IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING AND ASSORTING MIDDLINGS, SAID APPARATUS BEING ADAPTABLE AS A GRAIN CLEANER AND SEPARATOR
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry John Fox Rose at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th July 1875.
:
I, HENRY JOHN Fox ROSE, of Chesham, in the County of Bucking-
bam, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING AND ASSORTING MIDDLINGS, SAID
APPARATUS BEING ADAPTABLE AS A GRAIN CLEANER AND SEPARATOR," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improved method of and apparatus
for purifying and assorting middlings, said apparatus being adaptable as
a grain cleaner and separator.
Middlings before purification usually contain in addition to the hard
sharp granules of flour constituting the pure middlings also a proportion
of fine brown fibrous or fuzzy matter and fine light bran, which if>
ground up with the said granules of flour spoil the flour, the product of
the combination when ground being a soft, dirty, specky grade of flour,
practically useless for making bread; but if the hard granules consti-
tuting the middlings proper be separated from the other matters which<

page_text: constitute impurities such granules when ground up by themselves and
properly bolted will produce a superior grade of flour owing to the large
quantity of gluten they contain. Hence the object of all middlings'
purifiers must be to separate the middlings proper from the fine bran or
pollard and other impurities usually found in admixture with them, and
this is usually done by means of vibrating bolts or screens, through
which a current or currents of air is or are caused to pass for the
purpose of removing the fuzz and keeping the meshes of the screen
clean, such vibrating bolts or screens together with moveable partitions
underneath serving also to effect the assortment of the granules of flour
constituting the middlings.
Now by my Invention I submit the impure middlings to a preliminary
purifying process, that is to say, I cause them by their own gravity to
descend by stages within a suitable space or chamber provided at
intervals with inclined plates, shelves, or deflectors, whereby the down-
ward progress of the particles is intermittingly impeded or checked, and
as the stream of particles passes from one inclined plate, shelf, or
deflector to the next below it I cause thin streams or currents of air to
traverse or pass through the stream of descending particles, and thereby
to separate the lighter matters or impurities from the granules of flour.
The middlings thus to a considerable extent purified having reached the
lower portion of the purifying space or chamber are caused to pass into
a separating reel covered with silk cloth which assorts the middlings,
currents of air being caused at the same time to pass through the
meshes of the silk into the separating reel, and thus by acting upon its
contents to remove light impurities that may be still mixed with the
middlings. The fine pure middlings fall into a conveyor, and by means
of slides in the bottom can be further assorted to any required extent.
The coarser particles, that is to say, those which were too large to pass
through the meshes of the silk, pass out of the end of the reel into a
receiving spout.
The middlings to be purified are fed by a feeding hopper provided
with an adjusting slit and a distributor, to the purifying chamber
containing the inclined plates, shelves, or deflectors, arranged alternately
at the opposite sides of the chamber, slits or openings regulated by
suitable valves being formed in the said sides of the chamber between
each pair of inclined plates, shelves, or deflectors. The openings at one
side of the chamber are inlet openings for air, those on the opposite side

page_text: of the chamber being in communication with an exhaust chamber
leading also from the separating reel (which is made air-tight to the
case), and communicating with the chamber of a suitable exhausting
fan.
Within the purifying chamber is a roll for delivering treated middlings
into the separating reel.
By purifying the middlings, as above described before feeding them
into the separating reel, the capacity of the machine is increased, and I
dispense with the usual mechanical devices which under ordinary
circumstances are required for keeping the screens or bolt cloths from
clogging.
My improved machine is simple in arrangement and less liable to get
out of order than machines of the kind at present generally used, it is
moreover free from vibratory motion, which causes considerable wear
and tear, it requires no skilled labour to run it, and it is smaller for its
working capacity and cheaper to construct than machines of ordinary
kinds.
My machine as above described, if made of increased strength and
with a coarser gauge of wire or metal than is needed for treating
middlings, may be used as a grain, rice, or seed cleaning and separating
machine.
My purifying arrangement can be made and used cither with or