Apparatus for Sorting Grain and other Granular Objects, more particularly applicable to the Selecting of Seed Grain for Sowing.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Feb., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 4th Nov., 1898-Accepted, 10th Dec., 1898
Apparatus for Sorting Grain and other Granular Objects, more
particularly applicable to the Selecting of Seed Grain for Sowing.
I, JULES FRANCOIS MATHIAS, of 95, Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris, France,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
The selection of seed grain for sowing is necessary if it be desired to obtain good
harvests, and to prevent the continual degeneration of the grain in the course of
successive years.
On this account farmers are obliged every three or four years to renew their
seed grain in applying to specialists who cultivate selected seed-grain, which is con-
sequently comparatively high in price.
My invention has for its object to obviate the necessity for the said expense
by enabling the farmer by means of the apparatus which forms the subject of my
invention to select the finest and largest grain of each harvest, after the winnowing
process, so as to reserve this as seed-grain for future crops.
The invention can also be applied generally to effecting all sortings of grain
or seed and other granular objects.
The various grain sorting apparatus now in use generally consist of plates or
cylinders with recesses or pockets, or of wire gauze or trellis work with larger or
smaller meshes, or of various kinds of sieves.
These apparatus only produce a very imperfect sorting, and a regular separation
or selection cannot be obtained thereby.
According to my invention the sorting is effected upon a grating constituted
by cylindrical bars placed at a suitable distance apart and inclination.
The distance apart is variable according to the size of the grain to be sorted.
The bars forming this grating have a reciprocating rotary motion imparted to
them, all being made to turn in one and the same direction.
When placing the grain upon the upper end of this grating all those seeds that
are of a diameter smaller than the open spaces between the bars will fall through
these, while the larger grain will be retained in the channel-like spaces between
the bars.
By means of the rotation and the inclination of the bars, the grain or seed is
caused both to rotate on its axis and to descend by gravity along the said channels
towards the lower end of the grating, where it eventually falls off the same into a
hopper in which the grain is collected.
The apparatus for carrying out this mode of operating is preferably constructed
as follows.
On a suitable support is carried a metal frame carrying the bars of the above
mentioned grating. These bars receive a reciprocating rotary motion by frictional
contact with a flat transverse bar bearing upon them, which bar receives a to and
fro motion from a driving shaft by means of a crank and connecting rod.
The frame and consequently the bars are placed in an inclined position: the ends
of the frame in which the bars rest are grooved longitudinally, and into these
027

page_text: grooves project the ends of the bars, which are made of reduced diameter, and
which enter rings, situated in the groove, that serve as bearings for the bar axes.
In the top spaces between these rings are placed small cylinders or rollers upon
which a bar is pressed down by means of springs regulated by screws.
The end bearing rings of the row bear against stops adjustable by screw spindles
in the ends of the groove of the frame; the screw spindles have worm wheels on
their outer ends gearing with worms fixed on a spindle that can be turned by hand,
thereby turning simultaneously the screw spindles at each end of the grating frame.
By turning the screw spindles so as to push the beforementioned end stops inwards
in the groove, the rings carrying the cylindrical bars will be forced nearer together,
the above described small rollers and spring bar being thereby pushed slightly
upward by this arrangement it will be seen that the inward movement of the end
ring will result in all the rings and their bars to be made to approach each other
to exactly the same extent, so that all the spaces between the bars will be slightly
reduced to exactly the same extent, for adapting the sorting apparatus to operate
on smaller grain. If on the other hand it be desired to adjust the apparatus for
acting on larger grain, the screw spindles are turned in the opposite direction so
as to withdraw the stops somewhat, whereupon the downward pressure exerted upon
the said bar that bears upon the rollers, in forcing these downward between the
ring bearings, will cause these to be separated from each other to exactly the
same extent.
Instead of the said small cylinders or rollers may be employed balls which may
be made to fit into angular serrations on the lower edge of the pressing bar.
Instead of acting upon this bar by means of springs it may be directly acted upon
by screws.
The before described reciprocating bar that imparts the reciprocating rotary
motion to the grating bars is preferably provided on its underside with a tubular
caoutchouc cushion which exerts an elastic pressure upon the grating bars, and
which can be regulated by means of screws pressing down on the upperside of the
reciprocating bar through the medium of interposed plates or discs.
Instead of imparting a reciprocating motion to the grating bars as described they
may have a continuous rotary motion imparted to them by any other suitable
known mechanism.
Also, instead of arranging the grating bars on an incline, they may be arranged
horizontal and the grain be made to travel along between them by any suitable
known means.
