IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FLOUR FOR THE PURPOSES OF ITS BETTER PRESERVATION AND CARRIAGE, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Bankier Freeland at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
12th January 1856.
I, ALEXANDER BANKIER FREELAND, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FLOUR FOR THE PURPOSES OF ITS BETTER
PRESERVATION AND CARRIAGE, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:
This Invention relates to the preparation of flour by means of compression.
so that it will be preserved in good condition for a much longer period than
when kept in the ordinary manner, and it is also by such compression rendered
much more easy of carriage. The improvement consists in compressing flour
into compact masses casy of transport, by the aid of hydrostatic or other powerful
presses. One arrangement of apparatus, which it is proposed to employ for this
purpose, consists of a hydrostatic press fitted with a fixed overhead piston or
compressing plunger; the case into which the flour is to be compressed, being
placed on the top of the ram of the press immediately below the plunger, so that
when the ram is elevated the plunger will force or compress the flour into the
packing case beneath it. This case is fitted accurately into the bottom of a
deep receptacle or holder, capable of containing the requisite amount of flour
to be compressed, and this receptacle is furnished with four wheels running on
transverse rails fixed to the columns of the press, so that it may be run in or

page_text: out of the press at pleasure. The flour is. introduced into the receptacle or
holder, through a hopper and feeding tube, such tube being fitted with two
internal slides or doors, which will contain between them the exact amount of
flour to be compressed. In order to facilitate the removal of the case after
compression, the sides of the receptacle are made to take asunder, and are held
together during the filling and compressing process by suitable clamps and keys,
which latter are removed by a lever. In feeding the apparatus with flour,
the lower door or slide in the feeding tube is closed, and the upper one left
open until the flour reaches up to or above it, whereupon it is closed to
provent any more flour from entering from the hopper, and the lower slide is
opened to allow the flour contained between the two slides to fall into the
receptacle. The tube is now detached from the receptacle, and this latter is
run into the press and brought immediately under the compressing plunger,
which accurately fits it. The whole of the flour in the receptacle is then
forced into the packing case by raising the ram of the press. The ram is then
lowered, and the receptacle is run out again to enable the case to be removed
in the manner above described. In place of having a separate feeding tube,
and running the receptacle in and out of the press, the plunger itself may be
made hollow and form the feeding tube, a suitable hopper with a regulating
door or slide being fitted thereto. The bottom of the plunger in this arrange-
ment is fitted with a conical plug, which may be opened or closed by means of
a screwed spindle and hand wheel. When the flour is introduced, the plug is
closed and kept so until the plunger is full up to the slide, which is then closed.
The plug is then opened to admit the flour into the receptacle, but before
commencing the compressing process the plug is closed again to form a solid
end to the plunger, whereupon the compression is effected in the manner
herein-before described. If found desirable, the plunger may be moveable
or form the ram of the press, whilst the case and receptacle are supported on
a fixed bed plate or table. The case, when removed from the receptacle, is
hermetically sealed, and is then ready for transport.