Improvements in Apparatus Actuated by Electricity for Stirring and Turning over Malt and Grain.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 16th May, 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[A communication to me from abroad by JULIUS SANDT and HEINRICH STURM
both of Locbau, in the Empire of Germany, Engineers.]
Improvements in Apparatus Actuated by Electricity for Stirring
and Turning over Malt and Grain.
I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, 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 and accompanying drawings, that is to say :-
The process of stirring and turning over germinating grain on the floors of malt
houses is generally effected by hand, although many attempts have been made to
carry it out by machinery; but no practicable method of doing this has yet been
accomplished. A chain, rope, or endless screw apparatus, has generally been used,
but this has limited the use of the apparatus to a single division of the malt floors,
and has required a separate apparatus for each division of the floors.
By the present invention it is possible with a single apparatus to treat the grain
upon all the divisions of the floors, the apparatus being driven by an electrical
motor carried upon it and moveable over all parts of the floors.
In the accompanying drawings, which are in illustration of the invention,
Figure 1 is a ground plan of a malt floor,
Figure 2 a front view of the turning-over and stirring apparatus,
Figure 3 a side view of the same,
Figure 4 a horizontal section of the gear for raising and lowering the turning-
over apparatus,
Figure 5 a plan of the gathering-in apparatus at the ends, and
Figures 6 and
over devices.
are views on a larger scale of the revolving mixing or turning-
Before the mixing apparatus itself is described, the method in which it is operated
and made to pass over the whole of the malt floors will first be explained.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shews a general plan of the several
adjoining divisions of a floor, which are separated from one another by the rows of
columns which support the roof. The turning-over of the germinating grain is
effected in each division of the floor by the apparatus, which travels along over such
division and turns over and stirs the grain. When one division of the floor has
been thus treated the entire apparatus is suspended to a small carriage which runs
upon one of the I-shaped iron bars a which at both ends of the room is arranged
across, below the ceiling. The apparatus is then run along upon the rails a until it
is brought to the next division of the floor, upon which the grain is to be treated
and is lowered, and released from the carriage, and by means of its electrical motor
is made to travel along over the whole of the division. The arrangement of the
floor into separate divisions varies according to the construction of the building and
the other conditions which may be necessary, but it is always so constructed that
the apparatus can be moved with little trouble from one division to another.
The apparatus itself consists essentially of a moveable frame which carries the
electrical motor band to which the axle c of the stirring shovels or devices is
suspended. The moveable frame consists of the two axles d' d, arranged parallel
to one another side by side, and having fixed upon their ends the four wheels e¹ e
and, which run upon the rails arranged at a suitable height along the sides
of the division. The two wheel axles d² are connected together at their ends by
two triangular frames g in which they can turn freely. The lower angle of the
triangular frames is also provided with bearings in which a third axle d³ turns.

page_text: The two frames are connected together by iron stays 7', and carry the electrical
motor which is itself connected, by means of conducting wires passing below
the ceiling of the room, with a stationary dynamo-machine.
The action of this stationary dynamo machine drives the motor upon the frame
and sets in revolution an axle i which by means of the toothed wheels drives
the shaft 3, which drives by chain wheels and the chain, the axle which
revolves in bearings in the frames, and carries the toothed wheel gearing with
the two corresponding toothed wheels 12, upon the axles d' d², as shewn in
Figures 2 and 3.
The shaft d³ is also connected by the chain wheels m m' and chain m³ with the
shaft of the stirring apparatus. The latter is suspended from the moveable frame
in the following way. From both the triangular frames yg descends an arm g
having bearings for a shaft do, and also guides for two toothed racks n, n, in the
lower ends of which the ends of the stirring shaft a revolve, as shewn in
Figure 2.
Toothed wheels n' n¹ upon the shaft d³ gear with the toothed racks and can be
set in revolution by the gear wheels and handle n², n³, n, which are also carried
upon one end of the shaft d³. The toothed wheel ³ is fixed upon the shaft d³,
whilst the axle of the toothed wheel n² turns in the arm g² and by the handle n
can be turned as desired, as shewn in Figures 3 and 4.
By this arrangement the mixing shovels or devices can be raised or lowered from
the floor as desired, so that they dip more or less into the grain which is being treated,
or are withdrawn from the latter altogether. This total withdrawal takes place if
the apparatus is moved from one floor division to another. The axle c is held
in the desired position by means of a pawl gearing with a ratchet wheel
(Figure 4).
Upon the shaft d³ are also fitted two bars o o bent down and outward, the lower
ends of which are connected by a cross bar o'. Under each end of this cross bar is
fixed a mould-board o², these boards being inclined both horizontally and vertically
to the cross bar o', and provided at their lower edges with brushes (Figures 3
and 5). Two small wheels o guide this apparatus during the passage of the stirring
device over the floor, and by means of the apparatus the turned-up heaps are swept
together again in the proper position.
The arrangement of the shovels or stirring devices are shown upon a larger scale
in Figures 6 and 7. Upon the shaft c are arranged side by side the double shovels
or stirrers P, each set of the shovels being fixed upon the shaft at right angles to
those at each side of it. Each shovel may be made of a single bent plate, two
shovels being formed by two plates fitting round one half of the shaft c, as shewn in
Figure 6.
The two plates forming a double shovel as described can be screwed together and
may have fixed between them a strip 7 of india rubber or leather, which after one
of the shovels has moved forward over the floor scatters forward with the required
force any of the grain left on the floor. The end of the india rubber strip drags
over the surface of the floor, and by means of its clasticity throws forward any of
the grain which may have been passed over by the plate, so that the floor is
completely cleared of grain.
Each shovel is provided with a plate upon both sides, so that the shovels more
or less resemble buckets in form.
The edges of the plates which enter the grain should have a curved or other
suitable form, so that as the shovels revolve, the edges of the plates enter the grain
easily and smoothly.
The operation of the mixing or stirring apparatus is effected as follows, by the
mechanism described. By the revolution of the motor axle i in the direction of the
arrow, as shewn in Figure 3, the wheels e¹ el e² e² are also caused to revolve in
the direction of the arrows, and to move the entire apparatus over the floor. At
the same time the axle of the shovels is made to revolve in the opposite direction to
that of the wheels e¹ and e³ in such a manner that the shovels lay hold of the grain

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EDWARDS & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.