IMPROVEMENTS IN CHAFF CUTTERS
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I JOHN WILDER of the Yield Hall Foundry Reading in the County of Berks
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
CHAFF CUTTERS and in what manner the same is to be performed, to bo
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In chaff cutters as ordinarily constructed the "feed" towards the mouthpiece has
a tendency to and frequently does choke or becomes wound round the feed rollers
and so stops the proper working of the machine.
My Invention is designed to obviate this inconvenience and to carry it into
practice I so arrange my apparatus that on the least obstruction offered to the
passage of the material through the feed rollers, the press or rising mouthpiece shall
open in increased ratio and so allow the "feed" to pass freely through the same and
in carrying out my Invention I arrange the bearing bracket of the upper feed
roller in the form of a segment of a circle struck from such a point that the mouth
of the press carried by this bracket shall rise from the fixed mouth in greater
proportion than the distance between the centres of the feed rollers when the
upper roller rises to releive the pressure upon it.
And in order that my Invention may be understood and carried into practical
effect I have caused to be annexed to this Specification the accompanying two
Sheets of Drawings and to the figures and letters of reference thereon indicated
I now refer.
Sheet I. Fig. 1 shews a side elevation of part of a chaff cutter constructed
according to my Invention, unnecessary complication of the Drawing being avoided
by the omission of the knives, flywheel, various parts of gearing et cetera as will be
well understood. The press, feed rollers et cetera are shewn by chain dots behind
the frame.
Sheet II. Fig. 2 shows an elevation of the other side of the bearing bracket,
press, and feed rollers.
Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the press and its bearing brackets.
A shows the bearing bracket of the spindle B of the top roller C, as shown it is
in the form of a segment of a circle the centre of which on Sheet I. Fig. 1 is shewn
at . and the extreme radius of which circle (at the mouth of the press) is.
sliewn at ².
On each side of the mouth E I form slots or openings in which the bearing
bracket A is free to move as the feed roller C approaches or recedes from the lower
roller D.

page_text: The upper part of the mouth E (known as the press) I fix to lugs cast on the
bearing brackets A by bolts and nuts or otherwise, this is shewn by dotted lines in
Fig. 1. The point (the extreme radius of the circle struck from ') being at a
greater distance from its centre than the point (the axis of the feed roller C)
cau-es point to pass through a greater distance in a given time than point and
by so doing it causes point (or the mouth of the press) to fall more quickly and
to a much lower point than hitherto in chaff cutters thus ndjusting the rollers for
allowing a much cleaner cut on a thin "feed" or layer of hay straw or other like
substances passing between them. It will further be seen that the point (or the
mouth of the press) rises more quickly than the axis of the top roller at point ³
and so releives the mouth of the press of two much friction when a thick feed
or layer of hay straw or other like substances is passing between the feed rollers
and so prevents it being jammed between the fixed (F) and rising (E) mouths of
the press at points and * and so preventing its being wound round the feed
rollers.
To keep tho feed roller C in position I place rods G passing over the boss of the
bearing in the bearing bracket A as shewn in Fig. 1 and these rods pass through
plato H bearing against spiral spring I having piston or cap J pressing the bearing
of the fixed roller D (or other stop) and the rods G being adjusted to more or less
compress the spring by means of nuts K K or otherwise or I may arrange the
rods G to be connected to a lever and weight instead of a spiral or other spring or
may use other suitable means to vary the pressure on the upper feed roll.
The arrangement of reversing gear and the gear for permitting the rise and
driving of the upper feed roller and other details may be of the usual well known
variety I am well aware that chaff cutters have been constructed with mouths
rising or falling vertically or hinged and I do not claim such arrangements I am
also aware of the existence of a Specification of a Patent granted to W. Clark
No 14 of 1864 in which is shewn a feed roller moving in a radial slot for the
purpose of ke ping the said feed roller at always the same radial distance from the
centre of the fly wheel and the peculiar arrangement of knife therein shown, but
this is not for the same purpose as my Invention is intended to effect.
Having now described my Invention and particularized the manner of
performing the same, I claim
Constructing chaff cutters with the mouth or press and upper feed roller carried
by a segmental bearing bracket moving in a similarly shaped groove or slot and
adjusted by springs or otherwise, the lower edge or extreme radius of the mouth or
press being at a greater distance. from the centre from which the segmental slide or
slot is struck than from the axis of the upper ferd roller, so that the mouth or press
shall open or close in greater ratio to the distance traversed by the moving feed
roller according to the thickness of the feed, substantially as and for the purposes
described.