IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANSING, SCOURING, OR SMUTTING GRAIN AND SEEDS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of
Harris and Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR CLEANSING, SCOURING, OR SMUTTING GRAIN AND SEEDS."-
A communication from abroad by John F. Wood, of Boston,
Massachusetts, and Frederic F. Skinner, of Detroit, Michigan, both
in the United States of America.
-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph
Barnard Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 14th November 1872.
I, BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and
5 Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
“IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANSING, SCOURING, OR SMUTTING GRAIN
AND SEEDS," a communication to me from abroad by John F. Wood, of

page_text: Boston, Massachusetts, and Frederic F. Skinner, of Detroit, Michigan,
both in the United States of America, to be as follows:-
It is well known that the metallic parts of a smut machine which act
directly upon the grain or other substance to be cleaned soon wear
smooth and become inoperative, and many attempts have therefore been
made to substitute stone for metal or to line or coat the parts acting
directly upon the grain or seed with various grinding materials, more
especially with emery powder, which has been applied by means of gums
and glues, but none of these substitutes have proved satisfactory.
According to this Invention the operative parts of a smut machine
are lined or coated with an artificial stone so as to hold their grinding
power almost indefinitely, or such parts may be made directly from
artificial stone. This is done in the following manner:-The oxide and
chloride of zinc are used as a base for the artificial stone. A powder
reduced from burr stone, emery, or any other stone of excessive hardness
and grit is mixed in a dry state with from about ten to about twenty per
cent. in weight of the oxide of zinc, and the mixture is moistened with
the chloride of zinc until it will hold the shape given it by compressing
in the hand. This mixture or cement is then applied to the inner surface
of the cylinder or cone of the machine by moulding or tamping or by a
trowel, care being taken that the surface to which the cement is to
adhere is of a rough nature, or the cylinder or cone may be made directly
from the cement.
In like manner the revolving beaters may be formed directly from the
cement by moulding a shell with arms or strikers, the shell being rigidly
secured to the revolving shaft which passes through it; or slabs or
blocks of the artificial stone moulded from the cement or mixture may
be set in sockets upon the revolving shaft, or the cement may be applied
to the roughened metallic beaters by moulding or by a trowel.
If desired the oxide and chloride of magnesium may be used as a
base instead of the oxide and chloride of zinc, substantially in the
manner indicated in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to
R. A. Brooman, dated December 5, 1865, No. 3119.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 14th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 35,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of November, 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 Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, Her
special licence that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, 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
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR CLEANSING,
SCOURING, OR SMUTTING GRAIN AND SEEDS," a communication to me from
abroad by John F. Wood, of Boston, Massachusetts, and Frederic F.
Skinner, of Detroit, Michigan, both in the United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard
Mills, my executors and administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
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:-
It is well known that the metallic parts of a smut machine which act
directly upon the grain or other substance to be cleaned soon wear
smooth and become inoperative, and many attempts have therefore been

page_text: made to substitute stone for metal or to line or coat the parts acting
directly upon the grain or seed with various grinding materials, more
especially with emery powder, which has been applied by means of gums
and glues, but none of these substitutes have proved satisfactory.
According to this Invention the operative parts of a smut machine are
lined or coated with an artificial stone so as to hold their grinding power
almost indefinitely, or such parts may be made directly from artificial
stone. This is done in the following manner :--The oxide and chloride
of zinc are used as a base for the artificial stone. A powder reduced
from burr stone, emery, or any other stone of excessive hardness and
grit, is mixed in a dry state with from about ten to about twenty per
cent. in weight of the oxide of zinc, and the mixture is moistened with
the chloride of zinc until it will hold the shape given it by compressing in
the hand. This mixture or cement is then applied to the inner surface
of the cylinder or cone of the machine by moulding or tamping or by a
trowel, care being taken that the surface to which the cement is to
adhere is of a rough nature, or the cylinder or cone may be made directly
from the cement.
In like manner the revolving beaters may be formed directly from the
cement by moulding a shell with arms or strikers, the shell being rigidly
secured to the revolving shaft which passes through it, or slabs or blocks
of the artificial stone moulded from the cement or mixture may be set
in sockets upon the revolving shaft, or the cement may be applied to the
roughened metallic beaters by moulding or by a trowel.
If desired the oxide and chloride of magnesium may be used as a base
instead of the oxide and chloride of zinc, substantially in the manner
indicated in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to R. A. Brooman,
dated December 5th 1865, No. 3119.
And in order that the said Invention may be more clearly understood
and readily carried into effect I will proceed, aided by the accompanying
Drawings, more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section, and Figure 2 is a horizontal
section on the line 1, 1, of Figure 1. showing parts of a machine for

