IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR REMOVING DIRT AND FOREIGN MATTERS FROM CURRANTS AND OTHER FRUIT, AND FOR AFTERWARDS DRYING THE FRUIT
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Soans, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the
County of Durham, Commercial Traveller, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR REMOVING DIRT AND FOREIGN MATTERS
FROM CURRANTS AND OTHER FRUIT, AND FOR AFTERWARDS DRYING THE
FRUIT."
Sealed the 3rd November 1868, and dated the 3rd June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Soans at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd June 1868.
I, RICHARD SOANS, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham,
Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR REMOVING DIRT AND FOREIGN
MATTERS FROM CURRANTS AND OTHER FRUIT, AND FOR AFTERWARDS DRYING THE
FRUIT," to be as follows:-
An arrangement and construction of parts of fruit-dressing machines
as hereafter described; also in the construction and arrangement of an
outer vessel or pail for holding water, and of an inner vessel or pail
perforated to allow the ingress and escape of the water as herein-after-

page_text: described; in bearings carried by the upper part of a convenient frame
(preferably composed of a foundation plate) two standards or uprights
and a connecting top a cross piece, mount a horizontal shaft, on which is
fixed a toothed wheel; on the top of a short spindle passing vertically
through the centre of the cross piece I fix a mitre wheel, which gears
into that on the horizontal shaft before mentioned; I place on the
foundation plate a pail of wood, zinc, or other suitable material, having
an outlet or spout at the lowest part, and provided with a plug or cock;
within this pail I place another pail, the sides of which are composed
of perforated zinc, wirework, or other material suitable, and having a
spindle passing vertically through the centre of the bottom, and con-
tinued upwards to the short spindle above, with which it is connected by
a moveable coupling. Motion is given to the machinery by a crank
handle fixed to the horizontal shaft or otherwise. I put the fruit to be
washed into the inner pail and cover it with water, the fruit being
rinsed by a backward and forward motion of the handle; the water is
let off by withdrawing the plug; a quick motion being then given to
the handle the inner pail rotates very rapidly on the spindle, and the
fruit is dried.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Soans in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
SOANS, of Stockton-on-Tees, in the County of Durham, Commercial
Traveller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Richard Soans, Her special licence that
I, the said Richard Soans, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Soans, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term therein

page_text: expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES
POR REMOVING DIRT AND OTHER FOREIGN MATTER FROM CURRANTS AND OTHER
FRUIT BY WASHING, AND FOR AFTERWARDS DRYING THE FRUIT,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Soans, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Soans, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My Invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts
of fruit-dressing machines as herein-after described; also in the con-
struction and arrangement of an outer vessel or pail for holding water,
and of an inner vessel or pail perforated to allow the ingress and escape
of the water, as herein-after described.
The machine is shewn in section in the accompanying Drawing.
In bearings A, A, A, carried by the upper part of a convenient
frame, which is preferably composed of a foundation plate B, B, two
standards or uprights C, C, and a connecting top or cross piece D, D,
I mount a horizontal shaft E, E, E. To one end of this shaft I attach
a fly wheel F, F, and to the other end a crank handle G. I fix about
the centre of the shaft a mitre or level toothed wheel H on the top of
a short spindle I passing vertically through the centre of the cross
piece D, D. I fix a mitre or level wheel K which gears into that
on the horizontal shaft before mentioned. The vertical spindle is
continued downward a convenient length below the cross piece D, D.
I place on the foundation plate a pail of wood, zinc, or other suitable
material L, L, L, L, having an outlet or spout at the lowest part shewn
at M, and provided with a plug or cock. I fix in the centre of the
bottom a metal boss or foot N; within this pail I place another pail
made of perforated zinc, wirework, or other suitable material 0, 0, 0, 0,
and attach it to a spindle P, which I pass through the bottom of the

page_text: pail 0, 0, 0, 0, and continue upwards to the short spindle I, connecting
both the said spindles by a moveable coupling R. The lower end of the
spindle works in the metal boss N before mentioned in the bottom of
the outer pail. I give motion to the machinery by the crank handle G
before mentioned. I put the fruit to be washed into the inner pail and
cover it with water. A jerking motion is given by the crank handle
or otherwise till the fruit is sufficiently rinsed. On removing the plug
from the water pail the water is drained away, and a quick rotary motion
being given to the inner pail by means of the handle before mentioned,
the remaining moisture is driven off through the perforations in the sides
of the pail until the fruit is sufficiently dried.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be applied, I declare that I claim as my
Improvements in Machines for Dressing or for Removing Dirt and
other Foreign Matters from Currants and other Fruit,'
First. The arrangement or combination of parts of machines, as
herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawing.
Second. The construction and arrangement of an outer pail or vessel
for holding water provided with a plug, as before described, and of an
inner perforated pail or vessel to work within the outer pail, as before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Soans, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the above-named Richard Soans,
in the presence of
OWEN SAUNDERS,
Book-keeper,
RICHARD SOANS. (L.S.)
Stockton-on-Tees.