IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MASHING AND GRINDING MATERIALS FOR DISTILLERIES, AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent
Agency, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany, for the In-
vention of IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MASHING AND GRINDING
MATERIALS FOR DISTILLERIES, AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES." A communica-
tion from Gustav Ellenberger, a person residing at Darmstadt, in the Empire
of Germany.
Sealed the 1st December 1876, and dated the 23rd September 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd September 1876.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Agency, of Frankfort-
on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
MASHING AND GRINDING MATERIALS FOR DISTILLERIES, AND FOR SIMILAR PUR-
POSES." A communication.
This Invention relates to apparatus for mashing, grinding, and otherwise treating
or preparing materials for distilleries, and for other like purposes.
The said apparatus has a steam chamber constructed of boiler plates, capable of
withstanding a pressure of about five atmospheres, provided with suitable steam
gauge and gauge cocks. There is an opening in the top plate capable of being
closed steam tight for filling this chamber, and cocks are provided for supplying
water and steam to the said chamber. A large pipe for carrying off the steam
liberated during the process of mashing encloses an apparatus arranged to produce a
strong draught. This apparatus consists of a pipe with a conical orifice pointing
upward and provided with a regulating screw by which the orifice can be graduated.
By this arrangement not only steam liberated during mashing is carried up through
the pipe, but at the same time the mash is cooled by this process.
A frame and column are provided, to support the frame upon which the chamber
is carried. The mash tub is oblong with rounded ends, and constructed with double
sides and bottom, between which cold water and steam can be circulated as may be
desired according as cooling or heating of the mash is required. The grinding or
mash drum is attached to a shaft provided with a fast and a loose pulley. This drum
Price 107

page_text: is of cast iron, and is provided with wrought-iron knives or teeth, cast or screwed
on either parallel with the shaft or diagonally to the same in such a manner that
they exercise a grinding and crushing movement as they pass over the bed plate,
which is also provided with teeth. These teeth in the bed plate are arranged
diagonally to the teeth attached to the drum. Below the bed plate a key or wedge-
shaped plate is arranged provided with an adjusting screw for the purpose of
moving this bed plate nearer to the face of the drum or farther away from the
same.
Behind the drum is an inclined plate or partition arranged in the mash tub,
up one side of which the mash is forced by the rotation of the drum; it then
falls down at the other side by its own weight, thereby causing a rotation of the
mash around the mash tub and around the partition plate in the central part of the
tub. Over the mash drum a cover is arranged, and the top of the mash tub is
covered by suitable plates. A pipe is provided to introduce cold water, and there
is another pipe to introduce steam into the space at the hollow sides and bottom of
the mash tub provided with suitable valves or cocks, and a cock for emptying the
same, also a pipe to carry off the cooling water after the same has become heated;
also a pipe with a cock to admit steam into the mash tub for keeping the mash at
boiling point, used when Indian corn is being mashed for distilleries, and a pipe for
drawing off the mash when ready. A recess is made in the bottom of the mash tub
in front of the mashing drum to collect stones or hard substances and keep the same
from coming between the teeth of the drum and bed plate. A moveable scraper is
placed above a partition arranged close to the drum to prevent the mash being
carried round and round with the drum. A safety valve is placed on the top of the
chamber,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th March 1877.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Agency, of Frankfort-
on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
MASHING AND GRINDING MATERIALS FOR DISTILLERIES, AND FOR SIMILAR PUR-
POSES." A communication from Gustav Ellenberger, a person residing at Darmstadt,
in the Empire of Germany.
My Invention relates to certain improvements in that class of apparatus used for
reducing, mashing, cooling, and preparing for fermentation and other like purposes
such vegetable substances as corn, grain, potatoes, and similar substances when
treated with steam under high pressure.
The nature of my improvements consists in providing an apparatus which admits
of uniting in one speedy and continuous process, as herein-after described, the four
steps following, namely:-
First. Subjecting the vegetable matters (which have not been reduced or crushed
previously) treated to the action of steam in a closed vessel under pressure.
Second. Effecting a complete reduction of the vegetable matters to a mash of the
finest quality possible.
Third. Incorporating with the mash while in the process of reduction the malt
necessary to prepare the same for the fermenting vat.
And Fourth. Cooling the mash thus treated quickly and without fail.
It is important in the art to which this Invention relates that these different steps
be quickly and effectively accomplished in order that the product shall be fitted for
the fermentation vat in its best condition adapted to secure the best result.
My improved apparatus consists, broadly speaking, of the two sufficiently large
vessels or chambers preferably of wrought iron. The first is closed to admit of the
introduction of steam under pressure, and is provided with a safety valve. It has

