IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SHELLING AND CLEANING RICE AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SHELLING AND CLEANING RICE AND OTHER
GRAIN." A communication from abroad oy Wellington Lee, of New
York, in the United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th November 1861.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North-
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR SHELLING AND CLEANING RICE-
AND OTHER GRAIN," a communication from abroad by Wellington Lee, of New
York, in the United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus intended more especially for shelling or hulling and
cleaning rice although applicable to the treatment of wheat and other grain. :
According to this Invention it is proposed to employ two horizontal surfaces,
one of which surfaces is made to rotate in close proximity to the other whilst.
the other surface is held stationary. The rotating surface is intended to be
covered with india-rubber or other equivalent material and the stationary
surface is composed of stone. Provision is made for adjusting the distance

page_text: between these two surfaces, so as to suit grains of different sizes. The grain
to be treated may be introduced between the rubbing surfaces from above
through an aperture in the upper rubbing surface or in any other convenient
manner, and the two surfaces are surrounded, at proper distances, with a
perforated plate or wire gauze for the purpose of withdrawing the dust or
meal produced by the passage of the grain through the apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th May 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year. of,
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 MACHINERY OF APPARATUS FOR SHELLING AND CLEANING RICE
AND OTHER GRAIN," a communication from abroad by Wellington Lee, of New
York, in the United States of America,". upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators,' by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal
of one of them, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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:

page_text: statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to'say
1. The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus intended more especially for shelling or hulling and
cleaning rice, although applicable to the treatment of wheat and other grain.
According to this Invention it is proposed to employ two horizontal surfaces,
one of which surfaces is made to rotate in close proximity to the other, whilst
the other surface is held stationary; the rotating surface is intended to be
covered with india-rubber, gutta percha, or other equivalent material, and the
stationary surface is composed of stone; provision is made for adjusting the dis-
tance between these two surfaces, so as to suit the grains of different sizes. The
grain to be treated may be introduced between the rubbing surfaces from above
through an aperture in the upper rubbing surface, or in any other convenient
manner, and the two surfaces are surrounded. at proper distances with a per-
forated plate or wire gauze, for the purpose of withdrawing the dust or meal
produced by the passage of grain through the apparatus.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a vertical section of the improved
machine for shelling and cleaning rice or other grain, constructed according to
this Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of the upper side of the stone, showing the
mode of supporting and elevating the same; Figure 3 represents a portion of
the stone and india-rubber disc beneath it in elevational section, on an enlarged,
scale; Figure.4 is a plan of the under side of the stone, on the same scale as
Figure 1, showing the grooves or channels therein, hereafter referred to;
and Figure 5 is a plan of the upper surface of the india-rubber, gutta percha,
O or other equivalent covering of the horizontal disc, shewing the different modes
of roughing or grooving its surface when desired.
A represents the stone which is placed horizontally, and may be similar to
an ordinary millstone for grinding corn; and B is a covering or sheet of vu!-
canized india-rubber or gutta percha, secured to the surface of a horizontal
5 disc C, of wood, metal, or other suitable material, as a foundation.. The stone
A is enclosed in a metallic ring D, shown clearly in Figure 2, from which ring
project four arms E, E, having openings at their outer ends, which fit on to
the studs F, F, formed on the upper. ends of the four elevating or adjusting
screws G, G, and rest upon the heads of those screws, as shown in. Figure 1.

page_text: "The screws G work through corresponding fixed nuts H, H, in the top of the
cast-iron columns or supports I, I, and the studs F turn freely in the ends of
the supporting arms E, so as to admit of the rotation of the screws when
levelling or adjusting the portion of the stone, the screws being provided with
suitable heads for that purpose. If preferred, the screws may be elevated
without rotating them, by making their nuts H so as to turn in the tops of the
columns or supports. In this case the upper ends of the screws may be simply
forked, with the arms E resting in such forks. K is the eye of the stone, into
which the rice or other grain to be operated upon is fed from the shoot L
leading from the hopper M, such hopper being provided with the usual sliding
door for regulating the feeding of the rice or grain to the apparatus. The
horizontal disc C with its covering of vulcanized india-rubber B is secured by
keying or otherwise to the upper end of the vertical shaft N, which works in a
collar bearing O and footstep P. The bearing O may be formed in the trans-
verse bar Q, bolted at its opposite ends to the diametrically opposite columns I,
and the footstep is made adjustable vertically by means of the screw R, for
the purpose of regulating the height of the disc C, or its proximity to the under
surface of the stone. The stone remains stationary, but the disc is rotated by
means of a driving pulley S keyed on to the shaft N, or by suitable gearing.
T is an annular casing, which may be composed either of wire gauze or of a
perforated or non-perforated sheet of metal; this casing is made to enclose or
surround the edges or peripheries of the stone and rotating disc, a convenient
space being left all round between the stone and disc and the inner surface of
the casing for the collection of the cleaned rice or grain, which is removed by
the action of a scraper U, fitted to the edge of the rotating disc C, and
travelling over the surface of the table V inside the casing, one or more
openings being left in the table for the rice or grain to fall through.
It is preferred to make this plate of wire gauze, or of perforated metal, as
the insterstices afford free escape for the meal or dust from the grain. A cone
N, having its apex upwards, is.secured to the centre of the disc C, or is formed
on the top end of the shaft N, so as to protrude through the covering B, and
enter some distance inside the eye of the stone A. The object of this cone is
to disperse or throw off the grain outwards underneath the stone, and prevent
-any-tendency of the grain to settle or lodge on the centre of the revolving disc.
By this means the feed is greatly-facilitated,-and-rendered more regular. In
order to keep the stone and india-rubber, or other equivalent covering, as cool
as possible, it is proposed to direct a blast of air between the rubbing surfaces,
and to facilitate the passage of the air, a series of channels or grooves a, a,
shewn in the vertical sectional detail on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the

page_text: stone and india-rubber covèring in Figure 3, and in the plan of the under side
of the stone in Figure 4, such grooves extending from the periphery of the
stone to the bevelled portion b, of the eye or bosom of the stone. These
grooves or channels should be of a wedge form in transverse section (see
Figure 3), the base of the wedge or the deepest part of the channel being on
the side opposite to the direction of motion of the rubber, as shewn by the
arrow in Figure 3. It has been found, that if the india-rubber surface B be
roughened, it will hold the rice or grain longer against the stone than when it
is left smooth, and is, therefore, more efficient, although a smooth surface will
answer moderately well. Figure 5 represents different modes of roughing or
grooving the surface of the india-rubber, gutta percha, or other suitable disc;
W represents a smooth surface; X shows a series of grooves running parallel
to a radius; and Y shows a series of cross grooves or scoring, any one of which
surfaces may be adopted or preferred.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of machinery
or apparatus for shelling and cleaning rice and other grain, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of shelling and cleaning rice and other grain,
by subjecting the same to friction between a stone surface and a surface faced
with india-rubber, gutta percha, or other equivalent material.
Third, the application and use of the perforated or non-perforated metal
plate or cylinder of wire gauze T, in combination with the rubbing surfaces
B and C, for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Specification, hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of
May, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
J: HENRY JOHNSON. (L.B.)