IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING OD HAVING MILISTONES FOR GRINDING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Bradshaw, of Earls Barton Mills, in the
County of Northampton, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING
OD HAVING MILISTONES FOR GRINDING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Bradshaw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th May 1868.
I, PETER BRADSHAW, of Earls Barton Mills, in the County of Northampton,.
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING
OR HANGING MILLSTONES FOR GRINDING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in mounting or hanging mill-
stones for grinding grain and other substances. In mounting or banging.mill-
stones the runner or upper stone is usually balanced on a pivot at the top of
the spindle which drives it, and the runner is driven by means of two forks
carried by a boss at the upper end of the spindle. There is one fork on eacli
side of the centre pivot or point, and they embrace a bar which is fixed in the
runner stone and called the "centre bar," this bar rests on the pivot above
mentioned, a recess being formed in the centre bar to receive the pivot, in this
manner the stone is supported; the driving forks being on-each-side of the
centre pivot. When, however, the runner stone is thus hung, very accurate

page_text: adjustment is required, because otherwise only one of the driving forks will
come against the centre bar to drive the stone, and then the power being
applied at one side will cause the runner stone to tilt or bear with an uneven
pressure on the bed stone, which is fatal to good grinding.
Now, according to my Invention, I make the centre bar of the runner to
carry the pivot, and I cause it to bear on a flat surface on the upper end of the
driving spindle; thus it will be seen that the pivot is not confined as formerly,
but can adjust itself accurately to the driving instruments, so that these may
be sure to bear equally on each side of the pivot. The pivot might be mounted
at the top of the spindle, and the plain surface might be on the centre bar, but
this would produce some difficulty in balancing the stone. I prefer to employ,
in place of the driving forks before mentioned, lugs or projections on the boss
at the top of the driving spindle, and these lugs or projections enter loosely
into corresponding recesses in the centre bar; the sides of the lugs or projections
I do not make vertical, but to project forward on a level with the plain surface
on which the pivot rests, so that the contact for driving the stone or the "bite,"
as it is termed, may take place only on a level with the pivot; by taking the
bite only on a level with the pivot the motion is rendered steadier than it
would be if the bite were either above or below the centre.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Bradshaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, T, PETER
BRADSHAW, of Earls Barton Mills, in the County of Northampton, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Peter Bradshaw, Her special licence that I, the said Peter
Bradshaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Peter Bradshaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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

page_text: "3
MOUNTING OR HANGING MILLSTONES FOR GRINDING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Bradshaw, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
5 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 Peter Bradshaw, do hereby declare
D. 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
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in mounting or hanging
.millstones for grinding grain and other substances. In mounting or hanging
5 millstones the runner or upper stone is usually balanced on a pivot at the top
of the spindle which drives it, and the runner is driven by means of two forks
carried by a boss at the upper end of the spindle: There is one fork on each
side of the centre pivot or point, and they embrace a bar which is fixed in the
runner stone and called the "centre bar;" this bár rests on the pivot above
> mentioned, a recess being formed in the centre bar to receive the pivot, in this
manner the stone is supported, the driving forks being on each side of the
centre pivot. When, however, the runner stone is thus hung, very accurate
adjustment is required, because otherwise only one of the driving forks will
come against the centre bar to drive the stone, and then the power being
applied at one side will cause the runner stone to tilt or bear with an uneven
pressure on the bed stone, which is fatal to good grinding.
Now, according to my Invention, I make the centre bar of the runner to
carry the pivot, and I cause it to bear on a flat surface on the upper end of
the driving spindle; thus it will be seen that the pivot is not confined as
formerly, but can adjust itself accurately to the driving instruments, so that
these may be sure to bear equally on each side of the pivot. The pivot might
-be mounted at the top of the spindle, and the plain surface might be on the
centre bar, but this would produce some difficulty in balancing the stone. I
prefer to employ, in place of the driving forks before mentioned, lugs or pro-
jections on the boss at the top of the driving spindle, and these lugs or pro-
jections enter loosely into corresponding recess in the centre bar; the sides of
the lugs or projections I do not make vertical, but to project. forward-on.a.
level with the-plain surface on which the pivot rests, so that the contact for
driving the stone--or the bite," as it is termed, may take place only on a

page_text: level with the pivot; by taking the bite only on a level with the pivot the motion
is rendered steadier than it would be if the bite were either above or below
the centre.
And in order that the nature of the Invention may be more fully under-
stood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a vertical section of the runner or upper stone mounted
or hung according to my Invention, Figure 2 is an underneath view thereof,
and Figures 3, 4, and 5 are views of some of the parts separately.
a, a, is the runner or upper stone, in which a "centre bar "6 is fixed. This
"centre bar" is provided with a pivot c (which is easily taken out if required),
by which the stone is supported. This pivot c rests on a flat disc d, fixed in
the upper end of the driving spindle e. It will be seen that the pivot is not
confined as heretofore, but is capable of adjusting itself accurately to the
driving instruments, by which means the driving instruments are caused to
bear equally on each side of the pivot. Instead of employing driving forks to
give motion to the "runner" or upper stone as heretofore, I prefer to employ
lugs or projections e¹ on the boss at the top of the driving spindle e; these lugs
or projections enter loosely into corresponding recesses in the centre bar b,
and it will be seen that the sides thereof project forward at on a level with
the plain surface or disc d on which the pivot c rests so that the contact for
driving the stone or the bite may take place only on a level with the pivot c, by
which means the motion of the stone is rendered steadier, than it would be
were the "bite" taken either above or below the centre.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Bradshaw, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
PETER BRADSHAW. (L.S.)