IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING OR FOR SEPARATING THE KERNEL FROM THE SHELL OF COTTON SEEDS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING OR FOR SEPARATING THE KERNEL FROM THE
SHELL OF COTTON SEEDS."-A communication from abroad by Edmond
Paul Henri Gondouin, of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th December 1864.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DECORTICATING OR FOR SEPARATING THE KERNEL.
FROM THE SHELL OF COTTON SEEDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing a machine with two rasping surfaces,.
one or both of which is or are made to move as hereafter described. By the
passage of the seed between these surfaces the tearing off, removal, or decor-
tication of the envelope from the kernel is effected. The rasping, striated, or
toothed surfaces may be plain, concave, or convex.
The motion imparted to
one or both of them may be continuous, circular, or alternating rectilinear.
By way of illustrating this Invention I proceed to describe one of these
machines in which the rasping surfaces and the motion communicated are

page_text: circular. I place in a frame properly supported a metal cylinder pierced with
numerous holes from the outer towards the inner side, so as to form a
rasping surface. This oylinder is placed at a slight angle from a horizontal line.
I place a second cylinder within that just described, but with the rasping
surface formed on the outside; the inner is placed at a greater inclination
than the outer cylinder, in order that their surfaces may approach nearer
at the lower end. The seeds are fed from the upper end of the cylinders
by means of a hopper, and by the rotation of the inner cylinder, aided by the
incline, they are caused to travel to the lower end of the machine. At first
any cottony substance that may adhere to the shell is stripped from the seeds,
and as the surfaces of the cylinders become nearer to each other the shell is
removed, and according to the distance between the cylinders so is the kernel
simply separated or reduced to a granular state. On issuing from between
the cylinders the matters may be received upon an inclined sieve, to which a
sifting motion is imparted. The kernel falls through the meshes of the sieve,
the shell and cottonny parts slide down or may be collected from the sieve. The
kernel is in a fit state for the oil being expressed, and the cottonny parts may
be used in paper making.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD'
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 ex-
pressed, 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 MACHINERY FOR DECORTI-

page_text: CATING OR FOR SEPARATING THE KERNEL FROM THE SHELL OF COTTON SEEDS,"
(communicated to me from abroad by Edmond Paul Henri Gondouin, of
Paris, France); upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed.
(that is to say):
This Invention consists in constructing a machine with two rasping
surfaces, one or both of which is or are made to move as herein-after described.
By the passage of the seed between these surfaces the tearing off, removal, or
decortication of the envelope from the kernel is effected. The rasping, striated,
or toothed surfaces may be plain, concave, or convex. The motion imparted
to one or both of them may be continuous, circular, or alternating rectilinear.
By way of illustrating this Invention I proceed to describe one of these
machines in which the rasping surfaces and the motion communicated are
circular. Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side view, Figure 2
an end view, and Figure 3 a section through A, B, of Figure 1 of the machine.
I place in a frame a properly supported a metal cylinder pierced with
numerous holes c, from the outer towards the inner side, so as to form a
rasping surface. This cylinder is placed at a slight angle from a horizontal
line. I place a second cylinder d within that just described, but with the
rasping surface formed on the outside; the inner cylinder d is placed at
a greater inclination than the outer cylinder b, in order that their surfaces
may approach nearer at the lower end. The cylinder d is mounted on a
shaft f, which may either be driven directly or as shewn in the Drawings
by wheels g, i, and, and by the pulleys h, h¹. The seeds are fed from the upper
end of the cylinders by means of a hopper c, and by the rotation of the inner
cylinder d, aided by the incline, they are caused to travel to the lower end of
the machine. At first any cottonny substance that may adhere to the
shell is stripped from the seeds, and as the surfaces of the cylinders become
nearer to each other, the shell is removed, and according to the distance
between the cylinders so is the kernel simply separated or reduced to a

page_text: granular state.
On issuing from between the cylinders the matters may be
received upon an inclined sieve j, to which a sifting motion is imparted. The
kernel falls through the meshes of the sieve; the shell and cottonny parts slide
down or may be collected [from the sieve. The kernel is in a fit state for the
oil being expressed, and the cottonny parts may be used in paper making.
The arrangement before described may be varied; for example, conical
cases may be substituted for the cylinders 6 and d, and the cylinders or conical
cases may be placed vertically.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
machinery for decorticating or for separating the kernel from the shell of
cotton seeds substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
R. A BROOMAN. (LS.)