IMPROVEMENTS IN A MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING MIDDLING
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Martin Benson, of 9, Southampton Buildings,
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN A MACHINE FOR
CLEANING AND PURIFYING MIDDLING."-A communication from abroad by
William Wallace Huntly, Abel Porter Holcomb, and August Heine,
all of Silver Creek Now Vork United States of NOLL
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Martin Benson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th December 1872.
I, MARTIN BENSON, of 9, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN A MACHINE
FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING MIDDLING," a communication from abroad
by William Wallace Huntly, Abel Porter Holcomb, and August Heine,
all of Silver Creek, New York, United States of North America, to be
as follows:-

page_text: suitable for regrinding, may be separated from the specks of smut, dirt,
and other foreign substances which would tend to deteriorate the quality
of the flour.
The first operation of the improvement consists in a process of beating
or agitating the middling, and in the meantime exhaust the dust and
light particles of foreign matter liberated therefrom by a suitably
constructed fan.
The second operation of the improvement consists in discharging
the middling after it has undergone the beating, exhausting, or fanning
process on to and over a series of agitated sieves for separating it into
different qualities or grades, and also separating the larger and heavy
pieces of dirt and foreign matter from it, and that portion of the
middling unfit for regrinding.
The machine is composed of a suitable frame of wood or metal for
carrying its moving parts. The middling to be operated on is placed in
a properly shaped hopper provided with a tube attached to its lower
end. The hopper and tube attached thereto are constructed for adjust-
ing vertically; a revolving beater or series of beaters are attached to the
machine, and placed just below the lower end of the tube attached to
the hopper; the middling as it is discharged from the tube falls on the
said revolving beaters, which causes a separation of the middling; the
beaters are enclosed by an air chamber communicating with the eye
or inlet of an exhausting fan by suitable air passages for exhausting
the dust and light foreign matter from the middling during the process
of beating it, as before described.
The middling is made to fall from the beating and exhausting portion
of the machine on to a series of agitated sieves for dividing it into
different qualities, and the large particles of dust and foreign matter
separated from it, and also that portion of the middling unfit for
regrinding. The parts of the machine may be placed in any suitable
relative position, and the exhausting fan can be attached to the machine,
or arranged separate from it, and connected with it or the beaters by
suitable air pipes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Martin Benson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARTIN
BENSON, of 9, Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
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 Martin Benson, Her special licence that
I, the said Martin Benson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Martin Benson, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 A MACHINE
FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING MIDDLING," a communication to me from
abroad by William Wallace Huntly, Abel Porter Holcomb, and August
Heine, all of Silver Creck, New York, United States of North America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Martin Benson,
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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Martin Benson, 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.
In treating that portion of the products of ground grain termed
middlings," according to my process I pass them into a machine
which is provided with beaters or whippers, so arranged that as the
middlings enter it they shall be brought in contact with rapidly moving
whippers or beaters for the purpose of causing them to whip or beat

page_text: loose from the valuable parts of said middlings any smut, dirt, or other
foreign substance which may adhere thereto, and which would be
injurious to the flour if allowed to remain in contact therewith, while
such valuable parts are being reground. While the above-named result
is being accomplished a current of air is induced to flow through the
chamber or space occupied by the whippers, it being caused by a suction
or blast fan, and being of sufficient force to take away and carry to
any proper receptacle, or to the atmosphere any smut, dust, or other
substances detached by the said whippers, but not of sufficient force to
carry away any of the valuable parts of the material, such parts falling of
their own gravity into some suitable receptacle, from which they are
conducted to a suitable bolting or sifting device for the purpose of being
separated into such parts as are to be reground, such as are already so
fine as not to require regrinding, and such as are not of sufficient value
to justify regrinding. After this separation has been made the coarser
and most valuable parts of the material are returned to the eye of the
stone and reground, either separately or in connection with unground.
grain, as may prove most desirable.
The first stage in my process is of great importance, as in grinding
wheat the smut, more or less of which always adheres to the kernel,
when it passes between the stones also adheres with great tenacity to
the particles into which the kernels are broken when grinding, and
consequently can only be detached therefrom by the act of whipping or
beating it loose from such particles, and as the coarser particles of the
middlings contain the most nutritious portion of the kernel it is
important that such separation be thorough; in order that when the
valuable parts are reground a white clean flour may be the result, as
well as flour which is rich in gluten.
A very important advantage of this process of purifying middlings
results from having the smut removed and carried away previous to
the deposition of the middlings upon the sieves, so that the smut cannot
gum up the meshes of the sieves as it does in processes heretofore
employed.
The Invention or machine is for purifying middlings, which I wish to
be understood is a part of the product of ground wheat and other kinds
of grain.
In order to give a fuller understanding and description of the aforesaid
Invention, and the manner of constructing and working the same,

