IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE SCREENS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Hill, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk,
Wireworker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE SCREENS."
Sealed the 19th September 1860, and dated the 13th April 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th April 1860.
I, JOSEPH HILL, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Wireworker, do.
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE.
SCREENS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in forming screens of wires crossing each other at
intervals at right angles, like the warp and weft of woven fabrics, leaving
interstices of a determined size between them. The outer ends of the weft
wires on one side are jointed to fixed side frames, and the screens are mounted
in pairs; the inner ends of the weft wires being jointed to a central bar,.
capable of being moved backward and forward by a screw or otherwise. This
movement bringing the warp wires nearer to or further from each other
enlarges or diminishes the size of the interstices between them, producing. a
finer or coarser screen for sifting malt, corn, seeds, lime, gravel, or other
materials, as also for cleaning the screen from time to time.
Another mode of constructing screens according to this my improvement,

page_text: consists in arranging them in pairs angularly around a revolving drum working
between guides, so that the lower pairs of screens shall be pushed aside when
the interstices between the wires will be smallest, but on approaching the
upper guides, the screens will be straightened, and the interstices enlarged,
and any materials that may have been held between the wires in their closed
state will be set free, and fall back into the bulk within the drum. The
revolving screens will by this means be continually self-cleaning.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
October 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HILL, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Wireworker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Hill, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Hill, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Hill, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE SCREENS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Hill, 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 Joseph Hill, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in forming screens of wires, crossing each other at

page_text: intervals at right angles, like the warp and weft of woven fabrics, leaving
interstices of a determined size between them. The outer ends of the weft
wires on one side are jointed to fixed side frames, and the screens are
mounted in pairs, the inner ends of the weft wires being jointed to a central
bar capable of being moved backward and forward by a screw or otherwise.
This movement bringing the warp wires nearer to or further from each other,.
enlarges or diminishes the size of the interstices between them, producing
a finer or coarser screen for sifting malt, corn; seeds, lime, gravel, or other
materials, as also for cleaning the screen from time to time.
Another mode of constructing screens according to this my improvement
consists in arranging them in pairs angularly around a revolving drum,
working between guides endways, so that the lower pairs of screens shall be
pushed aside when the interstices between the wires will be smallest; but on
approaching the upper part of the guides, the screens will be straightened,
and the interstices enlarged, and any materials that may have been held
between the wires in their closed state, will be set free, and fall back into the
bulk within the drum. The revolving screens will by this means be continually
self-cleansing.
And in order that the manner of performing this my Invention may be more
fully understood, reference is had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
following description thereof; the same letters referring to similar parts in
each of the Figures.
Figure 1 is a plan view of a screen constructed agreeably to my said Inven-
tion. A, B, C, and D are four webs of wire composed of warp and weft,
mounted on a suitable frame, and jointed at their sides to longitudinal
bars a, b, c, d, and e. The central bar c is fixed, but the bars and d are
free to move endways when acted upon by any mechanism provided for that
purpose. The outer bars a and e cannot move endways, but only parallel
to the central bar c.
. In Figure I, the warp and weft wires are shewn at right angles to each
other; but in Figure 2, the bars b and d having been moved endways, the
weft wires are in an inclined position, and the longitudinal or warp wires are
brought closer together, thereby diminishing the interstices between them.
And it is this method of varying the size of the apertures between the longi-
tudinal wires, thereby forming a coarse or a finer screen, that constitutes the
novelty and value of my Invention. It will be evident that many different
arrangements of mechanism may be used for giving the requisite movement
to the wires.

page_text: In Figure 1, I have shewn a simple apparatus for this purpose.
G is a
horizontal shaft working in bearings on the two side frames of the screen;
hand i are two screws, the one right, the other left-handed; k, k, are tra-
versing nuts, connected with the bars 6 and d by the jointed rods or links f; f.
On turning the shaft G by means of the bandle H, the traversing nuts k, k,
will approach to or recede from each other, moving the bars b and d backward
or forward according to the direction in which the handle H is turned.
In Figure 2, the required inclination of the wires is effected by a screw L
working through a fixed nut m, and carrying a cross bar N, from the ends of
which jointed link bars o, o, proceed to the bars 6 and d, which are moved
backward or forward by a right or left-handed movement of the screw L.
Figure 3 shows a section through the weft or transverse wires, and Figure 4,
a section through the longitudinal or warp wires.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 show the application of my improvement to revolving
screens. Figure 5 is a side elevation; Figure 6, an internal view; and
Figure 7, an end view of such a revolving screen. F, F, is the frame or
stand; A, B, are webs of woven wire arranged angularly in pairs around a
cylindrical frame or drum. Each web of wire is jointed to longitudinal
bars c², d²; E2 is a central shaft which carries the drum, being supported by
suitable bearings on the frame F. A regulating screw g³ turns in fixed
bearings attached to the shaft E. The screw g³ passes through a nut m²,
which slides backward and forward upon the shaft E². To the inner end of
the traversing nut m² are jointed a series of rods or stretchers e, the outer ends
of which are attached to the bars d³, for the purpose of adjusting the position
of the wires, and thereby determining the fineness of the screen. The bars c
pass through slots in the radial bars 12 at each end of the drum, and revolve
in contact with circular guides K2, K³, affixed to the frame or stand of the
machine. On turning the handle H2, the transverse or weft wires preserve the
angular position (which has been determined by the adjusting screw g³, and
stretchers e,) until the bars c² reach the uppermost position, when they are
moved endways by the curved or deflected portion of the guides K2, K³, when
the weft wires are brought at right angles with the longitudinal wires, whereby
the interstices between them become enlarged, and any materials that may
have been held between the wires in their closed state will be set free and fall
back into the screen. By this arrangement the screen is capable of adjust-
ment as regards its fineness, and is also self-cleansing at every revolution.
I desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the arrangements
herein-before described for giving an inclined motion to the wires, as those

page_text: arrangements may be greatly varied without prejudice to the character of my
Invention; what I claim as constituting my improvements in wire screens is,
the constructing of them so that by varying the angular position of the weft
wires, the fineness of the screen may be altered at pleasure, in the manner
and for the purpose herein-before described and shown in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hill, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty..
JOSEPH HILL. (L.S.)