IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hanham Collyer, M.D., of No. 3, Park
Road, Regent's Park, London, County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING WHEAT AND OTHER
GRAIN"
Road, Regent's Park, London, County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING WHEAT AND OTHER
GRAIN."
Sealed the 11th September 1857, and dated the 24th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hanham Collyer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th March. 1857.
I, ROBERT HANHAM COLLYER, M.D., of No. 3, Park Road, Regent's Park,
London, County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING WHEAT AND OTHER
GRAIN," to be as follows:-
The principal apparatus is composed of a cylinder, the surface of which is
roughened and pierced with holes; this is surrounded or enveloped by a screen
or wire network; below is placed a ventilator.
The superficial asperities on the cylinder serve to communicate to the grain
the movement of rotation; the holes allow the passage of air and the escape
of the fine particles, the result of cleaning.
The sieved-formed covering or net-worked envelope has for its special
5 object to allow of the free penetration of fresh air so as to cool the cylinder;
also to permit of the escape of the residue of decortication.

page_text: The ventilator also contributes to expel the residue, and prevents the fine
dust from becoming attached to the asperities of the cylinder, thereby aug-
menting its executive action.
The grain, after having been moistened with cold water, is introduced into
the upper part of the cylinder, either from the hopper or by means of an
Archimedean screw or otherwise. The rapid rotatory motion of the cylinder
causes the grains to be turned, rubbed, and pressed one against each other
with great force; thereby the skin or skins and other deliterious matters are
got rid of. The sieved envelope of the cylinder contributes in a great degree
towards the decortication; the process is completed by a brushing apparatus
which polishes and drys the grain. I am aware that there has been patented
a machine for the use of "steel or iron plates cut or roughened like a file, the
cut being V-shaped" on the surface of a cylinder which is covered entirely by a
compact metallic envelope, which retains the heat and much of the refuse of
decortication, thereby producing a constant clogging, choking, and heating of
the machine. Hot water is also claimed. I do away with the use of the
steel cut plates, replace in lieu of the compact covering which retains the
heat &c., by an open metallic net work or screened covering, in order to admit
a plentiful supply of air to cool the machine, and to allow of the escape of the
refuse; I also use cold water in place of hot.
These improvements entirely remove the defects stated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Hanham Collyer in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HANHAM COLLYER, M.D., of No. 3, Park Road, Regent's Park, London,
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself,. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Hanham Collyer, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Hanham Collyer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, or 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

page_text: 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
"IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND PURIFYING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer,
or 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 Robert Hanham Collyer, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings:-
Figure 1 representing an end view of the hulling apparatus with its con-
nection to the brushing apparatus ;
Figure 2 representing a plan of the brushing apparatus, and arrangement
of the blower;
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
29
"
"
an end view of brushing apparatus ;
the construction of the surface of the stationary drum B;
"
ور
revolving cylindre C.
The same letters indicate the same parts in all the Figures.
My Invention consists in the mode of treating moist wheat or other grain
to remove the hull or bran from, or to decorticate the kernel, as well as to
remove other minute impurities upon the principle of causing one grain to be
rubbed against another, by moving them between the surface of two cylinders,
instead of by the operation upon them of sharp notches or teeth of a V-shape,
or other protuberances, specially raised for the purpose upon the exterior or
interior cylinders, or both; and also upon the principle of constructing both
the external stationery drum or barrel, and the internal revolving cylinder, or
the external one alone with a surface full of small openings made by per-
forations, wire net, or otherwise, for the double purpose of allowing the hulls,
dust, &c. to pass out, and of admitting at the same time a current of external
air and creating a circulation thereof through the mass of the grain acted upon.
By these means the clogging and choking of the machine and the heating
of the grain is prevented, objections to which other apparatus using a closed
exterior cylinder or with a casing over it, when acting upon moist grain, are
always liable. The arrangement of the machine or apparatus may be thus
described :-A represents a frame supporting a stationary drum or barrel B,

