Year: 1889

page_text: I, JOSEPH FRANKLIN GENT, of Columbus, in the State of Indiana, United States
of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The
My invention relates to machines for producing a sheet of flaked product from
cereals, and consists in certain improvements in the construction of the same.
peculiar features of construction and combination of parts which constitute my present
invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and the said invention is fully
described in the following specification and claims.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved machine, parts being broken away.
Figure 2 is a cross section through one of the side-pieces of the main frame of the
machine.
Figure 3 is a section on line x, x of figure 2.
Figures 4 and 5 are detail views of parts of the machine.
Figure 6 is a vertical transverse section on line y, y, figure 1.
The main frame of the machine consists of the side pieces A and A¹ which are provided
with the cap plates B and B secured thereto by bolts or screws.
The side pieces are
held firmly together by long rods or bolts a and the machine may be provided with a
base plate b, if desired, although this is not essential as the side pieces may rest upon
the floor. Upon the cap plates B and B are mounted the vertical standards CCCC
which support the cylinder. D and trough or receptacle E.
Upon a shaft mounted in bearings in the ends of the cylinder D is a cylindrical
roller d which may be hollow or solid as preferred and which is provided with pro-
jections upon its outer surface extending nearly to the inner surface of the cylinder D.
These projections are arranged spirally upon the cylindrical roller as will be herein-
after more fully described. The shaft of the roller a may be provided with suitable
band or other pulleys for receiving motion from a running shaft as may be found
convenient.
Upon its upper outer surface the cylinder D is provided with a funnel-shaped
receptacle or hopper d¹ discharging into the interior of the cylinder, for the intro-
duction of the crushed or ground cereal and the cylinder is also provided with two
Price &

page_text: pipes d², d³ for the admission of steam and hot water. At the end farthest from
the receptacle d' an aperture d' is formed in the bottom of the cylinder which
opens into the trough or receptacle E.
The receptacle E is in this instance supported by bolts passing through its sides
and securing it to the standards CCCC as shown in figure 2 and contains a screw
conveyor e, figures 1, 2, and 3, the shaft of which is provided with a suitable band
pulley. The curved bottom of this receptacle E is provided with holes or openings e¹
as best shown in figure 1.
The side pieces of the main frame are provided with openings or recesses F and
larger openings to receive the bearings G of rollers K, L, M and N.
The rollers K and Mare inounted tlie one above the other and the rollers Land N
are also mounted one above another but in a different vertical plane from the
rollers K and M.
The roller L comes in contact and bears against the rollers K and M and the latter
roller comes in contact with and bears against the rollers L and N giving three
distinct and separate compressions of the material between the four rollers as shown
in the drawings, the first being between K and L and the second between L and M
and the third between M and N. By this means effect the same number of com-
pressions of the material with four rollers as would be effected by six rollers arranged
to operate in pairs. To effect these compressions in the manner desired, it is necessary
that the rollers should be adjusted so that each roller shall bear with the proper
force upon the other or others with which it comes in contact.
To accomplish this result, I provide the upper and lower faces of the openings
which receive the bearings, with recesses to receive the screw-threaded bolts or nuts g.
Through apertures which connect the openings F with the recesses containing the
nuts are passed bolts g¹ provided at one end with screw threads to engage the
threads of the nuts g, and at the other end with square or polygonal heads.
The interior of the bearing recess is also provided with plates G on the upper and
lower sides of the bearing and in contact with the ends of the bolts gl. By turning the
bolts to the heads of which access may be had through the opening F, the
vertical adjustment of the rollers is secured.
The outside of the bearing recess is provided with a rocess or slot for the
reception of a nut h similar to the nut g. The wall of the said bearing recesss is
perforated to receive a rod A provided at one end with screw-threads to engage the
threads of the nut and at the other end with a handwheel H.
By means of these hand-wheels and the other devices just described, every degree
of adjustment may be secured and the contact of each roll or rolls regulated at will.
In order to facilitate the removal of any roller from the machine without
disturbing the adjustment of the other rolls, I prefer to provide a casting to serve
as the outer wall of the bearing recesses for the three lower rolls as shown in
figures 2 and 5. These castings are provided with a central aperture through which
the rod passes and its inner face is provided with a slot ³ to receive the nut h.
This slot may extend across the inner face of the casting or may be simply a recess
of the proper size and shape as preferred.
The upper and lower extremities of this casting are provided with curved notches
to provide for the passage of the bolts which are studded into the frame of the
machine and provided on their outer ends with nuts which hold the castings firmly in
place. The castings forming a part of the recesses of the bearings of the lower
roll N are provided at their lower ends with projections conforming to the contour of
the side pieces of the machine as shown in figure 2.
I may not provide all the recesses with these castings to form the front walls, as in
the case of the recess for the bearing of the roller K, but I prefer to use this con-
struction when convenient and practicable.
The shafts of the rollers are provided at one or both sides of the machine with cog
wheels k, l, m, n in gear with each other so that all the rollers employed move
simultaneously, and the shaft of one of the rollers is also provided with one or more
band pulleys to which power may be applied.

