IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE LEAVES AND STALKS OF PLANTS AND OTHER FIBRE YIELDING SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING FIBRE THEREFROM, WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE REDUCTION OF " OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton of the Office for Patents 66
Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING
THE LEAVES AND STALKS OF PLANTS AND OTHER FIBRE YIELDING SUBSTANCES
FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING FIBRE THEREFROM, WHICH MACHINERY IS
ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE REDUCTION OF
"
OTHER MATERIALS Communi-
cated to him from abroad by The Sanford Universal Fibre Company
(Incorporated) of the City and State of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th September
1882.
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE LEAVES AND STALKS OF PLANTS AND OTHER
FIBRE-YIELDING SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING FIBRE THEREFROM,
WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE REDUCTION OF OTHER
MATERIALS." [Communicated to him from abroad by The Sanford Universal
Fibre Company (Incorporated) of the City and State of New York, United States
of America]
This invention relates to improved machinery for treating fibre bearing leaves
stalks or other vegetable matter either in a green or dry state and with or without
water or chemical solution so as to obtain fibre therefrom. The machinery is
applicable also for softening vegetable fibres which have already been obtained.
The machinery may also be used for separating the fibres of asbestos, making wood
pulp, reducing or pulverizing mineral ores, iron slag or other metallic substances;
and generally for reducing, pulverizing washing rubbing or separating various other
substances vegetable and mineral.

page_text: :
.
.
This machinery consists mainly in a combination of a, concave trough or bed and
a cylinder between which the fibres are carried or caused to pass. Both trough
and cylinder have roughened grooved or ridged surfaces, the said cylinder having
a reciprocating motion either in a rotary, or longitudinal direction to rub and
separate the fibres and also having a progressive rotary motion for the purpose of 5
carrying the fibres through the space between it and the concave trough or bed.
The cylinder admits of being operated in two ways. In the first the cylinder has
an alternate reciprocating rotary motion which is greater in one direction than the
other, the result of which is a progressive rotary motion in one direction for
carrying the materials being operated upon through the machine. In this machine 1
the fibres while passing through it are parallel with the axis of the cylinder.
In the second machine the cylinder has a constant rotary motion always in one
direction, and a reciprocating longitudinal movement or end chase. In this latter
machine the fibres are fed with their length transverse to the axis of the cylinder.
In the first named construction of machine, the cylinder is made of a metal skeleton
body or two or more drums set end to end and covered with slabs or staves of metal,
hard wood or other suitable material extending lengthwise thereof, grooved, fluted
ribbed, ridged, or otherwise suitably roughened longitudinally on their surface.
This cylinder is mounted upon a shaft over and excentrically to a concave trough
or bed supported in a tank by a framing which also supports the shaft of the
cylinder in adjustable elastic bearings. This bed is composed of staves or slabs of
any suitable material set parallel to the axis of the cylinder, and grooved or
roughened in such a manner as to ensure the proper rubbing of the material under
treatment. The staves or slabs are mounted at their ends in india rubber or
other flexible material. This method of supporting the staves composing the bed
and of mounting the cylinder shaft upon elastic bearings enables the bed and
cylinder to yield slightly in opposite directions.
The cylinder being set excentrically above the bed facility is offered for the
feeding of the fibre between the cylinder and the bed. The trough or bed may
have its grooves or flutes nearer together on the delivery side than on the other
side.
Upon the shaft of the cylinder is a gear wheel engaging with a pinion keyed on
a shaft which is hung in bearings in arms loosely fulcrumed upon the cylinder
shaft. Upon this hanging shaft is keyed a wheel the use of which will presently
be explained. Upon a driving shaft is mounted a disc carrying a long wrist pin
the revolution of which produces a reciprocating motion of the shaft hanging in
the arms above referred to, through rods connected together by a cross pin;. on
this cross pin is mounted loosely a wheel gearing both with the wheel in the
hanging shaft and with a pinion on the wrist pin. Rotary motion is constantly
transmitted in one direction from this pinion through the train of gearing to the
pinion on the hanging shaft, but the cylinder instead of being rotated in one
-direction continually will be rotated alternately in opposite directions, for the
movement of the pinion upon the hanging shaft by the connecting rods, in one
direction will accelerate the rotary motion of the cylinder through the wheel upon
the cylinder shaft, and the reverse movement of the pinion will produce a retardation
i of the wheel and cylinder and the latter will have a rotary motion alternately in
opposite directions, but as the motion is greater in one direction than in the other
the cylinder will have a progressive rotary movement in one direction which will
carry the materials under treatment forward, and finally deliver them from the
machine. The extraneous matter separated from the fibre or other material being
treated may fall out between the staves composing the bed into the tank which
may if required contain water or a chemical solution, or holes may be made in the
staves for this purpose.
