Improved Method of and Apparatus for Cleaning Intestines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd June, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 17th Dec., 1891-Accepted, 13th Feb., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Apparatus for Cleaning Intestines.
1 JOHN SIMON FRIDAY of 3 High Street, Northfleet, Kent, Butcher, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus for cleaning
intestines, it is primarily designed for cleaning what are commonly known as
"pigs runners and sheeps runners for commercial uses.
"
According to this invention the intestines, which have previously been soaked
for some days in water according to the usual custom, are first disentangled so as
to remove all kinks therefrom, and wound upon a reel, they are then caused to pass
between a series of pairs of revolving rollers, covered with some yielding material,
preferably india rubber, and also to pass through adjustable squeezers, and
adjustable draw plates or scrapers hereinafter described, the said squeezers and
draw plates or scrapers operating upon the intestines, and serving also to guide
them, during their passage from one pair of rollers to another. The cleaned gut
may be finally wound upon a reel, preferably of collapsible construction, to facilitate.
withdrawal of the skein of gut.
Intestines of all kinds may be cleaned by this invention more effectually and with
considerably greater speed and economy than by hand, the successive squeezing
and scraping operations through which they pass thoroughly cleaning the intestines
and removing the mucous linings therefrom.
The following arrangement and construction of machine will be found to answer
well in practice:-
-
A skein or skeins of intestines as delivered from the slaughterhouse are placed,
after soaking in water as previously mentioned, upon a reel revolving in bearings,
from this reel they are wound upon a second reel, all tangles or kinks being
removed during the process. The ends of the disentangled skeins are then placed
between, and the intestines caused to pass through, a pair of revolving rollers
mounted preferably in yielding bearings and covered with india rubber, these
rollers are rotated by a convenient handle and gearing and may be caused to rotate
by suitable driving gear as they revolve two other reels which I shall refer to as
reels 3 and 4. As the intestines pass between this first pair of rollers they leave
behind them their outer worthless skins or membranes which are wound upon
reel No. 3 as fast as stripped off, whilst the intestines after passing through the
rollers are wound in skeins upon reel No. 4. From reel No. 4 the intestines pass
through squeezing clips consisting of hinged jaws lined with india rubber or
analogous material the grip of which upon the intestines is obtained by convenient
springs, the number of squeezing clips corresponding with the number of intestines
to be operated upon at the same time. From the squeezing clips the intestines pass
between a second pair of rollers, which, as they rotate, draw the intestines through
the said squeezing clips. The intestines as they emerge from the second pair of
rollers are passed through metal draw plates or scrapers, also corresponding in
number with the number of intestines simultaneously operated upon. Each draw
plate or scraper consists of two metal plates disposed face to face, one plate being
mounted upon a pivot so as to be free to slide over the face of the other. Each
plate is provided with a slot running from its edge so shaped and arranged that the
slots of the two plates in combination will embrace upon every side the intestine
passed between them. A convenient spring acting upon the pivotted plate tends
to contract the aperture formed by the combined slots, the sharp edges of which
form a most efficient scraper. The intestines are drawn through the above men-
tioned draw plates or scrapers by a third pair of rollers, between which they pass,

page_text: they are then drawn through a second set of scrapers of similar construction to
those above described by means of a fourth-pair of rollers and are finally wound in
their finished condition upon a collapsible reel.
I prefer that the fourth pair of rollers should consist of a drum against the
periphery of which small'independent rollers, one for each intestine are caused to
press by convenient springs
The second third and fourth pair of rollers also the collapsible reel are preferably
all connected by suitable gearing pitcli cliains or driving belts and driven from a
fly wheel provided with a convenient handle.
It is not absolutely necessary to employ either the squeezing clips or the second
set of scrapers, also the number of pairs of rollers might be reduced, but it is
believed that the best result will be obtained by the arrangement above described.
If desired guides may be substituted for the adjustable squeezers.
Dated this 2nd day of June 1891.
E. P. ALEXANDER & SON,
19, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Apparatus for Cleaning Intestines.
