IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES AND IN MILLS FOR GRINDING, AND IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING OR MOVING GRAIN IN GRANADIES AND OTHER PLACES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, the younger, of Coven, in the County of
Stafford, Engineer and Machinist, and John Birch Higgs, of Coven,
aforesaid, Engineer and Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THRASHING MACHINES AND IN MILLS FOR GRINDING, AND IN APPARATUS FOR
RAISING OR MOVING GRAIN IN GRANADIES AND OTHER PLACES"
Sealed the 7th March 1862, and dated the 20th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith and John
Birch Higgs at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 20th December 1861.
We, JOHN SMITH, the younger, of Coven, in the County of Stafford
Engineer and Machinist, and JOHN BIRCH HIGGS, of Coven, aforesaid,
Engineer and Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRASHING MACHINES AND IN MILLS FOR GRINDING, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR RAISING OR MOVING GRAIN IN GRANARIES AND OTHER PLACES," to
be as follows:-
Our Invention relates, firstly, to the elevators of thrashing machines, and
consists in constructing the said elevators in the manner herein-after described,
whereby the grain is raised when required from a lower to a higher level by
means of an exhaust current of air produced by-a rotating fan. Our elevator
consists of a tube or channel, at or near the lower end of which the grain to

page_text: be raised is introduced, and at or connected with the upper end of the said
tube or channel is a chamber in which a rotatory fan works. By the rotation
of the said fan a strong upward current of air is produced in the said tube or
channel, by which said current of air the grain under treatment is elevated.
The exhaust current of air produced by a fan may also be applied to the
moving of the grain horizontally or nearly horizontally, or to moving the grain
otherwise in thrashing machines.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in applying to mills for grinding and to
granaries and other places a rotatory fan for producing an exhaust current of
air for raising or moving grain or meal in the said mills, and for raising or
moving grain in granaries and other places. The arrangements of parts
which we employ in carrying this part of our Invention into effect, resemble
in all essential respects those herein-before described with reference to
thrashing machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith and John Birch Higgs in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th June 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Jonn
SMITH, the younger, of Coven, in the County of Stafford, Engineer and
Machinist, and JOHN BIRCH HIGGS, of Coven, aforesaid, Engineer and
Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John Smith and John Birch Higgs, Her special licence that we,
the said John Smith and John Birch Higgs, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Smith and John Birch
Higgs, our 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 THRASHING
MACHINES AND IN MILLS FOR GRINDING, AND IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING OR MOVING
GRAIN IN GRANARIES AND OTHER PLACES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said John Smith and John Birch Higgs, our executors or

page_text: administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Birch Higgs, on behalf of myself
and the said John Smith, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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:-
Our Invention relates, firstly, to the elevators of thrashing machines, and
consists in constructing the said elevators in the manner herein-after par-
ticularly described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, by which
elevators the grain is raised when required from a lower to a higher level by
means of an exhaust current of air produced by a rotating fan.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in longitudinal vertical
section a portion of a thrashing machine, having an elevator constructed
according to our Invention, and Figure 2 represents an end elevation (partly
in section) of a portion of the same; the sectional part of the said Figure 2
being taken through the line x, Figure 1.
Our elevator consists of a tube or channel a, at or near the lower end of
which the grain to be raised is introduced, the said grain passing from the
first winnowing machine by the spout b and falling on the plate c, from
whence it enters the elevator a through the slot or opening d. At or con-
nected with the upper end of the elevator a is a chamber e in which a rotary
fan fworks. By the rotation of the said fan f a strong upward current of air
is produced in the elevator a, by which said current of air the grain entering
the elevator at d is raised. The current of air and grain pass along the tube
or channel g, and the best or heavy corn falls into the riddle h of the finishing
machine, while the dust and light corn pass down the spout i into a bag placed
to receive them. A current of air from the fan k passing down the pipe
helps to blow out the dust and light corn from the best or heavy corn. The
said fan is the ordinary fan, which acts on the grain in the first winnowing
machine in the ordinary manner, and which we, therefore, do not think it
necessary to describe. The fan f is driven from the main shaft of the machine
by a band and pulley. The exhaust current of air produced by a fan may also
be applied to the moving of the grain horizontally, or nearly horizontally, or to
moving grain otherwise in thrashing machines.

page_text: Our Invention consists, secondly, in applying to mills for grinding, and to
granaries and other places a rotatory fan for producing an exhaust current of
air for raising or moving grain or meal in the said mills, and for raising or
moving grain in granaries and other places. The arrangements of parts which
we employ in carrying this part of our Invention into effect resemble in all
essential respects those herein-before described and represented in the ac-
companying Drawing with reference to thrashing machines.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we do
not limit ourselves to the precise details herein described and represented in
the Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of our Invention; but we claim as our Invention,―
..Firstly, the improvements in thrashing machines, herein first described and
represented in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, an elevator in which
the grain is raised or moved by an exhaust current of air produced by a
rotating fan.
Secondly, the improvements in mills for grinding, and in apparatus for
raising or moving grain in granaries and other places, herein-before described
and illustrated by the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, raising and
moving grain or meal in the said mills, and moving grain in the said granaries
and other places by means of a rotating fan made to produce an exhaust
current of air, by which the said grain and meal are raised or moved.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Birch Higgs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN BIRCH HIGGS. (L.S.)