IMPROVEMENTS IN ADJUSTABLE RIDDLES OR SIEVES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THRASHING AND WINNOWING MACHINES.
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Page, of the Parade, Epsom, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ADJUSTABLE RIDDLES OR SIEVES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THRASHING AND
WINNOWING MACHINES.'
"
Sealed the 14th July 1871, and dated the 27th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Page at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th April 1871.
I, WILLIAM PAGE, of the Parade, Epsom, in the County of Surrey,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN ADJUSTABLE RIDDLES OR SIEVES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THRASHING
AND WINNOWING MACHINES," to be as follows:―
The said Invention is applicable to riddles or sieves for sifting,
screening, or separating any materials that have to be so treated, but
is chiefly designed for use in machines for thrashing and winnowing
wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, tares, and other grain or seed. These
machines as commonly constructed are provided with a number of
riddles or sieves of different degrees of fineness, which riddles have to

page_text: be changed according to the kind of grain or seed to be screened or
sifted. About twelve or fifteen and sometimes more of these riddles
or sieves are usually supplied with each machine, and consequently they
form a considerable item in the cost of the same. They are moreover
very inconvenient with regard to their carriage from place to place, as
the entire number has to be taken with the machine, and through the
carelessness of labourers or others employed they are very liable to
injury while being changed, or when removed from the machine.
By my Invention I obviate all of these difficulties, and provide the
machine with riddles which may be adapted to grain or seed of all kinds
and sizes without removing them from the machine, and I effect thereby
a great reduction in the cost of the machinc, and increase the durability
of the same. I construct each of the riddles with two sieves or screens
placed close together, one above the other. These sieves are formed of
plate iron or steel or other suitable material perforated with round or
square holes, or oblong apertures or slots, at equal distances apart in
both plates, or they may be made with apèrtures extending entirely
across the sieves. One of these perforated plates is fixed in a frame
which may be attached to the vibrating screen frame of the machine,
or may form a part of the same. The other plate is made to slide in
grooves at the sides of the frame, and is provided with screws or other
devices whereby it may be adjusted. By sliding or adjusting one of the
perforated plates while the other is stationary I can open the apertures
to the full size of the holes or perforations in the plates, or I can
completely close the same, and therefore I can make the said apertures
of any desired size, and can thereby adapt the riddles to grain or seed
of any size or kind. I prefer to have the top plate fixed and the bottom
plate moveable, and the holes or apertures in the top plate should be
countersunk or enlarged towards the upper surface of the plate.
It is customary to use two or three riddles, one below the other, in the
ordinary process of thrashing or winnowing wheat and other grain, and
it will be necessary to do the same with my improved adjustable riddles
if the holes, slots, or perforations therein are all of the same size, but I
may, if desired, make the said riddles with different sized holes or slots,
that is to say, I may make a portion at the upper end of the riddle with
small apertures, the middle portion with larger apertures, and the lower
portion with still larger apertures. By this means I am enabled to screen
or separate several different kinds or sizes of grain or seed with only one

page_text: riddle, and can accomplish thereby all that can be effected by the adjus-
table wire screens now in use, which are much more costly than my
improved riddles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Page in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PAGE, of the Parado, Epsom, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Page, Her special
licence that I, the said William Page, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Page, my exccutors,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ADJUSTABLE RIDDLES OR SLEVES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THRASHING AND WINNOWING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Page, 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 William Page,, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing:
forming a part of this Specification :—
The said Invention is applicable to the construction of riddles, screens,.
or sieves for sifting, screening, or separating, any materials that have to.

page_text: be so treated, but is chiefly designed for use in machines for thrashing
and winnowing wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, tarcs, and other grain
or seed. And as these substances are nearly all different in size, the
machines have to be provided with a number of riddles or screens of
different degrees of fineness, and also have to be so constructed that i
cach sieve can be taken out and replaced by another more or less fine
whenever a different kind or quality of grain or seed is to be screened
or sifted. This necessity of changing the screens often causes great
delay, and in some cases through want of attention or otherwise the
proper screen is not used, and the screening or sifting is therefore
imperfectly performed. About twelve or fifteen of these riddles or
screens are usually supplied with each machinc, and consequently
Moreover,
they form an important item in the cost of the same.
as all of them have to be carried with the machine they render the
same less convenient of removal from place to place, and through
the carelessness of labourers or others employed they are very liable
to injury in being taken out of or placed in the machine, or through
being thrown down or otherwise improperly treated, and the machine
may thereby be rendered temporarily inoperative, and great loss
occasioned to the proprietor. The same or similar objections apply
though in a lesser degree to ordinary screens or riddles used in other
machines and operations where it is necessary to change them to suit
different kinds or qualities of materials.
By my Invention I obviate all of these difficulties, and provide a
riddle or sieve which is designed to be permanently fixed in a thrashing
or winnowing machine, and which by a simple adjustment is adapted
to grain or seed of all kinds and sizes without removing it from the
machine, and which may also be found very advantageous for screening
coals, gravel, and other mineral substances, and in all cases where it
has heretofore been necessary or desirable to employ a series or number
of various degrees of fineness, the same being changed whenever sub-
stances of a different kind or quality had to be screened thereby. And
I thus effect a great reduction in the cost of the machine or apparatus
wherein the screens are used, and simplify and accelerate the working of
the same.
I effect the object of my Invention by constructing the riddle or
screen with two sieves formed of perforated plates placed close together
and made adjustable one upon the other, so that the size of the holes or

