Improvements in Sifting Machines for Flour Mills and the like
Year: 1890

page_text: The decision of the Chief Examiner, acting on behalf of the Comptroller, of the
26th day of September 1895 allowed, under Section 18 of the Patents, &c.,
Act 1883, an Amendment of this Specification.
Date of Application, 15th July, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 8th Apr., 1891--Accepted, 18th July, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sifting Machines for Flour Mills and the like,
I, HANS BITTINGER of Brunswick in the Empire of Germany, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention consists in the construction of a machine or apparatus for sifting,
and is applicable for use in flour mills and other similar places where sieves are
required to be employed.
The apparatus consists of one, two, or more sieves placed in a horizontal or
slanting direction one above the other in a frame and supported or suspended by
vertical springs.
These spring supports or suspenders have the effect of partly or entirely
neutralizing or preventing the inconvenient effects of centrifugal action in the
sieves. The springs are preferably made of flat section though they may be of
round section, but where flat springs are used, they may be twisted half-way at an
angle of ninety degrees, to facilitate the horizontal motion required to be given
to the sieves, in order as before mentioned, to assist in doing away with the centri-
fugal effects produced by the rotary motion thereof.
To enable the materials being operated upon to be easily and quickly raised
from the lower to the upper sieve or sieves, a conducting pipe or channel is fixed
to one side of the framework. Inside this pipe or channel is fitted a spiral blade
or a series of concave projections so that the material is forced in an upward
direction upon entering the pipe or chanuel from the lower sieve.
To prevent clogging of the sieves, a chain is attached to the rim of the sieves
so that it may work over the surface of the same during the process of sifting.
This chain may be supplied with one or more balls or blocks which further tend to
keep clean the meshes of the sieve.
101
L
I 1900

page_text: Improvements in Sifting Machines for Flour Mills and the like
I, HANS BITTINGER of Brunswick, in the Empire of Germany, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :--
This invention relates to a machine or apparatus for sifting and is applicable for
use in flour mills and other similar places where sieves are required.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal section of part of a sifting
machine according to this invention.
Fig. 2 is an end view.
The other figures are detail views and are hereinafter more particularly
referred to.
a and bare sieves which may be arranged horizontally or may be inclined.
They are in the example shewn, disposed one above the other, there being two
pairs each arranged within a frame c the two frames being supported by vertical
springs and connected together to form a complete sifting machine. The
springs may be of circular or other suitable cross section, but by preference
flat springs are used these being twisted about midway of their length so that
one part is at an angle of 90° to the other part as shown in Figs. 3 so as to be
capable of partaking of the vibratory movements imparted to the apparatus as
hereinafter explained. The sieves may also be suspended on springs of the kind
described.
The number of sieves may be increased if desired and in some cases only one
may be employed. The elasticity of the springs is of great advantage as it always
acts in a direction opposite to the centrifugal force and thus modifies or destroys
the prejudicial effect thereof.
'
The sieves are actuated by means of an ordinary horizontal crank d arranged
between the two frames c as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2. When the material to be
sifted is to be raised from the lower sieve to the upper one, it passes into an
elevator L, which is secured to the frame c and partakes of its horizontal shaking
motion.
This elevator L (see Fig. 4) consists of a pipe of quadrangular (or circular)
form in cross section, provided in its interior with two sets of concave blades or
projections one set being opposite to the other, their arrangement being such that
the material to be sifted is in its curvilinear motion always thrown upwards by the
blades and thus raised. This motion is more easily understood by considering the
two series of blades as parts of a broken spiral, the actual course of the materials, being
an almost true piral, only differing from the latter in that the higher edges of the blades
being slightly turned up the materials rise slightly more rapidly just before learing a
blade and thus can fly by reason of their momentum over the intervening spaces of the
spiral, notwithstanding the infinitesimal fall due to gravity. If an accelerated-con-
verance of the material is to be combined with the sieving operation, or-resistances
are to be overcome, the conveying devices shewn in Figs. 5 to 9 inclusive may
advantageously be employed in the sifting machine shown, or other sifting machine
in which the sieves are arranged one above another or next to each other and have
an oscillating or throwing motion-imparted to them.