page_text: This
also suitable ingress and egress passages with cocks and other implements to regulate
the uniform admission of the steam, and its condensation and egress. The second
is a larger vessel situated under or on the side of the first, provided with an inter-
nally revolving cylinder or drum of peculiar construction, and armed with knives,
mounted between a mid-feather and one of the vertical walls of the vessel.
vessel is jacketed throughout for the admission of steam, or hot or cold water, as
may be needed in the course of operation. In combination with the said two
vessels there is a large pipe for carrying off the steam liberated during the process
of mashing, and at the same time the mash is cooled by this process.
My apparatus is represented in the accompanying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is
a side, and Figure 2 an end elevation partly in section, of the apparatus. A is the
steam chamber constructed of boiler plates capable of withstanding pressure of about
5 atmospheres, provided with suitable steam gauge and gauge cocks (not shown in
the Drawings); B is an opening in the top plate, capable of being closed steam-
tight for filling the chamber; F is a valve operated by means of the lever F¹; G is
a large pipe for carrying off the steam liberated during the process of mashing. In
this pipe an apparatus o is arranged to produce a strong draught.
This apparatus consists of a pipe with a conical orifice pointing upward and pro-
vided with a regulating screw by which the orifice can be graduated. Steam
being introduced through this apparatus a strong current of air is caused to pass up
the pipe G, but at the same time the mash is cooled by this process.
The steam is admitted to the steam chainber above, below, and in tangential
direction by the two openings a, a, and the toothed copper sheets c, c, as shown by
Figure 2, and in natural size by Sheet III. of the Drawings. The said toothed
copper sheets c, c, c, form an angulated channel which is open below, and through
which the steam is admitted in the longitudinal direction of the channel, and arrives
uniformly into the steam chamber. By these means a uniform and regular admis-
sion of the steam to all parts of the steam chamber is obtained; H is the frame, and
I the column to support the frame upon which the chamber A is carried; K is an
oblong mash tub with rounded ends, and constructed with double sides and bottom,
between which cold water and steam can be circulated as may be desired, according
as cooling or heating of the mash is required; S is the grinding or mash drum
attached to a shaft e provided with a fast and loose pulley L, L. This drum is of
cast iron, with knives or teeth cast or screwed on it either parallel with the shaft e
or diagonally to the same (as shown by Sheet IV. in full size) across its face in such
manner that they exercise a grinding and crushing movement as they pass over the
bed plate d which is also provided with teeth. These teeth in the bed plate are
arranged diagonally to the teeth attached to the drum S. The shaft e of the drum
is supported by the bearings f, f, which are placed in the excentric moveable
boxes g, g.
By this arrangement the drum can be raised and lowered, and
brought in consequence nearer to the bed plate d or farther away from the same.
Behind the drum S an inclined plate or partition Y is arranged in the mash tub,
up one side of which the mash is forced by the rotation of the drum and then fulls
down at the other side by its own weight, thereby causing a rotation of the mash
round the mash tub and around a partition plate in the central part of the tub K.
Over the mash drum S a cover is arranged, and the top of the mash tub K is covered
by suitable plates; N is a pipe to introduce cold water, and P a pipe to introduce
steam into the space at the hollow sides and bottom of the mash tub provided with
suitable valves or cocks; and R is a cock for emptying the same; O is a pipe to
carry off the cooling water after the same has become heated; U is a pipe provided
with a cock to admit steam into the mash tub for keeping the mash at boiling point,
used when Indian corn is being mashed for distilleries; C is a pipe for drawing off
the mash when ready; K¹ is a recess made in the bottom of the mash tub in
front of the mashing drum to collect stones or hard substances, and prevent the
same from coming between the teeth of the drum and bed plate; k is a move-
able scraper above the partition Y, arranged close to the drum S to prevent the

