IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING FLOUR a
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Phillips Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th January 1883. A com-
munication to me from Louis William Pruss a person resident at Minneapolis,
Hennepin county, in the state of Minnesota, United States of America
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, Fel. Inst. P.A. of the Liverpool and London
Agency for Foreign Patent Solicitors 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the county of
Lancaster Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING FLOUR
a communication to me from Louis William Pruss a person resident at Minneapolis,
Hennepin county, in the state of Minnesota, United States of America
"
This invention relates to that class of machines variously denominated as
centrifugal-reels bran-dusters and four-dressers wherein a revolving reel of
cylindrical or polygonal form is combined with a series of internal revolving blades
or beaters extending lengthwise thereof
The invention relates to improvements in the construction of the reel, the beaters
the feed mechanism and the driving gear and also in means for producing a draft
through the reel from the tail toward the head in an adjustable division board and
in various details of construction.
An external body or chest contains at the top a horizontal rotating reel, and
These
beaters and at the bottom two screw conveyors located one above the other.
parts are of the same general character as in existing machines, differing only in those
matters of construction hereinafter pointed out. The reel is provided as usual with
longitudinal ribs to sustain the bolting cloth or other screening material. At the
head of the reel the ribs are each bolted fast at the end within an angular socket
plate which is in turu bolted fast to the inner face of a circular disc or plate
forming the end or head proper of the reel. The socket plates have a wide bearing
on the end plate and a long bearing on the ribs, so that a firm and rigid connection
is maintained between the head and ribs and the reel thus prevented from twisting
when power is applied at the head to cause its rotation
The disc is provided at the centre with a feed opening and with a tubular
journal or shaft the latter connected with the body of the plate by arms which
span the feed opening At their lower ends and at the middle the ribs are
sustained by means of radial arms or spokes the outer ends of which bear forked

page_text: heads in which the ribs are bolted fast The arms at the end of the reel are seated
firmly in a central hub having a tubular journal by which the tail of the reel is
sustained
The arms at the middle of the reel are seated in a wooden hub sustained by the
central beater shaft to be hereinafter described whereby the reel is supported at
the centre and prevented from sagging. The wooden hub is encircled by a metal
strengthening band and its arms or spokes are braced and held in position by
means of a metal ring which encircles them midway of their length. Constructed
as above the reel is light, strong and cheap and adapted to run without vibration
and without danger of losing its shape Tubular reel journals are seated in bridge
trees which also give independent support to the beater shaft
The supporting shaft of the rotary beaters is extended loosely through the
hollow journals of the reel and provided within the latter with four hubs each
carrying a series of radial spokes bearing on their outer ends metal blocks or heads
having inclined faces to which the beaters or blades are bolted. These heads are
bored out to receive the spokes and are secured by set screws which admit of their
being turned on the spokes and also of their being adjusted end wise thereon in
order to move the beaters bodily to and from the inner surface of the reel as may
be required. The spoke sustaining hubs are adapted to rotate independently on
the shaft and are secured by set screws or equivalent fastening devices. This
admits of the beaters or blades being adjusted to stand longitudinally in line with
the axis of rotation or at any desired angle or obliquity. By thus changing the
obliquity or spiral pitch of the beaters the meal may be caused to traverse the
length of the screen with greater or less speed as may be demanded. It is to be
noted in this connection that the last mentioned adjustment is independent of the
radial adjustment and that the latter may be effected without changing the radial
inclination of the beaters The machine contains two sets or series of beaters one
in each end with sufficient space between the two series to admit the spokes which
sustain the middle of the reel. This construction is advisable in long machines
but in short machines the central reel supports may be omitted and the beaters
extended the entire length of the reel.
For the purpose of effectively removing the adhering flour et-cetera from the
husk and brau each beater is provided at the outer side with a sheet metal plate
having in its outer edge a series of transverse slits or indentations. These slits
divide the outer edge of the sheet into numerous small blades or arms. In applying
⚫ these plates care is taken to so arrange them that the slits in one will stand in the
same plane of rotation as the solid portion of the next. In this way the material
is subjected alternately to the action of the flat beating faces and to the thin edges
of the slits through which it passes.
In machines of this class as hitherto constructed a draft or air current exists
when they are in action from the head toward the tail. This draft is objectionable
in that it causes a portion of the fine flour to be carried out of the reel with the
tailings To avoid this trouble I mount within the reel on the beater shaft a series
of fans adapted to produce an air current through the interior of the reel from
the tail toward the head, this blast serving to retard the movement of the fine
flour and thus cause the same to pass through the bolting cloth. The fans may be
constructed and attached in any suitable manner but it is preferred to make them
of sheet metal and to secure them by set screws. The number of fans may be
increased or diminished at will
In
The conveyors in the base of the machine are arranged one above the other and
separated by a series of slides or return boards in the ordinary manner.
machines as usually made much difficulty is experienced in securing the proper
separation and gradation of the material falling through the reel for the reason
that the air-currents and the inclined sides of the body cause the material to
descend indirectly and in irregular paths The trouble in this regard is particularly
great in machines having the reel provided with cloth graded in respect to its
fineness from the head to the tail

