IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING AND POLISHING COFFEE, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE CLEANING AND POLISHING OF GRAIN AND OTHER PRODUCE
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Newell, of the City and County of
Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, United States of America,
now residing at the Grosvenor Hotel, Pimlico, in the City of
Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING AND
POLISHING COFFEE, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, APPLICABLE ALSO
TO THE CLEANING AND POLISHING OF GRAIN AND OTHER PRODUCE.”
Sealed the 29th November 1870, and dated the 13th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Newell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1870.
I,, WILLIAM NEWELL, of the City and County of Philadelphia, and
State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, now residing at
the Grosvenor Hotel, Pimlico, in the City of Westminster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANING
AND POLISHING COFFEE, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN, APPLICABLE ALSO
TO THE CLEANING AND POLISHING OF GRAIN AND OTHER PRODUCE," to be as
follows
This Invention has for its object improvements. in cleaning and

page_text: the cleaning and polishing of grain and other produce. For the purpose
of cleaning and polishing coffee I place it in a wooden cylinder of strong
construction, of a length about three times its diameter, closed at its
ends, and capable of taking a charge of about a ton weight, which will
occupy, say, two-thirds of the capacity of the cylinder. The cylinder is
mounted horizontally on an axis carried by a suitable frame, and passing
through it from end to end; it is rotated when at work at a speed of
about forty turns in a minute. The axis is made hollow, so that if the
berry be damp warm air may be introduced and diffused through it into
the cylinder, or sometimes steam may be let into the hollow axis, but
the arrangement must in this case be such that the steam may not
escape into the cylinder. There are doors in the sides of the cylinder by
which it is charged and discharged, and these doors are provided with
wirework, so that they may act as screens, and allow the escape of dust
and other impurities to be thrown out past them when the cylinder is
revolving, but prevent the coffee berries from falling through. The two
ends of the cylinder are connected by tie bars supported by cross arms,
and passing through the interior of the cylinder from end to end. These
bars also act as rubbers, and that they may do so more effectually they
are covered with canvas or other fabric. The whole of the interior of
the cylinder I also by preference line with coarse canvas.
The same
apparatus may also be used for cleaning and polishing beans or grain,
the mesh of the screens being, adjusted to the size and nature of the
produce under treatment; dried fruits may be treated advantageously
with this apparatus to separate them from the masses into which they
adhere when closely packed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Newell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NEWELL, of the City and County of Philadelphia, and State of Penn-
sylvania, United States of America, now residing at the Grosvenor
Hotel, Pimlico, in the City of Westminster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Newell, Her special license,
that I, the said William Newell, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Newell, 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 CLEANING AND POLISHING COFFEE, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE CLEANING AND POLISHING OF GRAIN AND OTHER PRODUCE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Newell, 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 William Newell, 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 statement thereof, that is to say:
:-
I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description
of the same, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings making
part of this Specification, in which Fig. No. 1 represents the exterior of
the machine in perspective, and as it appears in working order;
Fig. No. 2 represents a longitudinal vertical section taken centrally
through the machine; Figure 3 represents one of the inner circular
supporters of the body or staves of the cylinder through which the inner
steam pipe passes, giving additional support to the rotary motion of the
cylinder when loaded and in operation. Similar references. are made
where they occur in the separate Figures denotes like parts of the
apparatus in its Drawings.
After much experience in cleaning and polishing coffee and renovating
cereals with the many experiments made by me in various machines for
the purpose, and of different materials used in the construction thereof,
I find hard wood preferable to all others used in my operations for

page_text: cleaning and polishing coffee and renovating cereals, and other vegtable
productions, by the process of rotating in a wooden cylinder, and the
contents sliding over the inner surface and coming in contact with was
concerned to make it effective in its operation. But to make the
operation of cleaning and polishing coffee and renovating cereals and
other vegtable production by attrition profitable and economical it
must be done in bulk; for instance, say, two thousand pounds coffee at
a running, and kept in motion untill perfected, say, from thirty to forty-
and
five minutes, according to the condition of the article operated upon
the polish required, the cylinder revolving, say, about but not exceeding
forty-five revolutions in a minut. To carry such a weight in a wooden
cylinder, particularly when the cylinder and contents had to rotate for a
certain period of time, required consideration to perfect a machine of the
requisite strength to resist the strain as well as the shrinking, swelling,
and warping of the wood, so that it would not detract from the easy
operation of the working of the machine; all this I have accomplished,,
and my Invention consists of a cylinder constructed of well seasoned,
say, birch, beech, or other hard wood with iron appendages, requiring
strength and durability of such a character as not readily break down or
wear out, as will hereafter be more fully explained.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my Invention
with success I will proceed to describe the same, with reference to the
Drawings.
In the perimeter of the cylinder there are six framed doors com-
manding the interior, three doors each on opposite sides, for the purpose
of loading and discharging the contents of the same, all covered with
wove wire meshes in size suited to their work. The cylinder is made
of staves two inches thick by twelve feet in length, with cross heads
of three inches thick by thirty-six inches in diameter entering a well
fitting cross in the staves, the whole bunden [together without nails or
screws] with heavy iron hoops with screw bolts annexed to tighten up
when required. There are heavy iron journals cast on a sixteen inch
circular base, through which they are screwed to the heads by screw
bolts. The apertures through the journals are three-quarter inch bore,
connecting with the interior three-inch centre pipe from head to head
with radiating arms, into which either live or exhaust steam enters
through an injection pipe with revolving socket in connection with the
aperture in journal, and makes its exit at the opposite journal, at the

page_text: end of which stop-cocks are annexed; on said journals are affixed two
thirty-six inch in diameter fast and loose pulleys with eight inch face,
and on the opposite end a balance wheel. Steam only applied when
necessary to effect moist or musty vegetable matter in ordinary cases
where no damage exists, attrition within the cylinder by friction generally
creates sufficient heat for the purpose contemplated. The four wooden
bars within the cylinder running horizontally from head to head serve to
scatter and break the pressure of the material operating upon, and the
same revolving round the centre shaft, and radiating iron arms which
are antagonistic to wood as a polisher, hence they are wrapped with
heavy canvass or with flaxen cords. These give a large rubbing surface,
thereby divesting coffee or other vegetable substance of all dirt, sand,
and other impurities which are thrown out through the sieve doors at
each revolution of the cylinder arm, by the process intrinsically improves
especially coffee for consumption as a beverage, as well as enhances its
marketable value. The whole is mounted on a substantial six inch
wooden frame with journals working in iron boxes resting on the cross
rail and driven by steam power, as shewn by the Drawings annexed.
Having thus fully described my Invention, which I claim as new and
desire to secure by Letters Patent is a cylinder composed of hard wood
for cleaning and polishing coffee and renovating cereals by friction and
attrition, and as occasion requires the use of steam and the attrition of
the grains among themselves, and the bulk of coffee or other vegetable
matter in contact with the wood of the cylinder, which said cylinder is
strengthened as described, furnished with openings covered by wire
screens and internal rubbers, and revolved upon journals secured to the
wooden heads, as and for the purpose herein described and represented.
WM NEWELL
WM NEWELL
In witness whereof, I, the said William Newell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this the Twentieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.