IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRAWING AND DRESSING SEEDS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Burrell, of St. Nicholas Works, Thetford, in
the County of Norfolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR DRAWING AND DRESSING SEEDS."
Sealed the 5th November 1867, and dated the 7th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Burrell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th May 1867.
I, CHARLES BURRELL, of St. Nicholas Works, Thetford, in the County of
Norfolk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRAWING AND DRESSING SEEDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for drawing
and dressing seeds. The clover or trefoil or it may be other seed to be
drawn.and dressed is first passed on to a separating sieve or riddle which
sifts out the stone, grass, and other extraneous seeds, and separates them from
the clover or trefoil; the clover or trefoil then passes into a sheller in which
by a revolving drum with inclined beaters upon it working within a conical
barrel with grooves on the interior surface the shell is rubbed off; the seed
is then elevated to a dressing riddle, through which the greater part of the
shelled seed passes, and it is conducted to a spout which discharges it into a

page_text: sack or receiver. The chaff is carried by an air blast over the end of the
riddle and is blown away; the seed which has escaped shelling also passes
over the end of the riddle, together with a portion of shelled seed; it is
received on to another sieve which separates the shelled and unshelled, and
discharges them by spouts into separate sacks. A separate feeding hopper is
provided, so that seed that does not require to be passed through the separator
may be conducted directly into the sheller. The accompanying Drawing
illustrates the Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Burrell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BURRELL, of St. Nicholas Works, Thetford, in the County of Norfolk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Burrell, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Burrell,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Burrell, 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
MACHINERY FOR DRAWING AND DRESSING SEEDS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Burrell, 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 Charles Burrell, 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 thereof, that is. to say :-

page_text: front view of a machine arranged according to my Invention; Figure 4 is a
horizontal section, Figure 5 is a plan, and Figures 6 and 7 are details of the
machine; Figure 8 shews a similar machine with slight modifications rendering
it suitable to be used as a fixed machine.
A is a feeding hopper; B, a reciprocating screen which acts the part of a
shoe to the hopper A, the motion of which may be effected by a crank tappet,
rotary or otherwise, as is well understood. The use of this screen B is to
separate all spurious seeds from the good seed before entering the barrel C.
The said barrel C is a conical shell, shewn separately at Figures 6, constructed
of a series of staves or bars serrated or fluted in an oblique direction. The
beaters L are a series of U-shaped or other bars fixed upon reels, as is shewn
at Figures 7; these beaters lay obliquely in the barrel and transversely to
the flutes, causing a spiral rubbing of the seed chobs introduced between
them. The adjustment of L in C is effected by sliding the spindle laterally in
the bearings. D is a bucket elevator for conveying the seeds, shell, and other
matter to the riddle E, which takes out from the husks all the seeds suitable
for the dressing machine, the husks being thrown off at the end of the riddle.
F is a frame or riddle case provided with adjustable screens and winnowed by
the blast of the fan K. The good seeds are deposited into sacks by the

page_text: spout H. Heavy chobs containing seeds are passed again into the sheller C
by the spout M; any seeds which fall from these chobs are collected at the
spout G; if not sufficiently clean they may be returned from time to time on
to the riddle E. J is a spout for conveying off the spurious seeds. The
whole machinery is put in motion by the pulley N by various driving belts
and pulleys, as the Drawings shew.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
arranging machinery for drawing and dressing seeds so that the seeds may be
first sifted to separate foreign matters, then passed by the action of the
mechanism into a sheller or instrument by which the shell is rubbed off, and
thence on to dressing riddles over which an air blast passes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Burrell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
CHARLES BURRELL.
(L.B.)

page_text: which it is preferred to carry the
invention into effect:
Feeding hopper.
Screw for taking out stone, grass
and other spurious seeds.
Cannon or barrell for rubbing out
seeds from husks.
Elevator for conveying the seed and
husk to riddle.
Riddle for separating the seed from
chobs.
Dressing machinery for cleaning seed
by winnowing.
Spout for taking seeds from chobs.
Spout for conveying all dressed seed
in sacks.
Fan for winnowing seed passing
through F.
Conductor for heavy chobs to be agai
passed into. sheller.
Pulley for putting the whole machin
in motion.