IMPROVEMENTS IN GRINDING OR REDUCING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander White, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Miller, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GRINDING OR REDUCING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.
GRINDING OR REDUCING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.
Sealed the 7th December 1855, and dated the 7th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander White at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
July 1855.
I, ALEXANDER WHITE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Miller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN GRINDING OR REDUCING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES" to be as follows, that
is to say:-
This Invention relates to the so arranging the millstones and other details
of grinding apparatus as employed for the grinding or reduction of grain and
other substances, that the matters to be ground or reduced may be efficiently
rolled or primarily prepared prior to entry between the actual grinding surfaces,.
whilst at the same time the grinding action is improved by the judicious dis-
tribution of cool aerial currents within and between the stones and amongst the
grain under treatment.
The Invention may be carried out under various modifications. Where the
upper stone is the runner, the rhyne or connecting piece between the driving
spindle and the stone is formed upon its upper side, in such manner as to
answer for a rolling or crushing bed for the preparatory crushing rollers.

page_text: Immediately over this rolling surface there are placed two small crushing
rollers, arranged like the crushing rollers of a gunpowder or pug mill grinder.
These rollers run loose on studs, carried by an overhead bridge beam, set by
its two ends upon standards outside the millstone case, and being adjustable
by screws, so that it can be set at any convenient height. The feeding hopper
for the grain is placed above the cross beam, and the grain in falling out
passes through a thoroughfare in the beam, and thence drops upon the flat
rolling surface, driven round by the millstone spindle. The revolution of the
flat disc, rolling plate, or surface causes the two crushing rollers to turn upon
their respective axes, and thus crush the grain as it is fed beneath the rollers.
All the rolling details are encompassed by the upper stone, the large eye of
which contains them. As the grinding proceeds, the crushed grain falls off
the rolling plate, and reaches the surface of a corrugated distributing disc or
plate, which plate also answers as the means of conveyance of the cooling air
currents to the grinding surfaces. The top of the distributors is corrugated, or
notched radially, to aid the distribution of the rolled grain, and it is so dis-
posed as to be recessed half way into the face of each stone, and revolving
clear of the lower stationary stone. The distributor is hollow or chambered
for the passage through it of the cooling air. The thoroughfares for the air
are in the form of five, more or less, horizontal curved passages, the open
external ends of which terminate at the line of the grinding surface, as defined,
by the joint recess in the two stones. The other ends of the passages open
into a central aperture or series of apertures in the distributor disc, such
central aperture being in communication on the under side with descending
trumpet-mouthed air tubes, which pass out through the eye of the lower
stone, and are thus capable of taking in cool air. The action of the cham-
bered air distributor is such, that as the upper stone revolves, it draws up cool
air through the descending tubes, and conveys it out at the external discharge
apertures of the horizontal passages in the distributor in such manner as to
direct the air in a powerfal manner upon the grain being ground just at the
part where the grinding action gets into effective play. By these means the
grinding is accomplished very rapidly and well, and the grain and flour are
kept quite cool and in good order. Instead of attaching the distributor
directly to the millstone spindle, it may be driven at a higher rate than that
of the spindle by connecting the two by intermediate gearing. This driving
gearing may either be merely between the spindle and the distributor, or it
may communicate with any other convenient actuating power or movement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
WHITE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Miller, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her. reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander White, Her special license that I, the said Alexander White, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
White, my executors, administrators, or 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 GRINDING OR
REDUCING GRAIN AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alexander White, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Alexander White, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to the so arranging the millstones and other
details of grinding apparatus as employed for the grinding or reduction of
grain and other substances, that the matters to be ground or reduced may
be efficiently rolled or primarily prepared prior to entry between the actual
grinding surfaces, whilst at the same time the grinding action is improved by
the judicious distribution of cool aerial currents within and between the stones
and amongst the grain under treatment.
The Invention may be carried out under various modifications. Where
the upper stone is the runner, the rhyne or connecting piece between the
driving spindle and the stone is formed upon its upper side in such manner as

