APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE TURNING OF MALT OR OTHER GRAIN ON THE DRYING FLOORS OF KILNS
Year: 1885

page_text: the Drying Floors of Kilns.
We ROBERT COOPER SINCLAIR of 3 Adelaide Place in the City of London
Brewers Engineer and JOHN HODSON of Clarence Street Brewery Burton on Trent
in the County of Stafford Brewers Manager do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention for "APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE TURNING OF MALT OR OTHER
GRAIN ON THE DRYING FLOORS OF KILNS," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in apparatus for effecting the
turning of malt or other grain on the drying floors of kilns for which application
for Letters Patent was made by us on the 4th day of June 1885 Nº 6504.
In the Specification accompanying the said application an apparatus is described
in which rakes or scoops or both are employed for disentegrating loosening and
turning over the germinated grain the said rakes or scoops being rigidly fixed back
to back on opposite sides of arms so as to operate in reverse direction according to
the direction in which the shaft to which the arms are fixed is rotated, brushes
being also fixed between the rakes or scoops for the purpose of removing any grain
from the floor of the kiln not acted upon by the said rakes or scoops.
It has been found in practice that this arrangement of duplicate scoops or rakes
is defective inasmuch that as they are being rotated the grain is liable to be driven
by the non acting scoops or rakes out of the track of the operating scoops or rakes
and consequently an unsatisfactory result ensues.
Our present Invention has for its object to remedy this defect and in order to
effect this object we attach to the arins on the rotating shaft scoops or rakes
constructed with two operating edges. the said scoops or rakes being mounted on
spindles upon which they are free to turn or they may be fixed on the spindles and
the spindles fitted to turn in the arms on the rotating shaft so as to enable either
of the edges of the rakes or scoops to be brought into action according to the
direction in which the shaft is rotated the edges of the scoops which are in the
meantime out of action being elevated above the surface of the grain being operated
on Each rake or scoop is provided with two brushes one to cach operating edge,
and so arranged that in whichever direction the shaft is being rotated the brushes
will operate to remove from the floor of the kiln any of the malt or grain that may
not be acted upon by the rakes or scoops.

page_text: The scoops or rakes may be automatically reversed when the motion of shaft is
reversed by providing each of the spindles on which the said scoops or rakes are
mounted with a toothed wheel arranged to gear with a corresponding wheel
mounted loosely on the rotating shaft the said wheel being provided with two pins
or projections with one or other of which a pin arm or projection on the rotating
shaft or on one of the arms thereon is caused to gear according to the direction in
which the said shaft is rotated so as to impart rotary motion to the said wheel.
When the motion of the shaft is reversed the wheel remains stationary during
the time that the projection on the shaft or arm in passing from the one to the
other of the two projections on the wheel consequently during this time the
spindles which carry the scoops or rakes are caused to rotate by reason of the wheels
thereon gearing with the wheel on the rotating shaft thus causing the position of
the operating edges of the rakes or scoops to be reversed the edges thereof which
were out of action being brought into position to operate on the grain the edges
which were in action being brought above the surface of the grain being operated
on Or instead of the toothed wheels herein before described a disc or ring may be
mounted on the rotating shaft and connected to the scoops or rakes by rods so as
to reverse the position of the said scoops or rakes by reversing the motion of the
shaft.

