A PORTABLE Apparatus FOR TURNING, AIRING, AND SCREENING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN, WHICH MACHINE IS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE FOR THE REMOVAL OF DUST AND WEEVILS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Gittins, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "A PORTABLE Apparatus
FOR TURNING, AIRING, AND SCREENING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN, WHICH
MACHINE IS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE FOR THE REMOVAL OF DUST AND
WEEVILS,"
Sealed the 5th May 1871, and dated the 10th November 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Gittins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th November 1870.
I, WILLIAM HENRY GITTINS, of Liverpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A
PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR TURNING, AIRING, AND SCREENING WHEAT AND OTHER
GRAIN, WHICH MACHINE IS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE FOR THE REMOVAL OF DUST
AND WEEVILS," to be as follows (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is the production and use of a simple and
portable machine for facilitating the turning over, curing, or fanning and

page_text: screening wheat and other grain, and will be found particularly useful in
removing weevils, dust, and other extraneous matter.
A machine constructed according to this Invention may consist of
a suitable wood or metal framework which carries the several parts
forming the machine, the whole being mounted on small wheels or
rollers which turn on swivilling bearings, to enable the machine to be
rolled in any required direction. One end of the travelling carriage
frame is fitted with a pair of transverse parallel revolving shafts, one
of which is mounted in suitable bearings on each side of the frame near
to the bottom, and the other about, say, six feet above. The upper of
these transverse shafts is surrounded by a casing of wood or other
suitable material attached thereto, so as to form a square axle between
the upright corner standards of the frame, the four flat faces of which
are about equal in width to the length of a series of the long links of
two or more endless chains which work over the upper and lower shafts.
The lower shaft is formed triangular in place of square, having each of
the three faces equal in width and length to three of the square faces on
the upper shaft. In place of the endless chains endless bands may be
used. To these endless bands or chains are fitted a series of elevator
buckets for lifting the grain to be acted upon. When a flexible band is
used in place of long link chains, it is preferred to divide the bands
alternately into rigid and flexible parts, the elevator buckets or scoops
being attached in the latter case to the band, through or by short longi-
tudinal rigid plates placed sufficiently apart to allow the flexible portion
of the band to act as a series of joints between the ends of the several
rigid plates. A little below the point where the elevators discharge
their contents is fitted a transverse reciprocating platform or table,
which may be mounted on antifriction rollers or grooved pulleys
working on rails or slides on the longitudinal sides of the frame, the
platform being obliquely deflected from the edge nearest to the elevator
buckets. The reciprocating motion may be imparted by means of cambs
on the lower transverse shaft referred to, or in any other convenient
The grain as discharged from the elevators is received on the
reciprocating platform, when it slides down the incline plane on to a
rectangular screen, which is formed chiefly of longitudinal wires, which
-form a series of shallow steps, by means of the longitudinal wires being
carried from the lower side of one of the cross bars to the upper side of
the next. The rectangular screen is mounted obliquely to the horizon,
manner.

page_text: being jointed at the lower or outer end to the sides of the frame, and
near the upper end on each side is provided with a transverse stop or
arm resting loosely on the upper edges of the sides of the frame. The
upper end of the screen is elevated by means of a vertical reciprocating
rod on each side, and in working in guide eyes on the sides of the frame,
which rods are actuated by a pin wheel on each end of a transverse
revolving shaft, which is used to carry a number of fan blades, and is
driven from one of the elevator driving shafts through an endless band:
The vertical reciprocating side rods being elevated by the studs on the
pin wheels lift up the screen until the vertical rods escape off the stud
pin by which it has been elevated, allowing the screen to fall by its own
gravity, causing the side arms to strike the sides of the frame of the
machine, thereby imparting the required mechanical action for causing
the dust or weevils to pass through the screen, where they fall into a tray
or box placed underneath. The fan, the shaft of which has its bearings
on each side of the frame, and carries the pin wheels for operating the
screen, is placed under the box or tray, underneath the screen, and
is or may be driven through an endless band working over a pulley
on either of the transverse shafts carrying the elevators, or in any
other convenient manner. Below the elevators and in rear thereof near
to the bottom of the frame, and in rear thereof near to the bottom
of the frame, there is a transverse horizontal platform or table, which
reciprocates on and within guides formed on the inner sides of the
lower portion of the frame. The under side of this reciprocating
platform is provided with brushes or vertical strips of vulcanized india-
rubber, or slips of india rubber and brushes combined.
The recipro-
cating motion may be given by an eccentric motion, or motions mounted
on convenient driving or driven shafts, or in any other convenient
manner. The object of this reciprocating table is to push forward any
grain left by the elevators as the machine advances. Each side of the
machine is provided with a creeper or propelling leg having a foot,
which consists of an oblique bar, to the lower end of which is attached
a flat foot plate, roughened or provided with a number of points on the
sole or under surface. The upper end of the bar is connected to and
actuated by a camb, eccentric, or crank on the first driving shaft which
carries a cog wheel on each side of the machine gearing into spur wheels
keyed on to the outer ends of the lower transverse shaft, round which
the endless elevator bands travel. Motion may be given to the machine
by crank handles on the first driving shaft, or by direct steam or other

