IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THRASHING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Chaplin Willsher, of Gracechurch Street,
"
in the City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THRASHING MACHINES."
Scaled the 6th June 1873, and dated the 7th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Chaplin Willsher
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1872.
I, JOHN CHAPLIN WILLSHER, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THRASHING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improvement on the machine.
for which I obtained Letters Patent, dated December 18th 1871,
No. 3429; and secondly, to a novel construction of concave, which is
applicable to thrashing machines generally.
:

page_text: >
According to my Patent the framing of the thrashing machine was
fitted with metal panels to receive the bearings of the drum shaft, and
one of these panels was availed of for constituting a portion of a case
for the fan for giving the winnowing blast, the fan being mounted on
the drum axle. I now propose to fit to the other end of the drum axle
a rotary beater which will act as a chobber, smutter, and aveller. This
beater I enclose in a case, of which the adjacent side panel forms a part, the
outer portion, carrying the bearing for the axle. The inner periphery of
the case I fit with projections or ribs so as to ensure an efficient rubbing
or beating of the corn as it is carried round by the rotary beater. The
case may be partially open at its periphery to allow of the discharge of
dust therefrom into an enclosing 'screen leading to a receiver. Or the
case may be open at the centre to admit a blast of air to the corn.
By thus arranging the beater I effect a material economy in the con-
struction of the machine and in the power required to drive it.
The second improvement consists in means for equalizing the wear of
the concave in which the drum rotates. The ribs of the concave have
been found to wear rapidly, and almost exclusively at the middle of
their length. To provide for this I now propose to form the concave
in interchangeable longitudinal sections of any desired width, which
sections may either be strung on to transverse screwed rods and secured by
nuts or otherwise connected together. As the ribs of the middle sections
become worn it will only be necessary to shift them to the sides, and
bring the side sections to the middle, when efficiency of the concave will
be restored.
The sections may be jointed, if desired, to form a iointed concave.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Chaplin Willsher in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CHAPLIN WILLSHER, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Chaplin Willsher, Her special
licence that I, the said John Chaplin Willsher, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Chaplin Willsher,
my executors, administrators, and 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF THRASHING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Chaplin Willsher, 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
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 Chaplin Willsher,, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the. Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improvement on the combined
thrashing machine, for which I obtained Letters Patent dated December
Eighteenth, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, No. 3429;
and, secondly, to a novel construction of concave which is applicable to
thrashing machines generally.
According to my Patent the framing of the thrashing machine was
fitted with metal panels to receive the bearings of the drum shaft, and
one of these panel was availed of for constituting a portion of a case for
the fan for giving the winnowing blast, the fan being mounted on the
drum axle. I now propose to fit to the other end of the drum axle a
rotary beater, which will act as a chobber, smutter, and aveller. This

page_text: beater I enclose in a case, of which the adjacent side panel forms a part,
the outer portion carrying the bearing for the axle.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1, Sheet I. shews in side elevation
so much of a combined thrashing machine as will serve to illustrate
this part of my Invention.
Fig. 2 shews the side panel and beater case detached, the outer side of
the case being removed to exhibit the rotary beater.
In Sheet II. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the machine, shewing
the rotary beater mounted on the opposite end of the drum shaft to that
which carries the fan.
In these Figures A is the side panel forming part of the beater. case.
This panel is cast with lateral projections A¹², which form the perimeter
of the case, and are continued tangentially to form passages to and from
the case.
*B is the cover of the case. It is cast with a central bearing,
which is fitted with brasses to receive the end of the drum shaft C.
Keyed to the end of this drum shaft is the beater D, which consists of
four arms of cast iron, to which are bolted rectangular bars D¹ of wrought
iron.
a, Fig. 2, is the inlet passage to the beater case, and 6 is the outlet
passage. A shute E, Fig. 1, from the riddle F, guides the thrashed corn
from the upper division of the riddle F into the passage a of the beater
case, and a spout G forming a continuation of the passage b returns the corn
to a lower division of the riddle. The inner periphery of the case I fit with
projecting ribs, as at A³, Fig. 1, to ensure an efficient rubbing or beating
of the corn as it is carried round by the rotary beater. The case may be
partially opened at its periphery to allow of the discharge of dust there-
from into an enclosing screen leading to a receiver, or the case may be
opened at the centre to admit a blast of air to the corn.
By thus
arranging the beater D on the end of the drum shaft I effect a material
economy in the construction of the machine and in the power required
to drive it.
The second improvement consists in means for equalizing the wear of
the concave in which the drum rotates. The ribs of the concave have
been found to wear rapidly and almost exclusively at the middle of their
length. To provide against this I now propose to form the concave in

page_text: interchangeable longitudinal sections of any desired width, which sections
may be either strung on to transverse screwed rods and secured by nuts,
or otherwise connected together.
Fig. 4, Sheet II., shews the improved concave in transverse section, as
applied to the machine. Fig. 5 is a view of the concave detached,
shewing the working or internal face thereof, and Fig. 6 is a back view
of the same. The concave it will be seen is made up of five sections H,
| H³, H³, H³, H'. These sections are cast with flanges and lugs at their
edges to receive rods I, I, on to which they are strung, and they are held
firmly together by means of nuts on the screwed ends of the rods. The
sections may have ribs of any desired form on their inner faces, and they
may be pierced with holes, as shewn in the Drawing, or cast with
openings between the ribs. As these sections are interchangeable it
follows that when the ribs of the middle section, H2 for example, become
worn it will only be necessary to shift that section to one side, and bring
one of the side sections to the middle, when the efficiency of the concave
will be restored. This may be repeated until the ribs of all the sections
have become uniformly worn, or until they have become inefficient in.
action.
A modification of my improved concave is shewn at Figures 7, 8, and
9. In this example the sections consist of curved bars H cast with
laterally projecting ribs h on their inner face, and with lugs at their
back to receive rods I. Fig. 7 shews one of these curved bars in side
view; Fig. 8 is a face view of the same; and Fig. 9 shews the mode of
stringing these bars together on their supporting rods.
I would remark that the sections may be jointed if desired to form a
jointed concave, which facilitates adjustment to the drum.
A simple mode of adjusting the concave to the drum is to slot the
metal panels (as indicated at Fig. 2) to allow the ends of the rods I to
project through them and enter the looped heads of adjusting screws K, K,
Fig. 1, carried by a fixed portion of the framing of the machine. By
simply advancing or retracting these screws the concave may be accurately
adjusted to the drum.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improvements
in the Construction of Thrashing Machines," and explained the manner

page_text: 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 application to combined thrashing machines of the rotary
beater and beater case, arranged and constructed as above described.
Secondly. Constructing the concaves of thrashing machines of inter-
changeable sections, in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Chaplin Willsher, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of June, in the year
4
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.