IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRESSING AND ASSORTING CRUSHED GRAIN
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur William Lovell Reddie, of 66, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR DRESSING AND ASSORTING CRUSHED GRAIN." A communication
from abroad by Paul Guillaume Caons, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur William Lovell
Reddie at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th April
1880.
ARTHUR WILLIAM LOVELL REDDIE, of 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRESSING AND ASSORTING
CRUSHED GRAIN." [A communication from abroad by Paul Guillaume Caens, of
Paris, in the Republic of France.]
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the operation of separating the
particles composing crushed grain or coarse meal according to their qualities in an
expeditious and efficient manner, and to remove the stive from the coarser particles
or semolina in their progress to the assorting sieve.
The crushed grain is conducted to one end of a horizontal slowly rotating
cylinder covered with wire cloth, and containing within it rotating helical blades
with corresponding brushes interposed between them.
The cylinder is mounted loosely on a central axle to which the blades and
brushes are affixed, and it receives through gearing its slow rotary motion from the
brush shaft, which shaft rotates rapidly and in an opposite direction to the
cylinder.
The coarse meal in passing through this cylinder is deprived of the flour which
is combined there with, the same passing through the cylinder into a channel
below.
The coarser particles, consisting of semolina of various sizes, is discharged from
the end of the cylinder into a channel that runs parallel with the channel that

page_text: receives the flour. These channels are formed by inclines in the bottom of the
trough that underlies the cylinder, and extends froin end to end thereof.
This trough is fitted with a segment shaped shield for ensuring the delivery of
the flour into its proper channel.
The two channels just mentioned are brought into shutes or hoppers for carrying 5
off their respective products, the flour to a receiver, and the other to an assorting
sieve, and to facilitate the delivery of these products of the rotating cylinder
archimedean screws are fitted in tho channels for passing the products to the
discharge opening.
The semolina falls through a hopper and thence to a horizontal reciprocating 1
sieve covered with silk of, say, four degrees of fineness.
The semolina in passing from the hopper to the siove falls over inclined boards,
which are carried by standards from the sieve frame, and consequently reciprocate
with the sieve.
In front of these inclined boards stands a deep inclined board, which forms part
of an exhaust chamber, a hood from which overlies the top edge of the board and
forms a passage into that chamber.
Connected with the exhaust chamber is a fan, the case of which leads to a
chamber for the stive or dust contained in the semolina.
When this fan is in action it will cause a current of air to enter between the
reciprocating boards over which the semolina is falling, pass through the streams of
semolina and carry with it any dust or stive contained therein, raising the same
over the top edge of the inclined board before mentioned, and depositing it in the
exhaust chamber.
The use of this inclined board is to arrest any useful particles of the moal
that may be carried forward by the air, and allow them to fall back by their own
gravity.
The stive or fine dust will be drawn through the fan case and delivered there-
from into the stivo chamber.
The assorting sieve onto which the stream of semolina falls consists of a
rectangular frano mounted upon inclined elastic supports, and furnished with silk
of varying meshes.
This sieve is situate immediately above a reciprocating tray having inclines and
vents in connection with outlet channels.
This tray is mounted similarly to the sieve, and like it receives an up and
down and to and fro motion from excentrics driven from the brush shaft.
The tray is connected by means of channels with exhaust fans, the action of
which facilitates the passage of the semolina through the sieve, and disposes the
same according to size in appropriate receptacles.
Below cach delivery opening in the tray is a
conducting off the semolina passed through the sieve.
is a second channel situate immediately below a side
shaped channel.
funnel shaped channel for
Beside each of these channels
opening made in the funnel
All these channels are enclosed in a casing, of which the tray may be said to form
the cover, and the exhaust fans are so arranged with respect to these channels that
they will have a tendency to draw the descending streams of semolina out of their
course.
The effect of this will be to cause the smaller and lighter particles to fall into
the second or supplementary channels, the heavier particles continuing an
uninterrupted course.
Any dust or stive retained in the semolina after sifting will be carried out of the
machine by the fans and may be deposited in a stive chamber.
The semolina passing down the channels will be deposited according to quality
in suitable receptacles.
For regulating the action of the fans below the sieve slides or dampers aro
provided for contracting the openings for the admission of air thereto, and for