page_text: motive-power engine carried on the frame of the machine, or from a
stationary engine through suitable driving gear. When the machine is
to be driven by hand power it is preferred to apply a fly wheel on each
. end of the first motion driving shaft.
At
The action of the machine is as follows:-On the face of the machine
'carrying the elevating buckets being presented to the bulk of grain to
:be operated upon the machine is set in motion, when the grain in front
.of the machine is lifted in the elevator buckets and discharged on to the
oblique reciprocating table described, whence it passes on to the sloping
screen, where it is thoroughly shaken in its passage down, causing the
dust, weevils, and other impurities to pass through the screen and be
deposited in the receiver below. The grain after passing over the screen
falls on to the floor, and during its descent is thoroughly aired by the
action of the fan situated beneath the receiver below the screen.
each rotation of the first driving shaft the whole machine is advanced
by the thrust of the cranks, cambs, or their mechanical equivalents
acting on the upper ends of the oblique side leg rods which have their
fulcrum during the thrust on the floor of the room, and are prevented
slipping by the roughened or studded soles of the foot pieces. The
amount of travel at each thrust of the side creepers may be regulated
by the length of the stroke of the crank or travel of the eccentric, or
perhaps more conveniently by a transverse horizontal arm or stud, on
which may be mounted an antifriction pulley on which the lower portion
of the arm may rest during the portion of the stroke. This pulley or
.transverse arm being so arranged as to be capable of being readily
elevated or depressed, so that the amount of advance of the machine at
each thrust of the foot may be regulated to the greatest nicety, and
varied as circumstances may require.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Gittins in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY GITTINS, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Gittins, Her special
licence that I, the said William Henry Gittins, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry Gittins,
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
"A PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR TURNING, AIRING, AND SCREENING WHEAT AND
OTHER GRAIN, WHICH MACHINE IS PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE FOR THE REMOVAL OF
DUST AND WEEVILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Henry Gittins, my executor or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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.
KNOW NOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Gittins, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The object of this my said Invention is the production and use of a
simple and portable machine for facilitating the turning over, airing or
fanning, and screening wheat or other grain, and will be found par-
ticularly useful in removing weevils, dust, and other extraneous matter
from the grain operated upon.
A machine constructed according to this my said Invention may
consist of a suitable wood or metal framework, which carries the several
parts forming the machine, the whole being mounted on small wheels or
rollers, which may turn on swivelling or fixed bearings to enable the
machine to be rolled in any required direction, one end of the travelling
carriage frame I fit with a pair of transverse parallel revolving shafts,
one of which is mounted in suitable bearings on each side of the frame,
near to the bottom, and the other about, say, six feet above. These
transverse shafts I surround with wood or other suitable material
attached thereto, so as to form enlarged axles between the upright

