GB135381A - - Google Patents

Abstract

135,381. Arriola, M. P. Jan. 29, 1919. Breaking and scutching apparatus.-A machine for decorticating the fibrous leaves of sisal, heniquen, and similar plants comprises an openedended drum rotatable about a vertical axis and provided upon its inner surface with helical blades. The leaves are passed in succession by means of a pair of oppositely rotating carrier wheels between the blades and a pair of breasts or abutments arranged within the drum. The decorticating-drum 10, Fig. 2, is provided with blades 11 and is supported by rollers 12 running on circular tracks 13. It is driven by a belt or by bevel gearing. The abutments 10<a>, 10<b>, Fig. 4, are supported within the drum. The leaves are passed endlong into the shoot 24, and the stems are caught by the teeth 25 on a carrier wheel 18 running in a groove in a semicircular rim 27. This carries the leaves past one breast and up to a carrier belt 29, Fig. 6, which trnnsfers them to the other carrier wheel 19 and in transit passes them through a reversing-device composed of two twisted plates 36. The leaves are then engaged by the teeth 38 on the wheel 19, carried down a grooved run 37 past the other breast, and finally ejected through a shoot 38. The machine may be mounted for transport upon a motor-truck, and when it is desired to use the machine the driving-chain may ' be transferred from the axle of the truck to a sprocket on a shaft geared to the operative parts of the machine.