page_text: regulating the action of the fan which takes off the stive from the semolina on its
passage to the sieve; a weighted valve opening inwards is fitted to the exhaust
chamber.
Should therefore the speed of the fan unduly increase the valve will open and
admit air to the fan case, thereby diminishing the energy of its action on the
falling stream of somolina.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Arthur William Lovell Reddio in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th October 1880.
ARTHUR WILLIAM LOVELL REDDIE, of 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRESSING AND ASSORTING
CRUSHED GRAIN."
A communication from abroad by Paul Guillaume Caens, of
Paris, in the Republic France.
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the operation of separating the
particles composing crushed grain or coarse meal according to their qualities
in an expeditious and efficient manner. It is also proposed to remove the
stive from the coarser particles or semolina in their progress to the assorting sieve.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in elevation the apparatus for
carrying out the above named objects, and Fig. 2 is an elevation taken at right
angles to Fig. 1.
This apparatus consists of three distinct parts set one above the other, the
uppermost serving to separate the fine flour from the meal, the second to separate
the stive from the meal, and the third or lowermost part to assort the incal
according to its quality and remove therefrom the bran and any stive that the
meal may still contain.
The apparatus for separating the fine flour from the meal is shewn on an
enlarged scale at Figures 3 and 4, Figure 3 being a longitudinal central section of
this apparatus, and Fig. 4 a cross section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 3.
A is a hopper fitted to one end of a horizontal rectangular case A¹ in which the
dressing cylinder for separating the flour from the meal is mounted. The hopper A
is for the purpose of supplying the coarse meal which is dropped in regulated
quantities by the feed roller B onto a metallic inclined plane terminating in a spout I.
This spout conducts the meal into the wire-cloth cylinder J, to which is given a
comparatively slow rotary motion. This cylinder is mounted loosely on a shaft J'
carrying brushes and blades which are helically arranged around it, and to this
shaft a rapid rotary motion is imparted in the opposite direction to the cylinder.
The rotation of the wire cloth cylinder J is effected in the following manner :-
On the end of the cylinder is fixed a spur wheel D which gears with the pinion d
driven by the pulleys indicated in Figures 1 and 4.
A guide plate t of sheet iron surrounds the lower part of the cylinder for about
one quarter of its circumference, and serves to collect the floury particles and dust
dressed out of the meal as they fall through the wire cloth covering and deliver the
same into the open channel Q formed on the bottom of the case A'. The flour
deposited in this channel is conducted by an endless screw Q' to the spout Q
where the fine flour may be collected in sacks. With the view of preventing the
choking up of the guide plate t a projecting blade is provided which turning with
the cylinder J clears the guide plate at each rotation of the cylinder.
The coarse meal issuing from the delivery end of the cylinder falls into a closed
channel K lying parallel with the channel Q, and the meal is led by the endless
screw K¹ to the spout K2 in the bottom of the channel K, through which it falls
into the hopper L of the assorting apparatus, any meal which may be carried past
the spout K on the shaft and blade of the endless screw passing out at the end of
the case by the opening where it may be collected in sacks.
The hopper L is fixed to the framework of a horizontal sieve V, and only allows
the meal to pass by an opening the size of which may be regulated at will by means
of the sliding door e¹ operated by the screw f¹.
The meal first falls on to a slightly dished shelf, and then on to two small inclined
planes, these three surfaces being connected by side pieces fixed to the frame of the
sieve, and participating consequently in the rising and falling and to and fro motion
which is communicated to the sieve and hopper simultaneously by excentrics. The
result of this arrangement is that the meal is distributed regularly and evenly on

page_text: to the sieve beneath. The hopper L communicates with an exhaust chamber M
which sucks or carries off the dust or stive from the falling ineal, such stive passing
by means of the channels N through the hollow standards O to the fan H. The
suction of the fan is regulated by the sliding doors P, see Fig. 2. A balance
valve which may be adjusted by the movable counterweight g serves to admit air
to the exhaust chamber M in case of an undue increase in speed of the fan H, which
would otherwise act too energetically on the falling stream.
The meal falling from the hopper L is received on to the sieve V, which is covered
with silk or similar material of, say, four degrees of fineness. This sievo is situated
above an assorting box provided with four pairs of vertical channels S, T, for
receiving the meal or semolina as it is delivered from fixed hoppers set above the
vertical channels. The meal in passing through the sieve falls on to inclined trays V'
which are mounted in a vibrating frame that follows the motions of the sieve V.
The assorting box is fitted with exhaust fans R, U, for the purpose of dividing
tho streams of semolina as they flow from the fixed hoppers and drawing the lighter
particles into the channels nearest to the fans. From these channels the semolina
will pass into any suitable receptacle. The situation of these fans is such that they
become double-acting, and thus the lighter particles of the meal are drawn into the
spouts T, and the dust which may still remain in the moal passes into the exhaust
chamber and is carried out of the machine. The tailings (if any remain) pass over
the back end of the frame of the sieve V.
The passage of the air to the exhaust fans R and U is regulated by the slides .
The openings y communicate with the underside of the sieves for the purpose of
holding to their surface the lightest particles of meal.
The frame of the sieve V and the trays of the frame V₁ aro carried independently
by elastic supports Z placed at an angle of sixty degrees, which is exactly suited to
treating the meal by reason of the motion imparted to the sieve which is obtained
under the best conditions. One set of these clastic supports is fitted to the framo V'.
The sifting movement of the frames V and V¹ is obtained by the aid of excentrics.
Wooden tie rods a secured by screws at the two ends serve to stretch the silk on
the frame V.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Dressing and Assorting Crushed Grain," as communicated to me from abroad,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,—
First. The arrangement of the dressing cylinder, to which slow rotary movement
is given in the opposite direction to its shaft, which rotates rapidly, and on which
are mounted brushes and blades arranged helically in the direction of the length of
the cylinder.
Second. The employment of two endless screws, for conducting the one the
semolina and the other the fine, flour to the extremity of the case which encloses
the cleaning cylinder.
Third. The grouping of the dressing cylinder and its accessories in a casing for
the purpose of forming a complete apparatus which may be adapted to any approved
kind of sifter or be employed alone as an improved dressing apparatus.
Fourth. Mounting the sieve frame and also the frame carrying the inclined trays
on inclined elastic supports and operating them as described, whereby a sifting
motion analogous to that produced by hand is obtained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur William Lovell Reddie, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty third day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
ARTHUR W. L. REDDIE. (LS.)