IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR HULLING GRAIN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustav Adolph Buchholz, of Shepherd's Bush, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR HULLING GRAIN."
Sealed the 19th January 1869, and dated the 12th August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustav Adolph Buchholz
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th August 1868.
I, GUSTAV ADOLPH BUCHHOLZ, of Shepherd's Bush, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR HULLING GRAIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements upon the hulling machine
for which I obtained Letters Patent, dated November 19th, 1862,
No. 3113, the objects being to economize the power required to work the
machine, to reduce the cost of its construction, and to render it less
liable to derangement than heretofore.
The hulling machine consists of a cylindrical case fitted at its
opposite sides with pannels of wire gauze or pierced metal to facilitate

page_text: ventilation within, and armed on its inner periphery at the parts not
occupied by the pannels with sets of steel blades fixed radially in seg-
mental groups. Within the cylindrical case is mounted a series of drums
(say four, the number preferred for ordinary working), which are keyed
upon a central rotating shaft; these drums are armed on their peripheries
with blades made like those on the case of flat steel plates. The
drums are cast with radial wings extending from the boss to the
periphery, and on opposite sides of the dise which serves as arms to
the drum. In the top drum the upper set of wings is wanting, and in
all the discs holes are formed to allow of a down draft being created and
distributed through the case by the wings as the drums are rotated.
The drums instead of being enclosed as heretofore in separate cylindrical
chambers have interposed between them horizontal rebated ring plates
which form part of the case; the ring plates and also the bottom
plate of the case are cast with annular flanged projections which
are intended to receive steel blades rebated at the back to fit the
flanged projections. These blades like those above mentioned are set
radially with respect to the central shaft, and the continuity of these
stationary rings of blades is broken by openings made in the ring
plates for the discharge of the grain to the plate immediately below.
The discharge openings are fitted with sliding shutters, the closing or
opening of which will regulate the amount of rubbing the grain is to
receive. In the top plate of the case are openings for the supply of
the grain and for the admission of ourrents of air which are created
by the action of the rotating wings before mentioned. The blades
with which the case is armed are fitted to segment plates which are
adjustable by means of screws to advance the blades to their work
as they wear away. Upon the face of the segment plates are cast
flanged ribs to receive the blades which are rebated at back to admit
of their being strung on and brought into position. To prevent these
blades yielding to an endway strain, the flanged rib and rebate are
shaped so as to form a kind of double dovetail; the top of the rib is
rounded, and the flanges of the rib are undercut. The like arrange-
ment is adopted in the fixing of all the blades in this machine. It
should be stated that the blades of the horizontal plates and of the
bottom plate lie under the blades of the drums and extend only as far
inwards as the drum blades. This necessitates the contraction of the
drum blades to about half the depth of the periphery of the drums.

page_text: The machine constructed as described is mounted upon standards
which are connected together by a cross head or plate that forms the
top bearing of the central shaft; this shaft is carried at bottom by an
adjustable foot bearing. A hopper fitted with adjustable slides and
mounted on the top plate supplies the machine with grain. By means
of tightening screws that enter tapped holes in the cross head or plate
and bed upon the top plate of the case, the several ring plates forming
part of the case are held firmly together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Gustav Adolph Buchholz in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUSTAV
ADOLPH BUCHHOLZ, of Shepherd's Bush, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Gustav Adolph Buchholz, Her special
licence that I, the said Gustav Adolph Buchholz, executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Gustav Adolph
Buchholz, 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 Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVED MACHINERY POR HULLING GRAIN," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Gustav Adolph Buchholz, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gustav Adolph Buchholz, 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 Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates to improvements upon the hulling machine
for which I obtained Letters Patent, dated November Nineteenth, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, Number 3113, the objects being
to economise the power required to work the machine, to reduce the
cost of its construction, and to render it less liable to derangement
than heretofore.
The hulling machine consists of a cylindrical case fitted at its opposite
sides with panels of wire gauze or pierced metal to facilitate ventilation
within, and armed on its inner periphery at the parts not occupied by
the panels with sets of steel blades fixed radially in segmental groups.
Within the cylindrical case is mounted a series of drums (say four, the
number preferred for ordinary working) which are keyed upon a central
rotating shaft; these drums are armed on their peripheries with blades
made like those on the case of flat steel plates. The drums are cast with
radial wings extending from the boss to the periphery, and. holes are
formed through the drums to allow of a down draft being created and
distributed through the case by the wings as the drums are rotated.
The drums instead of being enclosed as heretofore in separate cylindrical
chambers have interposed between them horizontal rebated ring plates
which form part of the case. These ring plates and also the bottom
plate of the case are cast with annular flanged projections which are
intended to receive steel blades rebated at the back to fit the flanged
projections.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents in irregular sectional
elevation the improved hulling machine, the left-hand side of the Figure
being taken in the line 1, 2, and the right-hand side in the line 3, 4, of
the sectional plan view, Fig. 2. The sectional plan is taken in the line
5, 6, of Fig. 1.
The hulling machine consists of a vertical cylindrical case of cast
iron A supported on cast-iron standards B, B, which are bolted at foot
to a bed plate B', and at top to a strong cast-iron head plate B². The
bed plate is cast with a foot bearing to receive the central shaft of the