page_text: mash being carried round and round with the drum; i is a moveable slide
which is during the mashing process in the position I. (Sheet I.), whilst the
same is brought in the position II. when the malt-milk is to be drawn out of
the mashing tub through the opening h, which can be closed during the mashing
process.
In Sheet II. my apparatus is shown constructed with the steam chamber and
the mashing tub connected together by the tube leading to a mouth piece m
which is bent underwards. Below this mouth piece there is provided in
the chamber of the tube G, a dividing or spreading cone n from which the
vegetable matter is divided when falling down from the mouth piece m to the
chamber and on the drum S. An exhausting implement o is arranged above
the chamber by which a steam jet is admitted and a strong current of air is
thus effected. By these means the vegetable matter arriving from the steam
vessel A is brought into contact with a strong current of air and is thus cooled
before entering in the mashing tub. The exhausting implement is shown in full
size in Sheet V.
Having now fully described the several parts of my apparatus, I proceed with the
.description of the use and operation of the same.
First. Mashing with Potatoes.-The potatoes to be reduced to pulp are placed
(without a previous reduction or crushing) in the steam chamber A, where they are
kept for 30 or 40 minutes under a pressure of 20 to 35 pounds of steam, according to
quantity. From time to time the condensed steam must be drawn off at the lower
part of the chamber. At the same time the necessary quantity of malt and yeast
is reduced to pulp and diluted with water to a thin malt milk by the mashing
apparatus in the vat below. The greater portion of this milky liquid is by pulling
forward the slide i and opening the opening / drawn out of the tub into a vat
situated a little higher than the mashing tub when that portion necessary for yeast
is taken away and the rest kept to sugar the mash. The potatoes having now been
sufficiently steamed the valve F is partly opened and the potatoes forced out by the
pressure of the steam. They pass through the tube », over the cone n, and through
the chamber upon the drum S, which making about 200 revolutions a minute re-
duces the same to the finest pulp in a very short time. The potatoes being frozen
or rotten makes no difference as to the fineness of the pulp produced by this
apparatus.
As the tub R is divided down the middle by the division plate running nearly to
the ends, and the inclined plane or partition Y is placed immediately behind the
drum S the mash is forced round and round as long as the drum S revolves. This
drum is provided with about 108 knives and the bed plate & with 9 knives. Thus
the drum making 200 revolutions there are 194,400 grinding edges exposed to each
other every minute. The pulp produced by this apparatus is so fine that the skius
of the potatoes cannot be distinguished, while the power required is considerably
less than that necessary in any other constructed apparatus for that purpose.
As the potatoes are blown from the steam chamber A into the mashing tub K
they pass through a strong current of air which is enough to keep the mash at a
very low temperature, in which case the liquid malt can be introduced little by
little without the mash turning into paste, and the whole mash is mixed into a thin
milky liquid. On account of the very thorough mixing which is produced by this
apparatus 3 pounds of green malt, equal to 2 pounds of barley, are enough to turn
the starch of 100 pounds of potatoes into 20 per cent. sugar. It is also through this
very thorough mixing that the sugar formation occurs very soon, and in about 25
to 30 minutes the mash can be cooled, which is done by passing the mash through a
series of flat pipes surrounded by water circulating in the opposite direction.
Second. Mashing with Indian and other Corn.-It is well known that in the
horny parts of Indian corn the starch cells are most abundantly found, and owing
to the hardness of the shell are very difficult to utilize, on which account it has
been very little used for distilleries, as it has first to be ground to powder, a very

page_text: expensive process. With this apparatus however the reduction of Indian corn into
fine pulp is made not only easy but very profitable.
Indian corn like other grain comes first into the steam chamber A; water is then
let in until it stands about i foot above the charge, when steam is introduced little
by little until a pressure of about 3-4 atmospheres is reached, in which state it is
allowed to remain for about 3/4 of an hour. During this time the malt is reduced in
the tub as stated above. The valve F is then opened, when the charge is forced
through the pipe r, into the pipe G, the chamber 1, and on the drum S, and is there
reduced to pulp.
The mash is kept the whole time it is in the vat at a temperature of about 75
degrees Reaumur by the continual introduction of steam between the double bottom
and sides of the mashing vat K.
All the horny starch-containing cells in the Indian corn split and burst open by
the pressure they are subjected to in the steam chamber A the sugar formation
takes place therefore with great rapidity. The mash is kept for about 1 hour at a
temperature of about 80 degrees Reaumur, then cooled down to 56 degrees Reaumur,
during the whole of which time and operation the drum is kept working at 52
degrees Reaumur ; the sugar formation begins and is perfected in about 1 hour.
Steaming the corn under high pressure and the fine pulp into which it is after-
ward reduced to, combined with the thorough mixing with the malt it after-
ward undergoes, produce a sugar formation far better than was ever before attain-
able even with the use of sulphuric acid or swelling the grain.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me, and
the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. In the reduction and mashing of vegetable substances and preparing the
same for fermentation the process herein described which consists in first subjecting
said substances (which have not been divided or reduced or crushed previously) to
steam under pressure, afterward grinding the same while hot in a steam jacketed
vessel to a fine pulpy mass, and when said mass is partially cooled adding the
requisite malt, which is followed by artificial cooling and the addition of yeast as
above described and for the purpose set forth.
Second. The production of a preparation of malt in the form of malt milk by
means of the above-described apparatus in such manner that malt and water are in-
troduced into the mashing tub and subjected to the action of the drum as above
described and for the purpose set forth.
Third. The intimate incorporation of said malt milk with the mash in the same
mashing tub as above described and for the purpose set forth.
Fourth. The steam chamber having a conical bottom in combination with the
apparatus for introducing uniformly steam into the said steam chamber as above set
forth.
Fifth. The combination with the steam chamber of the mashing tub in such
manner that the steam chamber is placed above or on the side of the mashing tub as
above set forth.
Sixth. In combination with a steam chamber and mashing tub, the pipe r, and
the exhaust pipe, provided with the cone and an injector apparatus as above set
forth.
Seventh. In a mash machine, the drum with knives or teeth cast or screwed on
the same as shewn and described.
Eighth. The drum in combination with its shaft running in bearings which are
placed in excentric moveable boxes in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
Ninth. In a mash tub provided with a central division plate, the inclined raised
partition situated behind the revolving drum in the manner and for the purpose set
forth.
Tenth. In a mash tub provided with a central division plate, the recess situated
before the revolving drum for the purpose set forth.
Eleventh. The mashing tub provided with a partition plate, double sides and

page_text: bottom, elevated inclined partition recess, revolving drum bed plate and moveable
plate constructed and combined in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
Twelfth. The opening which can be closed in combination with the slide in the
manner and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
FRANK WIRTH. (L.S.)