IMPROVEMENTS IN THRESHING AND DRESSING MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Holmes, George Thomas Holmes, and
Frederick Robert Holmes, of the City of Norwich, Agricultural
Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRESHING AND
DRESSING MACHINES."
Sealed the 23rd October 1863, and dated the 14th July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Holmes, George
Thomas Holmes, and Frederick Robert Holmes at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 14th July 1863.
We, JAMES HOLMES, GEORGE THOMAS HOLMES, and FREDERICK ROBERT
HOLMES, of the City of Norwich, Agricultural Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THRESHING AND DRESSING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate principally to combined threshing and dressing
machines which sack the chaff and corn, and consist in a new method of
supporting and giving motion to the riddle frames and tray (or board) beneath
the shakers, as follows:-One side of the riddle frame is supported by springs
of wood or nietal, the other side is suspended upon and receives motion from
the pendulous irons of the large colder riddle. In all previous machines the
motion of the top chaffing riddle has been to and from the fan; in the present
improvement the motion is across the mouth of the fan, from which the riddle
is therefore always equidistant. After leaving the winnower the corn falls into
the hopper of a rubber (or barley hummeller), after passing which it is
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page_text: delivered on to a screen for the last separator. A current of air from a fan
blower drives away the chaff at the mouth of the screen, where the corn is
delivered from the rubber (or hummeller). The corn then passes into a
coarse conical screen, which separate all stones, straws, and other large
substances, and delivers the corn assorted into separate bags at the end of
the machine. The chaff, separated from dust and seeds, is delivered into a
sack at one side of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Holmes, George Thomas Holmes, and Frederick
Robert Holmes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th January
1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
HOLMES, GEORGE THOMAS HOLMES, and FREDERICK ROBERT HOLMES, of the
City of Norwich, Agricultural Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Holmes, George Thomas Holmes, and Frederick Robert Holmes,
Her special licence that we, the said James Holmes, George Thomas Holmes,
and Frederick Robert Holmes, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said James Holmes, George Thomas Holmes, and
Frederick Robert Holmes, 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 THRESHING AND DRESSING MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said James Holmes, George Thomas Holmes,
and Frederick Robert Holmes, our executors or 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 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 calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Holmes, George Thomas
Holmes, and Frederick Robert Holmes, 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 :-
These improvements, which relate principally to combined threshing and
dressing machines which sack the corn and chaff, consist in a new method of
supporting and giving motion to the chaffing riddle frame, tray (or board), as
follows:-One side of the riddle frame is supported by springs of wood or
metal, the other side is suspended upon and receives motion from the
pendulous irons of the large, colder, or caving riddle. In all previous
machines of this kind the motion of the top chaffing riddle has been to and
from the fan blower; in our improved machine the motion is to and fro across
the mouth of the fan or other blower, from which therefore the riddle is
always equidistant. On leaving the winnower the corn falls into the hopper
of a rubber or hummeller, after passing which, in a rough dresser, it is
delivered into a sack, or it may pass on to a screen for a second separation,
and thence into the sack. A current of air from a fan blower drives away
the chaff at the mouth of the screen, where the corn is delivered from the
rubber or hummeller iuto a conical screen, which separates all stones, straws,
and other large substances, and delivers the corn assorted into separate bags.
The chaff, separated from dust and seeds, is delivered into a sack placed
for its reception at one side of the machine.
.
And in order that the manner of performing this our Invention may be
more fully understood, reference is had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the following description thereof. The same letters refer to similar
parts of the machine in each of these Drawings.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a back end view (both partly
in section) of so much of a combined threshing and dressing machine which
sacks the corn and chaff as is necessary to make the character of our said
Invention clearly understood.
As the threshing parts (that is, the drum, beaters, straw shakers, elevator,
&c.,) may be of any of the usual kinds, and as they form no part of our
present improvements we have omitted them in the following description
and from the Drawings in order to simplify the same.
The first part of our improvements in threshing and dressing machines
which sack the chaff and corn, consisting of a new method of supporting and
giving motion to the riddle frame crosswise of the blast from a fan blower, is
shewn in the Drawings, Figures 1 and 2, in which A, A, is the framing of a