page_text: Apparatus for Effecting the Turning of Malt or other Grain on
the Drying Floors of Kilns.
We ROBERT COOPER SINCLAIR of 3 Adelaide Place in the City of London
Brewer's Engineer and JOHN HODSON of Clarence Street Brewery Burton on Trent
in the County of Stafford Brewers Manager do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This Invention relates to certain improvements in apparatus for effecting the
turning of Malt or other grain on the drying floors of kilns and the like for
which application for Letters Patent was made by us on the 4th day of June 1885
N° 6804.
In the Specification accompanying the said application apparatus is described in
which rakes or scoops or both racks and scoops are employed for disintegrating
loosening and turning over the germinated grain the said rakes or scoops being
rigidly fixed back to back on opposite sides of arms so as to operate in reverse
direction according to the direction in which the shaft to which the arms are fixed
is rotated, brushes being also fixed between the rakes or scoops for the purpose of
removing any grain from the floor of the kiln not acted upon by the said rakes or
scoops It has been found in practice that this arrangement of duplicate scoops
or rakes is defective inasmuch that as they are being rotated the grain is liable to
be driven by the nonacting scoops or rakes out of the track of the operating scoops
or rakes and consequently an unsatisfactory result ensues.
Our present Invention has for its object to remedy this defect and in order to
effect this object we mount in arms on the rotating shaft rods or spindles carrying
the scoops or rakes which according to our Invention are formed with two
operating edges and are mounted on the said spindles so as to be free to turn
thereon or they may be fixed on the spindles and the spindles fitted to turn in the
Arms on the rotating shaft so as to enable the edges of the rakes or scoops to bo
alternately brought into action according to the direction in which the said shaft
is rotated the operating edges of the scoops which are in the meantime out of
action being elevated above the surface of the grain being operated on-Each rake
or scoop is provi-led with two brushes one to each operating edge and so arranged
that in whichever direction the shaft is being rotated the brushes will operate to
remove from the kiln floor any of the malt or grain that may not have been acted
upon by the rakes or scoops.
The scoops or rakes may be automatically reversed when the motion of the shaft
is reversed by providing each of the spindles on which the said scoops or rakes are
mounted with a toothed wheel or segirent arranged to gear with a corresponding
wheel mounted loosely on the rotating shaft the said wheel being provided with
two pins or projections one or other of which according to the direction in which
the said wheel is rotated engaging a pin arm or projection on the rotating shaft
and thus imparting motion to the said shaft,

page_text: When the motion of the apparatus is reversed the wheel on the main shaft is
caused to turn whilst the shaft itself remains stationary until one of the projections
on the wheel engages with the projection on the said shaft, and during the time
that the said projection on the wheel is moving before it engages the projection on
the shaft, the spindles which carry the scoops or rakes are caused to rotate by
reason of the wheels or segments thereon gearing with a wheel on the shaft, thus
causing the position of the operating edges of the rakes or scoops to be reversed;
the edges thereof which were out of action being brought into position to operate
on the grain, and the edges which were in action being brought above the surface
of the grain being operated on. It is obvious that the arrangement of the pro-
jections referred to may be reversed that is to say the wheel on the main shaft
may have one projection and the shaft be provided with two projections. Or
instead of toothed wheels as herein before described a disc or ring may be mounted
on the rotating shaft and connected to the scoops or rakes by rods so as to reverse
the position of the said scoops or rakes when the motion of the apparatus is
reversed.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer
to the several figures on the annexed sheet of drawings the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 represents in sectional elevation our improved apparatus as arranged
to travel to and fro over the drying floor of a malt kiln and Figure 2 is a similar
view of an apparatus as applied to the germinating floor of a malt house Figures 3
and 4 are transverse sections illustrating modifications in the construction of the
main rotating shaft of the apparatus Figure 5 is an elevation of one of the end
frames and Figure 6 illustrates an arrangement for automatically reversing the
rakes.
Referring to Figure 1-A represents the two opposite walls of a malt drying
kiln to which are secured by bolts B rails C upon which the apparatus is
supported and caused to travel to and fro over the floor of the kiln as hereinafter
described.
The apparatus is provided at both ends with running wheels D see Figure 5
and with driving mechanism to which motion is imparted from any suitable prime
mover by means of straps or cords passing round drums or pulleys E fast on one
end of short axles F mounted in bearings in the end frames G of the apparatus
the opposite end of each of the said axles having fast thereon a spur pinion H in
gear with a corresponding wheel I mounted loosely on a collar K fast on the main
rotating shaft L of the apparatus-On each end of the shaft L is keyed a spur
pinion M in gear with a rack N formed in one with the rail C or otherwise
securely fixed to the wall of the kiln so that upon rotating the shaft L the
apparatus will be caused to travel along the rails C. Motion is imparted to the
shaft L from the wheels I by means of projections 0 0¹ thereon, see Figure 6,
engaging with corresponding projections O on the collar K.
On the shaft L are arms P carrying the spindles Q upon which the scoops or
rakes R are mounted which scoops or rakes are caused to rotate with the shaft L
and operate on the grain placed upon the floor of the kiln so as to disintegrate and
turn it over and over as the apparatus travels along the rails C-The rakes R
which are preferably of a curved form are mounted at about their centres upon the
spindles and are formed with two operating ends or edges S S¹ which are
alternately brought into action as the direction of motion of the apparatus is
altered.
When the apparatus has completed its traverse in one direction its motion
may be automatically reversed by any suitable means (such for example as those
employed for reversing planing machines) whereupon the wheels I will be rotated
in the opposite direction upon the collars K, the shaft L remaining stationary until
the projections O or O¹ (as the case may be) on the wheels I which were out of
action, engage with the projections 0% on the shaft L whereupon the said shaft