Dated this 12th day of February 1808
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
Apparatus for Sorting Grain and other Granular Objects, no:e
particularly applicable to the Selecting of Seed Grain for Sowing.
I, JULES FRANÇOIS MATHIAS, of 95, Boulevard, Beaumarchais, Paris, France,
Engineer, 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:-
The selection of seed grain for sowing is a necessary operation when it is desired
to obtain good harvests, and not to prevent the said harvests diminishing in a few
years by reason of a constant degeneration of the grain.
For this purpose the growers are obliged every three or four years to renew

page_text: their seed grain by procuring supplies from specialists who cultivate high quality
grain and sell them at relatively high prices. The said degeneration is easily
explained. For example, with reference to the cultivation of wheat, if we con-
sider a field that has been sown for the first time with high quality grain, the
average of the grain obtained at the harvest will be appreciably inferior (all
things remaning the same) as regards size and quality to that which is first sown
as seed. No doubt the harvest will produce a certain quantity of grain of equal
quality to that which has been sown, but a very much greater quantity of inferior
grain, as regards size and quality.
If the next year another sowing be made with grain taken indifferently from
the first harvest, the second harvest will be again inferior to the preceding harvest,
and so on from year to year; the proportion of fine grain will diminish and the
yield will become less. This degeneration therefore compels the grower to sow
his land with a fresh quantity of choice grain under penalty of otherwise having
gradually decreasing harvests. The progressive increase of degeneration is due
to three principal causes. 1. Whatever may be the means of sowing ordinarily
employed, it is impossible to avoid a crowding together and sowing too closely of
the scattered seed, which facts are injurious to the normal development of the
plant, because the plant has not then a sufficient space for development and nourish-
ment; it grows badly and produces ears which are not so fine and consequently
yield grain of lower quality than the original seed. 2. On the other hand the sown
grain does not all grow up, nor does it always grow under favourable conditions,
and, according as the land is manured with more or less regularity, or as certain
portions thereof are more or less fertile, or are situated under different conditions
of exposure to the atmospheric influences, the plants will form ears of beiter or
worse quality. 3. The principal cause (which is the one which my invention is
designed to obviate) consists in the absence of a perfect and practical selection of
the best grain obtained at each harvest, and which ought to be kept back for seed>:
ing purposes.
This last cause aggravates and multiplies the chances of degeneration referred
to in the two preceding paragraphs, in the sense that in the following years the
grain will be employed as seed, of which the greater part will be of less good
quality at starting, and therefore can only produce in their turn grain which is
more or less degenerated.
If, on the other hand, the grower could select the very best grain of his harvest
and employ it exclusively for sowing purposes, he would do away with the
principal cause of evil, he would improve his cultivation and he would obtain
greater yield in his harvests. But in order to obtain these results the means of
selection are wanting, and although winnowing machines and sorting machines of
the most improved kind tend towards this object, they only attain this object in an
imperfect degree.
Now my invention has mainly for its object to effect, after the winnowing
operation, the selection of the finest and largest grain of each harvest in order to
reserve it for seed grain. This invention is however also applicable to all sorting
purposes, and to all divisions of grain, and the like, such as food grain.
The various grain sorting apparatus at present known, consist of socket apparatus
or recessed apparatus, lattice work with greater or less size of mesh, and divers
sieves. These apparatus produce only very imperfect sorting and do not allow of
effecting regular divisions and a good selection.
The means which I employ to obtain this result is different. According to my
invention the sorting is effected on a grating formed by cylindrical bars which are
suitably inclined and at a suitable distance from one another. This distance
varies according to the size of the grain that is sorted. The bars of which this
grating is composed have imparted to them an alternating rotary motion, and they
all turn simultaneously in one and the same direction. On placing grain upon the
upper part of the grating, all those grains which have a diameter smaller than the
distance between the bars, drop through the bars and through the grating. On

page_text: the other hand those of larger diameter than the said distance will become engaged
between the bars in the vacant snaces formed by the intervals of the bars. These
intervals form a sort of channel, in which the grains of a sufficient size become
engaged. But the rotary motion and the inclination of the bars carry these grains
along and in following these channels in the direction of the inclination and turn-
ing on their own axis, they travel to the lower end of the grating. When they
have arrived at this point they leave the bars and drop by their own weight into
a hopper which collects and receives them. The apparatus may be variously con-
structed for carrying out this invention; I will describe one arrangement with refer-
ence to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of the
apparatus, Figure 2 is the side elevation thereof. Figure 3 is the plan view and
Figures 4 and 5 shew the details of the mechanism on a larger scale.
