IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING MACHINES OR APPARATUS for Sifting Meal, Pollard, and Other Substances
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Staniar, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING MACHINES
OR APPARATUS for Sifting Meal, Pollard, and Other Substances.”
"
OR APPARATUS FOR SIFTING MEAL, POLLARD, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.'
"
Sealed the 24th November 1874, and dated the 28th May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Staniar at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th May 1874.
I, THOMAS STANIAR, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRESSING MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR SIFTING MEAL, POLLARD, AND OTHER
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to such dressing machines as are
employed in the separating and assorting of the constituents of the
pollard resulting from the grinding of wheat and other grain, but may
also be applicable to machinery otherwise employed in the sifting,
separating, or assorting of other substances, and particularly of sub-
stances which have been ground or powdered.

page_text: Such machines of the construction to which my Invention more
particularly relates in the first place are provided with brushes which
revolve within a cylindrical sieve. It is necessary as the said brushes
wear to set them nearer to the inner circumference of the said sieve, and
previously to my said Invention it has been necessary to stop the action
of the machine and to remove certain parts of the same when such
setting has been required.
The object of my Invention is to effect such setting during the action
of the machine, and this I accomplish by means of a rod or shaft which
is arranged within the axle which carries the brushes, the said rod or
shaft being connected with inclines, cams, or levers which act simul-
taneously upon all the brushes so that by moving the said rod the whole
of the brushes may at any time be set nearer to or farther from the
sieve. In the arrangement which I consider to be suitable the said rod
or shaft is connected with blocks which are fitted to slide on the said
axle, and are connected with plates or bars which are formed with
inclines which act upon sliding pieces to which the brushes are fixed.
The outer end of the said rod or shaft is provided with collars which are
acted upon by antifriction bowls which are mounted in a frame which
can be moved to and fro by means of a screw and hand wheel. The
part which carries the said bowl is by preference fitted to swivel in a
sliding carriage upon which the said screw acts. By turning the said
hand wheel the brushes may at any time be adjusted without arresting
their motion. If it be. not required to adjust the brushes, whilst in
motion the aforesaid rod or shaft may be dispensed with and the blocks
which slide on the said axle be otherwise connected together so that the
said blocks may be slid on the axle and be fixed in any required position
by means of a screw, or bolt, or other suitable appliance.
t
Another part of my Invention consists in fitting valve boards or plates
between two or more of the openings through which the substances pass
to the delivery shutes of dressing machines, each valve board being
arranged to swivel on an axis at or near its lower end so that its upper
end can be. moved partly or entirely across one of the two openings
between which the said valve board is mounted in order that the sub-
stances passing through the one opening may be partially or wholly
diverted into the other opening.

page_text: filed by the said Thomas Staniar in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 28th November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
STANIAR, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors;
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Staniar, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Staniar, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Staniar, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN.
DRESSING MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR SIFTING MEAL, POLLARD, AND OTHER,
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas-
Staniar, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Thomas Staniar, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be,
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (and accompanying Drawing) that is to say:
My Invention relates principally to such dressing machines as arc
employed in the separating and assorting of the constituents of the
pollard resulting from the grinding of wheat and other grain, but may
also be applicable to machinery otherwise employed in the sifting;
separating, or assorting of other substances, and particularly of sub-'.
stances which have been ground or powdered.
:

page_text: Such machines of the construction to which my Invention more
particularly relates in the first place are usually provided with brushes
which revolve within a cylindrical or conical sieve. It is necessary as
the said brushes wear to set them nearer to the inner circumference of
the said sieve, and previously to my said Invention it has been necessary
to stop the action of the machine and to remove certain parts of tho
same when such setting has been required.
The object of my Invention is to effect such setting during the action
of the machine, and this I accomplish by means of a rod or shaft which
is arranged within the axle which carries the brushes, the said rod or
shaft being connected with inclines, cams, or levers, which act simul-
taneously upon all the brushes, so that by moving the said rod the
whole of the brushes may at any time be set nearer to or further from
the sieve. If it be not desired to adjust the brushes whilst the machine
is in action the aforesaid rod or shaft may be dispensed with.
Another part of my Invention consists in fitting valve boards or plates
between two or more of the openings through which the substances pass
to the delivery shutes of dressing machines, each valve board being
arranged to swivel on an axis at or near its lower end so that its upper
end can be moved partly or entirely across one of the two openings
between which the said valve board is mounted, in order that the sub-
stances passing through the one opening may be partially or wholly
diverted into the other opening.
And in order that my Invention may be well understood I have pro-
vided to accompany this Specification a Sheet of Drawings, made about
one quarter of the full size, and marked with letters of reference, corre-.
sponding marks indicating the same parts in the various Figures.
Referring in this place to the said Drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical
section of a portion of a machine suitable to be employed in the dressing
of pollard, the parts considered to be necessary to illustrate the applica-
tion of my Invention being alone represented; Fig. 2 is a vertical
section on the line A in Fig. 1.
In the said Figs. a is a conically shaped sieve of an ordinary or
suitable construction; b, b, are the brushes which revolve within the said
sieve; and c is the shaft upon which the said brushes are mounted;
the said brushes are fixed to bars d, d, which are fitted to slide in the
arms e, e, which are formed upon a boss which is fixed to the shaft c.