page_text: The gear wheel driving the roller K may be slightly smaller by one or more cogs
or teeth than the gear on the roller with which it engages, for the purpose of
giving these rollers a differential motion. This difference in the movement of the
two rollers enables me to more thoroughly break up and disintegrate the cellular
parts of the constituents of the material passing between them.
Directly under the openings in the bottom of the receptacle E is a slanting chute J
best seen in figure 3 which directs the material dropped upon it to the rollers K and L.
This chute as shown in figure 4 is provided with side pieces j which keep the
material from falling over the ends of the chute. The side pieces are pivotted at the
upper end to the bottom of the chute and the lower end may be moved in and toward
the centre of the same and secured at different points by any means preferred. In
this instance I have shown it secured by means of a bolt or pin passing through the
side piece and through one of the holes in the bottom of the chute. By this
means the material may be delivered to the rolls in a wider or narrower stream as
desired.
Beneath the roller K is another chute J₁ similar to the chute J which delivers
material to the rollers L M and beneath the roller L is another chute J delivering the
material to the rollers M N. At the lowest part of the machine is placed a chute J³
to receive the material in its complete state and convey it away from the machine.
The rollers may be made hollow and provided with hollow shafts so that a circu-
lating medium may be supplied for the purpose of heating or cooling them. In order
to keep the rollers clean, I provide the scrapers S best seen in figure 6 which remove
the material which adheres to the rolls and cause it to fall upon the chute below the
same.
The operation of my machine is as follows:-
:―
The cracked or ground cereal to be treated is supplied through the funnel-shaped
receptacle to the cylinder D to which is admitted steam through the pipe and a
sufficient quantity of hot water through the pipe d³ which with the steam will moisten
the cracked or ground cereal.
The steamed and moistened mass is continually stirred by the projections on the
cylindrical roller d which are so arranged as to feed the material toward the opening d
in the bottom of the cylinder D, where it drops into the receptacle E. In this
receptacle it is taken up by the screw conveyer and carried along the receptacle E
and at the same time it is gradually forced or squeezed through the openings in the
bottom of the same where it drops upon the chute J and is fed to the rollers K and L.
In passing through these rollers the cereal is compressed and disintegrated and upon
leaving the rolls falls upon the chute J' and is fed to the rollers L and M where it is
a second time subjected to compression and is guided by the chute J' to the
rollers M and N where it again is compressed and leaves the machine in flakes or
sheets, through the chute J3 at the bottom of the same.
While I have shown and described four rollers in my machine I do not wish to be
limited to the exact number as I may use a greater or less number if found desirable
and in other ways 1 do not desire to be limited to my exact constructions as many
variations may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit of my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
(1). In a machine for macerating and flaking cereal materials, the combination
with the compressing rollers of the feeding device therefor consisting of a cylinder
having a feed opening at the top at one end and a discharge opening at the bottom at
the opposite end, a trough having a series of fine perforations in the bottom of the
same beneath the cylinder, a stirring device for the said cylinder and a conveyer for
the said trough, the said stirring device being adapted to move the material from its
feed opening to its discharge opening and the conveyer adapted to move the material
in the opposite direction, substantially as described.
(2). In a machine for macerating and flaking cereal materials, the combination

page_text: with the compressing rollers of the feeding device therefor consisting of a cylinder
having a feed opening at the top at one end and a discharge opening at the bottom
at the opposite end, and steam and water inlet pipes, a trough having a series of fine
perforations in the bottom of the same beneath the cylinder, a stirring device for the
said cylinder and a conveyer for the said trough, the said stirring device being adapted
to move the material from its feed opening to its discharge opening and the conveyer
adapted to move the material in the opposite direction, substantially as described.
(3). In a machine for macerating and flaking cereal materials, the combination
with the supporting frame and the rollers, the said frame being provided with recesses
indifferent horizontal and vertical planes, and having bearings for the rollers in the
said recesses, of adjusting screws mounted in the said frame engaging the bearings
above and below the same, whereby the vertical adjustment of the said rollers is
secured, substantially as described.
(4). In a machine for macerating and flaking cereal materials, the combination
with the supporting frame and rollers, the said frame being provided with bearing.
recesses and recesses above and below the said bearing recesses, of bearings for the
rollers within the said bearing recesses, and screws above and below each of the said
bearings extending into the recesses of the frame above and below the bearing recesses,:
substantially as described.
(5). In a machine for macerating and flaking cereal materials, the combination
with the main frame provided with open bearing recesses in different horizontal and.
vertical planes, the said recesses opening on opposite sides of the frame, moveable.
bearings in the said recesses, rollers mounted in the said bearings, castings detachably
secured to the main frame and closing the open side of the said bearing recesses, and
screws passing horizontally through the said castings and impinging against the said
bearings, substantially as described.
al
(6). In a machine for macerating and flaking cereal materials, the combination
with the main frame having bearing recess open on one side of the same,, and
recesses above and below the said bearing recess of a bearing in the said bearing
recess, screws above and below the said bearing, extending into the recesses, above
and below the said bearing recess and engaging the bearing, a casting detachably
secured to the frame and closing the open side of the bearing recess and a screw
passing through the said casting and engaging the said bearing, substantially as
described.
(7). In a machine for macerating and flaking cereal materials, the combination
with the compressing rollers of a feeding chute for the same having the upper ends of
its side pieces pivotted near the upper edge of the chute and the free ends adapted to.
be secured at different points adjacent to the lower edge of the same whereby the-
width of the delivery edge of the said chute can be regulated, substantially as:
described.
Datod the 8th day of January 1990