AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS OR MACHINES FOR GRINDING OR REDUCING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLAUDE
MARIE SAVOYE, of Oxford, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by Petition, represent to His most Excellent Majesty
King William the Fourth, that I had become possessed of the knowledge of
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS OR MACHINES FOR GRINDING OR
REDUCING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," which Invention had been commu-
nicated to me by a Foreigner residing abroad, and His said Majesty being
willing to encourage all useful Inventions, did issue His Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth
day of December, in the second year of His reign, whereby His said
Majesty did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Claude Marie Savoye, His especial licence that I, the said Claude
Marie Savoye, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Claude Marie Savoye, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also within all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the said
Invention; in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me,, the said Claude Marie Savoye, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain my nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Claude Marie Savoye, do hereby declare that the nature of the aforesaid
Improvements in Mills or Machines for Grinding or Reducing Grain and
other Substances," consist,-
First, in a peculiar modification of the parts which constitute the rubbing
or grinding surfaces.
Secondly, in giving to the said rubbing or grinding surfaces an alternating
circular motion.
Thirdly, in surrounding the said mills or machines with water or other fluid
at a low temperature, to abstract and carry off the heat generated by the
friction of the machinery and the substances operated upon.
"
Having thus stated in what the aforesaid improvements consist, I proceed
particularly to describe and ascertain in what manner the same are to be
performed " "with reference to the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which the
letters used for reference that are alike in the several Figures indicate
corresponding parts. The Invention in its simplest form consists of two prin-
cipal parts, as delineated in perspective by Figures. 1 and 2.
Fig. 1 is a circular piece or ring of cast iron (or other suitable material),
which is made fast in a horizontal position to a strong frame of wood or metal
by means of ears or lugs, two of which are brought into view at a, a. 'The
exterior side of this ring is perpendicular, but the interior is inclined or sloping,
where it is furnished with a series of inclined teeth b, b. These teeth project
beyond the smooth surface about a twelfth of an inch at their upper ends, but
gradually diminish in their projections or thickness downwards until they arive
at the smooth surface (or as workmen express themselves, "terminate at
nothing"); but just previous to their arrival at this point they are met by a
series of small grooves or gutters c, c, which are intended for the passage of
the bran or other parts of the ground materials, as well as to permit the
transmission of currents of air through them.
Figure 2 represents a perspective view of the inner ring or moving wheel
made of similar materials to Fig. 1, and provided externally with a circle of
similarly formed teeth (marked also b, b, and c, c), except that they are inclined
in the reverse direction for the purpose of producing by their opposite position
a clipping or scissors-like action. This inner ring is also made a little inclined

page_text: or conical externally, so as to fit concentrically within the circle of Fig. 1, and
bring their respective teeth either to touch or approach each other at uniform
distances apart throughout the circle or annular space formed between them.
For the clearer explanation of this arrangement, a plan of the two toothed
rings (delineated at Figures 1 and 2) is given by Fig. 3, in which the parts
are reduced to one-half the size linear measure of the former. Thus d, d,.
represents the outer ring, and e, e, the ring. Between these are represented
three concentric circular lines, respectively marked f, g, h. The space from f
to g denotes the thickness of the upper extremities of the teeth of the outer-
toothed ring, and the space from g to h the thickness of the upper extremities
of the teeth of the outer ring, while the breadth of the middle line g may be
considered to indicate the space through which the flour or reduced substances
pass out of the mill. In this Figure the ears or lugs a, a, a, are shown with
holes made through them, for the purpose of fastening them by screw bolts to
the framing i, i, i. j is a central spindle fixed to the inner ring e, upon which
it turns. The motion imparted to this wheel is not rotative, but alternating
through only a portion of its circumference, by the action of a vibrating rod k,
which will be better explained in connection with the Figures herein-after
described.
a
Figure 4 exhibits a vertical section of the principal parts of the mill.
shows one of the lugs or ears; d, d, the outer toothed circle; e, e, the inner; and
between them on either side the three lines diverging to a point represent
the teeth. The interior circle e is covered with a conical cap of sheet iron l,
and the outer circle d by a cylindrical open-topped hopper v, the space between
this hopper and that cap being appropriated to the reception of the corn or
other substances' to be ground. The alternating motion given to the inner
toothed circle e is thus effected:-A lever m, n, is fastened by a nut and screw
to one of the arms of the inner wheel e, and also to the axis j, which con-
stitutes the latter the fulcrum of the lever. The other end of this lever passes
through the framing, and is attached to the extremity of the rod k, which is made
to vibrate by the revolution of a crank o (actuated by any convenient power),
as shown in Figure 5. As the weight of the inner circle e would cause it to
come in contact and press upon the outer if unsupported by other means,
the following arrangement is adopted, by which it is supported, and the
required space between the grinding surfaces is at the same adjusted :-The
spindle j turns in a socket p (fixed to the framing), its extremity resting, on a
bolt 9, that passes loosely through a hole in the framing, and the end of the
bolt is supported upon the extremity of a lever e, which has its fulcrum at s,
and is acted upon at by a screw, as represented, the turning of which screw

