CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION FOR CLEANSING POTATOES, AND IN DECORTICATING THE SAME AND OTHER ESCULENT ROOTS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hibbert, Shopkeeper, John Lawton, Smith,
and James Kay, Agent, all of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hibbert, John
Lawton, and James Kay, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 6th May 1863.
We, SAMUEL HIBBERT, Shopkeeper, JOHN LAWTON, Smith, and JAMES KAY,
Agent, all of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do bereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for ." CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
CLEANSING POTATOES, AND IN DECORTICATING THE SAME AND OTHER ESCULENT ROOTS,"
to be as follows:-
The improvements consist in the employment and use of a double arrange-
ment of rotating brushes, one portion thereof being placed upon a central shaft
and rotating in one direction, the other brushes being secured in a perforated
cylinder encircling the central shaft, the bristles projècting towards each other,
the cylinder being driven in an opposite direction to the shaft by means of
bevil gearing or other, suitable mechanism. . The arrangement of brushes are
made to taper towards each other at the lower extremity, so that all sizes of

page_text: roots will be acted upon, and the potatoes, or other roots are placed in the
space between the brushes, the action of which cleanses and removes the skin
or exterior coating therefrom; the whole being enclosed in a vessel containing
water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Hibbert, John Lawton, and James Kay in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
HIBBERT, Shopkeeper, JOHN LAWTON, Smith, and JAMES KAY, Agent, all of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of May in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did; for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Samuel Hibbert, John Lawton, and James Kay, Her special license that
we, the said Samuel Hibbert, John Lawton, and James Kay, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Hibbert,
John Lawton, and James Kay, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING POTATOES, AND IN DECORTI-
CATING THE SAME AND OTHER ESCULENT ROOTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Samuel Hibbert, John Lawton, and James Kay, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of
our, 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 Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Hibbert, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
:-
The improvements consist in the employment and use of a double arrange-

page_text: ment of rotating brushes, one portion thereof being placed upon a central
shaft and rotating in one direction, the other brushes being secured in a per-
forated cylinder encircling the central shaft, the bristles projecting towards
each other, the cylinder being driven in an opposite direction to the shaft by
means of bevil gearing or other suitable mechanism. The arrangement of
brushes are made to taper towards each other at the lower extremity, so that
all sizes of roots will be acted upon, and the potatoes or other roots are placed
in the space between the brushes, the, action of which cleanses and removes
the skin or exterior coating therefrom, the whole being enclosed in a vessel
containing water.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in'
detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about three inches to the foot, similar letters of reference being marked upon
corresponding parts of the apparatus.
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of the apparatus, shewing the exterior
vessel to contain water, and the interior perforated cylinder lined with brushes,
and also the central rotating brush. This view also shews the vessel as when
containing potatoes. Fig. is an elevation of the same, shewing the appa-
ratus and gearing for driving the brushes, as disconnected therefrom, and
turned back on the hinge to allow of the central brush and cylinder containing
the potatoes being removed.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a, a, is the exterior vessel containing water, within which
the perforated cylinder b, containing one set of brushes c, is mounted on the
central shaft d; this cylinder of brushes is connected with the vertical driving
shaft e by means of the arch or bow f, through which a square shoulder on the.
said. shaft fits, and a rotating motion is thereby transmitted to it from the bevil
gearing 9, 9; the upper wheel g³ being connected to the central brush h, and
giving it motion, the lower wheel g¹ driving the cylinder, and from such double-
action gearing the brushes receive motion and rotate in opposite directions.
The potatoes or roots are placed in the space between the brushes, and are
submitted to their action until sufficiently cleaned, when by turning the
latch (which holds the hinge firm) the shaft e may be withdrawn from the
brush h and from the bow f, and thus leave the brush and cylinder at liberty
for the removal of the roots, the driving apparatus being turned out of the way
on the hinge. We would remark, that the tapering of the brushes accommodates
the various sizes of potatoes or roots, and the apparatus may either be driven
by the handle k or by steam power.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly

page_text: understood that we claim the employment and use of a double arrangement
of rotating brushes revolving in opposite directions, and acting upon potatoes
and other esculent roots for the purpose of decorticating or cleansing them,
as herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings
attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hibbert, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand-eight hundred and sixty-three.
SAMUEL HIBBERT. (L.S.)