page_text: reference is made to the accompanying Drawings forming part of this
Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked therein;
similar letters refer to corresponding parts of the Drawings.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved machine shewing the
adjustable hopper, a portion of the fan case, and the wire trunk,
the latter being shewn in section with a regulating valve placed
therein.
Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional elevation on the line x, x, shewn in
Fig. 3, shewing the beaters, fan, discharging spout, and the arrange-
ments of the sieves, with the bolt and pulley for moving them.
Fig. 3. is a front elevation partly in section, shewing the arrangement
of the feed hopper, beaters, fan, wind trunk, driving pulley, shaft for
agitating the sieves, the belt for driving the same, and the discharge
spout.
Fig. 4 is a separate and top view of the same frame, shewing the
divisions for placing the sieves of different fineness.
In constructing this machine a suitable framework A, which is
capable of receiving and supporting the moving parts, it being covered
on its outer surface with some suitable material, such as boards or sheet
metal, in order that a vacuum or partial vacuum may be formed
therein. Upon one of the sides of this frame there is secured a wind
trunk B, the lower end of which extends down, as shewn in Fig. 3, its
lower end being furnished with a valve B', as shewn in Fig. 1, in order
that when the machine is in operation air shall not rush in at that
point; and in order that when a sufficient amount of material has been
deposited in said trunk, the valve may open and allow such material
to pass out. This trunk extends upward in a vertical position to the
upper surface of the frame, when it is inclined inward, and is
extended upward at an angle until it has reached a point sufficiently
high to admit of there being attached to its under surface a conical
hood, when it is made to extend horizontally over and some distance
past the centre of the machine, or over that part thereof to which the
vertical shaft which carries the disintegrator is placed. Within this
trunk and at about the point indicated in Fig. 1, there is placed a
swinging valve, the stem or axle of which should extend out through
the side of the machine, in order that it may be set in different

page_text: positions, and thus be made to regulate the passage of air through
the trunk.
To facilitate the feeding of the material to the machine, there is
provided a hopper C, the upper portion of which is funnel formed,
while the lower portion is cylindrical and extends downward through
the horizontal portion of the wind trunk, so as to conduct the material
to be operated upon to the disintegrator. Upon the outer surface of
the cylindrical portion of this hopper there is formed a screw thread C¹,
which is provided with a nut C² which rests upon the upper surface of
the wind trunk, the arrangement being such that the hopper can be
raised or lowered at pleasure to regulate the feed of the material to the
machine. Upon the under side of the wind trunk and surrounding the
lower portion of the feed hopper there is secured a hook D which is
in the form shewn for the purpose of allowing the disintegrator to revolve
within it, and for the further purpose of allowing a current of air to
pass up through it and into the wind trunk for the purpose of taking
away from the middlings any specks of dirt, smut, or other foreign
substance which the disintegrator may have beaten loose from that
portion thereof which it is desirable to regrind; such specks, dirt, or
other foreign substances being carried into the trunk B, and at proper
intervals of time delivered out through the valve B¹. Directly under
the feed hopper there is located a vertical shaft E, the lower end of
which is placed in a suitable stop for it to rotate in, and a short
distance above which there is placed a pulley E¹ around which passes a
belt for giving motion to said shaft, its upper end being supported by
suitable boxes attached to the frame of the machine. Upon the upper
end of the shaft E there is secured an inverted cone, or it may be a disc
of metal E, its office being to receive and hold a series of pins or
beaters, which cone or disc and pins have been denominated a
disintegrator, because its office is to disengage the particles of dirt
which adhere to the coarser portions of the meal and allow them
to be carried away to the wind trunk, while the valuable parts
are allowed to fall down upon an inclined surface and be conducted
to a set of sieves hereafter described, when a further separation takes
place.
The air or wind current above alluded to is produced by a fan F,
which is placed within frame A of the machine, and is so arranged that
when rotated in the proper direction, any air which may be within the