In the second construction of machine the bed and cylinder are made and
mounted substantially as above described but they are preferably grooved circum
ferentially instead of longitudinally although the cylinder may have severa
longitudinal grooves upon it. In this case the shaft of the cylinder is mounted nea
:

page_text: one end in a bearing wherein it may turn and slide longitudinally and at the other
end it has fitted upon it a worm wheel which is itself adapted to rotate in a
bearing wherein it is held against longitudinal movement. The cylinder shaft is
locked to the worm wheel by a featlier on the shaft fitting into a groove in the
wheel but the shaft may move freely end wise; the worm wheel is operated by a
worm or screw upon a driving shaft and thus the cylinder is rotated. At the
opposite end of the machine is a rock shaft mounted in bearings upon the framing:
This rock shaft is provided with a downwardly extending arm, and two upwardly
extending arms the latter are connected by rods with a loose collar fitting upon
the cylinder shaft between two fast collars. Upon the driving shaft is keyed a
crank wheel connected by a rod with the downwardly extending arm of the rock
shaft.
When the driving shaft is set in motion, the cylinder by the above described
mechanism is caused to make two longitudinal movements while it is turned a very
small fraction of a revolution. The longitudinal movement is effective in rubbing
the fibre or other material under treatment, and in separating extraneous matter
therefrom, while the rotary motion of the cylinder carries the fibre through the
machine.
The apparatus above described may be made with one or more cylinders as.
required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd March 1883.
"
ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex Mechanical Draughtsman IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE LEAVES AND STALKS OF PLANTS AND OTHER
FIBRE YIELDING SUBSTANCES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING FIBRES THEREFROM
MACHINERY
WHICH
IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR THE REDUCTION OF OTHER
MATERIALS." Being a Communication to me from Abroad by The Sanford Universal
Fibre Company (Incorporated) of the City and State of New York United States
of America
This Invention is applicable to the working or operating upon the fibre-bearing
leaves, stalks or other vegetable matter, either in a green or dry state, and with or
without water or chemical solution, and also to the purpose of softening vegetable
fibres. It is also applicable to the separation of the fibres of asbestos and to the
reduction of other mineral substances.
The Invention consists in the combination in a machine for the purpose above
mentioned, of a concave or bed and a cylinder between which the fibres are carried
or caused to pass and both of which have roughened, grooved or ridged surfaces, and
the said cylinder having a reciprocating motion either in a rotary or longitudinal
direction to rub and separate the fibres and also having a progressive rotary motion
for the purpose of carrying the fibres through the space between it and the concave
or bed.
The Invention may be embodied in machines of two constructions, which differ
from each other principally in the manner of operating the cylinder. In one of
these machines the cylinder has an alternate or reciprocating rotary motion, which.
is greater in one direction than the other, and the result of which is a progressive
rotary motion in one direction for carrying the materials under treatment through
the machine.
The fibres, while passing through this machine, are parallel with the axis of the
cylinder. In the other machine the cylinder has a constant rotary motion always
In this
in one direction and a reciprocating longitudinal movement or end chase.
latter machine the fibres passing through the machine have their length transverse
to the axis of the cylinder.
The Invention further consists in details of construction hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawings Figures 1, 2, and 3 represent respectively an end
elevation, a plan and a transverse section of one form of machine, and Figures 4, 5,
and 6 represent respectively a longitudinal section a transverse section and a plan
of the other form of machine. Similar letters of reference designate corresponding
parts in all the figures.