In the arrangement shewn in Fig. 5 a channel or sieve A' is furnished at its
central portion with a wall or division-i-or with a row of pins around which travels
a chain / provided with a number of conveying devices arranged at suitable and
equal distances apart. The simplest forms of such devices would be that of
brushes shovels, or rakes the outer ende of which strike, on the choking of the
apparatus, against the walls and then stop until the impulse for a further advancing
motion is given.

page_text: The material to be conveyed is thus carried along with great speed.-The-
brushes, shovels or rukes may form the links of the chain, or they may be connected
together by links.
With this arrangement the following advantages in a greater or less degree are
obtained in addition to those which afterwards are mentioned, when describing the
constructions shewn in Figures 6 to 9. The chain, with or without brushes, rakes-
and the like, may serve for cleaning the open-or-covered channels, which operation
is of great importance in milling, as meal remaining in the conveying channels, is
readily spoiled, and prejudicially influences the quality of material afterwards.
conveyed through-the-channels; if the material is to be sifted during transit,
obstruction of the sieves will be avoided, and rapid sifting can be effected; and the
material is prevented from accumulating and becoming heaped in too large a
quantity at one place, whereby the sifting effect would-be reduced.
The work done by machines provided with such channels is therefore much
superior to that of the ordinary apparatus hitherto in use:-In further accom
plishment of my invention, 1 have found that the conveying devices will also work
without chain if they are constructed as shown in Figs. 6 to 01-viz, if they are
provided with brushes or other springy or elastic organs which lay themselves
against the walls of the channel.
In Fig 6 the conveying device B moves in the channel A in the direction
indicated-by-the-arrow. The channel A may be of any suitable-cross-section-and
in-order-to increase the friction between the device and the channel the side walls
of the latter may be roughened. The conveying device B consists of a solid
core-a-with-brushes-'-inserted obliquely into it. The motion of the channel by.
which the conveying device is moved forward, may be a curvilinear motion, or au
oscillatory-or-shaking one.-Backward motion of the conveying device is prevented
by the obliquely arranged brushes b'
When the motion of the channel is a curvilinear or shaking one, an intermittent
or step by step motion is imparted to the conveying device. -On-account-of-its
inertin the conveying device resists the lateral check and as the one side or the other
of the channel approaches it, the brushes on that side are compressed. At the
same time the brushes which are on the side opposite to that which imported the
shoek, extend or stretch themselves outward. After they have done so and pressed
their ende against the adjacent side of the channel, the second impulse-acting-in-an
obliquely opposite direction takes place. The brushes-previously compressed-will
then be distended while the opposite brushes will be compressed. Thus the
conveying device by the motion of the channel is caused to advance-rapidly and is
capable of overcoming considerable resistance; and by it the converance of the
material is effected-in-a-uniform-manner.-The-material--is advanced in a similar
manner when the conveying-device is constructed as shown in Figs. 7 to 0 of the
accompanying drawings. In the construction shown in Figs. 7 and 0 the centre
of gravity of the device is displaced in an effective manner by a weight d'applied
to a lever arm c'. In Fig. 9 the brushes are replaced by feet consisting of a
piece-e' of sheet metal, india rubber, leather or the like, to which the arm-c-is-
connected by means of a serów y'.-The-weight d' which to weaken the sheeks, is
covered with leather or other soft elastic material, oscillates to and fro in a side-
ways direction and thus-effects an alternate advancing motion of the feet e'. When
the material is to be reduced or powdered whilst it is being fed forward, the walls
of the channels are constructed correspondingly and the weights d' are not covered.
In this case the channels may advantageously be made of L-shape in cross section,
so that the vanes or weights of the conveying device will throw the material
against the walls of the channel so that the disintegration of the material will be
effected partly by violent contact with the channel and partly by the action of
the vanes or weights. In these devices the speed of advance is dependent
5 principally upon the mass or weight of the device. By making the conveying
devices of suitable weight to be determined by trial, these devices can be caused
to all advance with nearly the same speed and thus remain at equal distances

page_text: from-each other. The same result in this respect can also be obtained-by-an
arrangement of chain provided with conveying devices such as shown in Fig. 6.
By thus combining the single conveying devices to form a chain a more-powerful
and better conveyance of the material can be produced.