page_text: causes the inner grinding circle e to be elevated or depressed, and thereby
removed farther from or nearer to the outer grinding circle, thus adapting them
to grind coarse or fine at pleasure. When the material to be ground is so
hard as to create such a resistance to the action of the mill as to cause the
inner ring e to rise up, and thereby allow the materials to pass unground or
insufficiently reduced out of the mill, a screw stop, represented at u, is put
into requisition. This screw stop passes through a tap in the socket p, and
enters a groove formed in the spindle j, thereby preventing the spindle and the
circle e from rising up beyond its assigned limits, which may be easily adjusted
by such obvious adaptations as not to need particularising.
Having described the separated parts and uses of the aforesaid machine, I
proceed to describe its action generally with reference to Figure 5, which on a
still further reduced scale exhibits a side elevation of the whole machine.
is a winch which, being fixed on the axis of the fly wheel x and the crank o,
communicates motion to them, and through the medium of the latter actuates
the vibrating rod k, producing the alternating motion of the lever and will,
as before described. In the Drawings already referred to is represented a mill
of only ten or twelve inches in diameter in the grinding surfaces, which, re-
quiring but little force a quick motion is easily given without increasing the
velocity of gear; but when it is desired to employ the entire strength of a
man, a mill of from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter is preferable, in
which case the operator will work to more advantage by employing a slower
first motion, and obtaining the required velocity of the mill by means of gear,
as shewn by the dotted parts in Fig. 5, the power being applied to the handle y,
on the axis of which is a toothed wheel z, that takes into a pinion of half its
diameter on the axis of the fly wheel. The number of vibrations or alterna-
tions of the mill may vary from sixty to one hundred in a minute, without
materially affecting the result; but my experience has led me to give the pre-
ference to about eighty vibrations per minute. The principal inconvenience
that would be produced by too rapid vibrations is the heating of the flour or
other materials; and to prevent this effect I cause a stream of water to pass
through an annular cavity made in the outer or fixed grinding circle. The
water enters by a pipe on one side of the circle, and is carried off by another
pipe on the opposite side of the circle. Each of the pipes may be furnished
with stopcocks to regulate the admission and emission of the fluid. This
arrangement is represented by the dotted parts of Figure 4, and have not
been drawn in full lines, as it will rarely be desirable to pass water through
mills of such small dimensions, yet it equally serves to explain the principle of
the improvement when applied to those of larger dimensions. Instead of a