page_text: portable combined threshing and dressing machine mounted upon travelling
wheels in the usual manner. a, a, are spring hangers by which the jog-
board B under the shakers is suspended; b is a similar spring hanger which
supports one end of the caving riddle case c, c, with dusting sieve d, the other
end of the caving riddle case being supported by suspending links or pendulous
lever irons e, e, working on centre pins fixed to the frame A at P. The upper
end of the irons e, e, carry one side of the chaffing riddle case f, f, and sieve g,
and give motion thereto by a jointed connection at h. The opposite side of
the riddle case ef, f. is supported by springs attached to the frame, one of
which is shewn edgewise at i in Figure 1. Motion from a steam engine (or
other motor) being given from a drum shaft to the jog-board B and caving
riddle case c, c, by means of a double crank shaftj, the suspending irons e, e,
vibrate on their centres P, and give a corresponding motion to the top chaffing
riddle case f,f, and sieve g. This motion being crosswise of the blast (instead
of to and from as heretofore), and in the same direction as that of the caving
riddle and other parts of the machine, gives an easier and more efficient
riddling motion for the blast to act upon the corn and chaff as it passes
through the sieve g. When the corn and chaff is raised from the spout of the
caving riddle c,c, on to the top chaffing riddle and sieveg, the blast or current
of air from the winnower D is made to pass under and up through the sieve g,
thus driving the chaff (cleaned from dust and seeds) into a receiving bag C
at the side of the machine, as shewn in Figure 2.
Although we find this arrangement for giving motion to the chaffing riddle
crosswise of the blast to answer very well, we do not confine ourselves
thereto, as the same motion (which constitutes the first part of our
improvements) may be given in other ways.
Figure 3 shows another arrangement which we use for the purpose. As in
the other Drawings, f, f, is the chaffing riddle case with sieve
9, which is
attached to the caving riddle case c, c, by the irons e², e³, and consequently
moves with it. The caving riddle is suspended by spring hangers a², a³ at
both ends, and receives motion from the crank shaft j, as herein-before
described and shewn in Figure 1. The corn, freed from chaff, having passed
through a rubber or hummeller k, if the machine is only a single or rough
dresser, is then delivered into the sack placed to receive it; but in a finishing
machine, as shewn in the Drawings, Figures 1 and 2, the corn is delivered
into a rotating screen to be acted upon by a second blast, as herein-after
described. The driving power is applied to a drum shaft H, which carries
pulleys for driving the crank shaft j, the rubber or hummeller k, and the win-
nower D. L is the pulley on the rubber or hummeller shaft; M is a pulley

page_text: on the rotary screen shaft, the centre of which is at m. A spout n leads from
the rubber or hummeller k to the conical screen or separator O at the mouth
of the rotary screen Q. q is a spout leading from the foregoing for conveying
stones, straws, and other large substances from the conical screen or sepa-
tor O back to the caving riddle, or delivering them into a sack, as may be
preferred. S is a pulley on the winnower shaft, a band from which drives the
pulley R on the shaft of the elevators t, t, which raise the corn and chaff to
the chaffing riddle f, f, and sieve g, to be operated upon as before-mentioned.
After being acted upon by the blast from the first winnower D, and the chaff
separated and driven off into the receiving sack at C, the corn passes through.
the rubber or hummeller k, from which it is delivered into the rotary screen
Q, at the mouth of which is fixed the conical screen or separator O, through
which the corn passes to the larger outer revolving screen, and any large sub-
stances pass through the spout 2 to the caving riddle or into a sack placed to
receive them. Within the rotary screen Q there is a large internal tube V
opening around the conical screen or separator O. Within the tube V thereis
a semicircular guard or shield w, which nearly closes the upper half of the tube,
and thereby causes the blast, which is driven through it by the fan blower
W, to pass through the lower half of the conical screen O, that being the part
upon which the corn is delivered and separated. The guard or shield w may
consist of an inclined semicircular board (as shewn), or the upper half of the
tube V may
be filled in throughout its length; but in either case, in order to
keep the guard or shield in its proper erect position within the revolving
tube independently of the motion thereof, the shield is supported by suitable
bearings on the screen shaft, while a balance weight x is suspended from the
shield to keep it in an upright position; by this means the whole of the
blast is driven through the lower half of the tube, and acts with its full force
upon the lower part of the separator, as before stated. On passing through
the separator O and the rotary screen Q the corn may be divided by meshes
of different sizes into two or more qualities as may be required, and the corn
may be subjected to the action of a third blast before sacking, if desired.
The conveying board or screen y, with its spout y², is attached to and worked
by the caving riddle c, c, for conveying the corn which passes through the
screens to the spout which leads to the sack.
Figure 4, which is a back end view, shows the machine working as a single
or rough dresser, in which the rotary screen is dispensed with, sacking the
chaff, as before described, and delivering the corn from the chaffing riddle
or from the hummeller direct into the sack, or through the screen 3 and
thence into the sack, as preferred.

page_text: And having fully described the nature of our said Invention of improve-
ments in portable threshing and dressing machines which sack the chaff and
corn, and the manner of performing the same, we desire it to be understood
that what we claim is,-
Firstly, supporting and giving motion crosswise of the blast to the chaffing
riddle frame and sieves of portable combined threshing and dressing machines
to sack the chaff and corn, substantially as berein-before described and shown
in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, sacking or bagging the chaff in portable combined threshing
and dressing machines having more than one winnower or blast, or in what
is termed a finishing machine, as herein-before described and shown, or
otherwise.
Thirdly, the method of conducting and directing a current of air through
a tube in the revolving screen of combined threshing and dressing machines,
as herein-before described and shewn.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Holmes, George Thomas
Holmes, and Frederick Robert Holmes, have hereunto set our hands
and seals, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.