I, JOHN SIMON FRIDAY, of 3 High Street, Northfleet, Kent, Butcher, 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 :-
This invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus. for cleaning
intestines it is primarily designed for cleaning what are commonly known as
pigs runners" and " "sheeps runners for commercial uses.
t:
"
According to this invention, the intestines, after having been previously soaked
for some days in water according to the usual custom and disentangled so as to
remove all kinks therefrom, are caused to pars between a pair, or series of pairs,
of revolving squeezing rollers, covered with some yielding material. preferably
india rubber, and also to pass through adjustable scrapers or draw plates herein-
after described. The squeezing action of the revolving rollers removes the mucous
lining of the intestines, whilst the adjustable scrapers remove all worthless skin or
membrane from the exterior thereof. The cleaned intestines may be finally wound
upon a reel preferably of collapsible construction to facilitate withdrawal of the
skein of gut.
In iny Provisional Specification I have made mention of adjustable squeezers of
india rubber being employed in addition to the draw plates or scrapers, but find
from experiments that these are not necessary and may be dispensed with.
Intestines of all kinds may be cleaned by this invention more effectually and
with considerably greater speed and economy than by hand, the successive
squeezing and scraping operations through which they pass thoroughly cleaning
them and removing as above mentioned the outer worthless skins or membranes
and mucous linings therefrom.
The following general construction and arrangement of apparatus will be found
to answer well in practice :-
A skein or skeins of intestines, as delivered. from the slaughter house, are
placed, after soaking in water as previously mentioned, upon a reel revolving, in
bearings, from this reel they are wound upon a second reel, all. tangles or kinks
being carefully removed during the process. The ends of the disentangled skeins.
are then placed between, and the intestines caused to pass through; a. pair of
revolving rollers covered with india rubber, and mounted preferably. in yielding.
bearings, so as to give to irregularities in the gut and thereby prevent injury to the.
same; these rollers may be rotated by a convenient handle and gearing, and may
be caused, as they revolve, to rotate, by suitable belts or pitch chains, two other

page_text: reels, which I shall refer to as reels 2 and 3. As the intestines pass between this
first pair of rollers they leave behind them their outer worthless skins or membranes
which are wound upon reel No. 2 as fast as stripped off, whilst the intestines after
passing through the rollers are wound in skeins upon reel No. 3. From reel No. 3 the
intestines pass between a second pair of revolving rollers, of similar construction to
the first pair, and from thence they pass through adjustable or yielding scrapers or
draw plates, corresponding in number with the number of intestines simultaneously
operated upon. Each scraper or draw plate consists of two metal plates disposed
face to face, one plate being mounted upon a pivot so as to be free to slide over the
face of the other. Each plate is provided with a slot running from its edge, so
shaped and arranged as that the slots of the two plates in combination will embrace
upon every side the intestine passed between them. A convenient spring acting
upon the pivotted plate tends to contract the aperture formed by the combined slots,
the sharp edges of which form a most effective scraper, which, whilst always
embracing the intestine closely on every side, will yield or adjust itself to any
irregularities of the gut, thereby obviating all risk of cutting the same.
The
intestines are drawn through the above mentioned scrapers or draw plates by a
third pair of revolving rollers (of similar construction to the first and second
pairs) between which they pass, they are then drawn through a second set of
scrapers, of similar construction to those above described, by means of a fourth
set of rollers, and are finally wound in their finished condition upon a collapsible
reel.
I prefer that the fourth set of rollers should consist of a drum, faced with wood
or other hard material, against the periphery of which small rollers, (one for each
intestine) covered with india rubber, and independently mounted, are caused to
press by convenient springs.
The second, third and fourth pair of rollers, also the collapsible reel, are
preferably all connected by suitable gearing pitch chains or driving belts, and
driven from a fly wheel provided with a convenient handle.
It is not absolutely necessary to employ the second set of draw plates or
scrapers, also the number of pairs of rollers might be reduced, but I have obtained
a highly satisfactory result by the arrangement above described.
