AN : IMPROVED ROLLER MILL FOR GRINDING MALT
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS. PATENT to George Riley,. of No. 12, Portland Place North,
Clapham Road, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN
: IMPROVED ROLLER MILL FOR GRINDING MALT."
Sealed the 22nd April 1856, and dated the 29th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Riley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th October
11855.
I, GEORGE RILEY, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED ROLLER MILL FOR GRINDING MALT" to be as follows:-
The roller mills heretofore employd for crushing malt have been constructed
with one set of rollers only, and as the grains of malt vary in size, some being
very much smaller than others, it is found in practice, that when the rollers
are set wide enough apart to crush sufficiently fast & not to heat the bear-
ings, many of the small. grains of barley malt, and nearly all the oats that
are mixed therewith; pass through without being cracked, and are thus lost for
all the purpose of obtaining an extract therefrom, & when the rollers are
set close enough to ensure the crushing of every grain of malt, the friction on
the bearings becomes so severe as to cause heating thereof. I therefore con-
struct a roller mill with two or more sets of rollers, one set under the other,
& to set the first set or pair sufficiently close together to ensure the cracking.

page_text: of all of all the larger grains, & to give the set of rollers under them an
increased speed, & set them so close together that the smaller grains of malt
which have escaped the action of the first set should be bruised & cracked, &
thus rendered fit for producing wort.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Riley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
RILEY, of No. 12, Portland Place North, Clapham Road, in the County of
Surry, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousandveight:hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirsvand successors, give sand grantzunto me,
the said George Riley, Her special licence that I, the said.George Riley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Riley, my 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 AN IMPROVED ROLLER
MILL FOR GRINDING MALT," upon the condition (amongst others) that I," the said
George--Riley, my executors or administrators, by an instrument-in-writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,. 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.
NOW KNOW. YE, that I, the, said ..George, Riley, do hereby, declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed; to be (particularly described and ascertained.in and, by,,the,,following
statement; that is' to say:-
-The object of my Invention is to crush, grind, or disintergrate; the: malt,, in
a manner not (heretofore done by plain:rollers, for the purpose, of bringing..it
into such a state of division, that by: good management in the mash tub after-

page_text: wards, a better and more abundant extract, may be, obtained therefrom. The
general mode of, preparing malt for brewing heretofore has been by simply
crushing it between one pair of rollers, or to coarsely, grind, it. By-this, mode
of preparing malt,, that portion. of it which is not very free or perfectly, malted
takes a considerable time to disolve, and, a large portion remains in, the grains
after the brewing, is finished; and as the diastaso, or sugar-forming substance
is the most soluable of any portion, of the malt,, the principal, part of it passes
off. in the first wort, and from its absence: the portions afterwards disolved. are
not. converted into glucose, but: leave the mash tun in a wort consisting, prin-
cipally, of gum or mucileage and, slightly modified starch:,
The experiance of many years. has, taught me, that to obtain a wort from
malt which should consist principally of glucose, it is necessary, that the
husk of the malt should be detached. from the kernel, and the kernel brought
into such a minute state of division that, it should, be disolved in the mash tun
in about three. hours, when the diastase contained in the malt converts the
whole disolved portion thereof into glucose, which: then only requires to bo
rapidly drained: from the grains to form a perfect article of malt liquor. For
the purpose of preparing malt in this manner, I invented and constructed a
mill, which. effected the desired end in the, most perfect manner, and obtained
provisional protection therefor, dated. July 10, 1855, when it pleased the
Government. to enact a law (18 &.19 Vic., cap. 94, sec. 37,) forbiding the
use of any mills for grinding malt. for brewing other than those, constructed
with plain smooth, metal rollers only. Therefore, in order to accomplish the
end in view as near as may be with the means, the, law now allows me to use,
I construct a mill as follows, reference being, had to the accompanying, Draw-
ings, in which Fig., 1 is an end elevation, showing the cog wheels; Fig. 2 is
afront elevation; Fig. 3 is a section through the line A, B, Fig. 2, and Fig. 4
is the other end elevation, shewing the bearings. and adjusting screws. A is
the frame supporting the working parts of the, mill; B, C, D, E, smooth
rollers; F, supply roller; G, H, are cog wheels, keyd to the shaft of the
roller. E; I is another, cog wheel, keyd to the shaft of the roller D, and
gearing, into the wheel G;. J & K are other cog wheels, keyd to the shaft
of, the roller C, the wheel J gearing into. the wheel H, and the wheel K
gearing into another wheel L, keyd to the shaft of the roller B; and on
the other end of this shaft is fixed a pully M (see Fig. 4), around which
passes a strap N to another pully O, fixed to the shaft of the supply roller
F,.for the purpose of giving it motion. P is a hopper, with a slide Q, for the
purpose of regulating the supply of malt; R are adjusting screws, which bear
against the brasses S of the rollers C; D.. These brasses are provided with