page_text: machine, and the head plate is also provided with a bearing for that
shaft. The cylindrical case A is composed of several castings piled one
above the other and held fast between the standards by means of binding
screws b, b, which pass down through tapped holes in the head plate B*.
The Drawing shows four of these castings, but less or more may be used
if thought desirable. These castings form separate sections of the hulling
machine, and they are each intended to receive a rotary drum armed
with blades, as will be presently explained. The lowest casting of the
series has a closed bottom, but all the others have a central opening
about equal in diameter to that of the drum casting. The case is covered
at top by a plate A' which has openings made in it to allow of the grain
being fed into the case and also of air entering frecly therein. The case
is fitted at its opposite sides with panels of wire gauze or pierced metal
C, C, to facilitate ventilation within, and the sections are armed on their
inner periphery at the parts not occupied by the panels with sets of steel
blades & fixed radially in adjustable segmental plates D in the manner.
hereafter described, and similarly the bottoms of these sections are fitted
with radial blades a. E, E', E, E, is a series of drums (four being the.
number preferred for ordinary working) armed at their periphery with
radial blades e. These drums are keyed upon a central vertical shaft F,
and are cast (see the inverted plan view of one of these drums detached
at Fig. 3) with radial wings e¹, e', extending from the boss to the peri-
phery and on opposite sides of the disc, which serve as arms to the drum..
In the topmost drum E the upper set of wings is wanting, and in all the
discs holes e are formed to allow of a down draft being created and
distributed through the case by the wings as the drums are rotated. The
drums it will be seen are not severally enclosed in their respective
cylindrical chambers, but there are simply interposed between them the
horizontal flanges a' forming the bottoms of the sections and serving to
carry the blades a.
This arrangement avoids a considerable amount of
unnecessary friction as compared with my former hulling machine, and:
besides this the upper compartments are effectually prevented from being.
choked by an over supply of grain, for the tendency when the supply is
in excess is for the grain to escape into the compartment below by
passing over the edge of the flange or ring plate as well as through the
proper discharge openings. These horizontal flanges and also the bottom
plate of the case are cast with annular projections a² which are round
headed in cross section, and are undercut to receive the steel blades a and
hold them firmly in position, the blades being rebated at the back to fit

page_text: the flanged projections. Between every two blades a filling piece of
cardboard or other suitable material is interposed so that the square
working edges of the adjacent blades may stand apart. The continuity
of the stationary rings of blades a thus formed is broken by openings a³
(see Fig. 2) made in the ring plates or flanges to allow for the discharge
of the grain to the section immediately below. The discharge openings
are fitted with sliding shutters a*, the closing or opening of which will by
regulating the rate of discharge of the grain from section to section
determine the duration or amount of action of the blades upon the grain.
I have stated that the blades with which the inner periphery of the case
is armed are fitted to segment plates D. These plates fit into openings
made in the sides of the case to receive them, and they are adjustable by
means of screws and nuts d¹ to advance the blades to their work as they
wear away, and retain them in position. Upon the face of these segment
plates are cast flanged ribs (similar to those on the horizontal flanges
and bottom of the case) to receive the blades d, which are rebated at
back to admit of their being strung on and brought into position. The
like arrangement is also adopted in the fixing of the blades on the
periphery of the drums, cross cuts being made in the ribs to allow of the
blades being brought to a proper position for being slidden sideways
into the ribs. It should be stated that the blades of the horizontal
flanges a¹ and of the bottom plate of the lowest section of the cylinder A
lie immediately under the blades of the drums and extend only as far
inwards as the drum blades, and that the lower horizontal edges of the
blades e as well as these vertical edges are used to act upon the grain.
The central shaft F revolves in a conical bearing carried by the head
plate B, and its lower end is supported in a foot bearing by an adjustable
steel screw plug. G is a hopper fitted with adjustable slides and mounted
on the head plate A' for supplying the machine with grain which falls in
the direction of the arrows, Fig. 1, into the case A. By means of the
tightening screws that bear upon the head plate of the case the several
sections forming the case A are held firmly together. Rotary motion
being communicated to the shaft F and a supply of grain admitted to
the case the grain will be carried round by the top drum E and subjected
to the action of the blades a, d, e, (whereby the hull or outer skin of the
grain will be partially removed) until it escapes through one or other of
the openings a³ into the section of the case next below the top drum.
Here the grain will in like manner be subjected to the action of a second
set of rotating and fixed blades, and escaping therefrom by other and

page_text: similar openings a³ (fitted with slides, as before stated, for regulating the
passage of the grain) it will pass under the action of the third set of
blades, and finally will be acted upon by the blades in the last section,
from which it will escape together with the bran by two openings fitted
with regulating slides in the bottom of the case A into a suitable recep-
tacle. During the hulling of the grain throughout its downward passage
currents of air will follow it, drawn in by the action of the wings e' of
the rotating drums, the tendency of which currents will be to carry off
the dust created by the action of the blades upon the grain and discharge
the same through the pierced or wire gauze panels C. The grain as
it leaves the hulling machine is to be separated from the bran by sub-
jecting the grain to the action of a dressing machine of the ordinary
construction.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improved
Machinery for Hulling Grain," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First. Dividing the case into compartments by means of flanges or
ring plates armed with blades, in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
Secondly. Fitting the rotating and stationary blades to their supports,
as shewn and described, whereby they will be held firmly in place.
Thirdly. Creating a draft through the case in the manner above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustav Adolph Buchholz, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
G. A. BUCHHOLZ. (L.S.)