AN IMPROVED COMBINED MACHINE FOR WINNOWING, CLEANING, AND SORTING GRIT, GRAIN, CORN, AND OTHER SEEDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hunter Henry Murdooh, of No. 7, Staple Inn,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
" AN IMPROVED COMBINED MACHINE FOR WINNOWING, CLEANING, AND
SORTING GRIT, GRAIN, CORN, AND OTHER SEEDS."-A communication from
abroad by Carl Haggenmacher, Director of the First Ofen-Pesth
Steam Mills Company at Pesth.
Sealed the 23rd January 1874, and dated the 26th July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hunter Henry Murdoch
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th July 1878.
I, HUNTER HENRY MURDOCH, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in the County of
3 Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED COMBINED MACHINE FOR WINNOWING, CLEANING,
AND SORTING GRIF, GRAIN, CORN, AND OTHER SHEDS," to be as follows:—
This machine consists of a box or chamber provided with a hopper at
the upper part of one side, which hopper communicates with the interior
) of the said box or chamber by means of a passage, which may be closed

page_text: or partly closed, as required, by a sliding shutter termed the grit slide.
The side of the box or chamber, which is opposite to that at which the
hopper is affixed, and is herein-after termed the exit side, is by preference
made considerably narrower than the hopper side, so that the interior of
the said box or chamber may be contracted as it recedes from that part.
At the upper part of the exit side is an opening, through which a
current of air is drawn or forced by means of a fan or other suitable
apparatus. The said chamber is divided by vertical partitions (extending
from the bottom nearly to the top) into five or more compartments.
Openings are formed one above the other in each of the said partitions
and in the exit side of the box. At the lower part of the said openings
inclined shelves, supported by the sides of the box or chamber, are fitted.
The said shelves are inclined towards the exit side of the said box or
chamber, and project into the compartments on each side of the said
partitions. That part of each of the said openings which is not occupied
by its shelf is closed by a hinged flap valve. The shelves which are
fitted in the openings formed in the exit side of the said box or chamber,
and the compartments formed by the vertical partitions are furnished
at their lower parts with shoots or spouts, provided with hinged flaps
or valves.
In each of the said compartments inclined bars and
ledges (herein-after termed grit collecting receptacles) are fixed above
the upper end of each shelf a little distance apart so as to leave narrow
spaces between them. These bars and ledges break the fall of and collect
the grit as it descends from one shelf to another.
The upper end of each of the inclined shelves aforesaid is provided
with an adjustable plate (herein-after termed the grit divider), or the
said plate may be stationary, and the grit collecting receptacles made
adjustable.
The action of this machine is as follows:-Air is drawn through the
machine by the fan or other apparatus herein-before referred to, or air
may be forced through the machine by a blowing apparatus connected to
the lower part of the box or chamber. The current of air so drawn or
forced passes through each of the compartments aforesaid with greater.
or less force, according to the sectional area of the different compart-
ments. The grit to be treated is fed into the hopper, whence it passes.
to the first grit collecting receptacle, in passing from which it meets the
ascending current of air in the first compartment, which separates the
lighter from the heavier particles, the latter falling into the collecting

page_text: receptacle next below, and the former passing over the grit divider on to
the upper inclined shelf, down which they pass through the opening in
the vertical partition (pushing open the hinged flap valve in their
passage) to the second compartment, where they are collected by the next.
grit collecting receptacle, and acted on by the current of air pasking up
the said second compartment. In this way the lighter particles or refuse
grit pass from one compartment to another until they arrive at the last,
when they pass from the machine by the exit spouts which form the
terminations of the inclined shelves. The heavier particles of the grit
pass downward from the machine by the spouts or shoots which form the
terminations of the compartments. The grit is thus divided into as many
different qualities as there are terminal spouts, each quality being received
in a separate receptacle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hunter Henry Murdoch in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUNTER
HENRY MURDOOH, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, Her special
license that I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hunter
Henry Murdoch, 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 "AN IMPROVED COMBINED MACHINE FOR WINNOWING, CLEANING,
AND SORTING GRIT, GRAIN, CORN, AND OTHER SEEDS," a communication to me