page_text: closed portion of the machine will be drawn into said fan through its
central opening F, and expelled through its outlet F, thus inducing the
air from the outside to flow in through the hood D and into the trunk B,
as above described. The shaft of this fan has its bearings in boxes
attached to the frame of the machine, and is provided with a driving
pulley F, which may receive its motion from any prime mover. Upon
the outer end of the fan shaft there is placed a pulley G for driving a
shaft which gives motion to the sieves, and also one G¹ which gives
motion to the disintegrator by a system of belts, such as shewn in Fig. 2,
or in any other suitable manner, the belts being marked G and G³.
Extending nearly the entire length of the machine there is a partition H
which serves as a support for the step of the shaft E, and also for the
hangers H, H, of a series of sieves H³, H, H³, H, into which the parts
of the middlings not carried off through the wind trunk are delivered
through the spout or passage I. The sieves referred to are made of
what is termed bolting cloth, and of different numbers of such cloth, or
of cloth of different degrees of fineness of mesh, in order that the
material delivered upon them may be properly separated, the coarser and
harder portions of the meal, as above described, passing through the
sieves while any foreign matter that may fall thereon will be, by the
movement of such sieves, carried over the end thereof, and delivered in
a spout below.
*The manner of constructing these sieves is as follows:-A frame K of
wood, or suitable material of sufficient size to receive the sieves, is
provided, and is suspended upon hangers H', H³, so that it may have an
oscillating or shaking movement imparted to it by means of cam-shaped
formations upon a shaft L, which is provided with a pulley L', which
receives its motion from a belt which passes over pulley G upon the fan
shaft, as shewn in Fig. 3. To the cam-shaped formations upon shaft L,
straps are attached by bolts, as shewn in Fig. 2, to which springs are
fastened, their opposite ends being secured to the frame K, so that when
said shaft is rotated the motion above-described is imparted to said
frame.
From the above description it will be seen that the most valuable
parts of the kernels of wheat in the process of grinding and bolting now
in general use are allowed to be deposited in the receptacle provided for
what is termed middlings, and that by the use of my improved machine,
such valuable portions are separated from all the foreign substances

page_text: which have heretofore rendered them nearly worthless and prepared for
regrinding, and for being converted into the very best quality of
flour.
:
10 LADE
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is,―
First. The mode of purifying middlings previously to their being
separated into different grades by bolts or sieves for regrinding, by
subjecting them to the action of whippers or beaters while passing
through a current of air, substantially in the manner as set forth.
Second. A machine for purifying middlings, the combination of the ]
disintegrating head, an exhaust fan, and a wind trunk when con-
structed, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.
* Third. The combination of the hood D, the feed hopper C, wind
trunk B, and fan F, when constructed and arranged to operate, substan-
tially as and for the purpose set forth.
Fourth. The combination in a machine for purifying middlings, of a
disintegrator, and a suitable series of sieves, the parts being constructed
and arranged to operate with reference to each other, substantially as set
forth.
Fifth. The bolts or sieves H³, Hª, H³, Hº, consisting of a series of 2
longitudinal and interchangeable sieves, composed of bolting cloth or
wire of different degrees of fineness, to suit the different kinds of coarse
or fine grinding of grain, substantially for the purpose before stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martin Benson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelvth day of May, in the year of our 2
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.