It is of course necessary that the chain should be so constructed as not in any
way to hinder the conveying devices in their characteristic movements.
When the motion of the sifting machine is effected by means of cranks etc. the
material to be sifted is thrown about violently. Such throwing of the material is
to-be avoided as much as possible, being prejudicial to good sifting, and it is
desirable to impart a rolling movement to the material to be sifted: This is effected
by eansing the material to be advanced by the conveying devices in the manner
described. The sifting channels illustrated in Figs. 5 to 9 ore inserted in the
machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in the place of the sieves marked a and b. The
sifting channels may be arranged on a horizontal floor or on a number of floors,
and may have a square, rectangular or any other form in cross section. A sifting
channel of the kind described forms, so to speak a tube closing on itself. The
material to be treated is charged into these channels at any convenient-point, falls
upon the bottom of the channels, and circulates through the same, being-pashed by
the conveying devices. On the bottom of the channels at determined points are
openings which are covered over with perforated metal shoots or gauze or any
other kind of mesh like woven stuff, sush for example as horse hair cloth. When
the material on its way reaches these openings, particles up to a certain size fall
through the meshes, whilst larger particles move further on, and either fall through
at another place-where the meshes are coarser, or are still further disintegrated in
their course. Thus it is possible to always draw off a material of determined
fineness at determined points. In these tubular currier channels which are closed upon
themselves, the material moves along, pushed by the carrier bodies, until the
sifting is completed, that is to say, until only waste residnes such for example, as
bran remain:
The position of the sifting channels is as above-stated, for-the-greater-part
horizontal, but it is also allowable to give the channel a slight-inclination, as the
conveying devices even then move in the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
claim is:
1. In sifting machines comprising one or more horizontal or inclined sieves or
conveyor channels which are situated above or next to one another, the use of
elastic rods or springs for carrying the sieve or channel frames which springs can
follow the shaking and shifting movement imparted to the sieves or channels sub-
stantially as described.
2. In sifting machines comprising one or more horizontal or inclined sieves or
conveyor channels which are situated above or next to one another, the use of the
elevator described.
3. In-sifting machines comprising one or more horizontal or inclined-sieves or
conveyor channels situated above or next to one another and carried on elastie
rods or springs as mentioned in Claim 1, the use of the transporting-devices
which move forward the material to be sifted, or during the forward movement,
further disintegrate the same, and moreover-clean the sieves, these devices-being
connected together so that the whole forms a chain for the purpose of transporting

page_text: Date of Application, 19th July, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 8th Apr., 1891-Accepted, 18th July, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sifting Machines for Flour Mills and the like.
I, HANS BITTINGER of Brunswick in the Empire of Germany, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention consists in the construction of a machine or apparatus for sifting,
and is applicable for use in flour mills and other similar places where sieves are
required to be employed.
The apparatus consists of one, two, or more sieves placed in a horizontal or
slanting direction one above the other in a frame and supported or suspended by
vertical springs.
These spring supports or suspenders have the effect of partly or entirely
neutralizing or preventing the inconvenient effects of centrifugal action in the
sieves. The springs are preferably made of flat section though they may be of
round section, but where flat springs are used, they may be twisted half-way at an
angle of ninety degrees, to facilitate the horizontal motion required to be given
to the sieves, in order as before mentioned, to assist in doing away with the centri-
fugal effects produced by the rotary motion thereof.
To enable the materials being operated upon to be easily and quickly raised
from the lower to the upper sieve or sieves, a conducting pipe or channel is fixed
to one side of the framework. Inside this pipe or channel is fitted a spiral blade
or a series of concave projections so that the material is forced in an upward
direction upon entering the pipe or channel from the lower sieve.
To prevent clogging of the sieves, a chain is attached to the rim of the sieves
so that it may work over the surface of the same during the process of sifting.
This chain may be supplied with one or more balls or blocks which further tend to
keep clean the meshes of the sieve.
C. R. BONNE & Co.,
Authorized Patent Agents,
41, Eastcheap, London, E.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sifting Machines for Flour Mills and the like.
I, HANS BITTINGER of Brunswick, in the Empire of Germany, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:—
This invention relates to a machine or apparatus for sifting and is applicable for
use in flour mills and other similar places where sieves are required.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal section of part of a sifting
machine according to this invention.