page_text: A second set of arms or other sets of arms similarly fitted are situated in
the part of the machine not represented in the Drawing, as will be
understood. In the example each of the bars d is fitted to slide in a
groove in the arm e, and is kept in place within such groove by means
of a plate f which is screwed or secured to the said arm, but this arrange-
ment may be varied; each of the plates f is recessed to receive a sliding
plate g in which is formed an inclined slot; a stud fixed to or formed on
the bar & enters the said slot, the arrangement being such as that when
the plate g is caused to slide in the direction indicated by the arrow the
said bar is caused to slide in a direction outwardly from the shaft c, and
on the contrary when the said plate is slid in the direction contrary to
that so indicated the said bar is caused to slide inwardly towards the
said shaft; cach of the plates g is formed with a rod or shank h, by
means of which it is attached to a sleeve i which is mounted on the
shaft c and connects together the four plates g, g. The said sleeve is
represented as curtailed in length; the part not represented would be
connected with the slotted plates with which the other set or sets of
arms is or are provided. The said sleeve is fitted to slide upon the
shaft c, and when moved in one direction or the other all the slotted
plates g, g, represented in the Drawing, and not so represented, are
caused to slide in their respective arms simultaneously. The end portion
of the shaft c is bored to receive a rod j, which is screwed or otherwise
attached to a cross bar / which is inserted in a slot which is formed in
the said shaft; the projecting ends of the bark are connected by rods 1, 1,
with the sleeve i in manner as indicated in Fig. 3. This arrangement
may be varied, as, for example, a sliding sleeve connected with the rod j
by means of a cottar may be substituted for the cross bar k, or the rod j
may be extended so as to be directly cottared to or connected with the
sleeve i. The outer end of the rod jis provided or formed with collars m,
and two antifriction bowls are mounted upon studs which are carried
by the frame n; the said frame is fitted to slide upon a bracket o, and is
provided with a nut which engages with a screw shaft, upon the outer
end of which is fixed the hand wheel p, the arrangement being such as
that when the said hand wheel is rotated the frame n is caused to slido
upon the bracket o, and the said antifriction bowls by bearing against
the collars m cause the rod j to slide within the shaft c.
The method of operating with the arrangement represented in the
11
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page_text: that they may act more forcibly against the interior of the scive the hand
wheel P is turned in the direction which will cause the frame and
thereby the rod to slide in the direction indicated by the arrows. The
cross bar k is thereby moved in the slot in the shaft c, and imparts a
sliding movement to the sleeve i, whereby the whole of the plates g, I,
are moved in the direction indicated. The inclined slots in the plates g, g,
acting on the studs on the bars d, d, the said bars are caused to slide
outwards in or on the arms e, e, whereby such brush is moved bodily
nearer to the surface of the sieve. By turning the said hand wheel in
the opposite direction a contrary effect is produced, the brushes being
withdrawn from or caused to bear less forcibly against the sieve. This
adjustment of the brushes may be effected without necessarily arresting
the rotation of the brushes.
The means herein described and indicated may be employed in the
adjustment of beaters or other appliances used in lieu of brushes for the
purposes hercin indicated.
In Fig. 4 a modification in the arrangement for setting up the brushes
is indicated. In this example a bell-crank lever is mounted on a
stud carried by the arm d, and one end of the said lever is jointed to the
brush, the other end thereof being connected by a rod s to the sliding
sleeve i or to a sliding or moving part used in lieu thereof. Other
variations may be made without departing from the nature and intent
of my Invention; as, for example, the internal rod j may be dispensed
with if it be not required to adjust the brushes during the revolution of
the shaft c, in which case the sleeve i would be slid upon the shaft by
hand and be fixed in any required position, or the said sleeve might be
moved by means of a screw shaft engaging with a nut formed on or fixed
to the said sleeve, or by other suitable means.
8
The remaining part of my Invention is illustrated by Figures 1 and 5.
In Fig. 1 two valve boards & and t are attached to shafts u and v which
are fitted to swivel in the sides or framing of the machine, or in bearings
attached thereto. A lever is fixed on one of the outer ends of cach
shaft, and suitable means are provided for fixing each lever and its
corresponding valve board in any desired position, as indicated in Fig. 5.
In Fig. 1 the boards is represented as being in a vertical position so as
to constitute part of the partition between the shutes 1 and 2, the board
being fixed in its extreme inclined position, whereby all the bran or

page_text: other matters entering the shute 2 are diverted into the shute 3. By
setting either of the said valve boards in intermediate positions various
proportions of the matters may be diverted from shute 1 into shute 2, or
from shute 2 into shute 3, whereby the qualities, conditions, or degrees
of fineness of the matters discharged from each shute may be varied.
This arrangement may be employed in cases wherein a lesser or greater
number of shutes are required.
Having now fully described and indicated the nature of my said
Invention, and means whereby the same may be carried into effect, I
would in conclusion have it to be understood that I claim,-
First. The application to machines employed for the purposes herein-
before indicated of appliances for simultaneously adjusting all the
brushes, substantially as herein-before set forth and indicated.
Secondly. The employment of the internal rod or shaft for. actuating
the parts which effect the adjustment of the brushes.
And, lastly. The valve boards, substantially as and for the purpose set
forth and indicated herein-before and by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Staniar, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Signed and sealed by the
said Thomas Staniar, in
the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentec,
3, Princess Street,
Manchester.
THOMAS STANIAR. (L.S.)