GB372353A - Improved method of and apparatus for the decortication of sisal and other fibrous leaves - Google Patents

Abstract

372,353. Decorticating sisal and like fibrous leaves. KINGS PATENT AGENCY, Ltd., 146A, Queen Victoria Street, London.- (Quirin & Co., Ltd. ; 13, Pope Hennessy Street, Port- Louis, Mauritius.) Feb. 4, 1931, No. 3546. [Class 120 (i).] In decorticating sisal and other fibrous leaves the leaves are first placed substantially parallel with their tips pointing in the same direction upon a conveyer 49, Figs. 1 and 2, which moves so as to bring the leaves into a suitable position to be seized mechanically by their stalks and advanced by a carrier device 20, 21, 23 to a scraping or beating drum 26, the leaves being held throughout the decorticating action. The leaves may then be conveyed to apparatus to complete the decortication of the stalks. The leaves b are placed on the intermittently-moving conveyer 49 the stalks a abutting the plate 53 and are carried thereby into the space between the chains 20, 21 where the conveyer is stopped by pins 56 being gripped by upstanding pins 57, Figs. 4 and 5, just before the leaves b are seized by the grippers 23. The grippers 23, supported on a common spindle 32, Figs. 6 and 7, comprise jaws 24, 25 having extensions 29, 30 provided with rollers 35, 39 which engage cam tracks 27, 28 to open the jaws against the spring 31. Guard-plates 41, 43 and a stalk-ejecter bar 44 are also provided. The conveyer 49 is moved intermittently through the mutilated gear 50 and the conveyer is held stationary by the members 56, 57 while the leaves b are seized by the grippers 23. The leaves are then propelled, tips foremost, along a table 66 over the lip 67 and over the scutching plate 68 and are there beaten by the decorticating drum 26. The lip 67 is retracted under the table 66 by a cam 72 and levers 70, 71, to allow the grippers 23 to pass round the pulleys 22. After the leaves have been beaten the grippers 23 return along the underside of the main carrier and may there discharge the treated leaves. Alternatively, if desired, the leaves are discharged on to band conveyers 73, 75, Figs. 10 and 11, for treatment of the stalks a by a beater 74, the leaves being held by grip conveyer ropes 76, 82, 83. The gripper may be modified to extend across the full width of the machine, Fig. 8. and the leg 29 is then pivoted at 87 on the leg 30 which is formed integral with the jaw 24 and supported on the spindle 32. The jaw 25 is pivoted on the spindle 32 and is moved by the leg 29 through toothed quadrants 89, 90. The jaws are held closed by a spring catch 92 and are opened by the engagement with a suitable stop of a finger 95 projecting from the catch 92.