Ix- PROVEMENTS IN DECORTICATING WHEAT, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR DECORTICATING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sidney Hopton Hadley, of Bartram Park,
Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN DECORTICATING WHEAT, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR
DECORTICATING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN."
Sealed the 15th January 1869, and dated the 22nd July 1868..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sidney Hopton Hadley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on-
the 22nd July 1868.
I, SIDNEY HOPTON HADLEY, of Bartram Park, Hampstead, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORTICATING WHEAT, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED.
FOR DECORTICATING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," to be as follows.:-
In constructing apparatus for decorticating wheat and other grain I
employ a box into which the wheat or grain is fed and in which it
is subjected to a rubbing action; this box is open at the top and
closed at the bottom. Inside the case and extending down to the
bottom thereof is a revolving agitator or rubber, which may be of a
conical or other form. The wheat or other grain to be decorticated..

page_text: is fed freely and continuously into the top of the box so that the box is
kept full of grain, and the grain passing down between the sides
of the agitator or rubber, and the case is thereby subjected to a rubbing
action and is allowed to escape through holes in the side of the box
and near its bottom. The size of these openings may be regulated
by slides so as to regulate the speed at which the grain passes through
the machine and consequently the amount of friction to which the
grain is subjected. The space between the bottom of the central
agitator or rubber and the sides of the box is by preference made less
than the space between the top of the agitator or rubber and the box;
the surfaces both of the central rubber and the box are also by preference
corrugated. The central rubber is caused to revolve rapidly, and the
outer box is by preference caused to revolve slowly in the same
direction.
When using the machine for decorticating wheat I prefer to moisten
the wheat before passing it through the machine.
In decorticating wheat various attempts have heretofore been made to
decorticate by what is known as the wet process. In this process the wheat
is moistened so that the outer husk is softened and will then more readily
separate from the grain. The wheat so prepared by moistening is then
passed through a 'decorticating machine by which the husk is rubbed off
the grain. Afterwards the husk has either been immediately separated
from the wheat and dried either by spreading on floors or by being
passed through a drying machine, or the mixture of husk and wheat
which passes from the decorticating machine has been at once conducted
to a drying machine to be dried. A variety of drying machines have
been tried for effecting the drying, but great difficulty has been
experienced both in drying the husk separately and also in drying the
husk and wheat together, and consequently the wet process of decortica-
tion has been comparatively but little used. Also if heat has been used
in the drying process fermentation frequently commences, and the wheat
after a few days becomes sour and stinking. Now I have found that if
'the mixture of moist husk and grain as it comes from 'a 'decorticating
machine be allowed to remain in sacks or in bulk for a few hours,
varying according to the character of the wheat, the grain's of wheat
will have dried 'the husk by absorption, the grains of wheat 'having taken
the moisture from the husk. The mixture of moist husk and wheat
might even with more advantage be left for some days before separating
up

page_text: them from one another; the wheat may afterwards be separated from tho
husk by any suitable apparatus, such as the machine above described;
and it will be found that the husk is then sufficiently dry to be kept in
bulk or to be mixed with the bran or inner skin of the wheat, and that
thus the necessity of using a drying machine or large and extensive
drying floors, both which are very cumbersome and costly, is altogether
obviated, and in addition the wheat itself is also improved in quality.
Thus in my process of manufacturing decorticated wheat the moist husk
is dried by absorption and not by exposing it to the action of heat or air
as has in all cases heretofore been the case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sidney Hopton Hadley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SIDNEY
HOPTON HADLEY, of Bartram Park, Hampstead, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, 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 Sidney Hopton Hadley, Her special licence
that I, the said Sidney Hopton Hadley, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sidney Hopton Hadley, 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 DECORTICATING WHEAT, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR DECORTICATING
WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Sidney Hopton Hadley, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
.Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sidney Hopton Hadley, 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:-
In constructing apparatus for decorticating wheat and other grain I
employ a box, into which the wheat or grain is fed and in which it is
subjected to a rubbing action; this box is open at the top and closed at
the bottom. Inside the case and extending down to the bottom thereof
is a revolving agitator or rubber, which may be of a conical or other
form. The wheat or other grain to be decorticated is fed freely and
-continuously into the top of the box, so that the box is kept full of
grain, and the grain passing down between the sides of the agitator or
rubber, and the case is thereby subjected to a rubbing action, and is
-allowed to escape through holes in the side of the box and near its
bottom, or through openings in the bottom itself. The size of these
openings may be regulated by slides, so as to regulate the speed at
*which the grain passes through the machine, and consequently the
amount of friction to which the grain is subjected. The space between
the bottom of the contral agitator or rubber and the sides of the box is
by preference made less than the space between the top of the agitator
or rubber and the box; the surfaces both of the central rubber and the
'box are also by preference corrugated; the central rubber is caused to
revolve rapidly, and the outer box might be made to revolve slowly in
the same direction.
When using the machine for decorticating wheat I prefer to moisten
the wheat before passing it through the machine.
In carrying out this part of my Invention the form of the apparatus
may be considerably varied.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings hereunto annexed show three
forms in which the apparatus may be made. In the apparatus shown
at Figure 1 a cylindrical rubber is contained within a fixed conical case,
the larger diameter of which is uppermost. In the arrangement shown
at Figure 2 the fixed case is cylindrical, whilst the revolving rubber is
conical, the smaller diameter of the conical rubber being uppermost.
Figure 3 shows a similar arrangement, but in this case the larger

