IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING FRUIT
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
ROBSON, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Grocer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
November, in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Christopher Robson, my exors,
admors, and assigns,. Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Christopher Robson, my exors, admors, and assigns,
or such others as F, the said Christopher Robson, my exors, admors, of
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from' time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
DRESSING FRUIT in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that
I, the said Christopher Robson, should cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Christopher Robson, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
The Invention is for the better enabling grocers and others to dress currants,
raisins, and other similar fruit. Heretofore the method of dressing consisted
of placing the currants or other fruit in a wire sieve, and rubbing them with
the palm of the hand, and sometimes by hand brushes, in order to rub off the
small stalks, the currants or other fruit remaining in the sieve, the stalks, dust,
and dirt for the most part passing through the sieve. This process is one
requiring considerable time and labour, and is very ineffectual in its result.
The present Invention consists of suitable framework, such as is shewn at a, a,
supporting a sieve b, having within it a cone c, with four or more rows of
brush surfaces d, d. The brush is so placed as to be raised or lowered to a
slight extent, according to the distance required between the brush and the
surface of the sieve, and is so raised by means of a screw e at the lower end of
the iron axis on which the brush is fixed. The fruit is placed in a hopper,
from which the upper cylinder is supplied. The machine is then worked by
means of the handle. The principal part of the stalks and dirt fall through
the interstices of the sieve, and the fruit is then gradually discharged into a !
second circular horizontal sieve or perforated plate f, in which four or other
number of brushes g (fixed across the iron axis which passes down through the
upper sieve) are made to revolve upon the fruit in the lower sieve, whereby
the remaining stalks and refuse of the fruit will be discharged through the
interstices of the sieve into a drawer beneath, while the fruit is worked out at
one side of the sieve at the opening g' by the action of the lower brushes, and
is finally delivered into a box or drawer placed at the bottom of the machine.
The difference between the currant-dressing machine, and one for raisins or
fruit of a larger kind, only consists in the difference in the width of the inter-
stices of the sieves and the strength of the brushes, the whole machinery of
the one being capable of adaptation for the other, by having two sets of sieves
and brushes moveable at pleasure. The brushes may be either made of hair,
bristles, whalebone, or other substance of which brushes are usually made.
Although I prefer that the machine should consist both of an upper and a
lower sieve, as above described, I do not confine myself thereto, as a fruit-
dressing machine may be made of either separately. And although I recom-
mend that the revolving brush should be placed inside the upper sieve, yet I
claim the applicability of my Invention to a brush mado similarly to revolve
on the outside of a sieve.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the details herein described so long as the peculiar
character of my Invention is retained. I would state, that I am aware that
it is not new to employ sieves with brushes for other purposes, such as dressing
grain seeds and separating flour from bran; but such machines, as heretofore
arranged, are not suitable for fruits such as herein mentioned. And my
Invention is confined to arranging or combining machines suitable for fruit.
What I claim is, the arranging sieves with brushes for dressing fruit, as above
described.
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In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Robson, have hereunto se
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-coven