page_text: To avoid this trouble the machine is provided with one or more upright laterally
adjustable division boards or "speck heads" extending downward beneath the reel
and serving to separate the material which descends on one side from that which
falls on the other This division board may be constructed applied and adjusted
in any suitable manner but the preferred construction is that wherein the board
made in separable sections to facilitate its insertion is adapted to encircle the reel
and sustained by two horizontal adjusting screws located in opposite sides of the
machine The ends of the screws are extended outside of the body and provided
with hand wheels united by an endless chain whereby the two screws are caused
to operate in unison By means of the screws the board may be adjusted lengthwise
of the reel and caused to effect the separation at any desired point. As a means
of sustaining the board in its upright position inclined braces are secured to its
face and to nuts or guides mounted on the screws When required two or more
independently movable boards may be employed.
The bridge trees by which the reel journals and beater shaft are independently
sustained are formed with projecting journals or trunnions at their ends which are
seated in rigid arms or brackets bolted to the head of the machine. Screws seated
in the the brackets, bear on the tree on opposite sides of the trunnions and serve
as a means of accurately adjusting and firmly securing the tree so that both the
journal and the shaft will run freely therein. The bridge trees at the two ends of
the machine may be alike. In place of the screws wedges or other equivalent
means of adjustment may be employed.
To deliver the meal into the reel a feed hopper is placed on the outside of the
body its lower end encircling the feed opening in the head of the machine The
tubular journal of the reel passes through the hopper and has secured upon it a
worm or screw by which the meal is delivered into the machine The attachment
of this worm to the tubular reel journal instead of to the rapidly rotating beater-
shaft is advantageous for various reasons
In other machines trouble is experienced from the entrance of dough balls and
foreign matters injurious to the bolting cloth and also because of the mass
accumulating and compacting in and upon the feed screw. All of these troubles
are avoided by the employment of a primary reciprocating screw of coarse mesh
arranged in the feed hopper above the feed screw The screen is sustained by
swinging links. At one end it is connected with the hopper by a flexible sheet
and at the other end has a metallic plate extended through a slit in the side of the
hopper The sheet and plate serve jointly to prevent the meal from passing over
the ends of the screen. The screen serves not only to retain all coarse and foreign
matters but to loosen and disintegrate the material and in a measure to relieve
the feed screw from the weight of the mass so that the material will enter the reel
under the conditions most favourable to its treatment
The screen may be actuated in any suitable manner but a pitman connected
with a crank is preferred The shaft of this crank is mounted in a bearing on the
bridge-tree and is provided with a pulley driven by a belt from a larger pulley on
the journal of the reel.
To impart rotary motion to the beater shaft and reel a large sprocket wheel is
attached to the journal of the reel and a smaller wheel attached to the beater shaft.
Beneath the above named pulleys two corresponding pulleys are secured to a
horizontal shaft. The wheel of the beater shaft is connected by an endless chain
or belt with the lower pulley while the pulley of the reel is connected in like
manner by chain with the lower pulley The motive power is applied primarily to
the beater shaft and motion is transmitted therefrom through the pulleys and
chains to the reel. The two driving chains are made of equal length This being
permitted by giving one pair of cooperating pulleys a mean diameter equal to that
of the second pair. This arrangement is advantageous in that it admits of the
lower pulleys being raised and lowered alike to control the tension of the chains
with the certainty that both chains will be affected to the same extent
In other words it permits the two chains to be maintained at a uniform tension

page_text: by giving a vertical adjustment to the lower shaft on which the pulleys are mounted.
Again the arrangement is advantageous that it admits of the pulleys being changed
or or replaced by others adapted to give different relative speeds to the reel and
beaters without interfering with the action of the adjusting devices The only
requirement is that the two pulleys united by the one chain shall have the same
mean diameter as those united by the other it being immaterial so long as this
relation is maintained what the sizes of the individual pulleys may be
As before stated the tension of the chains is controlled by raising and lowering
the shaft For the purpose of permitting this adjustment the shaft is mounted in
bearings formed on a plate which is adjustably connected by bolts to a bracket
bolted rigidly to the frame The bolts are fastened to the bracket and extended
upward through the corners of the bearing plate and are provided with nuts both
above and below the same. This permits the plate to be raised lowered and rocked
edgewise as may be required.