page_text: a is a cylindrical case made slightly conical with the smallest diameter
at the lower end thereof. The sides of this case consist of alternating
staves of artificially prepared emery or other stone and perforated
metallic plates c. A top plate or cover d and a bottom plate e serve to
enclose and strengthen the case a. The staves of artificially prepared
emery or other stone bare fixed, as shown, in cast iron or other frames a¹,
with capability of adjustment as wear takes place. f is a vertical shaft
having bearings at the top and bottom of the case a, and supported in a
step in a beam k, which is capable of ready adjustment, as shown.
This shaft or axis f has fixed thereon arms or frames f¹, to which are
fixed plates f. To these plates fare fixed beaters f³, formed of arti-
ficially prepared emery stone or other hard gritty stone or substance
formed into a stone-like substance by the employment of a tenacious
vehicle.
The arrangement of the machine shown in the Drawings being well
known and forming no part of the present Invention, I have not thought
it necessary to give any further description thereof. I do not however
confine the adaptation of the present Invention to the particular arrange-
ment of machine shown in the Drawings for cleansing, scouring, and
smutting grain, as it is equally well adapted to other arrangements of
machinery for a like purpose, having revolving beaters working within a
case.
The artificial stone of which it is preferred to make or coat the staves
and beaters consists of a preparation of the well known emery grain or
emery sand of commerce made into a mass with some tenacious material,
as for instance cement, which will harden and bind it together and form
it into a stone-like substance. This emery surface being exceedingly
hard and gritty is admirably adapted to cleansing, scouring, or smutting
grain, as it will not readily wear out and will not grind off the husk, but
will simply separate all the down and smut and extreme outer surface of
the kernal, leaving the husk unbroken.
In carrying the present Invention into effect the oxide and chloride of
zinc are used as a base for the artificial stone in the following manner :—
A powder reduced from burr stone, emery, or any other stone of great
hardness and grit, is mixed in a dry state with from about ten to about
twenty per cent. in weight of the oxide of zinc. The mixture is then
moistened with the chloride of zinc until it will hold the shape given it

page_text: by compressing in the hand. This mixture or cement may then be
applied to the inner surface of the cylinder or cone of the machine by
moulding or tamping with a trowel, care being taken that the surface
to which the cement is to adhere is of a rough nature, or the cylinder or
cone may be made directly from the cement, or artificial stone or staves
thereof may be moulded in the artificial stone and applied as shown in
the Drawings, with capability of adjustment for wear.
In like manner the revolving beaters f³ may be formed directly from
the cement or artificial stone by moulding a shell with arms and strikers,
the shell being rigidly secured to the revolving shaft which passes
through it, or slabs or blocks of the artificial stone moulded from the
cement or mixture may be set in sockets upon the revolving shaft, or
the cement may be applied to the roughened metallic beaters by moulding
or by a trowel.
If desired instead of the oxide and chloride of zinc the oxide and
chloride of magnesium may be used as a base for the artificial stone,
substantially in the manner indicated in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to R. A. Brooman, dated December 5, 1865, No. 3119, or
other suitable cementing material may be employed for the preparation
of the artificial stone to be employed according to the present Invention.
In forming the artificial stone for the purposes of this Invention it is
preferred to use emery as described, but a substantially equivalent effect
may be obtained by the substitution for emery of powdered glass or
powdered millstone grit or any other like substance, which may be
formed into a stone-like substance by the employment of a tenacious
vehicle, although it is preferred to use emery.
I am well aware that various preparations of emery sand have been
used to coat or cover the beaters and case or cylinder of smut machines
to form a gritty surface, but it is not intended to claim such broadly as
part of the present Invention. I employ slabs made solidly throughout
of emery or other suitable substance held in form by cement or other
tenacious vehicle, forming an emery or equivalent stone, and which
however worn will always present a proper surface for cleansing the
grain.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the
mode of carrying the same into effect. I would have it un erstood that

page_text: First. The forming, coating, or lining of the operative parts of
machinery for cleansing, scouring, and smutting grain and seeds with
artificial stone in manner and for the purpose substantially as herein
described.
Secondly. I claim the employment of the oxide and chloride of zinc
in the preparation of the artificial stone to be employed in forming,
coating, or lining the operative parts of machinery for cleansing,
scouring, and smutting grain and seeds in manner substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.