page_text: which is constructed of two or more segments bolted together longitudinally, and
adjusted to about one-half of an inch from the surface of an interior revolving
cylinder C. The surface of the drum B is made of wire net with meshes smaller
than the grain, or is perforated for the admission of the air, and to permit the
escape of impurities as above mentioned. Within is the revolving cylinder C
supported upon a shaft c, driven at a speed of from 200 to 300 revolutions per
minute. Its exterior surface is filled with small protuberances or asperities
presenting the appearance of an ordinary grater. The form of these asperi-
ties is of no importance, as their use is merely for the purpose of assisting the
grain to move on slowly to the outlet. It is also filled with small holes for
promoting the circulation of air. D is a board, interposed between the
inlet E, and the outlet F, whenever the grain does not require to be carried.
round more than one revolution; G is an inclined pipe or way conducting the
grain to the brushing apparatus. The fan blower H on shaft h, driven by
pulley from shaft k, gives the current or blast of air permiating the drum or
cylinder for the. purposes above mentioned. I is the brushing apparatus, con-
sisting likewise of a stationary drum or barrel J, a truncated cone in form,
with the base end most remote from the conducting pipe g, and supported
horizontally upon the frame, and having the surface filled with interstices or
perforations. Within this is placed another cylindrical cone K, mounted and
revolving upon a shaft k. The surface is parallel with..that of J, and is
fitted with brushes. At the terminus for removing the remaining impurities,
hulls, &c. a blower L is placed to operate upon and winnow the mass as it
passes to the outlet 7. The space between these two cylinders can be increased
or diminished at pleasure by moving the inner cylinder backward or forward
on its shaft by suitable devices.
The mode of effecting the hulling is as follows:-The grain having been
cleaned from all the usual foreign matters, seeds, &c. by proper machines, is
introduced for decortication through the inlet into the machine, and being
received upon the cylinder C is carried forward and descends between the two
surfaces or faces of the drum & cylinder, sufficiently fast to supply the
place of that passing through the outlet. In this passage the grains having
been moistened previously by water, which from my experience need not be
above the ordinary temperature, or as it enters the inlet by water from a pipe-a
is subjected in this moist state to continual friction, caused by their action one
upon the other, until the hull is detached. If this is not entirely effected at
the first operation satisfactorily, it may be submitted again to the same or
.another machine before it passes to the brushes; or it may be prefered to
allow the grain to pass twice round before it is discharged, and on the second

page_text: passage may again be moistened. Under ordinary circumstances, however,
once round will be found sufficient. In the course of the revolution the
partially decerticated grain encounters the current of air generated by the
fan, which disperses and carries off through the numerous interstices and holes
the loose bran or hull, and other detached impurities out of the passage, and
prevents the clogging and choking of the passage, as well as keeps the grain
from becoming injuriously heated by the great friction produced; the
process is then completed by the brushing apparatus which polishes and drys
the grain.
I am aware that there has been patented a machine for cleaning grain and
seeds, in which are used steel or wire plates cut or roughened like a file, the
cuts being V-shaped or in zig-zags on the serface of a cylinder, and that the
two cylinders are covered and enclosed entirely within a compact jacket or
casing to retain the heat generated within it; and in which also the use of hot
water is considered important. In my process, it will be observed, I do away
with the use of the steel cut plates. In lieu of the compact covering or
casing, which, by causing the retention of the refuse of decortication, produces
a constant clogging and choking of the passage, and an undue heating of the
grain, I substitute an open metallic net or screen covering, in order to admit
a plentiful supply of fresh air to cool the machine, and to allow of the escape
of the refuse; and I also employ cold water, meaning water of the ordinary
temperature.
Having now described my Invention and its advantages, what I claim
under the above in part recited Letters Patent is the combination of the
various parts, herein described, with the use, substantially as described, of water
and currents of air for the purpose of hulling or decorticating wheat and
other grain.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, on this Twenty-third day of September,
Anno Domini One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
TEOD
ROB. H. COLLYER.
(..)