page_text: cock on each of the pipes before mentioned, one will do on the pipe of dis-
charge only, which being partially closed would detain the water in the annulus
sufficiently long to abstract the heat from the metal. There are, however,
various ways of effecting this object of cooling mills by stream of water
passing through or around them; and as the Invention consists in the applica-
tion of water to mills of metal (or alloys of metal), it would be needless to
describe them more at length, as workmen of ordinary skill are competent to
carry the application into practice, according to the circumstances of the case.
Having completed the description of one of the said patent mills of the
simplest kind, I proceed to explain another of more complex structure, although
it consists of an extension of the same principle as the former. That which I
have already described consists of only two concentric grinding parts; but the
improvement I have now to explain consists in the adaptation of any conve-
nient greater number than two grinding parts so as to obtain greater efficiency
in a more compact and less expensive form than have heretofore been con-
structed. An arrangement on this principle is illustrated by the diagram
marked Figure 6, which shows a combination of five grinding rings, the three
marked A, A, A, being fixed to the bed or frame of the mill, and the two
marked B, B, which fit concentrically inside of A, A, A, are put into motion (of
the alternating kind, as before mentioned), against them. For this purpose the
two rings B, B, are firmly connected to the bars C, C, C, C, which radiate
from a vertical axis or spindle at D, that communicates the alternating motion
from a vibrating lever moved by any convenient means.
Another modification of a compound mill of a similar description to the
last mentioned is given more in detail by the sectional Figure 7, where
E, E', E, three grinding rings concentrically placed around two other grinding
rings F, F, the former being fixed to four radial equidistant arms G, G, and the
latter connected to four other radial equidistant cross bars H, H, fixed to and
moving with their vertical axis I. This axis has a sliding motion up and down,
causing the circles F, F, to approach to or recede from the circles E, E¹, E"
It is supported laterally at one extremity by a central boss, which is suspended
by four inclined bars J, J, that are bolted to an horizontal cross frame
above K, K, which has also a central boss that embraces the upper end of the
axis, where the latter is provided with brasses to reduce the friction, as well as
at the lower extremity, as shewn in the Drawing. The toe of the axis is
made spherical, and turns in the concave surface of a piece of steel L, which
is supported by a pin M. and a lever A, this lever having its fulcrum at O; and
power being applied to the rod P by turning the screw Q, the axis is raised
or depressed through the medium of M and L. At R is a curved lever bolted

page_text: to the moveable circles for connecting it to the vibrating motion. S represents
the conical hopper, and T the cylindrical hopper (as in the before described
mill), between which the substances to be ground are deposited. In applying
water to these compound mills, it may be conducted by any of the known
modes practised by workmen, into hollow annular spaces formed within the
fixed circles, and afterwards conducted off to a lower level; although the
cooling of these fixed rings by currents of water or other fluid passing through
them will tend materially to reduce the temperature of the intermediate rings,
water may be passed through the latter also. It may be introduced from above
the mill through a hollow vertical axis, and distributed thence by the radial
connecting arms into the rings, whence by another passage it may be carried
off through the lower portion of the said hollow axis. A similar mode may
be adopted of conducting water through the inner ring of the first-described
mill, but I consider it to be unnecessary, except in large mills moved at great
speeds, and that the application of water to the outer ring x of a single mill
(as that first described), or to the intermediate or alternate rings of mills con-
taining a greater number of concentric circles than two (as in the quadruple
mill last described), will in most cases be found sufficiently efficacious. It will
be observed that the teeth or notches on the surfaces of the mill described are
inclined, the consequence of which is that the grinding is not equally effective
in the two reverse motions of the mill. To equalize the grinding effect in
both directions, I give the preference to upright teeth instead of inclined.
The power required to work mills with upright teeth must of course be aug-
mented, but the effect is greater in proportion, and the resistance as well as
the power is more uniform. In the description I have now given of the
several improvements which form the subject of my Patent, I have necessarily
included parts which are not new, and some parts that may be of doubtful
originality. I therefore desire it to be understood that I limit my claims of
patent right to the following improvements. I claim,―
First, the alternating circular motion, by whatever mechanical combination
may be produced, not only to the mills described, but to all other mills
susceptible of its application.
it
Secondly, I claim the forming of compound mills by the concentric combi-
nation of a greater number of grinding circles than two, and the driving or
actuating of these mills, not only by alternating but also by continuous
circular or rotatory motion, by any of the various modes known to mechanics.
And,
Thirdly, I claim the introduction and passage of water or other fluid
(employed as a cooling medium) into and through, not only the mills before

page_text: described, but the application of same principle (modified according to circum-
stances) to all other kinds of mills made of metal.
In witness whereof, I, the said Claude Marie Savoye, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.