IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HULLING CLEANSING and in what manner the AND ASSORTING COCOA-BEANS OR SIMILAR PRODUCTS
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HULLING CLEANSING
and in what manner the
AND ASSORTING COCOA-BEANS OR SIMILAR PRODUCTS
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 bulling, cleansing and
assorting cocoa-beans, or similar products and its object is to reduce, by means of an
improved arrangement and combination of feeding, grinding, sifting, blowing and
conveying devices, the cost arising from attending to such machines when in opera-
tion, and to prevent practically all loss of the sound and valuable parts of the
cocoa when the bulls are being separated therefrom.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a front view, partly in section, of a machine constructed according to
this invention.
Figures 2 and 3 are transverse vertical sections of the same, and
Figure 4 is a transverse horizontal section showing the arrangement of the
ventilators, or blowers, and their position with regard to the double sieves.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the
drawings.
A¹ A² A³ A' A³ indicate a system of blowers fixed upon a common shaft 2 suit-
ably journalled in the frame of the machine so that all the blowers will rotate with
the same speed.
The flys or fans of the several blowers vary in size in order that a different
amount of air may be blown out from each of the said blowers to suit different
sizes of broken cocoa-pieces contained in and sifted through rotary assorting sieves
ahova

page_text: maicates a conveyor emptying into a crushing mill D connected with an
elevator E through another conveyor . The said elevator empties into a rocking
screen C having three sieves C¹ C C³ connected, respectively, with three
pipes c¹³
a is a division plate arranged somewhat above the upper sieve C₁, the ends of the
said plate being partly cut away as shown in dotted lines in Figure 1. c indicates
a pipe or conduit connecting the upper part of the said screen C with the rotary
assorting sieves composed of a number of perforated sections or pipes B¹ B2 B3 B4 B
of sheet metal or other suitable material fixed in an inclined position upon a com-
mon shaft. Two of such rotary sieves are employed in the machine shown in the
drawing, one being mounted upon the shaft 4 and the other upon the shaft 4*
The perforations in the section B³ are narrower than those in the adjacent section B
those in B3 wider than those in B4, and so on, so that the last section B₁ will be
provided with the widest perforations in each of the said two rotary sieves. The
latter are so arranged above the blowers, or ventilators, A¹ A2 A3 A⚫ A³, that the
section B5 having the narrowest openings will be above the blower A having
the smallest and relatively least powerful flys or fans, and so on, so that the
section B having the widest openings will be above the blower A¹ having the
largest and most powerful fans.
dd indicate conduits connecting the said rotary sieves with the hopper of a
pipe F discharging into a conveyor F connected with a crushing mill D¹, said mill
discharging into the said conveyor e likewise.
H¹ H² H³ H* H* indicate hoppers arranged, respectively, between the said
blowers and sections of the rotary assorting sieves, and h indicates slides by
means of which the lower discharge-openings of the said hoppers may be closed.
G' G2 G3 G4 G³ indicate double rocking sieves arranged below the discharge-
openings of the hoppers H H H H H³, and in front of the upper ends of the
discharge openings of the blowers A' A² A³ A' A³, respectively.
K' K2 K3 K4 K³ indicate trough-shaped receptacles underneath the said double
sieves, each of said receptacles allowing of inserting a transverse sliding plate /³,
for a purpose hereinafter specified.
L indicates trough-shaped receptacles connected, by means of pipes or conduits g,
with a conveyor M. discharging into the elevator E.
N indicates a conveyor arranged underneath the receptacles K¹ to K³ which
allows of being rotated in either direction by means of the bevel gear-wheels n¹ n²
and n³ as and for a purpose hereinafter described, the said conveyor, according to
the direction of its rotation, discharging either into an elevator O or into the said
elevator E.
I indicates a crank-shaft connected with the said rocking screen C by means of
a link f, and with the said double rocking sieves G¹ to G5 by means of a link f.
S S indicate slides provided with the notched handles s for controlling the
amount of air drawn in from the outside by the said blowers A' to A³.
Zindicates a sliding plate which allows of being adjusted by means of a set
screw for closing up more or less area of the open rear-part of the frame of the
machine.