Referring first to Figures 1, 2 and 3, A designates the frame, B designates a tank
provided with an overflow B. C designates the cylinder, and D designates the
concave or arc-shaped bed.
The cylinder C may consist of a metal skeleton body or of two or more drums
or wheels and a covering of slats or staves of metal, hard wood or other material
extending lengthwise thereof, and it has its surface grooved fluted ribbed ridged
or otherwise suitably constructed or roughened. C' designates the cylinder shaft
supported in bearings a which are pressed down by india rubber blocks c or other
springs in housings b. The said springs may be adjusted by screws d. The bed D
is represented as composed of fluted or grooved sections, bars or stayes of metal,

page_text: hard wood or other suitable material, but the surfaces may be otherwise suitably
constructed to provide for a proper rubbing operation. The said section bars or
staves are supported at the ends on flanges or bearing strips e of india rubber
inserted in grooves in the tank B.
This method of supporting the bed, and the provision of springs above the
bearings of the cylinder shaft, enable the bed and cylinder to yield slightly in
opposite directions.
E designates a feed table. The cylinder is arranged slightly excentric to the bed,
so that the space between them on the side of the feed table is wider than at the
other side where the fibres are delivered; and the last section of the bed on the
delivery side may have its grooves or flutes smaller and nearer together than the.
grooves or flutes in the other sections as shewn in Fig: 3.
F designates a gear wheel on the shaft C, and f designates a pinion engaging:
there with and supported on the shaft f¹, which is hung in bearings in the arms G,,
loosely fulcrumed on the shaft C'. On the shaft f' is a wheel H.
I designates a driving shaft and 11 12 driving pulleys thereon. The shaft I,
carries a crank disc 1³, in which is a long wrist pin g, the revolution of which
produces a reciprocating motion of the shaft f¹, pinion f, and arn G, through.
pitman rods J, which are connected together by a pin h as shewn in Fig: 2. On
said pin h is a wheel K gearing both with the wheel H and a pinion i on the wrist.
pin g.
Rotary motion is constantly transmitted in one direction from the pinion i
through the wheels K H to the pinion f, but the cylinder, instead of being rotated in
one direction continually, will be rotated alternately in opposite directions, for the
movement of the pinion f by the crank g in one direction will accelerate the rotary
motion of the wheel F and cylinder, and the reverse movement of the pinion will
produce a retardation of the wheel, and cylinder and the latter will have a rotary
movement alternately in opposite directions, but as the motion is greater in one
direction, the cylinder will have a progressive rotary movement in that direction,
and will thereby carry the materials forward between it and the bed and finally.
deliver them. With the gearing here shewn, the cylinder would have a forward
movement of about fifteen inches, and a backward movement of about twelve inches,
thus imparting to the material under treatment a progressive movement of about
three inches at each turn of the crank I³.
The extraneous matter separated from the fibres may pass out between the
sections of the bed; or the bed may be perforated for a like purpose.
The materials so fed into the machine have the fibres extending lengthwise
of the cylinder, and the rubbing is in a direction transverse to the length of the
fibre.
Referring now to Figures 4, 5 and 6, A designates the framework, B designates
the tank which is provided with an overflow B'. C designates the cylinder
mounted on a shaft C¹. D designates the concave or bed supported upon flanges
or bearers e. E designates a feed table or board arranged at one side of the
machine. All the above mentioned parts are substantially like similar parts
described in connection with Figures 1, 2, and 3, except that the cylinder and bed
are roughened by fluting or grooving them in the direction of rotation of the
cylinder, instead of at right angles thereto, although the cylinder may be provided
with several longitudinal grooves d'.
In this machine the material is fed into the machine with its length transverse to
the axis of the cylinder, and the grooves d' enable the cylinder to grasp the materials
and draw them positively through the machine.
If desirable a pair of feed rolls may be arranged on or adjacent to the feed
board E.
The cylinder shaft C' is mounted near one end in a bearing a, wherein it may
turn and slide longitudinally, and at the other end it has fitted upon it a worm
wheel, which is itself adapted to rotate in a bearing a³, wherein it is held against
longitudinal movement.
.