page_text: collars which are on the inner side of the framing, and the ends of the several
rollers bear against them. On each of these adjusting screws is fixed or forged
with it a small toothed wheel T, as shewn in Fig. 2, and between two teeth
of a catch U (fastened to the frame) fits, so as to prevent the action of
rollers moving their bearings out of the position in which they are set.
V, W, Fig. 2 and 3, are two openings of the width of the rollers, for the
purpose of inserting an instrument under each set of rollers, so as to be enabled
to see the condition of the malt as it leaves the said rollers. The mode of
operating with this mill is as follows:-The hopper P is supplied with mȧlt;
and the slide Qmoved so as to allow the required quantity to fall through to
the supply roller F. The necessary gear (not shewn in the Drawing) is to be
attached to the shaft of the roller E, so as to give the mill motion. It is seen
that the rollers C & D will make but one revolution to two of E, and the
roller B one revolution to two of C, thereby giving at the same time a grind-,
ing and crushing motion. The roller B having been put in motion, the strap N
passing over the pullys M, O, gives motion to the supply roller F, and the
malt in the cavity of the roller which is under the opening in the hopper falls
on the roller B.
:
It will be seen, on reference to Fig. 3, that by the peculiar 'construction
of the hopper, as soon as the mill stops the supply of malt is discontinued,
but if it were necessary to stop the supply of malt without stopping the
machinery, the slide Q is to be placed over the opening in the hopper. In
the event of the malt being required to be ground finer or coarser, the set
screws R will have to be turned either to the right or the left, which will
cause the rollers C, D, to move closer or farther from the rollers B, E. In
using this mill I set the upper pair of rollers so close together as to insure
the breaking of every grain of malt, & set the pair below them (which go at
a greater speed) still closer, so' that none of the malt shall come through in
larger particles than common musket gunpowder. I do not find it absolutely
essential to use two pair of rollers for producing the desired result, as a grist
nearly as good can be made with one. pair only when the speed of the face
of one of them is twice that of the other, but not with such economy of time
as with the two pair, and a greater risk of heating is incurred. But when I
use only one pair, I set them as close together as the last pair in the double
mill, & thus produce nearly the same grist, although not in the same time."
With a grist thus prepaired I mash and brew in the ordinary way; but with
the common false bottoms a difficulty arises in draining therefrom, for, owing
to the fine grinding, the goods or grains settle to the bottom of the tun in so
compact a mass as to prevent the perculation of the wort through the ordinary

page_text: false bottom, and the consequence is found in the formation of lactic acid. To
overcome this difficulty I invented and patented an improved false bottom,
dated Jan. 15, 1855, by the use of which a perfect drain is obtained, and a
wort produced perfectly free from lactic acid, and consisting allmost entirely of
glucose in a state of solution.
I do not claim the construction and use of a roller mill with two or more
pair of rolls, as I know such mills have been in use before for various pur-
poses; nor do I claim the construction and use of a roller mill in which the
speed of the face of one roller is greater than that of its fellow, as I know
this has been done before with fluted and other rollers for various purposes;
but what I do claim, and desire to secure by Her Majesty's Royal Letters
Patent, is, the construction and use of a plain smooth metal roller mill for
grinding or crushing malt, consisting of one or more pairs of plain smooth
metal rollers, in which the face of one or more of the rollers should have
a given speed greater than that of its fellow or opposite roller, for the pur-
pose of obtaining a crushing and grinding action at the same time, substan-
tially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Riley, have hereunto set my hand
In witness whereof, I, the said George Riley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-eight day of April, in the year of our Lord
1856.
GEORGE RILEY. (L.S.)