Fig. 2 is an end view.
The other figures are detail views and are hereinafter more particularly
referred to.
a and bare sieves which may be arranged horizontally or may be inclined.
They are in the example shewn, disposed one above the other, there being two
pairs each arranged within a frame c the two frames being supported by vertical
springs and connected together to form a complete sifting machine.
DQ11
The

page_text: springs may be of circular or other suitable cross section, but by preference
flat springs are used these being, twisted about midway of their length so that
one part is at an angle of 90° to the other part as shown in Figs. 3 so as to be
capable of partaking of the vibratory movements imparted to the apparatus as
hereinafter explained. The sieves may also be suspended on springs of the kind
described.
The number of sieves may be increased if desired and' in some cases only one
may be employed. The elasticity of the springs is of great advantage as it always
acts in a direction opposite to the centrifugal force and thus modifies or destroys
the prejudicial effect thereof.
The sieves are actuated by means of an ordinary horizontal crank d arranged
between the two frames e as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2. When the material to be
sifted is to be raised from the lower sieve to the upper one, it passes into an
elevator L, which is secured to the frame c and partakes of its horizontal shaking
motion.
This elevator L (see Fig. 4) consists of a pipe of quadrangular (or circular)
form in cross section, provided in its interior with two sets of concave blades or
projections one set being opposite to the other, their arrangement being such that
the material to be sifted is in its curvilinear motion always thrown upwards by the
blades and thus raised. If an accelerated conveyance of the material is to be
combined with the sieving operation, or resistances are to be overcome, the con-
veying devices shewn in Figs. 5 to 9 inclusive may advantageously be employed
in the sifting machine shewn, or other sifting machine in which the sieves are
arranged one above another or next to each other and have an oscillating or
throwing motion imparted to them.
In the arrangement shewn in Fig. 5 a channel or sieve A¹ is furnished at its
central portion with a wall or division i or with a row of pins around which travels
a chain provided with a number of conveying devices arranged at suitable and
equal distances apart. The simplest forms of such devices would be that of
brushes, shovels, or rakes the outer ends of which strike, on the shaking of the
apparatus, against the walls and then stop until the impulse for a further advancing
motion is given.
The material to be conveyed is thus carried along with great speed. The
brushes, shovels or rakes may form the links of the chain, or they may be connected
together by links.
With this arrangement the following advantages in a greater or less degree are
obtained in addition to those which afterwards are mentioned, when describing the
constructions shewn in Figures 6 to 9. The chain, with or without brushes, rakes
and the like, may serve for cleaning the open or covered channels, which operation
is of great importance in milling, as meal remaining in the conveying channels, is
readily spoiled, and prejudicially influences the quality of material afterwards
conveyed through the channels; if the material is to be sifted during transit,
obstruction of the sieves will be avoided, and rapid sifting can be effected; and the
material is prevented from accumulating and becoming heaped in too large a
quantity at one place, whereby the sifting effect would be reduced.
The work done by machines provided with such channels is therefore much
superior to that of the ordinary apparatus hitherto in use. In further accom-
plishment of my invention, I have found that the conveying devices will also work
without chain if they are constructed as shown in Figs. 6 to 9; viz. if they are
provided with brushes or other springy or elastic organs which lay themselves
against the walls of the channel.
In Fig. 6 the conveying device B moves in the channel A in the direction
indicated by the arrow. The channel A may be of any suitable cross section and
in order to increase the friction between the device and the channel the side walls
of the latter may be roughened. The conveying device B consists of a solid
core al with brushes inserted obliquely into it. The motion of the channel by
which the conveying device is moved forward, may be a curvilinear motion, or an

page_text: oscillatory or shaking one. Backward motion of the conveying device is prevented
by the obliquely arranged brushes b¹.