I will now proceed to describe my invention and the manner of performing the
same more particularly, having reference to the accompanying drawings in which
similar letters refer to corresponding parts in all the figures.
Fig. 1 is an elevation, in longitudinal vertical section, of a machine constructed
according to my invention.
Fig. 2 is an end view of the machine looking from the left of Fig. 1.
Figs. 3 & 4 are detached views, representing in plan and edge view respectively,
on a larger scale, the adjustable scrapers or draw plates employed.
Fig. 5 is a plan of a guide plate on an enlarged scale.
Fig. 6 is a detached view, on a larger scale, illustrating the method I prefer to
employ of mounting the revolving squeezing rollers in their bearings.
The machine illustrated and hereinafter described is arranged for operating upon
four skeins of intestines simultaneously, its capacity may however be increased by
lengthening the reels and the squeezing rollers, and providing additional scrapers
or draw.plates.
a represents the framework of the apparatus. B is a reel of suitable construc-
tion free to revolve in bearings c secured to the framework a. The skeins of
intestines, as delivered from the slaughter house, after being soaked in water and
slipped over a reel as before mentioned, are carefully wound upon reel B (the axis
of which may be provided with a suitable handle for convenience in winding) and
all kinks or tangles are carefully removed during the process. The end of each
skein is then brought up through one of the slots in the guide plate d (see Figs. 1
& 5) to the squeezing rollers A which are covered with india rubber or other
suitable yielding material e and are mounted in yielding bearings more clearly
shewn in Fig. 6, the pressure of the upper roller upon the lower being maintained

page_text: by the pivotted weighted lever army which bears upon the sliding block h. e¹ are
flanges at each end of the lower roller to prevent risk of the intestines slipping off.
are cog wheels connecting the rollers A, which may be rotated either by the
hand wheel on the axis of the lower roller A, or from the hand wheel /
mounted upon the axis, by convenient straps or pitch chains mm. The
rollers A when rotated draw the intestines between them, and during this
operation the outer worthless membrane or skin is peeled off, and may be attached
to and wound upon the reel B', mounted in the bearings c', and driven by the
crossed strap m¹. The mucous lining of the intestine is also partly removed or
squeezed out by the rollers A. As fast as the intestines emerge from between
the rollers A, they are. attached to and wound upon the reel B2, mounted in
the bearings, and rotated from the rollers A by the belt m². I prefer to
hinge or pivot the bearings of this reel B32 at n to facilitate removal of the
driving belt m² when required, as hereinafter explained, the tension on the
belt being maintained by the weight o at the extremity of the arm
projecting from the upper part of the bearing, the belt pulley is also preferably
secured removably to the axis of the reel 132 by some convenient arrangement,
such as a sleeve on the pulley having a bayonet joint slot therein which engages
with a pin on the said axis. B3 is a reel of precisely similar construction to B³,
and is mounted in bearings c³. When the intestines which have passed through
the rollers A. are fully wound upon the reel B, I remove the driving belt m³,
facilitating such removal by lifting the weight o, which permits the bearings ² to
incline towards the rollers A thus slackening the belt. I then remove the pulley p
and place it upon the axis of the empty reel 133 and exchange the positions of the
reels 132 133, placing B2 in the bearings e³ and B³ in the bearings c². Whilst the
partially treated intestines upon 12 are being further operated upon, as hereinafter
explained, the driving belt m² being replaced upon the pulley p, (now on the empty
reel B³) fresh intestines may be simultaneously undergoing treatment by rollers A
and be wound upon reel B³. From reel B, now mounted in bearings c³, the
intestines are passed up through the guides (similar to guides d) and between
the rollers A (similar in construction and arrangement to A) rotated by the
belt m³.