page_text: or in
corner standards of the frame, having by preference, flat surfaces and
teeth which coincide and take into the links of two or more endless
chains, which work over the upper and lower shafts. In place of
the endless chains, endless bands may be used; to these endless bands
or chains I fit a series of elevator buckets, which I prefer should be open
at the ends, for lifting the grain to be acted upon. When a flexible
band is used in place of the flat linked chains, I prefer to divide the
bands alternately into rigid or flexible parts, the elevator buckets or
scoops being attached, in the latter case, to the band through or by
short longitudinal rigid plates placed sufficiently apart to allow the
flexible portion of the band to act as a series of joints between the ends
of the several rigid plates. In some cases a little below the point where
the elevators discharge their contents, I fit a transverse reciprocating.
platform or table, which may be mounted on antifriction rollers or
grooved pulleys working on rails or slides on the longitudinal sides of
the frame, the platform being obliquely deflected from the edge nearest
to the elevator buckets. The reciprocating motion may be imparted by
means of cambs on the lower transverse shaft referred to, any other
convenient manner. The grain as discharged from the elevators is
received on the reciprocating platform when such is used, when it
slides down the inclined plane on to a rectangular screen, which I prefer
to form chiefly of longitudinal wires with a series of shallow steps, by
means of the longitudinal wires being carried from the lower side of one
of the cross bars to the upper side of the next. The rectangular screen
is mounted obliquely to the horizon, being jointed at the lower or outer
end to the sides of the frame; and near the upper end on each side is
provided a transverse stop or arm resting loosely on the upper edges of
the sides of the frame. The upper end of the screen I elevate by means
of a vertical reciprocating rod on each side, and working in guide eyes
on the sides of the frame, which rods are actuated by a pin wheel on
each end of a transverse revolving shaft, which is used to carry a
number of fan blades, and is driven from one of the elevator driving.
shafts through an endless band. The vertical reciprocating side rods
being elevated by the studs on the pin wheels, lift up the screen until
the vertical rods escape off the stud pin by which it has been elevated,
allowing the screen to fall by its own gravity, causing the side arms to
strike the sides of the frame of the machine, thereby imparting the
required mechanical action for causing the dust or weevils to pass
through the screen, where they fall into a tray or box placed underneath.
.

page_text: The fan, the shaft of which has its bearings on each side of the frame,
and carries the pin wheels for operating the screen, I place under the
box or tray underneath the screen; and is or may be driven through an
endless band working over a pulley on either of the transverse shafts
carrying the elevators, or in any other convenient manner. In some
cases, below the elevators and in rear thereof, near to the bottom of the
frame, I fit a transverse horizontal platform or table, which reciprocates
on and within guides formed on the inner sides of the lower portion of
the frame; the under side of this reciprocating platform I prefer to
provide with brushes or vertical strips of vulcanized india-rubber or
slips of india-rubber and brushes combined. The reciprocating motion
may be given by an eccentric motion or motions mounted on convenient
driving or driven shafts, or in any other convenient manner. The object
of this reciprocating table is to push forward any grain left by the
elevators as the machine advances. Each side of the machine I provide
with a creeper or propelling leg having a foot, which consists of an
oblique bar, to the lower end of which is attached a flat foot plate,
roughened or provided with a number of points on the sole or under
surface; the upper end of the bar is connected to and actuated by a
camb or eccentric crank on the first driving shaft, which carries a cog
wheel on each side of the machine, gearing into spur wheels keyed on to
the outer ends of the lower transverse shaft, round which the endless
elevator bands travel, or the machine may be moved by worm shaft and
pinion motion in any other convenient manner.
Motion may be given to the machine by crank handles on the first
driving shaft, or by direct steam or other motive-power engine carried on
the frame of the machine, or from a stationary engine through suitable
driving gear. When the machine is to be driven by hand power I prefer
to apply a fly wheel on each end of the first motion driving shaft.
The action of this modification of my improved machine is as
follows: On the face of the machine carrying the elevating buckets,
being presented to the bulk of the grain to be operated on and lying on
the granary floor, the machine is set in motion, when the grain in front
of the machine is lifted in the elevator buckets and discharged on to the
oblique reciprocating table described, whence it passes on to the slooping
screen, where it is thoroughly shaken in its passage down, causing the
dust, weevils, and other impurities to pass through the screen and be
-deposited in the receiver below. The grain after passing over the

