IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR RIDDLING AND WINNOWING OR CLEANING CORN AND OTHER GRAIN
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Moore at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th April
1856.
I, THOMAS MOORE, of Retford, in the County of Nottingham, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR RIDDLING AND WINNOWING OR CLEANING CORN AND OTHER GRAIN,
to be as follows:-
In my improvements I combine the arrangements for thrashing, shaking,
riddling, and winnowing in one machine, placing my improved winnowing
machinery across the back end of the thrashing and riddling machinery, and
I mount the whole upon wheels, where desirable, so that it may be removed
from place to place.
The corn is fed in at top and thrashed by an ordinary thrashing. drum; the
greater portion of the grain falls directly on to my improved riddling machinery;
while the straw is thrown on to a shaking apparatus, inclined upwards towards'
its delivery end, along which it is made to travel in its exit from the machine
after having been divested of its remaining grain, &c. by the action of the
shaking apparatus. The grain falls through the bottom of the shaker on to
an inclined board beneath, along which it returns in an opposite direction to

page_text: that in which the straw travelled, and falls on to a table or board in the central
part of the riddling machinery.
My improved riddling machinery is constructed as follows:-A long inclined
framework extends along and within the machine, the upper end commencing
below the threshing drum and a short distance behind it. This framework is
provided with a long riddle, divided into two parts by a central board, or with
two riddles separated by the central board; a shoe or inclined board is fixed
beneath the first riddle; the board which receives the grain from the shaker is
connected to the framework, and extends above the lower end of the riddle
frame, being inclined in a reverse direction thereto, towards, and terminating a
little above the central board between the riddles. Another board extends
below the lower end of the riddle framework; it is inclined in a reverse
direction thereto, and terminates beyond the centre, where it is prolonged. by a
third riddle, which is over a sieve, to be presently referred to.
The grain first separated falls on to the first or uppermost riddle, and
through it to the inclined shoe beneath it, while the "roughed ' grain is carried
along the top of the riddle to the central board, where it meets the grain
which drops from the straw in the shaking apparatus, and the whole then con-
tinues to travel down the framework of the riddling machinery towards the
lower end, where it comes on to the second riddle, the "cavings" or short
straw being delivered out of the machine at the end, while the grain falls
through the riddle on to the board under it, where it meets the grain from the
first riddle. The whole of the grain then comes on to the third riddle in a
line (or nearly so) with the inclined board, and is there subjected to the action
of a blast from a fan or blowing machine, which separates the chaff and drives
it out of the machine, the grain falling on to the sieve below the riddle, in
which the seeds and extraneous matters are separated from it. I form the
rods which connect the riddle frames to the excentrics which actuate them of
springs, the most elastic part being at the end near the riddles, and connect
rods and riddles rigidly, thus dispensing with the joints ordinarily employed,
and I also use springs for the swing irons. From the sieve the grain passes
into a receptacle, from whence it is lifted by elevators into my improved
winnowing apparatus, represented in section in the annexed Drawing. From
the elevators a the grain falls into a hopper b, and thence into a hummeller or
horner c, consisting of a cylinder d, in which revolves a shaft e, furnished with
blades or arms f, from the further end of which it is expelled through a
weighted valve g, consisting of a board or plate, pivoted at h, and kept at a
suitable angle by means of a lever and weight i. The grain falls on to a
riddle j, where it is subjected to the action of a blast from a fan k, which

page_text: drives the lighter portion towards a shoot 1, whence it is conveyed back into
the first-mentioned riddling machinery to be there treated over again. The
heavier portion of the grain falls on to an inclined screen or sieve m, the larger
separating from the smaller, and running down the screen into a hopper n,
where it is subjected to a second blast from the fan k, which drives the lighter
particles on to a shoot o, where the meet the smaller grain and extraneous
matter which have fallen through the sieve m. Beneath this shoot I fix the
conical or upper part p of a mill (of the description for which I obtained a
Patent, dated 12 October 1855), and I deliver the grain through the end of
the shoot o, or I allow it to fall into the conical or upper part of the mill q,
or a portion only may be allowed to enter the mill. The heavier portion of
the grain in the hopper n falls into another shoot r, and is thence delivered
from the machine into a sack or other receiver.