page_text: diameter of the revolving conical rubber is uppermost. The surfaces
of the revolving rubbers and the inner sides of the case are both made
corrugated or roughened. The outer case of each apparatus is closed
at the top, and the axis of the revolving rubber is carried through the
top, and has fixed upon it either a pulley or toothed wheel, by which
it can be driven at any desired speed.
a is the passage through which the grain is fed continuously and
freely into the case of the apparatus, so that the case when the apparatus
is at work is always full of grain; b, b, are apertures through which the
grain passes away from the bottom of the case; these apertures are
fitted with slides, so as to regulate the amount of grain passing away
through them. Any desired number of such openings might be formed
around the lower ends of the sides of the case, or they might be formed
through its bottom.
What I-claim in respect to this part of my Invention is the combined
arrangement of machinery herein described for decorticating wheat and
other grain consisting of a revolving rubber contained in a case kept
freely supplied with grain, whilst the amount of grain passing through
the machine is regulated by the amount which is allowed to pass away
from the exit orifices. In decorticating wheat various attempts have
heretofore been made to decorticate by what is known as the wet
process. In this process the wheat is moistened so that the outer husk
is softened and will then more readily separate from the grain; the wheat
so prepared by moistening is then passed through a decorticating
machine by which the husk is rubbed off the grain; afterwards the
husk has either been immediately separated from the wheat and dried,
either by spreading on floors or by being passed through a drying
machine, or the mixture of husk and wheat which passes from the
decorticating machine has passed directly into a drying machine to be
dried. A variety of drying machines have been tried for effecting the
drying, but great difficulty has been experienced both in drying the
husk separately and also in drying the husk and wheat together, and
consequently the wet process of decortication has been comparatively
but little used, for if the wheat when moist is exposed to the action
of the atmosphere, or if heat be applied to it, fermentation frequently
sets in and the wheat after a few days becomes sour and stinking, so
that not only has it been found almost commercially impracticable to
dry the wheat separately on account of the difficulty and cost of drying

page_text: it, but also on account of the wheat being deteriorated in the drying
process. The cost of drying the husk separately is also very great,
frequently also the mere exposure of the moist wheat to currents of air
to separate the husk from it would of itself be sufficient to start fermen-
tation in the wheat. The same difficulty of fermentation setting in
has also arisen when attempts have been made to dry the wheat and
husk together by passing them through a drying machine, as in this
case also the exposure to currents of air or to heat has caused fermen-
tation to set up in the moist wheat; and, moreover, as practically the
wheat could never be thoroughly dried by the drying machine the
fermentation has continued and the wheat become sour.
Now according to my Invention I receive the mixture of moist
husk and grain as it comes from the decorticating machine into sacks,
or otherwise store it in bulk in such manner as to exclude the
atmosphere from it as much as practicable. I prefer to store it away
in sacks, as by this means it can be much more readily handled and
moved from one place to another. If the sacks also are piled up side
by side or laid together but little air will pass between them, and the
mixture of moist husk and wheat will be preserved from its action.
When the mixture of moist husk and wheat has thus been stowed
away with the atmosphere to a great extent excluded from it, it is left
for several hours until the grain has become evenly permeated with
the moisture which was upon its exterior and upon the husk. The
time which this process of absorption will occupy varies with different
kinds of wheat; I usually prefer however thus to leave the husk and
grain together for at least from 24 to 36 hours, although in some cases
a beneficial result might be obtained by leaving them together for a less
time, especially if great care has been taken not to moisten the wheat
any more than is necessary to sufficiently soften or loosen the husk
to enable it to be removed by the decorticating machine. I however
believe that a still more beneficial result would in all cases be obtained
by leaving the grain and husk together for a longer time than that above
specified. The dried husk may afterwards very readily be separated
from the grain by causing a stream of the mixed husk and grain to fall
through a stream or current of air without any danger of the air then
injuriously affecting the wheat; the husk also will be found to be
sufficiently dried either to be stored away by itself or to be mixed with
the bran or inner skin of the wheat; the wheat may also be either at

page_text: once ground into flour or may be stowed away in sacks ready for
grinding when required.
By manufacturing decorticated wheat in the manner above described,
the necessity of using a drying machine or extensive drying floors, both
of which are very cumbersome and costly, is altogether obviated, and in
addition the wheat itself is much improved in quality.
What I claim in respect to this part of my Invention is manufacturing
decorticated wheat by first moistening the grain to enable the husk to
be removed from it, then removing the husk by a decorticating machine
and receiving the mixture of husk and wheat as it comes from the
machine in sacks, or otherwise storing it in bulk for several hours with
the atmosphere to a great extent excluded from it until the moisture of
the husk has so permeated into the grain that the grain and husk may
be separated without danger of setting up fermentation in either the
husk or grain.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sidney Hopton Hadley, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.