting any of the apertures in the disc
wheel, the replacing of the knives and the preserving of the teeth of the
wheel in a fit state for work, and the adjustment of the said knives are
readily effected.
My Invention consists further of the improvements herein-after
described in apparatus to be fixed to machines for pulping and cutting
turnips and other vegetables, or to be used independently of the said
machines for the purpose of cleaning and screening turnips or other
vegetables prior to the pulping or cutting of the same. The said
apparatus detaches the adhering dirt and stones from turnips and other
vegetables, and screens or separates the said dirt or stones, and when
combined with a pulper or cutter feeds the cleaned turnips or other
vegetables into the said pulper or cutter.
I will describe the apparatus as used in conjunction with a pulper or
cutter. The said apparatus consists of a rotating cylinder or barrel
open at its ends similar to the drum of a thrashing machine, and within
the said cylinder or barrel a wire screen or cylinder is fixed, the wires
of the said screen or cylinder being arranged in the form of a screw or
helix around the interior of the outer cylinder or barrel. The wires of
which the inner screen or cylinder is made are embedded in the longi-
tudinal bars of the outer cylinder or barrel, the said wires lying flush
with the inner surface of the said bars. The inner screw like screen

page_text: described serves both to propel the roots through the cylinder to the
hopper of the pulper, and also to separate or screen the dirt and stones
from the roots.
For the purpose of removing the dirt and stones adhering to the roots
plates are fixed on the inner sides of the longitudinal bars of the outer
cylinder, the said plates having teeth or projections cast or otherwise
made on their surface. The said plates also keep the wires of the screen
in their proper places inside the outer cylinder. Around the outside of
the longitudinal bars of the outer cylinder two or more hoops are fixed.
These hoops carry arms and the latter have fixed to them a spindle,
upon which the cylinder works. The cylinder is driven from the pulping
or cutting machine by a spur wheel on the exterior of the cylinder
taking into a pinion on the spindle of the pulping or cutting machine
or pulley, or chain gear may be used instead of spur gearing. The
cylinder is supported upon the pulper by a shelf or bracket on the
hopper, on which shelf or bracket one end of the spindle of the cylinder
works, the other end of the spindle being supported by an upright
stayed or otherwise fixed to the hopper of the pulper.
When the apparatus is at work the roots are delivered into that end
of the cylinder or screen most distant from the pulper. By the rotation
of the cylinder or screen the knives or toothed plates inside the screen
remove the dirt and stones from the roots, while the screen separates or
screens the dirt and stones from the roots, and also propels the cleaned
roots through the cylinder or screen into the hopper of the pulper.
The apparatus described may be used independently of the pulper or
cutter, and be worked by hand. In this case I mount the cylinder or
screen upon a stand or frame, upon which the said cylinder or screen is
capable of rotating the spindle at one end, being carried through the
frame and having upon it a handle for rotating the cylinder or screen.
By combining the apparatus described with or using it independently
of the pulper or cutter, the roots are readily cleaned ready to be cut or
pulped, and great saving of labour effected.
The said apparatus may also be used for cleaning and screening roots
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