page_text: perforations in the two plates can be brought more or less directly
opposite cach other, and the passages for the grain or other materials
being screened or sifted thereby increased or diminished.
The accompanying Drawing illustrates the manner in which I carry
my Invention into practice.
Figure 1 is a plan of one of the said improved adjustable riddles,
screens, or sieves; Figure 2 is a transverse section on the line x, x,
Figure 1; Figures 3 and 4 are longitudinal sections drawn to an enlarged
scale on the line y, y, Figure 1, and illustrating the manner of adjusting
the sieves; Figure 4 is a longitudinal section on the line z, z, Figure 1,
drawn to an enlarged scale; Figure 5 is an external view of a sieve or
screen constructed according to a modification of my Invention hercin-
after described; Figure 6 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 7 a
transverse section of the same. Like letters indicate the same parts
throughout the Drawing.
The riddle or screen shown in Figure 1 has two bottoms, or a double
bottom formed of two sieves or perforated plates a, b, placed close
together one above the other. These sieves are formed of thin sheet
metal, such as iron, steel, brass, copper, zinc, or of other suitable
material, and are perforated with holes a', ', as close together as prac-
ticable. I prefer that these holes should be circular, as shown, but they
may be square, oblong, oval, or triangular, or they may be long slots or
apertures extending entirely across the sieve. One of these perforated
plates or sieves a has its edges bent over to form grooves a³ for the other
sieve b to slide in, as clearly shown in Figure 2; and it is also provided
with bars a³ (see Figure 4") to further support the adjustable or sliding
part or sieve. Or a separate frame, constructed in any suitable manner
for supporting and guiding one part or sieve upon the other, may be
attached to the screen. The plate 6 is fitted to slide freely in the
O grooves a² at the sides of the plate a, or in the separate frame attached
thereto, so that it may be adjusted to any required position, and by this
adjustment of one sieve or part of the riddle or screen upon the other
I accomplish the object of the peculiar construction of my improved
riddle or screen, viz., the variation in the area of the passages, whereby
5 I am enabled to adapt one riddle or screen to any kind or quality of
grain or other substance, that is to say, the effective or real area of each
aperture of the sieve being the space between the points 1, 2, in the
holes a', 6', by adjusting the two parts of the screen so that these points

page_text: are brought nearer together or further apart I obviously contract or
enlarge the said apertures. For example, if the sieves or plates a, b, are
set in the position shown in Figure 3, where the holes in both plates
arc opposite each other, the apertures are opened to their full size, and
the riddle or screen will then be adapted for sifting or separating very
coarse materials; but if the plates are adjusted as shewn in Figure 4 the
holes in one plate are nearly covered by the solid portions of the other
plate, and the riddle is then adapted for sifting or separating very fino
materials; or the plates may be set in any intermediate position to suit
grain or other materials of any degree of fineness. I have shown the
riddle or screen provided with a screw d for adjusting the sieves or
plates, the said screw being passed through the lug e on the plate a
into the lug on the other plate, which is tapped to secure the screw.
But instead of this screw I may provide the screen with a lever, a small
excentric, or cam, or any other convenient means of adjustinent. The
holes or apertures in both the upper and lower plates should be counter-
sunk, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, to allow the grain or other substance
to enter and pass through them freely in whatever position the sieve
may be placed.
By referring to Figure 1 it will be seen that the holes in the bottoms
or plates a, b, are not all of the same size, those at one end being small,
tliose in the middle portion larger, and those in the other end still
larger. This construction of the riddle or screen is more especially
designed for threshing or winnowing machines, or other machines.
wherein grain or seed is screened or sifted. The riddle or screen is
intended to be placed in an inclined position, the portion with the small
holes being the highest. By thus having the holes of different sizes I
am enabled to separate different kinds or sizes of grain or seed from
each other without adjusting the riddle or screen, and can accomplish
thereby all that can be effected by the adjustable wire screens now in use
for similar purposes, and which are much more costly than my improved
riddles or screens. I, however, wish it distinctly understood that instead
of making the sieves with holes of different sizes I may make the said
holes all of one size, and I also wish it understood that although in
the Drawing I have only shewn the two plates or sieves adjustable
lengthwise they may be made to adjust laterally if desired.
In the modification of my Invention illustrated in Figures 5, 6, and 7
the two parts of the riddle or screen are made cylindrical, one per-

page_text: forated cylinder g being fitted within the other perforated cylinder h.
These cylinders are preferably formed of thin plates or sheets of metal,
and perforated in the same manner as the flat plates a, b, Figures 1 to 4.
The outer cylinder h is fitted to slide telescopically upon the cylinder g
to effect the enlargement or diminution of the holes or apertures a², b';
and this adjustment of the said cylinders is effected by the screw d, or
by any other suitable contrivance as above described. is a small
key or feather for preventing the turning of one cylinder within the
other. Or, if preferred, the outer cylinder / may be made to adjust by
giving it a partial rotation upon the inner cylinder to open or close
the said holes or apertures. The holes in this cylindrical screen or drum
may be of different sizes, as in Figures 5 and 6, or all of one size. The
said drum as shewn is intended to be supported by its journals i in
bearings in a thrashing machine, and to be rotated by the pinion j,
which is to be geared with a wheel or pinion on one of the shafts of
the said machine. The large inner screw or worm k, which is fixed in
the inner cylinder and revolves with the drum, feeds the grain or seed
through the drum as the same revolves.
Having thus fully described my said Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it understood that I claim,
a riddle or sieve constructed with two parts, which are perforated, fitted
together, and adjustable in such a manner that by moving one part
upon the other the area of the apertures through the riddle or sieve is
increased or diminished, and adapted to sifting or screening different
kinds or qualities of grain or other materials, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Page, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
W. ROB. LAKE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
WILLIAM PAGE. (L.S.)

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