My selecting apparatus consists of an iron frame G supporting the mechanism
and the discharging channels and m. Upon this frame there rests a frame H
of cast iron which carries the selecting bars I. These bars receive an alternating
rotary motion in consequence of the friction upon them of the straight bar J which
is operated by the connecting rod K driven by the crank disc L; keyed on the
motor shaft M. The framing G consists of two bent angle irons of different height
so as to produce the inclined position of the frame H. They are placed parallel
to each other and are connected to ether by means of ties or stays N (Figure 2).
The frame H which is fixed on the fraining by means of bolts 0 (Figure 3) is
formed with two longitudinal grooves P (Figures 4 and 5), which contain appliances
for regulating the distance apart of the bars I. The ends of the bars are smaller
in diameter than their middle portion whichi sorts the grain, and the said ends rest
in rings Q, (Figure 4) which serve as bearings for the same. The distance apart
of the bars is produced by means of the following arrangement; –
In the intervals between the bearing rings Q at their upper part, there are
arranged small rollers W (Figure 4) of the same diameter, upon which a certain
pressure can be exerted, by means of the straight bars R, (Figures 4 and 5).
These bars R are acted upon by springs S, whose tension can be increased by means
of the screws T. The small rollers W may be replaced by balls maintained in a
triangular groove formed in the lower face of the straight bar R. I also may dis-
pense with the springs S and act directly on the bar R, by means of the screws T.
The last bars Q on the right hand are arrested by stops, whilst the left hand bars
are capable of moving to a greater or less extent according to the position of the
rods U. The position of these rods U, it is obvious, can be varied by acting upon
the pinion V, by means of the worms X mounted on a shaft y, which carries the
hand operating wheel Z (Figures 3 and 4).
Assuming that the rods U are pushed together to their fullest extent, that is to
say, that there is no longer any space between the rings Q. If it is then desired
to increase the distance between the sorting bars I, it is clearly sufficient to act upon
the wheel Z in such a manner as to regulate the rods U. Then, by the action of
the straight bars R, which bear upon the rollers W; the latter will enter more
deeply between the rings Q, and the sorting bars I will be moved further apart
from one another, but all to an equal distance.
The straight bar J which imparts an alternating circular motion to the sorting
bars I, is fitted at its lower part with a rubber tube a, strongly inflated, or expanded.
which increases the friction of the said straight bar upon the bars I. The pressure
of the straight bar J upon the bars I is effected by means of screws b, and the
plates c, (Figure 5). The motor shaft M is carried in plummer blocks d (Figure 3),
fixed on the frame G. This shaft carries two pulleys e for driving the apparatus
by means of shafting or belting, and it also carries a fly wheel F, which may be
provided with a crank handle for driving by hand.
The grain to be sorted is charged into a hopper (Figures 1 and 2) arranged
above the bars I. This hopper is provided at its lower part with small inclined
ribs h, which divide the bottom into several compartments. The grain which
bas passed in the spaces between the sorting bars fall into a shoot arranged

page_text: underneath; but the grain which does not pass through the spaces between the
bars, falls through the larger spaces at 7, Figure 3 and drop into a shoot m placed
underneath. It is to be understood that the straight bar J instead of having an
alternate to and fro movement, as above describeil, might be replaced by any suit-
able device which will transmit to the bars a continuous rotary motion. in the one
and same direction, and not an alternate to and fro motion. These bars might
also, instead of forming an inclined plane, be arranged horizontally. In this case
the grain whichi remained on the bars would be removed by any suitable mechanical
mi caus.
The above described sorting machine may also if desired be combined with a
winnowing machine of any known kind.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is..
1. Apparatus for sorting grain and other granular objects, consisting of a series
of inclined cylindrical bars mounted parallel to each other and receiving rotary
motion by means of a reciprocating bar pressing with a caoutchouc, or other
frictional surface thereon, or by equivalent devices, the said bars having their ends
of reduced diameter mounted loose in rings and being acted upon by suitable
means for simultaneously moving them apart to exactly the same extent, accord-
ing to the size of grain to be treated substantially as described.
2. In apparatus such as is referred to in the first claim, effecting the regulation
of the distances apart of the bars by means of rollers or balls that are pressed into
the spaces between the rings carrying the sorting bars by a transverse bar acted
upon by springs, the said rings being contained in a channel one end of which is
closed by a fixed stop, while the other end contains an adjustable abutment by the
motion of which the rings and sorting bars are either pushed nearer together, or
are allowed to be moved farther apart by the said rollers or balls, substantially as
described.
3. Apparatus for sorting grain and other granular objects, combined and operat-
ing substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 4th day of November 1898.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.