page_text: to answer for a rolling or crushing bed for the preparatory crushing rollers.
Immediately over this rolling surface there are placed two small crushing
rollers, arranged like the crushing rollers of a gunpowder or pug mill
grinder. These rollers run loose on studs carried by an overhead bridge
beam, set by its two ends, upon standards outside the millstone case, and
being adjustable by screws, so that, it can, be set, at any convenient height.
The feeding hopper for the grain is placed above the cross beam, and the
the grain in falling out passes through a thoroughfare in the beam, and thence
drops upon the flat rolling surface driven round by the millstone spindle. The
revolution of the flat disc rolling plate or surface causes the two crushing
rollers to turn upon their respective axes, and thus crush the grain as it is fed
beneath the rollers. All the rolling details are encompassed by the upper
stone, the large eye of which contains them. As the grinding proceeds, the
crushed grain falls off the rolling plate, and reaches the surface of a corrugated
distributing disc or plate, which plate also answers as the means of conveyance.
of the cooling air currents to the grinding surfaces. The top of the distributor
is corrugated, or notched radially, to aid the distribution of the rolled grain, and
it is so disposed as to be recessed half way into the face of each stone, and
revolving clear of the lower stationary stone. The distributor is hollow or
chambered for the passage through it of the cooling air. The thoroughfares
for the air are in the form of five, more or less, horizoutal curved passages, the
open. external ends of which terminate at the line of the grinding surface, as
defined, by the joint recess in the two stones. The other ends of the passages
open into a central aperture or series of apertures in the distributor disc, such
central aperture being in communication at the under side with descending
trumpet-mouthed air tubes, which pass out through the eye of the lower stone,
and are thus capable of taking in cool air. The action of the chambered air
distributor is such, that as the upper stone revolves, it draws up cool air through
the descending tubes, and conveys it out at the external discharge apertures of
the horizontal passages in the distributor in such a way as to direct the air in
a powerful manner upon the grain being ground just at the part where the
grinding action gets into effective. play. By these means the grinding is
accomplished very rapidly and well; and the grain and flour are kept quite cool
and in good order. Instead of attaching the distributor directly to the mill-
stone spindle, it may be driven at a higher rate than that of the spindle by
connecting the two by intermediate gearing. This driving gearing may either
be merely between the spindle and the distributor, or it may communicate with
any other convenient actuating power or movement.
And in order that my said Invention may. be properly understood, I shall

page_text: now proceed to describe the several explanatory Figures on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is an elevation, and Figure 2 is a vertical
section, of a pair of mill or grinding stones with their appendages as fitted with
my improved details; Figure 3 is a plan of the lower stone, shewing the top
of the air distributor, the rhynė, and the corrugated. crushing surface; and
Figure 4 is a plan of the lower stone, with the air distributor shewn in hori-
zontal section; Figure 5 is a vertical section of a pair of flour-grinding stones
and their appendages, shewing some modifications of my improved details;
Figure 6 being a corresponding plan of the upper stone as inverted, and shewing
a mode of driving the air distributor; Figure 7 is a plan of the upper side of
the grain and air distributor, corresponding to Figure 5; and Figure 8 is a
plan of the rhyne and upper crushing surface as inverted; Figure 9 is an
elevation of the simplest form of air distributor as detached; and Figure 10 is
an elevation of a modification of air distributor, to be driven at a greater speed
than the stones by means of spur gearing immediately below it.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 the upper stone A is the runner, the lower stone
B being fixed in the usual way in the cast-iron casing C. The upper stone A
is encircled by the usual wooden casing D, and at opposite points outside this
casing are placed two cast-iron standards E, which carry the iron casting F,
extending across the stone.. This casting F is formed with a central cylindrical
box or receptacle G, which receives the grain from the spout H; this last
receiving the grain from the. hopper. I. The box G corresponds in size to the
eye J of the upper stone A, being arranged so as to allow of the free revolution
of the latter. The bottom of the box G is cast with snugs to carry a pair of
rollers K, one of which is seen in Figure 2. These rollers are turned by the
rotation beneath them of a metal disc L, formed or fixed upon the rhyne M.
The disc L is corrugated radially, as indicated in Figure 3, and the action of it
and the rollers K gives a preliminary crushing to the grain, which greatly
facilitates the subsequent grinding process. The eye J is made larger than
ordinary in order to receive the rollers and crushing apparatus, and to allow
the wheat or air to pass down outside the revolving plate or disc L; it may,
however, be made of any convenient size. The box G is formed with spouts or
ducts N, which guide the grain down under the rollers K. The rhyne M is
carried on the mill spindle O in the usual way, but immediately below is a
radially corrugated disc or plate P, which, carrying round with it the crushed
grain, imparts a slight centrifugal impulse to it, and distributes it between the
stones, having the effect of slightly separating the husk or bran from the kernel.
The plate P forms the top of the air distributor, which is composed of this