Motion is imparted to to the several working parts of the machine, as follows, that
is to say-The shaft 2 carrying the said blowers is provided with the conical, or
step-shaped, pulley 1 driven by any suitable motor, and the shaft 4 carrying one of
the said assorting sieves, is provided with the pulley 3 driven by the same or from
any other convenient source of power. The shaft 4, by means of sprocket wheels 5
and 6 and endless chains, imparts motion to the shaft 4* carrying the other
assorting sieve and the sprocket-wheel 7, the latter, by means of one of the said
endless chains, rotating the sprocket wheel 8 fixed upon the conveyor F, the
sprocket-wheel 9 on the conveyor N, and the sprocket wheel 10 on the conveyor M
whence the said chain runs over the intermediate wheel 11 and back to the
wheels 5 and 7.

page_text: On the other side of the machine the sprocket wheel 6. by means of the other of
the endless chains, transfers rotatory motion to the sprocket-wheel 12 upon the
shaft 13 carrying the said elevator E and the sprocket wheel 14, the latter trans-
mitting its rotary motion to the sprocket wheel 15 fitted upon a shaft suitably
journalled in the frame of the machine and carrying the pulley 16, said pulley, by
means of a twisted belt, rotating the pulley 17 on the crank-shaft I. The said
shaft I, by means of a twisted belt, imparts rotary motion to the pulley 18 on the
shaft of the crushing mill D, said shaft carrying another pulley 19, which,
by means of a twisted belt, drives the pulley 20 on the shaft of the crushing
mill D¹.
A sprocket-wheel fixed upon the end of the crank-shaft I imparts rotary motion
to the sprocket-wheels 21 and 22 arranged on the shafts of the conveyors b
and e.
The operation of the improved machine for hulling, cleansing and assorting
cocoa-beans, or similar materials is as follows, that is to say:-The cocoa-beans, in
the proper roasted state, are fed into the conveyor b and thus delivered to the
crushing mill D whence the crushed product, by means of the conveyor e, is fed to
the elevator E which discharges the same upon the rocking screen C, where the
said product is sifted into four sizes, that is to say the finest parts, or the dust, will
pass through all the sieves C1 C2 C3 and settle on the bottom 0, whence, by the
rocking motion of the said screen, it will enter the pipe c³, while the next finest
parts will be retained by the sieve C³, and the still less fine parts by the sieve C²
and enter the pipes or conduits c³ and c³, respectively. The said pipes c³, c², and c'
may discharge into different sacks or other receptacles to collect each size of the
siftings separately from the others."
The product upon the topmost sieve C¹ is shaken around the division, or
intermediate plate a which serves to slacken the movement of the product upon
the said sieve C¹ and to allow the coarse parts of the said product which cannot
pass through the meshes of the sieve, to rise to the surface and to pass through or
under the cut-away ends of the said plate, while all the fine parts will go to the
bottom and be brought in contact with the sifting surface. By this means, all the
dust and fine particles contained in the broken product are separated therefrom and
educted from the machine before the broken product enters the rotary sieves. The
said coarse parts, after being shaken around the plate a, are delivered into the
sections B of the said rotary assorting sieves by means of the conduit c', said
sections B having the narrowest perforations of all the said sections composing the
said assorting sieves, and being arranged above the blower A³ having the least
powerful fans as hereinbefore set forth. The finest parts of the coarse product
entering the rotary sieves, will be sifted through the latter, and the remaining part
of the said product will pass on into the sections B arranged above the somewhat
less powerful blower A4, said sections being provided with openings somewhat
wider than those in the preceding sections B5 and allowing the now finest parts of
the coarse product to drop out, and so on, until the product has passed through
the entire length of the rotary sieves and being assorted in 5 different sizes
corresponding to the width of the openings in the said 5 sections.
The coarsest parts which were prevented by their coarseness even from dropping
through the wide perforations in the last sections B', are discharged by means of
the conduits d and the pipe F¹ into the conveyor F which may deliver the same
either into the crushing mill D or, as illustrated in the drawings, into the auxiliary
crushing mill D₁ where the said parts are crushed for a second time and then, by
being delivered into the elevator E by means of the conveyor e, will make the
same circuit as before-described to undergo another separating process.
