IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING GRAIN AND OTHER CEREALS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert John Haddan, of Kensington, Middlesex, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING GRAIN AND
OTHER CEREALS." A communication from abroad by Paul Lefebvre and
Jacob Nagel, both of Bruxelles, Belgium."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert John Haddan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th January 1882.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN of Kensington, Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING GRAIN AND OTHER CEREALS. A communication
from abroad by Paul Lefebvre and Jacob Nagel, both of Bruxelles, Belgium.
This invention relates to apparatus for purifying grain and other cereals from
stones, sand, dust, straw and other impurities.
It consists in separating the grain from its impurities by means of an air
current or air currents drawn in by a revolving ventilator, which is preferably
effected in the following manner. The raw material is first made to fall in a thin
layer against an upward current of air which allows the grain and heavier
particles to fall but carries the dust, straw and other light impurities upward
towards the centre of a revolving ventilator which expels it through the discharge
opening, the power of aspiration being modified by a movable register placed in
the air conduit.
The grain, together with the heavier. impurities falls through a horizontal
opening at the bottom of the first air shaft and meets a second upward current of
air also produced by the suction of the ventilator. At some distance from the
said grain outlet a flat blade or rail is placed in the second air shaft, so as to arrest
for an instant the motion of the grain, thereby exposing it more effectually to the
upward current of air which allows the stones and other heavy impurities to fall,
while the grain is carried upward by the current and falls over a partition into a
hopper. By means of this blade which forms an important part of the present
invention, the grain previously purified from dust and other light impurities is
thus also separated from stones, particles of iron and other heavy impurities.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Herbert John Haddan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
July 1882.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN of Kensington, Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING GRAIN AND OTHER CEREALS." A communication
from abroad by Paul Lefebvre and Jacob Nagel, both of Bruxelles, Belgium.
The apparatus hitherto generally used for purifying grain and other cereals of
stones are actuated by a to-and-fro motion and leave much to be desired. Their
operation is irregular and gives indifferent results :-
To avoid the disadvantages of these old machines the inventors have constructed
an apparatus working by aspiration and which is illustrated by the accompanying
drawings, Figure 1. being a longitudinal and Figure 2 a cross section of the apparatus.
In these drawings M is a ventilator which produces the air current necessary for
sifting the material, N the aperture through which escapes the air with the dust
and other light impurities, L is a valve or register provided with a variable
counter weight serving to regulate the working of the apparatus, that is to say,
the air current. These three parts require no detailed explanation.
After the grain, mixed with dust, straw stones and other light impurities has
entered the conduit A, it is at once distributed over the whole breadth of the
tube B and meets here for the first time a light air current, which passes through
B¹ and carries away or separates from the grain the dust, straw and other light
impurities in smaller or larger quantities, according to the position of the valve C,
which may be opened more or less by means of a regulating screw, so as to control
the strength of the air current.
The dust, straw and other light impurities thus separated from the grain, are
carried by the air current in the direction indicated by the arrows, which current
passes through the opening left by the valve C, and after having been carried
through the space O situated right and left of the ventilator the said impurities
are drawn by the latter through the central openings M and discharged
at N.
After this first purification, that is after first clearing the grain of straw, dust
and other light impurities, the grain falls into the hopper D from where it is
drawn by the air current through the horizontal conduit Finto the most important
part of the apparatus, that is to say, the stone separator E which serves to clear
the grain of stony particles.
At a short distance from the mouth of the horizontal conduit F the grain comes
in contact with a blade or bar H of iron or other suitable material. In consequence
of this impact, the grain is for a moment arrested in its course, and being at the
same time exposed to an energetic air current entering through the tube G it is
compelled to float or to be balanced for a moment in the space situated between E
and I. This moment, however, is sufficient for allowing the air current to sift or
sort every particle according to its specific weight, so that the grain is carried
upward and allowed to fall into the hopper K while the stones and particles of iron,
being heavier than grains of the same size, fall down and are discharged through
the suction pipe G.
It will be seen, from the above description that the function of the bar H is
very important, because, if this bar did not exist, the grain would immediately
fall into G by its weight, without leaving the air current time to act so as to
separate the bodies of different weights.
Having now described the invention as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent I claim :

page_text: A machine for purifying grain and other cereals by means of aspiration and
having the following characteristic features:
1. The peculiar method of conducting the grain into the stone separator
(apparatus for clearing the grain of stones and other heavy particles) by aspirating
it through a horizontal conduit situated between the bottom of the hopper D and'
the entrance of the stone-separator E.
2. A bar or blade H of iron or other suitable material, which arrests the course
of the grain at the moment of its entry into stone-separator, thereby exposing
the grain to the air current which enters from below the separator, and forcing the
grain to float or to be balanced in the air for a short time but sufficient to allow
the air current produced by the ventilator to carry the grain into the hopper while
the stones and particles of iron heavier than grain of equal volume fall down and
are discharged through the suction tube G.
The whole substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof I the said Herbert John Haddan have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Nineteenth day of July A.D. 1882.