page_text: plate and a lower plate Q, the space between the two plates being divided into
passages by the curved plates R, seen in Figure 4. In this instance the air
distributor is fitted upon the mill spindle O, so as to revolve with the upper
stone, and it acts as a fan, propelling the air in between the stones. The air
enters the distributor at the centre through the four tubes S, which descend
below the lower or bed stone B, and are formed with trumpet mouths to receive
the cool air from beneath the stones. The air distributor runs upon and.is
supported by three rollers T, (one only of which is seen in Figure 2,) carried
upon adjustable spindles, and situated in cavities in the bed stone B. The air
channels or passages in the distributor may be shaped in various ways.
If the simple
In the arrangement shewn in Figure 4, the air is delivered at all the cir-
cumferential points of the distributor, the passages widening towards the
circumference; but instead of this plan the passages may be made of one and
the same dimension from the centre to the circumference, or they may be
contracted towards the latter, the air issuing in such case at various points only
thereof. It is essential that the air distributor should be considerably larger
than the eye of the stones as formed in ordinary millstones. I have in the
Drawings hereunto attached represented it as of half the diameter of the entire
stones, but I do not confine myself to any precise dimensions, for various pro-
portions may be given to it according to the speed at which it is driven, or
according to the particular kind of grain it is to operate upon.
rate of the stones does not produce a sufficient current of air by means of the
distributor, this last may be driven at a greater velocity than that of the stones
by means of various arrangements of gearing, being of course arranged in such
case to revolve freely about the mill spindle. In Figures 5 and 6 is represented.
one arrangement of gearing for giving an increased speed to the air distributor.
I here remark, that in the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
may
hereunto attached, the same letters indicate corresponding or similar parts.
The air distributor P, Q, Figures 5 and 6, is arranged to revolve loosely
about the mill spindle O. It has fixed to its under side a spur wheel U, in
gear with a spur wheel V, fast on a light vertical spindle W, carried in bearings
in the eye of the bed stone B. On the lower. end of the spindle W is fixed a
pinion in gear with a spur wheel X, fast on the mill spindle O, the proportions
of teeth of the several wheels being so arranged as to give the required increase
of velocity to the air distributor.
.
In Figure 10 is shewn on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto attached
another arrangement of gearing for obtaining the same result. Here the
wheels U, V, and X; are placed close up to the under side of the air distributor,
and serve to support it. Instead of the spur gearing for. driving the air

page_text: distributor, as herein-before described, it will be obvious that pulleys and bands
may be used.
I have herein-before described the supply of air for the distributor as being
derived from below through the eye of the lower stone; but it will be obvious
to the practical miller that arrangements may be made for the entry of the air
through the eye of the upper stone, or through the eyes of both stones, if
found desirable.
In Figures 5, 7, and 8 on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto attached is shown
another modification of apparatus for giving the preliminary crushing to the
grain which is entering to the stones to be ground. The tickler spindle Y is
fitted with a grooved cone Z, which works inside a hollow grooved cone a. The
conical hollow a is formed in the lower portion of a casting, which has an upper
funnel-shaped or conical receiver formed in it, to receive the grain which passes
between the two conical surfaces. The piece a, b, is connected to the cover e
of the casing D by adjusting screws, so that it may be set to give any required
space between the cones Z and a. The rhyne M is fixed to a plate d, beneath
which the partially crushed grain is guided by a funnel e, encircling the central
part of the rhyne, and admitting the grain through the central part of the
plate d. The under side of the plate d is corrugated radially, as indicated in
the under side view, Figure 8, and this plate works in contact or in close
proximity with the top P of the air distributor. The plate or disc P is corru-
gated radially, as indicated in Figure 7, on its upper face, or that opposed to
the under side of the plate d. Thus, as in this instance the air distributor
revolves at a faster rate than the stone A and plate d, carried round by the
latter, as already mentioned, the surfaces of the plates d and P rub over
each other, and have a secondary crushing action upon the grain, the centri-
fugal action arising from their rotation, at the same time distributing the
grain between the stones.
In the arrangement of millstones represented in Figure 5 on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto attached, an improved mode of discharging the ground
grain is shewn. Instead of allowing the ground grain to be carried round the
inside of the easing C of the lower stone B, as in ordinary mills, this casing C
is formed with openings f almost all round it, through which openings the
ground grain is discharged in a thin film, and falls down the sides of an
external casing g, of a conical form. In passing down this external casing g,
the ground grain is exposed to the beneficial action of the upward current of
cool air which is rising to supply the air distributor; the ground grain falls
down the sides of the conical casing g to a spout, which conducts it to a bin
below.

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,--
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus, or
means to be applied to millstones for grinding or reducing grain and other
substances, for crushing or preparing the same prior to its entry between the
grinding surfaces, for distributing the grain between such surfaces, and for
distributing air between such surfaces, as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use in millstones for grinding grain of crushing
and distributing mechanism fitted in the eye of the upper stone, as herein-before
described.
Third the system or mode of driving or forcing aerial currents between the
grinding surfaces of millstones for grinding grain by means of rotating dis-
tributors, effecting the desired result by centrifugal action, and placed in the
centre of or between the stones, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander White, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
ALLA
TTTTT AA
TAA
(L.S.)