page_text: will also be caused to rotate and through the pinions M on the ends thereof gearing
with the fixed racks N, traverse the apparatus along the rails C in the opposite
direction. The position of the rakes to suit the direction in which the apparatus is
caused to travel is effected automatically as follows.
On each end of each of the spindles which carry the rakes or scoops R is
keyed a toothed wheel or segment T made to gear with a spur wheel U, as shewn
clearly in Figure 6 which wheel may be formed in one with the wheel I or made
to rotate there with so that when the motion of the apparatus is reversed as
hereinbefore described, during the time that the wheel I is turning on the collar
and before the projections O or O¹ engage the projection 0² on the shaft L, the
wheel U by gearing with the segments T will impart a partial rotary motion to the
spindles and bring the ends or edges S of the rakes which were out of action,
into position for operating on the grain when the apparatus travels along the rails
over the floor of the kiln, the said automatic reversing of the rakes taking place at
each end of the kiln or each time the direction of motion of the apparatus is
altered.
Brushes V are fitted to the back of the rakes which brushes as the rakes revolve
act upon any of the grain that may have escaped the action of the rakes so that
the whole of the grain is thoroughly distintegrated and turned over and over and
the drying thereof thereby greatly facilitated.
Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 illustrating the apparatus as applied to the
germinating floor of a malt house-The apparatus is similar in construction to that
herein before described but is represented as being driven from one end only and
the end frames G are dispensed with, the wheels D upon which the apparatus
travels along the rails C being fitted upon the main axle L The rails Care
A shaped to fit corresponding grooves in the wheels D and are secured by bolts B
to pillars or columns A arranged at suitable intervals along the malt house. E is
the driving pulley fast on one end of the axle L which axle is provided with
pinions M in gear with racks N for effecting the traverse of the machine as herein-
before described with reference to Figure 1. The rakes R are formed with two
operating ends or edges S S¹ and carried on spindles Q fitted to turn in arms P
attached to the main axle L as in the arrangement Figure 1-On one end of each
of the spindles Q is keyed a segment T in gear with a spur wheel U fast on the
axle L so that when the direction of motion of the apparatus is reversed the
wheel U will impart rotary motion to the spindles Q so as to bring the operating
ends or edges of the rakes which were out of action into position for operating upon
the grain the ends of the said rakes which had been previously in operation being
raised out of action.
Although we have described and illustrated our invention as applied to a
rectangular kiln it is obvious that it is equally applicable to kilns of a circular or
other shape and that although we have shown in Figures 3 and 4 respectively four
and three set of rakes carried by the axle L we do not confine ourselves thereto as
any desired number may be employed, neither do we confine ourselves to the con-
struction of the shafts and other details shewn and described but having described
and ascertained the nature of our invention what we claim is―
First In apparatus for turning malt or other grain, scoops or rakes having two
operating ends or edges and arranged to oscillate so as to cause the said ends or
edges to be alternately brought into action when the direction of motion of the
apparatus is reversed substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by our
drawings.
Second-In apparatus for turning malt or other grain reversible scoops or
rakes fitted with brushes and arranged to operate substantially in the manner and
for the purpose hereinbefore described and illustrated by our drawings.
Third-Means for automatically reversing the position of the scoops or rakes
when the direction of motion of the apparatus is reversed substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated by our drawings.

page_text: Fourth-The general construction combination and arrangement of parts con-
stituting improvements in apparatus for turning malt or other grain substantially
as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1, 3, 4, and 6 of our drawings.
Fifth The general construction combination and arrangement of parts con-
stituting improvements in apparatus for turning malt or other grain substantially
as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 2 of our drawings.