The siftings of the 5 distinct sections B to B drop into the hoppers H¹ to H,
respectively, and hence are delivered upon the double rocking sieves G' to G³,
respectively. The said sieves are preferably composed of double sifting surfaces,
Laving meshes corresponding in width to the perforations in the sitting surfaces of

page_text: the said sections B1 to B5, respectively, with a view to slacken the speed of the
siftings in being shaken through the said surfaces, in order that, by thus retarding
this part of the sifting process, the said siftings may be properly exposed to the
action of the blowers. Under this action the lighter parts of the hulls will be
blown away from the double sieves, while the heavier and sound parts of the
cocoa-beans proper, will pass through the sifting meshes and drop into the
receptacles K' to K³, respectively, which will thus receive pure cocoa parts free of
hulls only.
The power of the air currents produced by the said blowers is regulated so as to
cause the light and pure parts of the hulls to be blown out of the rear part of the
machine, while the heavier parts of said hulls with particles of cocoa still adhering
thereto, as well as equiponderant particles of cocoa proper, what I may term
the "intermediate product," are blown into and collected in the funnel-shaped
receptacles L, whence, through the conduits g, they are delivered as " intermediate
product" into the conveyor M and, by means of the latter, into the elevator E to
be passed again through the machine and undergo another cleansing process.
From the receptacles K' to K³ the cleansed and assorted product drops into the
conveyor N which will convey the same either in the one direction into the
elevator O to deliver it into some suitable storage room, not shown in the drawings,
or in the other direction into the elevator E again to submit it to a renewed
cleansing process, the desired rotary direction of the said conveyor N being
obtained by allowing the bevil gear n³ to rotate the bevil gear na upon the shaft of
the conveyor N, either in a direct manner by means of a clutch, or by means of
the intermediate pinion n³, as will be readily understood.
In case of the cleansed product being delivered into the elevator E again, some
suitable slide or partition, as shown at in Figure 2, should be inserted in the
several receptacles K¹ to K³, in order to retain the re-cleansed product until the
conveyor N has emptied the said receptacles from the product resulting from
the first circuit. The rotary direction of the conveyor N being then reversed as
above mentioned, and the slides or partitions taken out of the said receptacles one
after the other, it will be seen that the different sizes of the broken, hulled and
cleansed product will be separately discharged from the machine and thus may
readily be obtained and collected in an assorted state, while, on withdrawing the
said slides from the said receptacles simultaneously, as may be done in some cases
likewise, the different sizes, separated from each other by the re-cleansing process,
will be mixed again and delivered in a mixed state into the storage room by means
of the elevator O.
It will be seen that by providing for driving the shaft 2 of the blowers by means
of the conical, or step-shaped, pulley 1, any desired velocity may be readily obtained
by simply shifting the driving belt to suit the different kinds of products and the
relation between the weight of the hulls and that of the kernels. But in order to
furthermore obtain exactly the proper amount of blast air for each blower and cach
size of the broken product, the air-inlet opening of each blower allows of being
opened more or less by means of the slides S, so that the sectional area of the
sucking ports may be varied by the operator at will for each distinct blower.
Since the "intermediate product" blown into the receptacles L allows of being
readily inspected by the operator, the latter will always be able to at once control
and regulate the power of blast air required from each of the several blowers.
To prevent any particles of the kernels from being blown out of the open rear
part of the machine with the hulls, the sliding plate 7 may be adjusted more or less
high by means of its set-screw and thus regulate the amount of the "intermediate
product" collected.
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to employing
five blowers and a corresponding number of other working parts mentioned, as it
will be seen that any suitable number of such blowers and other parts may be used
for obtaining a similar result to that described.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
I claim in a machine for hulling, cleansing and assorting cocoa-beans and similar
materials
First. A rotary assorting sieve composed of a series of sections having perforations
gradually increasing in size, in combination with a system of blowers inounted on
a common shaft and the draught from which increases in force in a measure
corresponding to the increasing width of the said perforations, substantially as, and
for the purpose, specified.
Second. A system of rocking sieves arranged in front of the discharge openings
of a corresponding system of adjustable blowers, in combination with the receptacles
for receiving the "intermediate product" and a controllable discharge-opening for
the lighter part of the hulls to be blown through, substantially as, and for the
purpose, specified.
Third. The combination, with a rotary assorting sieve consisting of a series of
sections having perforations gradually increasing in size, of a rocking screen
composed of a series of finely perforated sieves arranged one above the other, and
a conduit delivering into the said rotary sieve from above the surface of the topmost
sieve of the series composing the said rocking screen, substantially as, and for the
purpose, specified.
Fourth. The general arrangement of the machine and combination of parts,
substantially as, and for the purpose, specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.