P
Upon emerging from rollers A' (which still further remove the mucous lining
of the intestines) each intestine is caused to pass between one pair of a set of
adjustable scrapers or draw plates C, the construction of which I will more
particularly describe with reference to Fig. 3 & 4. 7 is the foundation plate or
backing to which the lower draw plate of cach pair is secured by a screw s.
is the upper draw plate which rests on plate and is mounted on a pivot t.
are rubber springs passing around pins e in the plate 7 and pins on the tails of
the plates. These springs tend to contract the aperture w² formed by the com-
bination of the slot w in the plate and the slot in the plate r¹. is a stop pin
for checking the movement of the plate and thereby preventing the said
aperture from being contracted too much. The spring adjustment of the
scrapers or draw plates permits them to yield and prevents injury to the intestines
operated upon by them. From the draw plates C the intestines pass between the
third pair of squeezing rollers A³ (also of similar construction to A and A')
rotated from the shaft by belt m', and upon emerging from these rollers A² the
intestines pass between a second set of draw plates or scrapers C₁ (of similar con-
struction to C) they then pass between the last set of squeezing rollers A³. This
last set A³ of squeezing rollers, may, if desired be of similar construction
to A, A, A, but I prefer the arrangement illustrated in the drawings and which
I will now describe, whereby for the finishing operation each intestine is subjected
to independent adjustable pressure. is a drum or cylinder preferably having a
wooden or other hard smooth surface, mounted upon the axis and revolving
therewith. 3 are small independent rollers covered with india rubber, a separate
roller a being provided for each intestine simultaneously operated upon. The
rollers a³ are each mounted between a pair of lever arms at, each pair being

page_text: connected at one end by a spindle or axis a upon which the roller is free to
revolve. The other extremities of the arm a pivot upon the spindle a supported
by the brackets a. The pressure of each roller as upon the drum at is obtained
by a rubber spring a which passes around a pin a connecting each pair of arms a
about midway of its length, and the tension of the springs is regulated to a
nicety by the following arrangement - are lever arms working on an axis a
supported by the brackets a'."a" are links pivotted to one extremity of the arms a¹0.
The free end of the links a receive a rod a¹³ which passes through all the
springs a. a are screw bolts hinged or pirotted to the arms a and passing
through the brackets a secured to the framework a. als are worm wheels threaded
loosely upon the screw bolts a between cheeks on the bracket 1, and actuated by
the worm a Upon rotating the worm a the bolts are gradually raised
or lowered, and the tension upon the springs a consequently increased or diminished
as desired.
After passing between this set of rollers A³ the intestines may be finally wound
in a thoroughly cleaned condition upon the reel B, revolving in bearings et
(preferably hinged for ready removal of the reel therefrom) and driven by the
belt m. One pair of arms of this reel B' may be hinged, as at y, to render it
collapsible and thereby facilitate the withdrawal of the cleaned skeins. I prefer to
rotate the rollers A', 'A', A³, and reel B by suitable belts or pitch chains from
the shaft , which is driven from the fly wheel by power gear, ás illustrated,
and to rotate the rollers A and reels B B by a hand wheel & upon the axis of one
of the rollers A, but if desired all the rollers and reels may be rotated from
the shaft in which case the additional belt or pitch chain m may be employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe in
conclusion that I do not limit myself to any particular number of pairs of rollers
or sets of scrapers, nor to the precise details of construction hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the drawings, since it is obvious that the same may be varied
or modified without departing in any way from my invention. I would also
observe that I am aware that it has been proposed to pass the intestines between
revolving cylindrical brushes, and that I lay no claim to such arrangement, but I
declare that what I claim is :-
1. The herein described method of cleaning intestines, consisting of passing the
same between revolving squeezing rollers covered with india rubber or analogous
yielding material, and also through adjustable scrapers or draw plates substantially
in the manner set forth.
2. In machinery or apparatus for cleaning intestines, in combination, revolving
squeezing rollers covered with india rubber or analogous yielding material, and
adjustable scrapers or draw plates through which the intestines are drawn by the
rotation of the rollers, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.
3. The construction and arrangement of adjustable scrapers or draw plates,
substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated in Figs. 3 & 4.
4. The general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus for
cleaning intestines, substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated in
the drawings annexed.
Dated this 17th day of December 1891