page_text: The shaft C¹ is locked to the wheel by a feather or spline on the shaft fitting
a groove in the wheel, but the shaft may move freely endwise.
L designates a driving shaft mounted in bearings
and carrying a worm or
screw which engages with the wheel k, and thus rotates the cylinder.
On the shaft L is a driving pulley L¹.
At the opposite end of the machine is a rock shaft M mounted in bearings m.
It is provided with a downwardly extending arm n and two upwardly extending
arms n¹, and the latter arms are connected by rods o with a loose collar o¹ fitting
upon the shaft C' between two fast collars o².
Upon the shaft L is a crank or crank wheel L³ connected by a rod N, with the
arm n of the rock shaft M.
By the above described mechanism, the cylinder C is caused to make two
longitudinal movements while it is turned a very small fraction of a rotation,
and the longitudinal movement is effective in rubbing the fibres to separate
extraneous matter from them, while the rotary movement carries the fibres through
the machine.
In both the machines herein described the mechanism for imparting the desired
motions to the cylinder may be varied as mechanical skill may suggest.
The machines herein described may be employed either for treating green or
dry materials with or without water or chemical solution in the tank for separating
from the fibres the extraneous matter or for treating fibres in a green or dry state
with or without water or chemical solution for the purpose of softening them, and
the machines may also be employed for treating asbestos or other materials to
separate the fibres thereof.
The term cylinder as herein employed is not confined to a drum which is a true
cylinder, for instead of being a true cylinder, the part herein so terined might be
conical, barrel shaped, or of other desirable form having a circular transverse
section, the bed or concave of course being of corresponding shape.
$
Although the machine here shown has but one cylinder and one bed or concave,
a machine having two or more beds or concaves and cylinders arranged in any
suitable relation might be employed.
If desired the cylinder of the machine shewn in Figures 4, 5, and 6, in lieu of
having the slow rotary motion, and in addition to its end chase, might have an
alternate rotary motion greater in one direction than the other like the cylinder of
the machine shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Although this Invention is very advantageous as applied to machines for
obtaining fibres, it may be embodied in machines for making wood pulp, for
redueing or pulverizing mineral ores or iron slag or other metallic substances, and
generally for reducing, pulverizing, washing or rubbing or separating various other
substances either vegetable or mineral.
In lieu of making either of the machines with the bed and cylinder in horizontal
planes, the machines might be so arranged that the bed and cylinder would be
upright or inclined at any desired angle.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of “ Improvements in
machinery or apparatus for treating the leaves and stalks of plants and other fibre
yielding substances for the purpose of obtaining fibres therefrom, which machinery
is also applicable for the reduction of other materials," and described the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim:
First: The combination of the concave or bed and the cylinder, both having
grooved, fluted, ribbed, ridged or otherwise suitably constructed or roughened
surfaces, the cylinder having both a reciprocating motion either in a rotary or
longitudinal direction to rub and separate the fibres, and a progressive rotary
motion to carry the fibres through the machine substantially as described and for
the purpose set forth.
Second: The combination of the concave or bed and the cylinder, the cylinder
having a reciprocating rotary motion greater in one direction than the other

page_text: substantially as described with reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the drawing and
for the purpose set forth.
Third: The combination with the concave or bed and the cylinder, of mechanism
substantially as shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the drawing for imparting to the
cylinder a reciprocating rotary motion greater in one direction than the other for
the purpose set forth.
Fourth The combination of the concave or bed and the cylinder, the cylinder
having a rotary motion in one direction only and a longitudinal movement or end
chase substantially as described with reference to Figures 4, 5 and 6 of the drawing
and for the purpose set forth.
Fifth The combination with the concave or bed and the cylinder, of mechanism
substantially as shewn in Figures 4, 5 and 6 of the drawing, for imparting to the
cylinder a rotary motion and a longitudinal movement or end chase for the purpose
set forth.
Sixth: The combination with the concave or bed, of the cylinder having its
surface grooved circumferentially and having the longitudinal grooves d¹ sub-
stantially as described with reference to Figures 4, 5 and 6 of the drawing and
for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof I the said Alfred Vincent Newton have hereunto set my
hand and seal the twenty second day of March in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty three.