CARR, Thomas Carr's patent disintegrator, (with recent important improvements.) Bristol, 1871
8vo. 30pp, orig. printed paper wrappers, upper corner defective. Description of a patent mill for grinding or pulverising various materials designed by Thomas Carr of Montpelier, Bristol. The machine consisted of “four strong cylindrical iron cages...arranged concentrically one within another, around, and parallel with the shafts...and rotated therewith with extreme rapidity in contrary directions”. The machine could be ordered in various sizes. Carr first patented the device some time during the 1850s and received various awards at the international exhibitions in London, Dublin and Paris during the 1860s. The present item describes the new and improved version, much larger than the original design, and includes comprehensive instructions to purchasers, for instance advising that the machine should be driven by a high pressure rather than a condensing engine, and recommending how it should be cased, lubricated, fed and cleaned. It was made in several sizes and had a wide variety of uses including the making of coke and patent fuel; brick-making; the granulation of ores before smelting; bruising olives, grapes and apples and so on.It seems to have been successful for there is a long list of purchasers such as B.C.Lawton of Newcastle-on-Tyne (clay for bricks), Forest of Dean Compressed Coal Co. (small coal), Dillwyn & Co., Llansamlet Spelter Works, Swansea (zinc ore) etc. Carr also had an active foreign business, with purchasers from as far afield as the USA, India and Australia as well as all over Europe. A note tipped into the front of this copy announces that in future “these machines will be exclusively made under my supervision at Bristol”.
£150
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