page_text: screen falls on to the floor, and during its descent is thoroughly aired by
the action of the fan situated beneath the receiver below the screen. At
each rotation of the first driving shaft, the whole machine is advanced
by the thrust of the cranks, cambs, or their mechanical equivalents,
acting on the upper ends of the oblique side leg rods, which have their
"fulcrum" during the thrust on the floor of the room, and are pre-
vented slipping by the roughened or studded soles of the foot pieces.
The amount of travel at each thrust of the side creepers may be regulated
by the length of the stroke of the crank or travel of the eccentric, or
perhaps more conveniently by a transverse horizontal arm or stud, on
which may be mounted an anti-friction pulley, on which the lower
portion of the arm may rest during a portion of the stroke. This pulley
or transverse arm being so arranged as to be capable of being readily
elevated or depressed, so that the amount of advance of the machine at
each thrust of the foot may be regulated to the greatest nicety, and
varied as circumstances may require.
This arrangement of machine can be modified and even simplified
in construction without departing from my Invention, and that the
same may be the more readily seen and understood, I have hereunto
annexed Drawings illustrating so much of another modification of
my improved machine, as will enable practical persons to fully under-
stand the nature of the Invention. Like letters and figures marked on
the Drawings being used to denote similar parts.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of one modification of my improved
portable apparatus for turning, airing, and screening wheat, and other
granular substances, and Figure 2 is a vertical, partial, sectional, side
elevation of the same.
Figure 3 is a partial plan shewing the means used in this modification
of my Invention for giving the machine a reciprocating motion in front
of the bulk of grain when operating thereon.
Figure 4 is a partial plan of a chain which I have found by experiment
to answer well for forming the endless bands carrying the elevators.
A, the rigid frame of the machine; B, grain on the floor to be operated
on; C, is a shoe rigidly attached to the frame of the machine and
through which work D, the grain elevators; which are attached by
preference open ended and attached to E, the endless bands (see en-
larged at Figure 4) which work over F and F', chain wheels or barrels,

page_text: the upper one of which is seen formed with pin teeth which take into the
horizontal links of the endless chains (partially shewn by Figure 4). The
lower barrel may also be fitted with pin teeth; G, longitudinal inclined
sieve on to which the grain is discharged from elevators D, and which is
pivoted at "g" and jogged or "shaken out" by the action of H a
camb, one of which is placed on the transverse shaft "h," so as to act on
the other side of the sieve from I, receiver for the weevils, dust, or other
extraneous matters which pass through the sieve; K, a fan placed below
I, driven by the fly wheel M, through a driving strap seen in dotted line
in Figure 2, and which acts on the grain in its descent from the sieve G
to the ground; L, first driving shaft one end of which is seen carrying
M a fly or driving wheel from which springs N a driving handle;
O, pulley carrying the driving strap which actuates the joggler H (seen
in dotted line at Figure 2); P and P' represent two pairs of wheels on
which the machine is mounted for travelling backward and forward
parallel to the slope of the grain, and which are actuated by gearing
which will be fully understood by reference to Figures 2 and 3; Q,
jaw bearings, into which is fitted R a camb shaft to each end of which is
keyed or otherwise secured S, a pair of traverse wheels at right angles
to the pair of wheels P and P¹; T (Figure 4) is a plan of rectangular
links, coupled together by U, band links, which form the chains for
making the endless bands to which the elevators D are attached.
When it is desired to bring this my last described modification into
practical working the operator has simply to elevate the machine on the
pair of wheels (S) by means of a lever attached to the axle, and rolling
the apparatus forward to one end of the bulk to be operated upon, then
letting down the machine so as to rest on the two pairs of wheels P
and P', then taking his place at the driving handle (N) on the fly wheel
he commences to turn it, the machine then advances sidewise gathering
up the grain as it progresses on to the shoe plate (C) from which it is
raised and carried up by the elevators (D) and discharged on to the
screen (G) from which it slides to the floor or into a receptacle placed to
receive the same below the lower edge of the screen, that it may have
the benefit of the fan blast.
When the machine has arrived at the end of the bulk, the operator
elevates it on the wheels (S) and advances it the required distance
forward, he then lets it down on to the pair of wheels P and P' reversing
the direction of the travel as will be readily seen by Figure 3.

page_text: Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said
Invention, and the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise detailed relative dimensions or proportions
of the several parts of the apparatus herein-before described and set forth
as it will be clearly seen that the same may be considerably varied
without departing from the Invention, but what I claim is,— .
First. A portable machine for gathering, elevating, screening, and
airing, constructed and operated, substantially in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before described illustrated, and set forth.
Secondly. Causing the machine to travel laterally, substantially in
the manner and for the purposes herein-before described and set forth..
Thirdly. Elevating the machine on a pair of rollers or wheels enabling
the machine to be slightly elevated and moved thereon in any required
direction, substantially in the manner and for the p purposes specified.
And, lastly. The general form, arrangements, and combination of the
several parts of the apparatus, substantially in the manner and for the
purposes herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Gittins, have here-
unto set my hand and affixed my seal, this Ninth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-one.
WILLIAM HENRY (L.S.) GITTINS.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
of 44, Castle Street,
Liverpool.