page_text: from abroad by Carl Haggenmacher, Director of the First Ofen-Pesth
Steam Mills Company at Pesth, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Hunter Henry Murdoch, 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:―
This machine consists of a box or chamber provided with a hopper at
the upper part of one side, which hopper communicates with the interior
of the said box or chamber by means of a passage which may be closed
or partly closed as required by a sliding shutter termed the "grit slide."
The side of the box or chamber which is opposite to that at which the
hopper is affixed and is herein-after termed the "exit side" is by
preference made considerably narrower than the hopper side, so that the
interior of the said box or chamber may be contracted as it recedes from
that part. At the upper part of the exit side is an opening through
which a current of air is drawn or forced by means of a fan or other
suitable apparatus. The said chamber is divided by vertical partitions
(extending from the bottom nearly to the top) into several compart-
ments. Openings are formed one above the other in each of the said
partitions, and in the exit side of the box. At the lower part of the
said openings inclined shelves supported by the sides of the box or
chamber are fitted. The said shelves are inclined downward towards
the exit side of the said box or chamber and project into the compart-
ments on each side of the said partitions. That part of each of the said
openings which is not occupied by its shelf is closed by a hinged flap
valve. The shelves which are fitted in the openings formed in the exit
side of the said box or chamber are provided with hinged flaps or valves,
and the compartments formed by the vertical partitions are furnished at
their lower parts with shoots or spouts, also provided with hinged flaps
or valves which are herein-after termed "perfection valves." In each of
the said compartments inclined bars and ledges (herein-after termed

page_text: "grit collecting receptacles") are fixed above the upper end of each
shelf a little distance apart so as to leave narrow spaces between them.
These bars and ledges break the fall of and collect the grit as it descends
from one shelf to another. At the upper end of each of the inclined
shelves aforesaid is mounted a "grit divider" consisting of a bar, the
upper edge of which is furnished with a strip of metal. The said grit
divider may be made capable of adjustment in vertical grooves formed
in the sides of the said box or chamber, or it may be made stationary,
and the grit collecting receptacles be made adjustable.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention I will proceed
to describe the manner in which the same is to be performed, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawing and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, the same letters and figures of reference being used to
indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the Drawing.
Figure 1 is a vertical section taken on the line 1, 2, Figure 8;
Figure 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 3, 4, Figure 1.
Figure 8 is a plan, Figures 4, 5, and 6, represent in section, plan,
and elevation respectively portions of the machine drawn to a larger
scale.
A is the box or chamber; B is the hopper; 6¹ is the passage forming
the communication between the said hopper and chamber; 6³ is the
grit slide by means of which the passage 61 may be closed or partly
closed as required; a is a pipe or passage which communicates with a
fan or other suitable exhausting apparatus (not shown in the Drawing),
by means of which a current of air is drawn through the machine; a¹is
a sliding shutter by means of which the amount of air allowed to pass
may be regulated; a², a³, are the vertical partitions by which the box or
chamber A is divided into the compartments a², aª, a³, a³, a³ ; a³, a³, are
the openings formed in the said partitions; O, O, are the inclined shelves
fitted in the partitions a³, a³, the upper surface of each of which shelves
is curved (see Figure 2), in order to cause the stream of grit to converge
as it passes to the next compartment; c', c', are the hinged flaps or
valves which close that part of each of the openings a³, a³, which is not
occupied by its shelf; a, a, are the openings formed in the exit side of
the box or chamber A.; 0¹³, 0³, are the shelves fitted in the said
openings; o³, a³, are the sponts or shoots by which the grit passes from
the said shelves out of the machine; o³, o³, are the flaps or valves by

