Process and Apparatus for the Treatment of Hulled Barley.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process and Apparatus for the Treatment of Hulled Barley.
We, ABRAHAM OPPENHEIMER and MORITZ OPPENHEIMER both of No. 33 Jenisch-
strasse Hamburg, in the German Empire, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what inanner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a process and apparatus for effecting a thorough refining
of hulled barley-thereby making it more preservable, capable of being more easily
worked up and more quickly reduced to a soft condition in cooking than is the case
with barley treated by existing methods and apparatus.
We secure the above advantages essentially by moistening slightly the hulled
barley with water, and afterwards submitting it to the action of the vapour of
sulphurous acid.
In carrying out our invention we may employ the method described by way of
example below:-
The hulled barley is fed on to a suitable screw conveyor contained within a box or
casing, and arranged to rotate at slow speed. In the upper part of the box is
arranged a finely perforated conduit-pipe of lead or other suitable material, through
which water is supplied for the purpose of slightly moistening the barley as it is
conveyed slowly and continuously forward. By this means a uniform moistening of
the barley is effected throughout.
After being thus moistened the barley is delivered by the conveyor on to, and
passed through, a number of sieves arranged at successive levels and operated by
means of screw shafts or other suitable mechanism, which sieves are enclosed within a
chamber into the lower part of which sulphurous acid vapours are admitted and
allowed ascend therefrom through the several sieves through which the barley is
passed.
The barley having been acted upon by the vapours and sifted in the manner above
described, is ground by any ordinary means,-the milled product so obtained being
of a fine white quality, and of hard and close consistency. Upon the annexed
drawing, A is the enclosed chamber, box or casing. B is the outlet for the
egress of the sulphurous acid. CD are arrangements of inclined or sloping sieves.
EE are screw conveyors. F is the screw conveyor delivering the grain from the
hopper G on to the inclined sieves D. H is a cam or other contrivance for imparting
a shaking motion to the sieves C. I is a band communicating motion from the
revolving shaft of the conveyor F to the series of conveyors E by means of a pulley
shaft and cog wheels K. These cog-wheels K gear one with another and drive the
screw conveyors E. L is the entrance for the sulphurous acid. M is the pipe
admitting water into the chainber A.
The hulled barley in the hopper G is fed by means of the screw conveyor F on to
an arrangement of inclined sieves D and thence through conveyors E afterwards
passing along the sieves Cand being finally discharged into a sack or other suitable
receptacle.
any
The sieves C may be shaken by a mechanical device H actuated in suitable
manner, so as to facilitate the descent of the barley.
The sulphurous acid enters the casing at L and passes out through exit B after
having acted on the barley. Water entering through the pipe M drips out through
perforations in the pipe inside the casings of the screw conveyors FE on to the

page_text: barley. The motion of the conveyors is derived from the band I and pinions K
gearing one with another.
By the above described process the hulled barley is rendered capable of being
perfectly preserved for transport to any distance, or for storage during long
periods even in tropical climates, whereas when submitted to ordinary processes it
would soon become deteriorated and infested with maggots, beetles and other
insect pests.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is,
process for the treatment of hulled barley, characterised by the exposure of
the barley to the vapour of sulphurous acid for the purpose of improving its quality
and of rendering it more preservable and capable of being easily worked and quickly
reduced to a soft state in cooking, as specified.
2. A modified process for the treatment of hulled barley consisting in first
moistening the barley during its preparation and afterwards subjecting it to the
action of sulphurous acid vapour, as and for the purposes specified.
3. An apparatus for moistening and exposing hulled barley to the vapours of
sulphurous acid, comprising screw conveyors F E furnished with a perforated conduit
pipe M, in combination with an arrangement of sieves CD within a chamber A
through which said vapours are caused to ascend, as described and illustrated upon
the accompanying drawings.
the accompanying drawings.
Dated this Sixteenth day of September 1896.
For the Applicants,
GEDGE & FEENY,
60 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agents.