At the
When the motion of the channel is a curvilinear or shaking one, an intermittent
or step by step motion is imparted to the conveying device. On account of its
inertia the conveying device resists the lateral shock and as the one side or the other
of the channel approaches it, the brushes on that side are compressed.
same time the brushes which are on the side opposite to that which imparted the
shock, extend or stretch themselves outward. After they have done so and pressed
their ends against the adjacent side of the channel, the second impulse acting in an
obliquely opposite direction takes place. The brushes previously compressed will
then be distended while the opposite brushes will be compressed. Thus the
conveying device by the motion of the channel is caused to advance rapidly and is
capable of overcoming considerable resistance; and by it the conveyance of the
material is effected in a uniform manner. The material is advanced in a similar
manner when the conveying device is constructed as shewn in Figs. 7 to 9 of the
accompanying drawings. In the construction shown in Figs. 7 and 9 the centre
of gravity of the device is displaced in an effective manner by a weight d' applied
to a lever arm c¹. In Fig. 9 the brushes are replaced by feet consisting of a
piece of sheet metal, india rubber, leather or the like, to which the arm c¹ is
connected by means of a screw f¹. The weight d' which to weaken the shocks, is
covered with leather or other soft elastic material, oscillates to and fro in a side-
ways direction and thus effects an alternate advancing motion of the feet e'. When
the material is to be reduced or powdered whilst it is being fed forward, the walls
of the channels are constructed correspondingly and the weights d' are not covered.
In this case the channels may advantageously be made of ☐ shape in cross section,
so that the vanes or weights of the conveying device will throw the material
against the walls of the channel so that the disintegration of the material will be
effected partly by violent contact with the channel and partly by the action of
the vanes or weights. In these devices the speed of advance is dependent
principally upon the mass or weight of the device. By making the conveying
devices of suitable weight to be determined by trial, these devices can be caused
to all advance with nearly the same speed and thus remain at equal distances
from each other. The same result in this respect can also be obtained by an
arrangement of chain provided with conveying devices such as shown in Fig. 6.
By thus combining the single conveying devices to form a chain a more powerful
and better conveyance of the material can be produced.
It is of course necessary that the chain should be so constructed as not in any
way to hinder the conveying devices in their characteristic movements.
When the motion of the shifting machine is effected by means of cranks etc. the
material to be sifted is thrown about violently. Such throwing of the material is
to be avoided as much as possible, being prejudicial to good sifting, and it is
desirable to impart a rolling movement to the material to be sifted. This is effected
by causing the material to be advanced by the conveying devices in the manner
described. The sifting channels illustrated in Figs. 5 to 9 are inserted in the
machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in the place of the sieves marked a and b. The
sifting channels may be arranged on a horizontal floor or on a number of floors,
and may have a square, rectangular or any other form in cross section. A sifting
channel of the kind described forms, so to speak a tube closing on itself. The
material to be treated is charged into these channels at any convenient point, falls
upon the bottom of the channels, and circulates through the same, being pushed by
the conveying devices. On the bottom of the channels at determined points are
openings which are covered over with perforated metal sheets or gauze or any
other kind of mesh like woven stuff, such for example as horse-hair cloth. When
the material on its way reaches these openings, particles up to a certain size fall
through the meshes, whilst larger particles move further on, and either fall through
at another place where the meshes are coarser, or are still further disintegrated in
their course. Thus it is possible to always draw off a material of determined

page_text: fineness at determined points. In these tubular carrier channels which are closed upon
themselves, the material moves along, pushed by the carrier bodies, until the
sifting is completed, that is to say, until only waste residues such for example, as
bran, remain.
The position of the sifting channels is as above stated, for the greater part
horizontal, but it is also allowable to give the channel a slight inclination, as the
conveying devices even then move in the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In sifting machines comprising one or more horizontal or inclined sieves or
conveyor channels which are situated above or next to one another, the use of
elastic rods or springs for carrying the sieve or channel frames which springs can
follow the shaking and shifting movement imparted to the sieves or channels sub-
stantially as described.
2. In sifting machines comprising one or more horizontal or inclined sieves or
conveyor channels which are situated above or next to one another, the use of the
elevator described.
3. In sifting machines comprising one or more horizontal or inclined sieves or
conveyor channels situated above or next to one another and carried on elastic
rods or springs as mentioned in Claim 1, the use of the transporting devices
which move forward the material to be sifted, or during the forward movement,
further disintegrate the same, and moreover clean the sieves, these devices being
connected together so that the whole forms a chain for the purpose of transporting
or disintegrating the materials.
Dated thin 8th day of A: 1001
H.
BITTINGER.
By L. W., per F. B.