page_text: which the said spouts or shoots are closed; D, D, are the bars, and ď³, ď,
the ledges forming the grit collecting receptacles; a¹, a", are shoots or
spouts which terminate the compartments a³, a', a³, aº, a²; a¹³, a¹³, are
the perfection valves which may be closed or partly closed and held in
position by means of the locking mechanism herein-after described or by
any other suitable mechanism; a, a, are shutters by removing which
access may be gained to the interior of the machine when necessary.
The grit dividers consist of bars E, E, to the upper edges of which
strips of metal e¹, e¹, are affixed. The said grit dividers are capable of
motion in vertical grooves a¹¹, a", (see Figure 5) formed in the sidos of:
the box or chamber, and may be raised or lowered as required by means
of spindles c³, c', each of which is squared at one end, as shown at c³
(Figure 5) and carries pinions c³, c, which engage with racks c', c',
affixed to the bars E, E. The said spindles are locked in any position to
which they may be turned by means of locking mechanism (see Figures
5 and 6), which consists of a notched disc c³ mounted on the squared
end c³ of the spindle c', so as to be capable of sliding thereon, which
notched disc, when in its normal position, is pressed by a spring c³
against a collar co, in which position it engages with a tooth or lug o"
formed on the inside of a circular box c", through which the spindle c
passes. The spindle c* may be turned as required by means of a key
squared to fit on the said spindle, the notched disc es being liberated
from the tooth c" by the pressure of the key on the said disc compressing
the spring c³, which spring, on the key being removed from the spindle
again pushes the said disc into gear with the said tooth, and thereby
locks the mechanism. Although this arrangement of mechanism for
adjusting the grit dividers is preferred, any other suitable mechanism
may be used.
The action of this machine is as follows:-Air is drawn through the
machine by the fan or other apparatus herein-before referred to. The
current so drawn passes through each of the compartments a³, a, a³, aº, a²,
(as indicated by the arrows) with greater or less force, according to the
sectional area of the different compartments, and according to the
adjustment of the perfection valves a", a¹³, and the wind slide a¹. The
grit sorted according to the size of the grains proceeds from the cleansing a
sieve (not shown) to be fixed at the top of the machine into the hopper
B, whence it passes to the grit collecting receptacle D, d², next below, in
passing from which it meets the ascending current of air in the first

page_text: Instead of drawing air through the machine, as herein-before
described, air may be forced through it by connecting the lower part of
the said machine with a blowing apparatus and arranging below the
shoots a receptacles for the grit to pass into, the said receptacles being
provided with sloping bottoms and self-closing valves for the purpose of
allowing the grit to run out. This arrangement is indicated in dotted
lines in Figures 1 and 2. F is the connection with the blowing
apparatus; G, G, are the receptacles; and H, H, are the valves.
The machine herein-before described if constructed on a larger scale
may be advantageously used for corn and all sorts of seeds.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention as communicated
to me by the Inventor, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the
precise details herein-before described as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of the said Invention, but I claim as the said
Invention,-
.
Firstly. The general combination and arrangement of parts con-
stituting the improved combined machine herein-before described and
illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawing for
winnowing, cleaning, and sorting grit, grain, corn, and other seeds, that
is to say, a box or chamber divided into compartments which com-
municate with one another, and in which inclined shelves and grit
dividers and grit collecting receptacles are mounted, so that the grit or
other matter to be treated (which is fed in at the upper part of the
machine) shall be so acted on by a current of air drawn or forced
through the machine that the different qualities of such grit or matter
shall be separated as it passes from one shelf to another, and from one
compartment to another, each quality passing out of the machine by a
separate spout or shoot.
Secondly. The modification herein-before described of the machine
referred to in the foregoing claim, that is to say, a box fitted with grit
collecting receptacles, grit dividers, and inclined shelves similarly to one
of the compartments of the said machine, the said box being connected
with blowing or exhausting apparatus, and being furnished with a
hopper and shoots or spouts, essentially as described.
Thirdly. The construction and arrangement of the grit divider and
the means for adjusting it, herein-before described and illustrated in

page_text: Figures 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
an inclined shelf at the upper part of which an adjustable bar or grit
divider is mounted, which bar is raised or lowered and fixed at any
required height by means of mechanism, essentially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
B. WILLCOX,
his Olerk.
H. H. MURDOCH. (L.S.)